Center for Community engagement and academic outreach
WELCOME to The Center for Community Engagement and Academic Outreach (CEAO)! CEAO was designed to create unique educational experiences for students while improving the local and global communities. We are committed to providing students with innovative learning experiences that bring them outside the classroom to engage with the community and with real world problems, while giving them skills and experiences that will prepare them for the rapidly changing world.
CEAO Tasks:
- Oversee Campus Compact.
- Collaborate with Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Excellence (CETL) to provide faculty training.
- Create 3 tier grant opportunities to encourage course development.
- Assess current civic engagement practices.
- Establish community partnerships.
- Create Civic Engagement certificate.
- Provide means of collaboration between key components: Campus LIfe, Community, and Faculty.
- Oversee ATU's AmeriCorps VISTA program.

Innovative Course Opportunities (IPBL)
One way we provide these unique educational experiences is through the creation of IPBL courses. These are Interdisciplinary, Project-Based Learning courses. All IPBl courses include the following three components:
- INTERDISCIPLINARY - teams of students from a variety of disciplines are in the same class.
- PROJECT-BASED - students are tasked with solving real world problems.
- COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT - each course requires students to be engaged with either local, regional, or global community members.
Are you interested in collaborating with us? Please refer to the drop down menu to submit an electronic Collaboration Request Form! Once submitted, we will review your submission and be in contact with you or your organization.

ATU's AmeriCorps Vista Program
As part of our initiative to create unique, educational opportunities, CEAO oversees
the AmeriCorps VISTA program.
"Enriching the education experience and advancing the goals of our communities through student-focused innovations and new approaches to problem solving."
Contact CEAO
JULIE MIKLES-SCHLUTERMAN, PH.D.
Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Academic Outreach
Professor of Sociology
Department of Behavioral Sciences, Arkansas Tech University
Witherspoon Hall 344, 407 West Q Street, Russellville, AR 72801
Office: (479) 498-6050
Email: jmiklesschluterman@atu.edu
Faculty Profile Page