Indiana University Indianapolis faculty and staff facilitated a 2023 dialogue session between undergraduate students, the Near Eastside Family Caucus and families involved with Down Syndrome Indiana. Photo by Maxim Bulanov, IU Indianapolis doctoral student

To reinforce Indiana University Indianapolis’ commitment to transformative research that benefits the local community, a new position will support and promote community-engaged research efforts across campus.

Jeremy Price has been named a faculty fellow in community-engaged research, a part-time position in IU Research’s Indianapolis office. He will focus on building infrastructures and systems to provide community-engaged scholars with clear pathways to success. The position is funded by the Office of the Provost and will work closely with the Office of Community Engagement.

Jeremy Price. Photo by IU Indianapolis“As an urban research university, it is really important for us to work with the communities in which we are embedded,” said Price, who is also an associate professor of technology, innovation and pedagogy in urban education in the School of Education. “I think it is important for us to have open doors when it comes to research and making Indianapolis and the world a better place. We can do that together through trusting and collaborative relationships.”

Community-engaged and transformative research is a critical component of the research pillar of the IU 2030 strategic plan, and IU Indianapolis strives to be a nationally recognized community-engaged urban research university. Price defined community-engaged research as the collaborative creation of new knowledge that benefits the community and a scholar’s discipline.

He said that community-engaged research is already an integral part of scholarly life at IU Indianapolis, but he wants to create an infrastructure for supporting scholars so they don’t feel as if they are conducting research in isolation.

“At IU Indianapolis, we pursue research with our community and for our community,” said Phaedra Corso, associate vice president and vice chancellor for research. “In this new position, Jeremy will help drive research on our campus that will make our city and state stronger.”

Price’s immediate plans include:

• Bringing together an advisory group, the Community Engaged Research Faculty Circle. It will include some researchers from around campus who will provide recommendations to university and campus administration to ensure community-engaged research is recognized and supported.
• Holding monthly coffee sessions hosted by different offices across campus to create a relaxed atmosphere where community-engaged researchers and colleagues can learn about opportunities, make connections and collaborate.
• Meeting with units to discuss community-engaged research opportunities.

Price’s position is a one-year appointment with the possibility of renewal. His hope for the future would be to have regular meetings with Indianapolis community groups to identify community-engaged research opportunities.

Family members and residents discussed plans for helping teachers understand their children better at a meeting of the Near Eastside Community Caucus in 2023. Photo by Maxim Bulanov, IU Indianapolis doctoral studentWith his background in educational technology, Price began community-engaged research during the COVID-19 pandemic when K-12 school teachers had to go home and teach remotely with little experience or understanding how to do so. He received a grant from the Indiana Department of Education to work with teachers, families and communities to develop a support system to help teachers teach remotely and be true to the communities where they teach.

As the 2024 Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities-Collaboratory research fellow, he created a set of quantitative metrics for community-engaged researchers to evaluate their projects.

During the 2024-25 academic year, Price was a faculty fellow in the Office of Community Engagement at IU Indianapolis. He helped write and edit the university’s Carnegie Community Engagement Classification application and advanced the office’s thinking around tracking and measuring community engagement, said Jennifer Boehm, assistant vice chancellor in the Office of Community Engagement.

“We generated several ideas through working together, and we’ll continue to implement them while he’s in his new role,” Boehm said.

“As a community-engaged scholar who has worked deeply with a number community partners, Jeremy has a very good understanding of what it takes to do this work. He has also talked with a lot of other community-engaged scholars across the campus and nationally. I think his innovative work in artificial intelligence to identify community-engaged research provides useful knowledge to advance the field.”

Kirk Johannesen is a communications consultant in the Office of the Vice President for Communications and Marketing.