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Chatham College (Pittsburgh, PA)
The
Practioner-In-Residence
Summary
Chatham College’s National Education for Women’s (NEW) Leadership
program has, as a central element, a Practitioner-in-Residence: a community
leader who lives on campus during the summer leadership program and participates
formally through workshops and guest lectures, and informally through
daily interactions with students to model the applied dimensions of leadership
and public participation.
The Practice
Chatham College’s Pennsylvania Center for Women, Politics, and Public
Policy is host to the National Education for Women’s (NEW) Leadership
program, a week-long residential institute based on a model program developed
at Rutgers, that brings together college women and their advisors from
institutions across the state to develop young women’s leadership
potential, connect students with women leaders in public affairs, and
provide opportunities to practice newly-acquired leadership skills.
The Practitioner-in-Residence (PIR) role has been held by diverse women:
a lobbyist, a higher education leader, an international NGO organizer,
and in 2003, a community activist from the East End Neighborhood Forum
(EENF), one of four community partners involved with Chatham’s Engaging
Communities and Campuses grant project. This activist, who directs
EENF, provided guest lectures and campus addresses, and led sessions with
students on issues related to diversity, community and grassroots organizing,
and engaging the policy-making process. Similar to past practitioners,
she lived in the residence hall with students and advisors, was continuously
available for informal dialogue, and was instrumental in helping students
reflect on the week’s experiences.
During NEW Leadership, time is allocated for students to work with their
advisors and begin the development of a leadership project that they will
implement upon return to their home campuses. Students are asked to frame
their projects as grant proposals in order to practice some of the applied
skills emphasized during workshops. In the 2003 NEW Leadership program,
students had a second opportunity to refine their proposal writing and
planning skills by developing a mock grant application to receive funds
specifically for a violence against women project. This grant application
exercise was developed jointly by the PIR and the Faculty-in-Residence
(a Chatham faculty member who also lives in residence during the program)
based on a federal Violence Against Women Act campus grant program and
modified to reflect the types of grants college student organizations
might be able to obtain from an organizational funding source like Campus
Compact or a community group. At the conclusion of the week, students
present their proposals to the institute group and receive feedback from
the PIR and their peers.
Effectiveness
The campus project developed during the institute, and designed to serve
a campus or local community need, allows students to practice the skills
acquired during the summer program. Students submit project outlines to
the Center for Women, Politics, and Public Policy in the autumn and project
reviews in the spring, at which time they receive a small stipend to off-set
project costs. We noted a marked increase in project proposals this year
that reflect the values emphasized by our PIR and her Community Partner
organization. Traditionally, student projects have primarily been on-campus
and serve only the campus community (such as leadership trainings, campus
information forums, and Get Out the Vote drives). This year, many student
projects involved some level of outreach to the community in the form
of partnerships between student organizations and community groups for
joint programs. Additionally, several project proposals were entirely
focused on a community need and sought to expose students to issues beyond
the campus rather than providing services or activities only to an on-campus
student population.
Resources
For more information on the Center, please visit http://www.chatham.edu/pcwppp.
For more information on the East End Neighborhood Forum, please visit
their website.
Contact Information
Allyson M. Lowe, Ph.D.
Director
PA Center for Women, Politics, and Public Policy
Chatham College
Woodland Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
Phone: 412-365-2725
alowe@chatham.edu
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