CSU San Marcos hosts a jazzfest with proceeds benefiting Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

The Role of Provosts with Institutionalization

In our aim to institutionalize community engagement, the role of the chief academic officer is critically important, but often overlooked. At a recent meeting of CSU provosts, Jerry Eisman and Season Eckardt asked the question, “How can academic leaders further a community engagement agenda?” The hour-long presentation consisted of some discussion and presentations made by four CSU provosts from Fresno, San Francisco, San Jose, and San Marcos who demonstrate active leadership.

A powerpoint presentation and a partial list of next steps for provosts are available.

Related Resource:

Public Work and the Academy – Mark Langseth (editor), William M. Plater (editor)

411

Callings: Fostering Vocation through Community-based Learning, a national conference hosted by the Ignation Center for Jesuit Education at Santa Clara University will take place March 15-17, 2007. Leading up to the conference, the Center has launched web-based conversations featuring essays and responses on themes such as international community-based learning and student formation, by a variety of scholars including, Anne Colby of the Carnegie Foundation.

Catching Waves: Using Engagement to Address Critical Issues, the Tenth Annual Continuums of Service Conference will take place in San Jose, CA from April 12-14, 2007.

CSU Monterey Bay will host Educators for Community Engagement's Reflections on the Bay from June 7-9, 2007. This annual national gathering uniquely combines learning circles with concrete workshops that provide service-learning practitioners, including community partners, students and faculty with an opportunity to dialogue in-depth on creative strategies for teaching, learning, and social justice.

Recent national and local happenings spur the CSU forward in its community engagement agenda.

Five CSU campuses: Chico, Fresno, Monterey Bay, San Francisco, and San Marcos along with 71 other U.S. colleges and universities received the Community Engagement Classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The new classification signifies a heightened level of national validation of the importance of community engagement in higher education.

Institutions were designated either in curricular engagement, outreach and partnerships, or both.

Curricular Engagement Designation

• CSU Monterey Bay showcases its exemplary effort to integrate learning outcomes connected to service in all its majors.

Outreach & Partnerships Designation

• CSU Chico notes its extensive commitment to the northern California region by providing professional development opportunities for civic leaders, teachers, and social service professionals.

Curricular Engagement and Outreach & Partnerships

• CSU Fresno highlights its comprehensive faculty development opportunities on service learning and civic engagement including a tour of the community for new faculty. This year, the campus Academic Senate will also consider recommend-ations on how to adopt friendlier RTP policies for engagement efforts.
  
  
• San Francisco State University supports several key Institutes and Centers that promote social change through a range of activities such as conducting research through its Cesar E. Chavez Institute and the Center for Health Disparities Research and Training.
  
  
• CSU San Marcos illustrates the work faculty and administrators are doing with nine regional Chambers of Commerce as a way to continuously assess the education needs of businesses and organizations in the community and identify ways in which the university can be more effective in meeting those needs.

Campus News

Cal Poly Pomona’s Peer Theatre service-learning project received a $10,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant, "making it the only university/school district partnership of its kind to receive funding in this grant cycle." See full story.