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Community-engaged scholars program to launch in 2009 The Center for Community Health Partnerships, located in the College of Nursing, participated in a national initiative that will help develop innovative faculty models for community engaged scholarship.   This three-day effort is a component of Faculty for the Engaged Campus (FEC), an initiative of Community-Campus Partnerships for Health in partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Minnesota. The three-year effort is supported in part by a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) in the U.S. Department of Education.   In May, Team MUSC, representing the Center for Community Health Partnerships, was among 20 teams that were selected from more than 100 applicants nationwide to attend the event in Chapel Hill, N.C.   The MUSC team included Jeannette Andrews, Ph.D., College of Nursing and director, Center for Community Health Partnerships; Marvella Ford, Ph.D., associate director, Cancer Disparities, Hollings Cancer Center, and Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, and Epidemiology; Sabra Slaughter, Ph.D., chief of staff to the president; and, community partner, Otha Meadows, director, Charleston Trident Urban League.   As a result of participation in this initiative, the Center for Community Health Partnerships, led by the four participants, will initiate a Community Engaged Scholars Program. This program will provide training, pilot funds and mentorship for four academic researchers and four community partners annually who have interests in community based participatory research. The goal of this program is to increase the capacity of academic-community partnerships to conduct research, and ultimately, improve the health of communities in South Carolina and beyond.   The Community Engaged Scholars Program is expected to begin in 2009. For information in participating on the planning committee for the Community Engaged Scholars Program, contact Andrews at andrewj@musc.edu or 792-1188.     Friday, July 11, 2008 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.