Emily Janke

Bio & Education

Emily M. Janke, Ph.D. is the director of the Institute for Community and Economic Engagement (ICEE) and a professor in the Peace and Conflict Studies department.

As director of ICEE, Dr. Janke leads and supports initiatives that encourage, support, elevate, and amplify faculty, staff, student, and community colleagues’ community-engaged scholarship in ways that promote the strategic goals of the university, address pressing issues in the Piedmont Triad and serve the public good of communities across the state, nation, and world. An important aspect of this role is connecting and convening community-engaged scholars within and beyond the university to focus on community-identified priorities through partnership.

Emily’s scholar-administrative work addresses multiple aspects of community engagement focused on community-university partnerships and institutional culture and change strategies. In particular, she focuses on 

• listening practices for community engagement;
• tracking and measuring community engagement and public service within and across institutions of higher education;
• recognition of community-engaged scholarship in reappointment, promotion and tenure policies;
• the role of conflict management and transformation in community-university partnerships;
• Institutional change and support for community engagement;
•  innovations in scholarly communications; and
• reciprocity, collaborative communication, and restorative practices as aspects of high quality, ethical community engagement.

Along with Barbara Holland and Kristin Medlin, Dr. Janke is a co-inventor and co-author of Collaboratory®, a publicly searchable, online database (licensed to Aviato, LLC) that shares an institutional story about who, what, where, with whom, and to what ends community-university partners are working towards community-identified priorities for shared learning and mutual benefits.

Dr. Janke is an inducted fellow of the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship and has served variously as a senior advisor, consultant, and member of the National Advisory Committee since 2024 for Carnegie Foundation’s Community Engagement Elective Classification (hosted by the American Council on Education). She supported strategic planning as a senior fellow for civic engagement in the Duke Office of Durham and Community Affairs. She serves on editorial boards for the Michigan Journal for Community Service Learning, Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, and Metropolitan University Journal.

Dr. Janke’s awards include:

• Barbara A. Holland Scholar-Administrator Award given by the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities,
•  John Saltmarsh Award for Emerging Leaders in Civic Engagement given by American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ American Democracy Project, 
• Civic Engagement Professional of the Year Award given by the North Carolina Campus Compact
• Early Career Researcher Award given by the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement, 
• Dissertation Award  given by the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement,
• UNC Greensboro’s Health and Human Sciences Faculty Award for Community Engagement Scholarship. 

Education

• Ph.D., Higher Education
  • The Pennsylvania State University
• B.A., Environmental Geography
  • Colgate University
• Colgate University’s Environmental Studies Program
  • University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
• Colgate University’s Peace Studies Program
  • University of Bradford, Bradford, England

Courses Taught

• PCS 308: Working Through Interpersonal Conflicts
• PCS 416: Practicum in Peace and Conflict Studies
• PCS 605: Skills and Techniques of Conflict Management
• PCS 690: Integrated Colloquium

Research

Research interests include:

• Institutional change to support community-engaged scholarships
• Tensions and conflict transformation in community-university partnerships
• Restorative practices in sport based youth development (with Dr. Michael Hemphill, UNCG Kinesiology
• Promotion and tenure policy change
• Measuring and tracking community engagement within and across institutions of higher education
• Community-university partnership identity
• Scholar-administrator work and identity
• Transdisciplinary epistemology and scholarship

Please see the website Research and Collaborations

current projects

At present, my work is broadly encompassed by the following two areas of praxis.

Community-Higher Education Partnerships

• Interpersonal, Intergroup, and Intra-organizational, and Cross-sector Partnerships
• Partnership Identity Development Within Teams
• Tensions, Conflict, and Healing

Leading Community Engagement into the Future

• Defining Community Engagement in University Work
• Recognizing and Rewarding the Mosaic of Faculty Talents and Community Engagement
• Strategic Planning for Community Engagement within Higher Education Institutions & Associations
• Tracking and Measuring Institutional Landscapes of Community Engagement
• Institutional Identity, Image and Communication Management
• Community-Engaged Pedagogy and Methodology
• Future Directions of Service-Learning and Community Engagement and Publicly Engaged Scholarship

books

Riemer, L., Schmitz, C., Janke, E., Askerov, A., Strahl, B., & Matyók, T. (2015). Transforming Conflict. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

selected publications

• Renick, J., Furco, A., Janke, E.M. et al. (2025). More than just money: Strategic allocation of resources to support community-engaged scholarship. Innovative High Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-025-09831-y
• Janke, E., Wrencher, E., Goodner, H., Mitchell, T., & Hemphill. M. (2024). Faculty community-engaged scholars choosing to come and stay: Alignment between individual and institutional identities and values. International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.37333/001c.127561
• Janke, E., Jenkins, I., Quan, M., & Saltmarsh, J. Persistence and proliferation: Integrating community-engaged scholarship into 59 departments, 7 units, and 1 university academic promotion and tenure policies. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 29(1). https://doi.org/10.3998/mjcsl.2734
• Janke, E., Quan, M., Jenkins, I., & Saltmarsh, J. We’re talking about process: The primacy of relationship and epistemology in defining community-engaged scholarship in promotion and tenure policy. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 29(1): https://doi.org/10.3998/mjcsl.2537
• Janke, E., Flores, S., & Edwards, K. (2022). Community-academic partnerships in the community engagement literature: A scoping review. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 26(2), 5-27.
• Hemphill, M., Janke, E., Santos, F., & Gordon, B. (2021). Understanding issues of conflict and harm in the context of restorative school physical education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education. https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.2020-0134
• Janke, E. M., Bulls, J., Demo, D., Hooper, C., & Rinker, J. (2020). A decade of building the School of Health and Human Sciences as a community-engaged school at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. eJournal of Public Affairs(8)3, 36-52.
• Janke, E. M. (2019). Scholar-administrators as change agents. Metropolitan Universities Journal.
• Hartlep, N., Lake, D., Purcell, J., Bush, A., Perry, L., Fleck, B., Kliewer, B., Janke, E., Markham, P., Orphan, C., & Saltmarsh, J. (2019). Toward an innovative civic engagement pedagogy. eJournal of Public Affairs(8)1.
• Janke, E. M., & Dumlao, R. (2019). Developing communication repertoire to address conflict in community engagement work. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 21(3), 35-56.
• Janke, E. M., Bulls, J., Demo, D., Hooper, C., & Rinker, J. (2019). A decade of building the School of Health and Human Sciences as a community-engaged school at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. eJournal of Public Affairs. Special issue on institutionalizing college/school level community engagement, edited by J. Saltmarsh and M. Quan.
• Hemphill, M., Janke, E., Gordon, B., & Farrar, H. (2018). Restorative youth sports: An applied model for resolving conflicts and building positive relationships. Journal of Youth Development (13)3, 76-96. DOI 10.5195/jyd.2018.60.
• Janke, E. M., Medlin, K.B., & Holland, B. A. (2016). Intense, pervasive and shared faculty dialogue: Generating understanding and identifying “hotspots” in five days. Metropolitan Journal(27)2, 19-35.
• Rodriguez, D. X., & Janke, E. (2016). Same words different ideas: Why educators and students need to make explicit implicit notions of civic engagement. Citizenship, Teaching, and Learning Journal 11(2),175–190.
• Janke, E. M. & Medlin, K.B. (2015). A centralized strategy to collect comprehensive institution-wide data from faculty and staff about community engagement and public service. Metropolitan Journal(26)2, 125-146.
• Janke, E. & Shelton, T. (2015). Mapping regional prosperity against faculty and curriculum development. In R. Dunfee and A., Vaidya (Eds). Operationalizing stewards of place: Implementing regional engagement and economic development strategies (pp. 33-54). Washington, D.C.: American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
• Saltmarsh, J, Janke, E., & Clayton, P. (2015). Transforming higher education through and for democratic civic engagement: A model for change. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning(22)1. 
• Janke, E. M. (2014). “Rekindle and recapture the love”: Establishing system-wide indicators of progress in community engagement and economic Development. Michigan Journal of Community Service-Learning, 21(1).
• Janke, E. M. (2013). Community participation is not a proxy for reciprocity. eJournal of Public Affairs, (2)2. Missouri State University.
• Dumlao, R., & Janke, E. M. (2012). Relational dialectics: Understanding and managing challenging dynamics in campus-community partnerships. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 16(2): 79-103.
• Janke, E. M. (2009). Defining characteristics of partnership identity in faculty-community partnerships. In. B. Moely, S. Billig, & B. Holland (Eds.), Creating our identities in service-learning and community engagement (pp. 75-101). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
• Janke, E. M., & Colbeck, C. L. (2008). An exploration of the influence of public scholarship on faculty work. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 12(1): (pp. 31-46). Atlanta: University of Georgia. 
• Janke, E. M., & Colbeck, C. L. (2008). Lost in translation: Learning professional roles through the situated curriculum. New Directions in Teaching and Learning, 113: (pp. 57-68). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 

Book Chapters (peer reviewed)

• Hemphill, M. A., & Janke, E. M. (2023). Community-engaged scholarship methods and the ethics of qualitative research. In K. A. Richards, M. A. Hemphill, & P. M. Wright (Eds.), Qualitative research and evaluation in physical education and sport pedagogy (Ch. 7). Taylor & Francis.
• Janke. E. M. (2019a). Next-generation scholars and scholarly communications. In L. R. Sandmann and D. O. Jones (Eds). Building the Field of Higher Education: Foundational Ideas and Future Directions. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
• Janke. E. M. (2019b). A Space for Praxis: Engaging in Reflective Practice as a Scholar-Administrator. In Hatcher, J., Bringle, R., & Hahn, T. Research on Service Learning: Practical Wisdom for Conducting Research (Vol. 4). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
• Janke. E. M. (2019). Lessons learned by a reflective scholar administrator: From Practice to Theory and Theory to Practice. In Hatcher, J., Bringle, R., & Hahn, T. Research on Service Learning: Practical Wisdom for Conducting Research (Vol. 4). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
• Janke, E. M. (2019). From individual to collective. Building the Field of Higher Education Engagement: A 20-Year Retrospective and Prospective, Sterling, VA: Stylus.
• Janke. E. M. (2018). Reclassification: Outreach and Partnerships: Making the Juice Worth the Squeeze. In J. Saltmarsh and M. Johnson. (Ed.). The Elective Carnegie Community Engagement Classification: Constructing a Successful Application (For First-Time Applicants and Reclassification). Sterling, V.A.: Stylus.
• Janke, E. M., (2018). Advocacy-based Research. In K. Wester and C. Watcher Morris (Eds.). Making Research Relevant: Applied Research Designs for the Mental Health Practitioner (Ch. 14). New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis.
• Janke, E. M., & Domagal-Goldman, J. M. (2016). Institutional characteristics and student civic outcomes. In J. Hatcher, R. Bringle and T. Hahn. (Eds.). Research on Student Civic Outcomes in Service Learning: Conceptual Frameworks and Methods. (Vol. 3). Sterling, V.A.: Stylus.
• Dostilio, L., Janke, E., Miller, A., Post, M, & Ward, E. (2016). Disrupting Role Dichotomies. In Publicly Engaged Scholars: Next-Generation Engagement and the Future of Higher Education (pp. 117-129) by M. Post, E. Ward, N. Longo and J. Saltmarsh (Eds.). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
• Janke, E. M. (2012). Organizational partnerships in service learning: Advancing theory-based research. In P. H. Clayton, R. G. Bringle, and J. A. Hatcher (Eds.) Research and Service Learning: Conceptual Frameworks and Assessment (Chapter 6.3). Sterling, VA: Stylus. 

Professional Publications /Concept Papers / Reports

• Janke, E., Medlin, K., & Holland, B. (2021, November 9). To What End? Ten Years of Collaboratory. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/a27nb
• Medlin, K., Norris, K., & Janke, E. (2021, July 22). Concept Paper: Re-Imagining Benchmarking as Stewards of Place: Identifying Peers in the Context of Communities. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/smjvh
• Janke, E., Morrison, S., Brooks, D., Carlin, A., Dixon, C., Nichols, T., Parsons, A., Stamp, K., and Weaver, G. (January 26, 2021). Overview of Community Engagement and the Effect of COVID-19 as it Relates to Writing a COVID Context Statement. Institute for Community and Economic Engagement, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
• Janke, E., Morrison, S., Brooks, D., Carlin, A., Dixon, C., Nichols, T., Parsons, A., Stamp, K., and Weaver, G (January 26, 2021). Writing Your COVID Context Statement: A Worksheet for Examining and Articulating the Effects of COVID-19 on Faculty Academic Work Roles. Institute for Community and Economic Engagement, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
• LeGreco, M., Edwards, K. E., Haldeman, L., Janke, E., Shultz, S. J., Smith, M., Colville, K., & Hochrein, J. (2021). Lifetime Eating and Physical Activity Practices (LEAP) progress report: Pursuing common goals and common measures in Greensboro and Guilford County, NC [final report]. Greensboro, NC.
• Janke, E. M., & Medlin, K. B. (2017). Aligning Community and University Strengths and Priorities. Excellence in Community Engagement & Community-Engaged Scholarship. (Vol. 3), University of North Carolina at Greensboro: Institute for Community and Economic Engagement.
• Janke, E. M., Medlin, K. B, and Holland, B. A. (2014). Honoring the Mosaic of Talents and Stewarding the Standards of High Quality Community-Engaged Scholarship. Excellence in Community Engagement & Community-Engaged Scholarship. (Vol. 2), University of North Carolina at Greensboro: Institute for Community and Economic Engagement.
• Janke, E. M., & Clayton, P. H. (2012). Excellence in Community Engagement and Community-Engaged Scholarship: Advancing the Discourse at UNCG (Vol. 1). Greensboro, NC: University of North Carolina at Greensboro.’