Critical Curriculum and Just Community: Making Sense of Service Learning in Cincinnati _________________________________________________ A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education In the department of Urban Educational Leadership College of Education, Criminal Justice, & Human Services by Michael Sharp June 2017 M.A., University of Cincinnati 2005 B.A., University of Cincinnati 2002 _________________________________________________ Miriam Raider-Roth, Ed.D., Chair Mary Brydon-Miller, Ph.D. Stephen Kroeger, Ed.D. Constance Kendall Theado, Ph.D. Barbara Holland, Ph.D. Abstract The goal of this action-oriented case study research is to illuminate and articulate the history and complexity of service learning at the University of Cincinnati as the program has evolved over time. Narrative inquiry and document interrogation were employed to solicit lived experiences and stories from a variety of both campus and community stakeholders, which were then analyzed through the theory of structuration. This study strengthens the existing pool of institutional research of the social structuration of service learning programs in higher education, including how leaders may foster collaborative experiences and broaden subjectivities for all relevant stakeholders. Through detailing key watershed moments that have underscored the program’s evolution, this study illuminates important additions to theory, which may have implications for other service learning programs, for the field of urban education leadership, and for research pertaining to campus-community organizing. Copyright 2017 Michael Sharp Dedication This doctoral dissertation is dedicated to the many servant leaders in the ever-evolving field of service learning, sowing seeds in Cincinnati and elsewhere, often without much thanks or recognition. May your growing fields remain organic and naturally nourished through the minding of authentic relationships between the campus and the community, and may you find solace in your tilling by remembering that the seed never sees the flower. Acknowledgements Many thanks to my beautiful Arabian wife, Jennifer, and our two wonderful children, Ethan Michael and Riley Kamal. You have been my backbone, and this is for you. Mom and Dad, I did it! Brother Brian, I miss you. Thank you to the University of Cincinnati and the UEL program for fulfilling my dream of becoming Professor Sharp. Thank you to my buddy-buddies, Steve Fuller and Even Griffin, who each in different ways have been mentoring me for a long time. Sweeeeeeeet! Thank you to “the Scotts”—Erik Alanson, Kevin Geiger, and Todd Foley— for keeping me sane among the crazy and crazy among the sane. Thank you to my office mate, Robin Selzer, and my fearless colleague, Willie Clark, for reminding me of who we really are. Thank you to my other mentors, Kris Galyen, Heather Zoller, Steve Depoe, MJ Woeste, and Nancy Jennings, for continually teaching me about the power of communication. Thank you to ELCE for giving me an academic home, and thank you Kettil Cedercreutz, Michelle Clare, and Annie Straka, for leading that eclectic group of EL folk. Thank you to Kathy Brown and Fran Larkin from the Center for Community Engagement for your tireless partnership, and thank you to Wayne Hall and Gigi Escoe for taking a chance on me so many years ago. Thank you, Al Hearn, Barbara Wallace, and Dawn Hunter for tilling the fields, thank you, Jeff Seibert and Clare Blankemeyer, for fertilizing those fields, and thank you, Greater Cincinnati Service Learning Network, Kentucky Campus Compact, and Ohio Campus Compact, for abundantly seeding those fields. Thank you, Liz Tilton, for keeping me a buzzing bee, and thank you, Amy Rector-Aranda, for gently helping me back on the tractor. And to Miriam Raider-Roth, Barbara Holland, Steve Kroeger, Connie Kendall Theado, the narrative participants and SL@UC stakeholders, and most importantly, Mary Brydon-Miller, thank you for co-navigating through this strange loop of .and go raibh maith agat. Love Wins ش كرا ,dissertating. To all of my non-academic friends Table of Contents List of Tables and Figures.............................................................................................................. vi Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study ............................................................................................... 1 The Strange Loop of Dissertating ............................................................................................... 3 The Dissertation’s Significant Problem ...................................................................................... 4 Service Learning, Reflective Discourse, and Action-Oriented Narrative Inquiry .................. 5 The Researcher’s Role ............................................................................................................ 6 My Position of Privilege and Research Stance ....................................................................... 8 Complex Dichotomy ............................................................................................................. 11 Significance of the Study and Institutional Change .................................................................. 12 Chapter 2: Literature Review and Theoretical Framework .......................................................... 14 Service Learning: The Topic .................................................................................................... 14 Service Learning and Students.............................................................................................. 17 Faculty and Service Learning ............................................................................................... 21 Universities and Service Learning ........................................................................................ 22 Community and Service Learning ........................................................................................ 22 Structuration Theory: The Framework ..................................................................................... 23 Structure ................................................................................................................................ 24 Agency .................................................................................................................................. 25 Duality of Structure............................................................................................................... 25 Routinization ......................................................................................................................... 27 Rules, Resources, Power, and Frames .................................................................................. 28 Why Structuration? ............................................................................................................... 29 i Structure, Agency, and Language ......................................................................................... 30 Structuring Experience and Identity ..................................................................................... 33 Structure and Service Learning in Cincinnati ................................................................... 35 Identity and Service Learning in Cincinnati ..................................................................... 36 Agency and Service Learning in Cincinnati ..................................................................... 38 Institutional Normativity and the Language Game ............................................................... 41 Individual Agency and Institutional Power .......................................................................... 42 Agency Through Fresh Acts: Adding to Theory ...................................................................... 43 Chapter 3: Research Methods ....................................................................................................... 46 Narrative Inquiry: The Tool ...................................................................................................... 46 Why Stories? ......................................................................................................................... 47 Organizational Stories ....................................................................................................... 48 Organizational change through stories .............................................................................. 48 Applying Narrative Inquiry to Lived Experience ................................................................. 49 Narrative Inquiry as Methodology ........................................................................................ 51 Action Research: The Purpose .................................................................................................. 52 The Qualitative Paradigm ......................................................................................................... 56 Single Case Study ..................................................................................................................... 61 Data Collection and Analysis.................................................................................................... 62 Data: The Service Learning Listening Tour ......................................................................... 62 Data Analysis .......................................................................................................................