Advancing public values
PIT engagement and collaboration means advancing public values that serve the community by working in close collaboration with that community. Such PIT work ideally can develop activities that improve a community’s quality of life while simultaneously cultivating knowledge and scholarship. Institutions should take responsibility for the social, economic, and cultural health of the communities that they serve. Building extensive networks between the institution and the community will intensify engagement with PIT and will help institutional actors understand how to define public interest or public values in specific circumstances. Institutions can collaborate at multiple levels of organization, and engagements can be driven either by the various communities or by the institution itself.