Community engaged learning (CEL) is a promising pedagogical approach to higher education that promotes mutually beneficial partnerships with communities (Nguyen & Condry, 2023). To date, there are not well-established best practices for CEL (Da Cruz, 2018; Nguyen & Condry, 2023). To address this gap, I conducted a two-phase Delphi study that allowed me to: (1) describe how CEL is incorporated into undergraduate education across higher education institutions in a land-grant, research-intensive university’s sphere of influence; (2) identify facilitators and barriers to the success of CEL in undergraduate higher education across these same institutions; and (3) identify concrete supports that a land-grant, research-intensive university could offer to enhance and strengthen CEL in undergraduate education within their sphere of influence. In phase one, I identified and recruited 15 expert CEL practitioners to participate in interviews regarding CEL techniques and practices, factors influencing implementation, and the role of MSU in promoting CEL. I then analyzed transcripts of these interviews to identify overlapping themes and practices. In phase two, I asked these experts to rate the themes and practices emerging from phase one based on their impact and, in the case of techniques and practices, the effort required to implement them. Findings inform recommendations for best practices in CEL implementation and the role of higher education institutions in supporting the practice. They also provide information pertaining to factors that impact CEL implementation. These findings should be further examined in the future by other researchers. Practitioners can use findings to assess and improve their CEL practice.
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