In summer 2021, we created the IA@UH Working Group to think about what we would like our membership to Imagining America (IA) to be. We have embraced this movement’s commitment to public scholarship, cultural organizing and community engagement on campus and beyond.

We are community organizers, professors and graduate students who share IA’s values. Rather than approaching Houston as a “laboratory” for our research, we see ourselves as active members of our diverse and dynamic community. We are committed to student-driven community-engaged projects and academic research that originates from and benefits our Houston communities.

UH has recently made social responsibility goal three in our strategic plan, laying out the commitment of “serving as an exemplar for equitable and inclusive community engagement.” We are already realizing this goal through our public-facing work with Houston communities. 

As part of IA’s national collaboration, we believe that, “Teaching and organizing that is driven by curiosity, care, compassion, openness and belief in everyone’s intellectual, creative and leadership capacity holds the key to building individual and collective agency/power.” We have started the IA@UH Working Group to share our ideas, to support one another’s efforts and to build diverse networks.