Exploring and developing a college's community of interest: an appreciative inquiry

This study examined what the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education identifies as a college of nursing's internal and external "community of interest." Using "appreciative inquiry" in this study of a college campus, we examined the parts of the historical past that the community believed should be maintained, its vision of excellence for the college, the ways in which the vision could be realized, and its part in fulfilling the expectations of a shared, co-created vision. Investigators collected data using a self-developed, one-on-one interview and focus-group format and analyzed the data using content analysis. The findings suggest that the community shared values of preserving the college's past and of its vision for the college's future. However, it differed in the means of putting its co-created vision into practice and in defining its contributions in realizing the vision it created for the college.