At the culmination of his Master’s degree action research project in April 2001 at the Metropolitan College of New York (MCNY) that led to a grounded theory, Emmanuel Tetteh discovered, formulated and elaborated a metaphorical concept that he called Communal Photosynthesis^sm .

This theory, which reflects the essence and meaning derived from Tetteh’s service-learning experiences, is contained in his 324-page copyrighted Master’s thesis entitled An Agency for Recruitment Affairs: Using Functional-Context-Training Program and Marketing Management Techniques to Improve Enrollment Management. This research project focused on the implementation of a functional-context-training program and marketing management techniques to improve enrollment management for which service-learning students were trained to serve in the recruitment efforts.

Tetteh’s service-learning action research project on enrollment management was thus a respond to the call and concern of the President’s Commission on Higher Education (1947) that “Colleges must accelerate the normally slow rate of social change which the educational system reflects,…[since] education is the foundation of democratic liberties,…[and] without an educated citizenry alert to preserve and extend freedom, it would not long endure…[therefore] if education is to make the attainment of a more perfect democracy one of its major goals, it is imperative that it extend its benefits to all on equal terms” (pp. 23, 25, & 38, Vol. 1).

Based upon the passionate commitment to build on this theory (the metaphorical construct of Communal Photosynthesis), Tetteh enrolled in the unique student-centered doctoral program at Walden University. Through coursework like Managing on the Boundary, Knowledge Area Module (KAM) demonstration, and acumen into Research Design, Tetteh learned that the boundary of research modalities can transcend to contributing to societal democratic governance.

Challenged by these profound doctoral learning experiences at Walden University that helped shape Tetteh’s knowledge base in civic/democratic ideals, as exemplified by his publication Theories of Democratic Governance in the Institutions of Higher Education, led him into the founding of the Center for Communal Photosynthesis^sm Research in 2004 in the County of Richmond, Staten Island, New York.