Tennessee Campus Compact will be launched at the upcoming Gulf-South Summit, which will be held March 13-15 at Belmont University.

This public beginning actually culminates more than a year’s worth of planning on the part of colleges and universities across the state, headed by Tennessee State University President Melvin Johnson and coordinated by Tennessee Academic Civic Engagement Program director, Mani Hull.

Nationally, Campus Compact is a coalition of more than 1,100 college and university presidents — representing some 5 million students — who are committed to promoting community service, civic engagement and service-learning in the context of higher education. As the only national association dedicated to this mission, Campus Compact is a leader in building civic engagement into campus and academic life by deepening their ability to improve communities and to educate students for civic and social responsibility. Thirty-one other states already have Campus Compact organizations supporting the infrastructure for service.

It is a huge milestone for Tennessee Campus Compact to be launched at the Gulf-South Summit, which brings together more than 350 practitioners to share best practices, research and a professional network dedicated to service-learning.

Volunteer Tennessee’s Deputy Director for Service-Learning, Meredith Freeman, shares her enthusiasm about the upcoming event.

“This is such an exciting opportunity to build partnerships in higher education — not only in Tennessee, but also throughout the region,” she said. “We are very fortunate that this year’s event will be held in Nashville so that Tennessee practitioners can demonstrate their commitment to furthering the practice of and our leadership in the field of service-learning.”