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Faculty learning communities (FLC) provide opportunities for professional development and personal growth within university settings. Some FLC are structured; others are unstructured. Faculty at a mid‐sized Midwestern state university were asked a series of close‐ and open‐ended questions that examined the reasons for and benefits from their participation in both structured and unstructured FLC. This exploratory study compared survey responses related to participation in structured and unstructured FLC. The reasons why faculty participated in learning communities were consistent in both structured and unstructured formats. However, while the benefits from participating in structured FLC were strongly related to professional goals with immediate application, the benefits from unstructured FLC participation were more related to personal goals with long‐term application.

EROSION OF LOCAL COMMUNITYIn the latter part of the twentieth century massive economic and political changes occurred at the global level, such as the collapse of international socialism0 communism and the emergence of a global capitalist economy dominated by multinational corporations. Recent writings have evaluated the impact of these changes on community development in light of the much longer, thousand-year trajectory of what Correspondence to:

In 2013 and 2014, workshops were held at Highlander Research and Education Center that explored the topics of authentic leadership and popular education. The participants shared their experiences through reflective writing upon completion of the workshops and approximately a year following. These reflections were developed into a case study. This article describes how the workshops influenced the participants as they recognized personal and professional changes and impacts made from the Highlander experience. Four topics informed the analysis of workshop participants’ experiences: participation training, authentic leadership, popular education, and the position of Highlander as a historic place of learning for social justice. The themes found in the study were sorted into clusters that included (a) primacy of place and inspiration; (b) authentic leadership; (c) collaboration and community building through art and storytelling, humor, and trust; (d) self-discovery and transformation; and (e) direct applications and further action.

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