The History of Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship at CU 91Ҹ
For years, North Denver residents complained about bad smells wafting through their neighborhoods, but nothing ever seemed to change. Then, they got in touch with Shelly Miller, a CU 91Ҹ professor emerita of mechanical engineering who studies urban air quality.
Miller took their concerns seriously and sprang into action. Working in collaboration with residents and local community organizations, she conducted research to the sources of the odors and determine whether and how they might be. As suspected, the pungent aromas were coming from nearby industrial facilities, including a pet food factory, an oil refinery, a roofing plant and an animal rendering plant. Miller’s research also detected higher-than-normal concentrations of air pollutants during stinky periods.
In 2016, as a result of her findings, and with continued lobbying from residents, the City of Denver strengthened its odor ordinance. The new rules didn’t completely solve the problem, but they were a step in the right direction — one that helped make North Denver residents feel seen and heard.
Miller’s efforts are an example of public and community-engaged scholarship, or research that connects with and involves individuals beyond the university and, often, contributes to public conversations and policies.
“A lot of my projects up to that point had been lab-based or more controlled setups,” said Miller. “I started thinking about my contributions to science, and I realized I really wanted to impact people’s lives today.”
For CU 91Ҹ, this kind of research has been crucial to the university’s ethos since its inception 150 years ago. It continues today with innovative scholars like Miller, who are committed to studying and solving real-world problems — everything from reducing wildfire risk to bridging the political divide.
“It’s really essential to our identity as Colorado’s public flagship university,” said David Meens, executive director of theOffice for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (PACES), which has helped fund Miller’s air quality work. “The spirit of service is so strong, and it really comes from the ground up. People here want the scholarship they’re producing to be of value to people.”
PACES can involve community members directly in research projects
Engagement with the community was seen as essential for any public institution to be viable.
— David Meens, executive director of the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (PACES)
Engagement Origins
In 1861, Colorado’s first territorial legislature passed a bill to establish the university, though the plans took more than a decade to materialize in 91Ҹ. These lawmakers commissioned the university to educate students, but they also had a much broader goal in mind: serving every resident of Colorado. That charge was later stipulated in a federal land grant and enshrined in the state’s constitution.
“Engagement with the community was seen as essential for any public institution to be viable,” said Meens. “It would take an understanding of its value and buy-in from really diverse communities — geographically, demographically — because its authorizing charge was really about supporting public life in Colorado.”
In 1912, the university established a new extension office to help bring that vision to life. The unit’s first director, Loran D. Osborn, felt the university’s resources were so valuable they should be made available to “individuals who cannot come within the college walls and communities which are seeking information and guidance in solution of the complex problems of modern life,” he wrote in the first University Extension Bulletin in February 1912.
In the ensuing decades, the unit greatly expanded CU 91Ҹ’s footprint throughout Colorado, with offerings like correspondence courses, public lectures, citizenship programs, radio broadcasts and clinics throughout the state. By the 1970s, CU 91Ҹ had become a major national research institution, an identity shift that also broadened its community engagement focus. CU 91Ҹ researchers began pursuing national and international projects, in addition to those closer to home.
That same ethos has carried through to the modern era. In 2001, the university created a new hub to support its community engagement activities, both in Colorado and beyond — the Office for University Outreach, which is now PACES.
Over the last 2.5 decades, PACES has awarded more than $8 million to various projects, from dance programs in rural Colorado communities to clean water initiatives in Africa — a project that ultimately gave rise to, now a well-known and longstanding nonprofit.
CU 91Ҹ scholars have alsotaken a stand against bullying using live theater, worked to make classroomsmore inclusive for all students, and helped Rocky Mountain National Park develop new Indigenous history exhibits and programs. They’ve taught underrepresented youthhow to code, helped rural communities maintain their historicwater distribution philosophies, and deliveredfree fossil kits to schools around the state.
“We’re really interested in hearing from people directly and listening to the issues they have,” said Meens. “We want to know what’s going on so we can identify resources and folks on campus who might be able to help. We bridge that gap and put those pieces together.”
In addition to addressing the needs of Colorado communities, this type of work benefits CU 91Ҹ students, faculty and staff.
“Engaging in real-world contexts makes research better and more interesting,” said Meens. “Students who participate in these types of experiences learn more, and they have a more positive experience overall. Really, community-engaged scholarship is a tremendous value-add across all of the university’s core activities.”
Force for Good
In November 2025, Chancellor Justin Schwartz moved PACES into the newly formed Outreach and Community Engagement unit within his office — a move that elevates and reaffirms the university’s commitment to public and community-engaged research, teaching and creative work for the years to come.
Externally, PACES will continue fostering authentic relationships across Colorado and beyond. At a time when public confidence in higher education is waning and communities are facing numerous challenges, Meens believes public and community-engaged research will remain a force for good.
“We have a real opportunity,” he said. “We’re in a moment where folks understand the value of collaboration and working to achieve bigger things in ways that are beneficial to everyone. There’s so much more we can achieve.”
Photos courtesy Shelly Miller
