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| II.
Institutional Infrastructure |
A. Supporting Vision, Missions, and Plans of Institutions
One of the least affordable characteristics of any program is to have
it deemed “nice, but not a high priority.” Among possible
tests of relevance is how well one’s programmatic purposes match
up with identifiable proclamations of an institution’s past, present,
and prospective identity. Loose attachments to “institutional soul”
will be very hard to overcome, even if lots of good folks do lots of good
things on their own. Conversely, some missteps in developing experiential
learning programs will be tolerated if connections to central purposes
are tight.
- Bates College - The Harward Center for
Community Partnerships
The Center represents the College's attempt to formalize its commitment
to community-based learning, teaching, and service.
- Chatham College - Choosing
the Right Partners
The goals of public leadership, service, international education, and
the environment were an outflow of the strategic plan of the College.
They meshed nicely with the institution's commitment to its urban environment,
experiential/service-learning, and civic engagement. The selection of
partners was closely connected to the College's mission, values, and
goals.
- College Misericordia - The Service
Learning Center
The Center supports these strategic areas of institutional interest:
quality education, service leadership, and professional preparation.
The president charged all units with demonstrating how they can supplement
service-leadership activities and, thereby, help to meet a strategic
planning purpose of transforming service activity into an assumption
of active leadership roles.
- College of Notre Dame,
Baltimore - International Cooperation in Service
The project has a mission tie: "to build inclusive communities..."
- Illinois College - The Illinois Partnership
of Minority Achievement
The college mission is tied to the value of searching for new and vital
experiences in diversity and service. Connections to the Teacher Preparation
Program are reported.
- Loyola University New Orleans
- The Office of Service Learning
Service learning is becoming a main vehicle for significant institutional
expression of Loyola’s mission and identity and contributes to
fulfillment of the University’s Academic Strategic Plan.
- Marywood University - The Latino Collaboration
Collaboration is led by a Latino faculty member with experience in cultural
diversity training and research.
- Messiah College - The Harrisburg Institute
This institute for community research and collaborative partnerships
reflects the Strategic Plan's call for a renewed level of active community
involvement in Harrisburg. It has the level of presidential and provost
support needed to stimulate curriculum changes, consider workload reallocations
that are meaningful to faculty, appreciate the role of co-curricular
activities, and relate to the overall institutional planning process.
- North Central College - The Dispute
Resolution Center
The Center is aligned with the College's mission, e.g., to emphasize
leadership, ethics, and values.
- Otterbein College - The Community
Service Learning Center
Service-learning relates to the college mission to: "educate the
whole person in a context that fosters the development of humane values";
and to prepare graduates to become "informed and active citizens
and to equip them with skills to make them useful to society."
Outreach to communities has always been important to the College.
- Rhodes College - Rhodes Service
Scholars Program
The current Rhodes vision states that Rhodes aims “to graduate
students with a life-long passion for learning, a compassion for others,
and the ability to translate academic study and personal concern into
effective leadership and action in their communities and world.”
This program was created to provide opportunities for students to make
connections between an intensive and varied program of community service
that continues throughout all four years at Rhodes, their classroom
experiences, and leadership training.
- St. Edward's University - The HEB
Community Internship Program
As part of its educational mission, the University actively promotes
community-based experiential learning.
- Wesleyan College, Macon - Aunt Maggie's
Kitchen Table
The College has expanded its historical mission to service by offering
an endowed chair to a local community activist. The intention is to
help ensure that service will be a life-long commitment for graduates
as well as to continue the College's commitment to Macon.
- Wilmington College - Community Outreach
from Peace Resource Center
The Peace Resource Center implements the peacemaking and reconciliation
elements of its mission through partnerships with local schools that
center on three programs: ProjectTrust, Mediation Training, and Positive
Discipline.
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