Rules Of Engagement: How Students Can Learn Well And Do Good
As we noted in a previous post, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have the potential to transform higher education. But as online education makes headlines, a quiet revolution is under way that is already having a profound pedagogical impact. It is called engaged learning (sometimes immersive or experiential learning), and it has substantial benefits for students, their eventual employers and participating communities. Read more.
Former US Senator & Campus Compact Board Member Awarded 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal
A Message from the CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), Wendy Spencer: Dear Colleagues, The White House has just announced that former U.S. Senator Harris Wofford – our tireless champion and guiding light for service and volunteering – will receive a 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal from President Obama. The Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian honor, recognizes American citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens. Senator Wofford will be honored along with other recipients at a White House ceremony on Friday, February 15. We are thrilled that…
Boosting Youth Engagement
This week, the Massachusetts Special Commission on Civic Engagement and Learning released “Renewing the Social Compact,” a report that examines the state of civic engagement in the commonwealth. The report lays out recommendations for revitalizing curricula, programs, and practices to develop citizenship, civic education, and engagement in K-12, higher education, and adult education in Massachusetts. For years, public leaders and scholars alike have lamented challenges of an apathetic citizenry, in Massachusetts and across the United States. Participation in electoral processes, representation on municipal and nonprofit boards, and other facets of civil society has languished. Beyond looking at democratic participation among…
Bunker Hill Community College
Single Stop Program Single Stop is an initiative that bridges the gap that separates eligible low-income students from essential life-changing benefits, tax-credits and other essential services. By providing this financial and legal support our goal at BHCC is to improve college completion rates – to help students achieve their goal of continuing their education.
From Commencement to Campaign: Where Is the Call to Service?
As Election Day draws near, I find myself thinking back to Barack Obama’s 2008 Commencement Address at Wesleyan University. He was just candidate Obama then, coming to the end of a tough primary fight, substituting for Ted Kennedy at our graduation ceremony. I was just finishing my first year as president of my alma mater. It was a day of excitement, of hope and of inspiration. Obama told our graduates that they should be skeptical of the notion that there were two different stories ahead of them: one the private tale of jobs and families, and the second the account…
At Least 80 Electoral Votes Depended on Youth
Assuming that Florida is called for President Obama in 2012, then Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Florida will be states in which young voters were essential to the President’s reelection coalition. In those states, if Governor Romney had won half of the youth vote, or if young voters had stayed home entirely, then Romney would have won instead of Obama…
Connect2Complete Program
Campus Compact has funded nine community colleges in Florida, Ohio, and Washington to run Connect2Complete (C2C) pilot programs and funded the three related state Compact affiliates to support these pilots. These programs will engage more than 4,500 low-income students who are enrolled in developmental education courses and who experience significant barriers to obtaining postsecondary credentials. Through peer-to-peer advocacy and community engaged-learning opportunities, students will be supported in their goals of achieving academic success and credential completion and will be more engaged with their peers, the community college, and the broader community.
Richard Guarasci: How Colleges Can Spark Economic and Community Development
In my last post, I discussed what I, and many of my colleagues, consider the growing crisis in higher education and the stiff challenges that those of us in America’s colleges and universities now face. It is, to me, a crisis that threatens the legitimacy and the political economy of higher education as we have known it for more than a century in this nation. But, amidst of all the gloomy stories that continue to be reported about higher education, I think there is room for hope and even optimism. Universities can help to demonstrate their relevance to an ever more…
Richard Guarasci: The Crisis in Higher Education: How Civic Engagement Can Save Higher Education (Part I)
In the midst of the most significant global economic crisis in more than 80 years, higher education faces an acute crisis of resources, organization and legitimization. Colleges and universities find themselves in a double bind, one external and economic and the other internal and existential. Public tolerance is withering for increasing tuition as legislative appropriations shrink and student debt continues to grow. We have entered an age of economic limits, fractured politics, stalemated government and personal fear. How we organize academic and campus life begs an alternative to the very foundation of the prevailing model of higher learning in the…
New book from University of Vermont faculty examines state of public universities on 150th anniversary of Morrill Act
The land-grant universities of the United States are this year celebrating the sesquicentennial of the Morrill Act, which not only led to the creation of many of the universities, but arguably was instrumental in the development of public higher education broadly. A new book, Precipice or Crossroads? Where America’s Great Public Universities Stand and Where They Are Going Midway Through Their Second Century (State University of New York Press), features essays related to public universities’ history and current challenges. Essays mix the history of the universities with questions about their financing, their education and research missions, and their role in the world….
Lord Family Endows Community Engagement Directorship
It’s been over a decade since the Office of Community Engagement (OCE) was established at Rollins, making it possible for thousands of students and hundreds of faculty and staff to engage in meaningful service-based experiences. Through the years, the office has had its supporters, but few at the level of David Lord ’69 ’71MBA and his family. Beginning with an initial gift, which helped to establish OCE at Rollins in 2001, Lord and his family have continued to champion its vision and fund its effort, including the 2005 creation of the Rhoda Newberry Reed Endowment for Community Engagement and Leadership…
Colleges Awarded Presidential Honor for Community Service
The Corporation for National and Community Service and the U.S. Department of Education today honored the nation’s leading colleges and universities, students, and faculty members, and staff for their commitment to bettering their communities through community service and service learning. Five higher education institutions received the Presidential Award of the 2012 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to community service. The five awardees are Carson-Newman College, Miami University, North Carolina State University, Seattle University, and the University of Pennsylvania. The universities will be honored later today…
Massachusetts will soon track civic engagement at its public colleges
Massachusetts will soon track civic engagement at its public colleges, addressing increased concern that Americans aren’t equipped to impact their communities or interact meaningfully with government.While it hasn’t been decided exactly how citizenship learning will be evaluated, the Board of Higher Education’s Tuesday vote mandates that civic engagement be measured along with more traditional standards such as graduation rates. Read more »
Dr. James B. Dworkin presented with the prestigious Castaldi Award
Purdue University North Central Chancellor, Dr. James B. Dworkin, has been presented with the prestigious Castaldi Award, given by the Indiana Association of United Ways in recognition of his commitment to the United Way. The award was presented as part of the recent Volunteers of the Year Recognition Banquet in Indianapolis. Read more »
Mt. Holyoke President Lynn Pasquerella
President of Mt. Holyoke College, Lynn Pasquerella, on developing a new model for Higher Education An exciting speech captured on YouTube presents Mt. Holyoke President Lynn Pasquerella. This college president has some really interesting comments around: building a new model of higher education, creating a system of democratic access, and changing the traditional college model to one vast system of community collaboration (community) which will help pay for higher education. Take a look!
Social Justice Revival: Colleges embrace social justice curriculum
There are still no fair trade shops on the Kalamazoo College campus. After returning from study abroad trips in Thailand and Kenya and Botswana, a group of Kalamazoo students wanted to open a store that would showcase goods that artisans in those countries made for a living wage. Read more »
MWCC given $2M to support civic engagement
Mount Wachusett Community College has received its largest single donation to date with a $2 million anonymous donation to support civic-engagement initiatives on campus. The goal of the donation is to “ensure that future generations will continue to gain awareness, appreciation and practical experience for volunteerism, civic involvement and the value of giving back to the community,” according to a release issued by the college. Read more »
Festivities scheduled for new ULV president
An academic symposia of University of La Verne, regional and national educational leaders will launch the celebration of Devorah Lieberman’s inauguration as the 18th and first female president of the University of La Verne on Oct. 21. Lee S. Shulman, president emeritus of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Stanford University’s Charles E. Ducommun professor of education emeritus, will deliver the keynote luncheon speech. The gathering of renowned educators is one of the first steps by Lieberman to put ULV on national and international recognition maps for higher educational institutions of great esteem and principles. Read more…
Gearan Celebrates Peace Corps at 50
As the Peace Corps celebrated 50 years on Sept. 22, a number of events to commemorate the anniversary were held in and around Washington, D.C. Colleges President Mark D. Gearan, the 14th Director of the Peace Corps, participated in several of the discussions and celebrations that marked the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Peace Corps Act in Congress by John F. Kennedy. Read more »
Collin College Awarded $20 Million Federal Grant
September 27, 2011 – Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis and Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter just announced that a consortium led by Collin College has been selected for a $19,998,974 grant, part of nearly $500 million in federal grants targeted for training and workforce development to help unemployed workers who are changing careers. More than 200 community colleges around the country applied and 32 were selected by the U.S. Department of Labor in coordination with the U.S. Department of Education. “This is the largest grant in college history, and it is very important to the economy,” said Brenda…
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