May 2014, Issue 5
REACH Training & Engaged Citizenship
We did it! Thank you for taking the time to attend a REACH class. This semester we hosted 16 classes with a total of 409 participants. We are educators. We have a huge impact on our students’ success.
As we move forward as a division using REACH, we encourage staff to share their story of how they see REACH in their work. To kick us off, Brian Halderman, writes about "Engaged Citizenship."
Engaged Citizenship
Working to enhance student’s civic knowledge and skills through service-learning
The Student Center for Community Engagement and Inclusion supports academic and co-curricular service-learning by providing faculty and students with the necessary resources and expertise to ensure a quality learning experience for our students in the community. As you may have seen, the university recently applied for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Community Engagement Classification. Assistant Dean Yvonne Pena and Associate Director for Service-Learning Brian Halderman, assisted the university wide committee in preparing the application. The application process challenges the institution to examine the numerous ways it is engaged in the community.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching defines community engagement as, “collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.” It goes on to indicated that the purpose of community engagement is “the partnership of college and university knowledge and resources with those of the public and private sectors to enrich scholarship, research, and creative activity; enhance curriculum, teaching and learning; prepare educated, engaged citizens; strengthen democratic values and civic responsibility; address critical societal issues; and contribute to the public good.”
Our division of Student Affairs has a part to play as we continue to enhance and measure our level of community engagement. As you recall one of the tenants of REACH is Engaged Citizenship! Meaningful community volunteer experiences and academic service-learning help students develop the necessary civic knowledge and skills to be concerned about the future of their community and to develop an interest and passion for advancing the common good. Research indicates that these high impact community based experiences assist us with retention and graduation rates.
To help us understand student impact better the center recently completed a pilot survey (you will read more about that in the June issue). Additionally, we have been meeting with faculty teaching service-learning courses; will be sponsoring two faculty development workshops this summer; meeting with community partners and will host a breakfast for partners in August. Furthermore, the Carnegie application process highlighted the need to strengthen data collection in regards to community engagement, so efforts are underway to improve how we track service-learning course offerings and student service hours completed.
We will hear from the Carnegie Foundation in December regarding our application, keep your fingers crossed, we believe we have a good shot to receive the designation!
Brian Halderman, LMSW
Associate Director, Service-Learning
Student Center for Community Engagement and Inclusion
REACH Training Sessions for STAFF (SD 370) - Spring 2014
Any questions or comments? Please send us an email at VPSA@utsa.edu.