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In This Issue:
SUSTAINABILITY FOCUS OF STATEWIDE MEETING IN
NOVEMBER Sustainability! Every grant application asks you to address this issue. How will your program or initiative sustain itself after the grant period? For many higher education institutions this criterion require grant writers to, at best, practice their creative writing skills; at worst, lie. For many, the sustainability criterion is one of the most frustrating elements of grant applications. Service-learning on higher education campuses has been built with soft money. We would not be where we are without the support from outside funding agencies like the Corporation for National & Community Service. However, because of our success, the field is growing and the need for resources grows right along with it. Outside funding agencies are reluctant to fund service-learning until the institution has demonstrated strong support for it. Institutions have been reluctant to allocate resources for service-learning until its value/need is demonstrated sufficiently. This can only be done with adequate resources to not only run the program/ initiative, but to also produce compelling data documenting outcomes and impacts — outcomes and impacts the funding agency cares about. Are these outcomes and impacts the same ones the institution cares about? If you want the program/initiative to be sustained in the long run, they had better be. Oh yes, and the outcomes and impacts should be made within the three-year period of the grant cycle! Frustrating? Of course. On Nov. 2, Washington Campus Compact will hold its annual Members Meeting in conjunction with the annual executive board meeting and the first statewide All-Presidents Meeting. Attending service-learning practitioners and presidents will jointly discuss this very important issue of sustainability. Our intention is that we will learn how to be more strategic with our funding efforts and more strategic about aligning service-learning with institutional priorities. We intend to bring in outside funding agency representatives as well as campus representatives to share some thought about how to walk this fine line. Barbara Holland, director of the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, will bring her years of experience from both the campus and the outside funding agency perspectives to facilitate the discussion. While the issue of sustainability can be frustrating, I think many campuses have made great strides and have creative ideas for addressing this issue. I encourage all of you who are grappling with the question of how to sustain service-learning on your campus to attend this event to learn from others and to share your perspectives on the topic. WACC PROGRAMS COMPLETE SUCCESSFUL YEAR; LAUNCH 2004-2005 EXPANSIONS
Campus Connections Program Update Washington Campus Compact’s Campus Connections program launches its 2004-2005 program year on Sept. 1 with a team of 35 AmeriCorps members, more than twice the size of last year's team. The program’s larger size will effect a remarkable increase in both the number of students engaged in service to their communities and in their service hours, thanks to full funding of the program by the Washington Service Corps. Campus Connections places AmeriCorps members on WACC-member campuses across the state to foster an ethic of civic responsibility among higher education students. Campus Connections/AmeriCorps members create opportunities for students to become engaged in service to their communities and serve as advisors to the students. In 2003-2004 — with just 15 AmeriCorps members — Campus Connections engaged 2,097 higher education students through service-learning classes, community service programs and other civic engagement initiatives. In turn, these students contributed 37,426 hours of service to 274 community agencies and schools throughout Washington. Assisting Moonwater with the larger program this year is Laura Reedy, the Campus Connections program coordinator. This new position is funded by the Points of Light Foundation’s YES Ambassador Program. A Campus Connections/AmeriCorps member herself last year, Laura will provide program support to the statewide Campus Connections/AmeriCorps team. In particular, she will help each team member implement the Roadmap to Civic Engagement, a new civic engagement curriculum designed for middle school youth. Laura also will serve as a liaison between Washington Campus Compact and the Points of Light Foundation in Washington, D.C. These 11 WACC member campuses are participating in Campus Connections in the 2004-2005 program year:
Students in Service Program Update Washington Campus Compact launched the multi-state Students in Service education award program on Aug. 1 with more than $2.7 million in scholarships for higher education students committed to service in 2004-2005. Almost $1 million in scholarships is earmarked for students in Washington state. Students in Service is for Campus Compact member institutions. Students enroll as AmeriCorps members, serve in their communities and on their campuses, and earn education awards ranging from $1,000-$2,362. The program is designed to foster the civic engagement of higher education students and to support service-oriented work-study efforts. The newly named Students in Service program, previously known as both Community Connections and HELP, builds on our seven-year history administering this national service grant. An important program change this year is the identification of a designated program partner on each participating campus. WACC will provide on-site training and orientation to enable these partners to successfully recruit students into the program. WACC plans to enroll more than 800 students in Washington alone in 2004-2005. Lee Wiles, the new student engagement coordinator, will manage this ambitious effort. As an AmeriCorps member placed at Bellevue Community College last year, Lee served as the service-learning coordinator. In this new position he will work closely with Moonwater, WACC's director of student engagement, to provide Students in Service orientations across the state this fall. “As an undergraduate,” said Lee, “I realized that many of my fellow students believed ‘getting involved’ would be something they could do after college. The Students in Service program offers college students an opportunity to become or stay involved in their community as part of a statewide and nationwide service network. Program members are part of Washington Campus Compact’s efforts to connect higher education with the needs of our society and AmeriCorps’ mission to ‘get things done.’ I was dedicated to these goals as an AmeriCorps member last year, and I am excited to continue as a member of this service network.” Most WACC-member institutions have expressed interest in this program. Non-member institutions are welcome to apply for these funds, but program participation is contingent upon joining Campus Compact.
Washington Reading Corps Program Update Washington Campus Compact’s Washington Reading Corps (WRC) is a literacy program that involves 21 full-time AmeriCorps and VISTA members in eight area elementary schools. The WRC program achieved many notable outcomes during the 2003-2004 program year:
Looking ahead to the upcoming program year, Washington Campus Compact is very happy to welcome Amber Darland as our new WRC VISTA Leader. Amber previously served as an AmeriCorps member with Washington Campus Compact’s Campus Connections program at Western Washington University’s Center for Service-Learning. She received her Bachelor of Arts in sociology from WWU. Amber’s previous experience includes working in higher education as a student training and development coordinator. As the WRC VISTA Leader, Amber will play an instrumental role in coordinating and supporting member development trainings and events, including:
ANNUAL SUMMER INSTITUTE DRAWS MORE
PARTICIPANTS; OFFERS TWO TRACKS
Washington Campus Compact's third annual Summer Institute on June 28-29 offered two tracks, new this year: one for newer and one for intermediate-to-advanced service-learning practitioners.
Thirty-nine faculty, staff, senior-level administrators and AmeriCorps-member participants affiliated with public and private, two- and four-year colleges and universities gathered at the Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat in Leavenworth, Wash. Participants advanced their knowledge of service-learning and civic engagement and networked with colleagues from around the state.
Introductory-track participants learned about principles and best practices, among other topics, from facilitators Erin Swezey (Washington Campus Compact) and Rachel Vaughn (Community–Campus Partnerships for Health). Nadinne Cruz — an internationally known speaker, author and consultant on public service education — presented intermediate-track participants perspectives on the pedagogical, ontological and epistemological dimensions of service-learning and civic engagement.
Responses to both tracks were positive.
THE PUBLIC PURPOSE OF HIGHER EDUCATION Editor’s note: On May 26, Toni Murdock made the following presentation to 118 of the top 3 percent of Seattle schools’ graduating seniors, their parents and principals at a meeting of the 700-member Rotary #4 Seattle. I would hazard to guess that most of you are going on to colleges and universities next year. And, there are probably several reasons that make going to college important to you. If you are like this year’s college freshmen, over 80 percent of you will. Say that the most important reason for you to go to college is that you want to learn more about things that interest you. And the second most important reason is because a college education will enable you to get training for a specific career, make more money and get a better job. Now, these are reasonable and practical purposes [for acquiring] a college education. But, I want to place them in a larger context. I want you to think about how you will use your education to make the world a better place, to meet the challenges we face as a nation, to deal with the problems we wake up to every morning on CNN. To use your college education to prepare yourself to be an engaged citizen, to strengthen and protect our democratic way of life. John Dewey, philosopher and father of progressive education, stated, “Democracy must be born anew in each generation, and education is its midwife.” In higher education we consider that role of midwife as our public purpose, our civic mission. I want to build my comments to you today on Dewey’s statement because you students are our next generation of leaders, and because some of us in the American higher education system believe that the system has failed in its job as midwife. There is a group of college and university presidents — myself included — who feel that, over time, higher education has lost touch with its public purpose. The history of the public purpose of higher education goes back to the founding of this country. As most of you know, the first colleges in America were established by religious organizations and even though private, they were seen to serve the public good. In fact, these private institutions were supported by public money in the various colonies through taxes and were treated as state-church entities.
The American Revolution established us as a republic that needed competent public servants. For Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, colleges were the institutions to provide that public service. Jefferson wanted professorships in public administration, law, and police; Washington wanted a national university that would help develop patriotic citizens and civil servants. Clearly, the founders of our nation understood the need for an educated populace. We needed colleges to train leaders, produce future teachers, and maintain this new nation and new republic by reinforcing citizenship and democracy through its teachings. Speaking of the public good, in 1802 the president of Bowdoin College wrote: “[Colleges] are founded and endowed for the common good, and not the private advantage of those who resort to them for education. … every man who has been aided by a [college] to acquire an education and to qualify himself for usefulness, is under peculiar obligations to exert his talents for the public good.” Is under peculiar obligations to exert his and her talents for the public good. From the beginning, then, the vitality of our democratic society has been hinged to higher education. Over time, however, our understanding that the purpose of colleges and universities is primarily to produce citizens and leaders has become secondary to the purpose of preparing individuals for jobs. Increasingly we have come to consider a college education as a private rather than a public good. The purpose of higher education is often seen by many in strictly an economic sense — what the graduate can produce in the job market and how much more money a college graduate can make than a high school graduate. It is why the student and family are increasingly expected to shoulder the cost of attending college while federal and state support decline, leading to higher tuition costs and increased student indebtedness. So where and how did higher education seemingly lose its commitment to public purpose? I’m not sure anyone has the complete answer because it is very complex, but let me note just a few of the key factors. One factor was the shift over time toward a greater emphasis on individual rights and individual opportunity rather than responsibility to society. We began to see that shift by the mid-1800s in our country. Increasingly, graduates have come to perceive their education as far more a personal investment than a social one. At the same time, the nature of our higher education institutions changed as we adopted the German research university model. That is, we took a research-oriented, post-graduate education model and superimposed it on our undergraduate liberal arts colleges to create a hybrid form of education. Not only were we to preserve and transmit knowledge, now we were to create it. And that creation of knowledge was mandated to be scientific and immersed in objectivity — which meant, accordingly, that our transmission of knowledge must be done in a value-free environment. Values were and are often perceived as in conflict with objectivity. And certainly the Cold War redefined American science and higher education’s role in research, turning our universities into research engines for a federal government engaged in the containment of communism, an arms war, and a race to put the first man on the moon. It accelerated and deepened the commodification of American universities. We forgot that democracy and civic responsibility are values, values that need to be taught to ensure their longevity and practice in America. In fact, as has already been noted, democracy is not an indelible monument, but rather a delicate living organism that must be made anew by each generation, as each generation becomes more and more diverse. When a number of generations are educated without reference to values, without a well-developed sense of moral integrity, without an understanding of the value of diversity, and without a positive set of social, political, and community goals, the results — across time — reflect a significant loss to the individual students who come through our system and to the society that needs and greatly counts on their active participation in civic life. Let me give you a few examples. In the mid-1960s, over 90 percent of college students believed it was very important to develop a meaningful philosophy of life; in the year 2000, less than half of our college students felt that was important. In the mid-1960s, 40 percent of college students felt what was most important was to become well-off financially; and today, that figure is over 70 percent. In the mid-1960s, over 60 percent of college students said it was important to keep up to date with politics, to be involved politically. Today, fewer than 30 percent say so; and in the 2000 presidential election only 32 percent of our college students voted — this was their lowest political participation rate in American history. These figures are of concern, but rather than sit in judgment and criticize our youth, I think we should reflect on these numbers as an indication of our youth’s critique of our economic and political system. They may not be voting but … they are volunteering in schools, churches, communities, hospitals, soup kitchens at a higher rate than any other college-aged generation. Much of that increase has occurred since 9/11. And that suggests to me that they care deeply about society and its huge problems. … Why the disconnect? Why volunteering and not political engagement? Our research suggests that the youth of today are skeptical of the political system, disenchanted with politics. … [They] do not see participation in the political process as a viable path for addressing the issues about which they care. Some of them feel that politics and politicians bear much of the blame for these big problems. But we don’t want you to opt out of the social contract. In [his] book For Common Things: Irony, Trust, and Commitment in America Today, [Jedediah] Purdy points out that “just by living in the world, just by caring for things, we take on a responsibility for the world’s well-being.” Sure, some of us can refuse that responsibility, but we can’t deny its existence. And, that responsibility — especially in a democracy — connotes political engagement as well as social and economic engagement. It is only through the political engagement that we will preserve our democracy and values associated with it. Many of you will have the opportunity to vote for the first time in a national and state election this year. Please exercise that right. As entering freshmen, you will make up almost 5 percent of the electorate, composing over 1.5 million votes. You cannot be discounted. Our research also shows that more and more of you are becoming moderates — and unfortunately, it is the moderates who are not voting today. Do not let the electoral system be hijacked by the ideologically extreme who do actively participate, moving our nation to become more and more partisan and more polarized. Through the years we may change jobs and careers many times, but there is one lasting responsibility we have for our entire life: our role of citizen. So, how and what do we do in higher education to return to our public purpose and civic mission? How do we take the bundle of energy, intelligence and creativity of the youth in this very room today and provide you the framework to renew democracy within your own generation? First, higher education must walk its talk. We must exercise citizenship in our own communities. In an inspiring speech to this [Rotary] club a year ago last February, Michael Phillips of the Frank Russell Company called upon corporations to assume their rightful role as “well-governed and ethical citizens in their parochial business environment” and also to be “proactive agents addressing with vigor, insight and good humor the problems that confront our world.” His words resonated with me since I would speak the same message to higher education and I would emphasize a focus on the problems in the community where the institutions reside. The point I’m trying to make is that a higher education institution, public or private, is no different than a corporation in that it is a citizen of its community, and one of its civic responsibilities is to use its resources and research capacity to improve living at the local level — socially, culturally, as well as economically. The second thing that higher education can do is to provide students with the opportunities to become civically engaged. How do we assist the student to engage politically as well as socially? How do we move them to embrace that peculiar obligation? We do it by providing programs and curricula that integrate service-learning and community-based problem-solving approaches to learning. It is more than community service — volunteering to serve in the soup kitchens. It is more than service-learning — students bringing back into the classroom their experience of serving in the soup kitchens. It is a community-based problem-solving curriculum that not only engages the student in discovering why this affluent country has so many homeless citizens and soup kitchens, but also provides them opportunities to work with the community to solve the root causes of poverty. It engages both the student and the faculty in the process. We know from our experience that concentration on a concrete problem leads students to political engagement. We know that connecting studies with problem-solving service in the community deepens, complicates and challenges students’ learning. It turns them into knowledge producers, not just knowledge consumers. They become citizen scholars who renew our democratic society. Are any institutions providing these opportunities to students? In recognition of the need to recapture our civic mission, more than 900 presidents across the nation have come together to form an organization called the Campus Compact. Campus Compact promotes service projects that develop students’ citizenship skills, helps campuses forge effective community partnerships, and works with faculty to integrate civic engagement into their teaching and research. We can be proud of the fact that [20] … of Washington’s college and university president are members of Campus Compact. … Twenty presidents providing leadership in this movement. And, Rotary #4 … can claim four member presidents: Dr. Charles Mitchell, Dr. Philip Eaton, Father Steve Sundborg and myself. Three of us — Dr. Mitchell, Father Sundborg and me — have served on the state board, and I currently serve on the national board. In closing, we have a concrete proposal for you students. To show our commitment to restoring the civic purpose of higher education, Washington Campus Compact is prepared today to offer you academic achievers a scholarship. Here are the conditions. ... First, you must be attending a Washington state institution that is a member of the Campus Compact. … Second, you can receive from $1,000 to over $2,300 in scholarships, depending on the number of hours you are willing to commit to engaging in … service projects. … … We offer these scholarships because we see you as our future. We see you as leaders willing to prepare yourself to become engaged citizens. To hone your skills and use your education to take on the challenges of today’s world and help shape tomorrow’s world. We want you to continue to be leaders as you move to the next phase of your journey, as you enter the world of higher learning. This scholarship is one passport to help you on your way to embracing that peculiar obligation.
Building Community with Faculty: Western
Washington University’s Service-Learning Faculty
Fellows Program As part of Western Washington University’s (WWU’s) 2003-2004 Service-Learning Faculty Fellows program, faculty not only connected students with community, they built community with one another. Western Washington University (WWU) launched the Service-Learning Faculty Fellows program in spring 2003, with eight faculty and one faculty leader (the Distinguished Faculty Fellow) participating. The program goals were to:
As a community of learners gaining knowledge about service-learning and community-based pedagogy, faculty fellows examined various topics such as syllabus design, course rationale for implementing service-learning and how to assess community-based learning. Other topics included developing effective community partnerships, designing assignments and critical thinking reflections that glean the learning from the community experience, writing clear course objectives to connect learning with the community project, and examining community-based learning as research and scholarship.
Faculty fellows shared positive comments about their experiences:
Each service-learning faculty fellow received a $500 course development stipend; support from the Center for Service-Learning and the Center for Instructional Innovation; priority for travel funds to community-based learning conferences and events; recognition for their work; and a great opportunity to build community with dynamic, committed and fun faculty. Faculty fellows committed to integrating service-learning or community-based learning into one course during the academic year and attending a monthly faculty fellows gathering, during which they talked about community-based learning and pressing issues faced when integrating service-learning into a course. Faculty fellows supported other faculty through service-learning-related campus events such as new faculty orientation, and they submitted written summaries of their work (individually or collaboratively). Deans, chairs or colleagues nominated each faculty fellow. 2003-2004 service-learning faculty fellows included Karen Bradley, Sociology; Deb Currier, Theatre Arts; Shearlean Duke, Journalism; Gaye Green, Art; Joyce Hammond, Anthropology; Rosanne Kanhai, English and Women Studies; Leslie Oches, Community Health; Tara Perry, Communication; Karen Stout, Communication and Carmen Werder, First Year Interest Group program. Angela Harwood, Secondary Education, served as the Distinguished Service-Learning Faculty Fellow. To celebrate their accomplishments, WWU faculty fellows highlighted students’ community-based learning projects during Scholars’ Week in May 2004. A Washington Campus Compact grant initially funded the program. It is supported by WWU’s Woodring College of Education, the provost, the vice provost for undergraduate education and the Center for Instructional Innovation. Central Washington University faculty provided valuable expertise during the developmental stage. The program will continue with returning and new service-learning faculty fellows during the 2004-2005 academic year. To learn more about the program, visit WWU’s Center for Service-Learning website at http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~csl/. This information was originally printed in PRAXIS, published quarterly by the WWU Office of the Vice Provost for Education.
Ongoing Sept. 1 Sept. 1-17 Sept. 1-17 Sept. 7-10 CAMPUS CONNECTIONS PROGRAM TEAM ORIENTATION North Bend, Wash. Oct. 5-6 The national office mailed formal invitations to member presidents in early June. Details Oct. 11 Oct. 12-14
Oct. 22
Oct. 23 Nov. 1-2 WASHINGTON CAMPUS COMPACT (WACC) MEETINGS Seattle Location to be determined Nov. 1-2 Members Meeting Schedule and agenda forthcoming Annual gathering of key institutional contacts from statewide member institutions Nov. 2 Executive Board Meeting 9 a.m.-12 p.m. The full board — nine members — is scheduled to participate. All WACC-member presidents or their designates are welcome to attend. Nov. 2 All-Presidents Meeting 12 p.m.-4 p.m. Please join the first statewide gathering of all WACC-member presidents. Lunch is from 12 p.m.-1 p.m. with the WACC executive board. From 1 p.m.-4 p.m., engage with a panel of experts on funding opportunities and sustainability. Board members, and other member presidents or their designates are encouraged to attend.
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