Administrator and researcher - Conflicting dual roles in directing a school-university partnership

This article explores the contextual factors within the university that can affect the liaison's functions and determine the level of participation. It posits that Harkavy's conceptualization of service learning as a founding mission of urban universities directly conflicts with the university's primary legitimating activity of granting tenure, in a majority of instances, for self-referential research. This conflict can dichotomize researcher and liaison roles embodied in one faculty member The dichotomy will diminish the liaison's level of commitment and degree of participation in the partnership activities, impairing the quality of assistance provided to the school and thus potentially lessening the intended impact of the schooling experiences for students in urban school districts. Presented in this article is an examination of this duality and the strategies that the author as a junior faculty member employed to harmonize them.