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Community Involvement/Volunteerism


Think Outside the Lunch Box

Chronicle of Higher Education - Opinion Piece
January 19, 2012

Thomas A. Kazee, president, University of Evansville, writes:  We often fail to share what could be one of the most important contributions to the life of the community: the remarkable collective intellectual capital of our faculties. The aggregate intellectual capital represented by a faculty at an American college, even a small one, is vast: Economists, biologists, philosophers, engineers, and historians are teaching and researching the most pressing issues of the day. Yet in my experience, we too seldom take advantage of this resource in an intentional and systematic way.

Footprints

Inside Higher Ed - Alma Mater Blog
January 17, 2012

Jeff Abernathy, president, Alma College, writes:  For all of our talk about the college’s carbon footprint, we at Alma have lately been discussing the many ways in which even a small college impacts the local community and environment. Some of the most exciting work I have done 18 months into my work at Alma College has been in collaboration with our local communities. I am still learning about the exciting work of building and nurturing community partnerships which will be key to the college's future as well as that of our town and region.

Small Wash. college aims to teach civil rights

Associated Press
January 15, 2012

About 100 students at Whitman College will be going into school classrooms this week to teach about the civil rights movement. The pilot project is a partnership between the college in Walla Walla, Wash. and the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala. Walla Walla is a small city known for its sweet onions and wine. Blacks make up less than 3 percent of the population there. But the inland Pacific Northwest has long been a center of white supremacist activity, and the growing Latino population in the region also has raised concerns about civil rights.

Students Offer Microloans to Help Campus Neighbors Start Small Businesses

Chronicle of Higher Education
January 15, 2012

Small entrepreneurs typically turn to banks to finance their business ideas, but in a handful of college towns, they have a new option: Just ask the students. In the last four years, about a dozen student groups have begun offering loans to local residents who want to start businesses but are unlikely to qualify for traditional bank loans.

Democracy Faces a 'Crucible Moment,' Says Report, but Colleges Can Help

Chronicle of Higher Education
January 10, 2012

American democracy will confront an increasingly bleak future unless colleges make civic learning a central part of students' education, says a report released Tuesday by the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement. The report coincides with a daylong event on Tuesday at the White House. It calls for colleges to renew their commitment to civic education at a time when higher education is talked about chiefly as a means of job training.

St. Louis University program in Mo. prison helps set minds free

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
December 28, 2011

In 2008, St. Louis University started offering certificates in Theology Studies at Missouri's largest state prison. In March, it expanded to an associate of arts, a two-year degree that will take the inmates four years to finish. "We have got to find other ways of dealing with problems in our society besides locking people up," said Kenneth Parker, a SLU theologian who directs the program. "And that means finding more rehabilitative approaches. And that's where I think private nonprofits like SLU have a role to play."

Pay It Forward: Madonna students combine service with learning

Observer & Eccentric, Detroit, Mich.
December 28, 2011

When some local Madonna University students signed up for a video editing class in the school's broadcast and cinema arts department, they never dreamed they would end up learning even more about themselves. The students were assigned a project that put their newfound skills to the test: make a professional six-minute video for local nonprofits to use in their actual marketing programs. For many of them, the project has been life-changing.

On One Campus, Students Find Funds for Peers in Need

Chronicle of Higher Education
December 14, 2011

Emory University, like a few dozen other colleges, has moved to reduce its students' debt, meeting financial need without loans for students whose families make up to $50,000, and limiting loans for students with family incomes of up to $100,000. But even so, some students struggle financially, especially when faced with emergency situations. So two Emory seniors started the hardship fund. Students in need apply for a grant of up to $500, and a committee of students, faculty, and staff reviews applications and interviews students, if they would like.

MIT injecting life into Kendall Square

Boston Globe
November 30, 2011

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is preparing to spend $700 million to redevelop eight of its properties in Kendall Square, adding to the transformation of what is largely a commercial zone to a more pedestrian-friendly, lively neighborhood where people would live as well as work.

NAICU Members Sweep Presidential/VP Debates

From the NAICU Staff
October 31, 2011

Our heartiest congratulations to NAICU members Hofstra University, Lynn University, and the University of Denver, chosen to host the 2012 presidential debates; to Centre College, which will host the vice-presidential debate; and to Washington University in St. Louis, which will serve as the back-up debate site.  This marks the first time in the 25-year history of the Commission on Presidential Debates that every debate will take place on a private college or university campus - testimony to our institutions' commitment to public service and civic engagement.

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