What are Universities For?

‘Public scholarship’ uses academic research to help social groups respond to civic problems. Drawing on two distinct genealogies of public scholarship, I elaborate on an internal distinction between the ‘public intellectual’ and ‘engaged scholar’. Then, mapping this distinction onto my own research trajectory from theory to practice to engagement, I argue that scholarly focus on community practices can be as removed from public problem-solving as academic theory, whereas engaged scholarship is more accountable to the demands of justice. As ‘public scholarship’ and its various cognates increasingly become corporate-speak in higher education, the scholars and communities who are the progenitors of engaged scholarship should lead the development of the ‘engaged university’.