Factors Related to Successful Collaboration in Community-Campus Partnerships

Abstract

Collaboration and community partnership have become buzzwords in academic settings, which have received little direction regarding how to make these efforts successful and sustainable. This study attempted to discern the factors involved in setting up one successful community-campus partnership. Four years after opening an all-volunteer free health clinic in Laramie, Wyoming, we interviewed community members and university faculty who were involved in the initial partnership. Analysis of these interviews identified several dynamic tensions that kept the group together Communitand moving toward its goal.