Bonner Foundation and Bringing Theory to Practice Announce Partnership 

Pathways and Paradigm Projects Support CIVIC Engagement
and Campus Transformation

May 10, 2023

The Bonner Foundation is pleased to announce a formal partnership with Bringing Theory to Practice (BT2P), which will be celebrated this year at the 2023 Bonner Summer Leadership Institute and its Pathways to Public Service track. Over the last year, Foundation and BT2P staff have been building relationships between key projects, particularly the Bonner Community-Engaged Learning Initiative and Pathways Project and BT2P’s Paradigm Project. Both projects support the strategic work by teams of campus-based change leaders to embed community and civic engagement, and to develop and share replicable practices across higher education.


BT2P is a national initiative based at Elon University, that is dedicated to both the core purposes of higher education and the need to transform higher education. Since 2003, BT2P has funded hundreds of innovative initiatives, including a series of campus grant programs that have helped to scale the community engagement movement. Currently, BT2P focuses on collaboration among academic institutions, across academic sectors, and with communities to catalyze transformational change in support of engaged, holistic, and equitable education. Its work, like that of the Bonner Foundation, is founded on the belief that “building a national community of change leaders and amplifying their voices in the public conversation about higher education” (BT2P, 2023).

BT2P’s Director, David Scobey, recently published this related article in Change Magazine. Download the full article here.

“The Bonner Foundation and many institutions in the network have been fortunate to connect with BT2P, its initiatives, and its outstanding team for decades,” reflected Ariane Hoy, Vice President for Program and Resource Development. “This year, it’s been energizing to forge a higher level of collaboration, in conjunction with representatives from seven institutions.” Hoy and Paul Schadewald, BT2P’s Senior Project Manager for the Paradigm Project, have convened with team leaders monthly to discuss their strategies for faculty development and engagement, institutional infrastructure, sustained place-based work with community partners, models for integrative pathways and degrees, and other topics. Administrator and faculty representatives from Averett University, College of Saint Benedict + Saint John’s University, Maryville College, Montclair State University, Oberlin College, and Widener University have been part of the community of practice.

Indeed, the partnership developed through ongoing relationships between Bonner and BT2P. Director David Scobey formerly served as the Director of the Harward Center at Bates College, where he helped launch a Bonner Leader Program. Schadewald spent over 20 years with Macalester College, which hosts a Bonner Program. He played a pivotal role in nurturing faculty to be involved in community-based learning and research, including in connection with the Bonner Foundation and an earlier Learn & Serve initiative involving 30 institutions. The relationship will allow institutions in the Bonner Network, especially those in the Pathways Project, to benefit from an expanded network, communications, learning opportunities, and other resources. 

“Pathway Project teams are catalyzing innovation on their own campuses with insights and practices to offer across higher education” shared Schadewald. The institutions in the Pathways Project join a number of other institutions in BT2P’s national Emerging Models network including: College Unbound, Georgetown University, James Madison University, and the Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development (a consortium of over 25 institutions based at the University of Pennsylvania).

This summer, the Bonner Foundation, in collaboration with staff at Montclair State University and Bringing Theory to Practice, has worked to embed a “Pathways to Public Service” track within the larger 2023 Bonner Summer Leadership Institute. The track will feature inspiring plenary sessions that focus on the roles of institutions as anchors and reciprocal partners within their communities, best practices for place-based learning and engagement, and strategies for effective campus change and issue-based impact. National speakers include Carol Schneider, President Emeritus of AAC&U and Senior Advisor to the CLDE Coalition and Caryn McTighe Musil, Former Senior Vice President of AAC&U and author of A Crucible Moment. Participating faculty, administrators, and student leaders will have many opportunities to deepen their knowledge of the civic engagement movement, including through a range of elective workshops. Learn more about the Summit here.

For a longer overview of the Paradigm Project, download this overview.