St. Bonaventure's CCE Picks Up Where Journey Project Left Off
By Tom Missel
Director of Media Relations
In any given week, St. Bonaventure University students can be found in a number of area non-profit and social service agencies that range from working with children to visiting those who are in prison.
Establishment of the new Center for Community Engagement at St. Bonaventure affirms the university’s commitment to promoting student-centered learning. It also is a natural progression inspired by the Lilly Endowment-funded Journey Project, established in 2003 through a five-year, $2 million grant.
The Journey Project initiative was designed to create a campus culture in which faculty, staff, administrators and students give serious consideration to issues of faith, service and vocation — all in the context of liberal arts education. The initial Lilly Endowment grant expired in 2008, but the university received a $500,000 extension grant that runs through 2011.
The Center for Community Engagement seeks to enhance and broaden the university’s educational mission by leading, coordinating and sustaining a variety of integrative and transformative educational, service and volunteer activities in mentored situations. It also will create standard practices and procedures for all non-academic (and some academic) volunteer projects, service opportunities, internship placements and service trips.
Larry Sorokes, associate vice president for Franciscan Mission and director of the Fr. Mychal Judge Center, is providing leadership for the Center for Community Engagement. Michael Williams, who directed the Journey Project since 2005, has left St. Bonaventure for a new position at Thiel College.
The CCE will have three primary functions:
• Coordination: The center will be the central coordinating office to facilitate student service-learning opportunities and off-campus outreach.
• Communication and Marketing: The center will provide a clear entry point for communication with community partners and university audiences. It also allows for comprehensive and coherent marketing of the university’s commitment to using service as a means toward integrative and transformative educational experiences.
• Formation: The center will provide resources and training for people (faculty, staff, community members and service partners) who are mentoring St. Bonaventure students in the community and in the classroom. This establishes a collectively held understanding of the goals of experiential learning at SBU.
“We want to continue to further enhance and expand the learning through service opportunities that are available to our students,” said Br. F. Edward Coughlin, O.F.M, vice president for Franciscan Mission.
“Volunteer, service and internship opportunities typically have a significant impact on a students. It is important, therefore, that our students are invited to learn from those experiences through integration and reflection opportunities, to be critically conscious of the social, political and economic realities that create and perpetrate social problems through social analysis, and to be encouraged to thoughtfully consider how, for example, the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching might offer an alternative way of thinking about how to transform situations over time,” said Br. Ed.
“We want to invite students to be aware of the social context of their service, to be aware of how people we’re going to visit live. We want students to be attentive to the environment they’re entering.”
Community-Based Learning Fellows
One of the primary goals of the Center for Community Engagement is to support faculty. The effort to institutionalize service and experiential learning requires integration into the academic arena. To encourage and support faculty in this endeavor, the CCE will initiate a two-year Community-Based Learning Fellows program. Faculty will be invited to apply for grants to provide them with the support they might need to create or, in some cases, re-create a course to include a community-based learning component.
An ad hoc selection committee will be formed to review proposals and to select four Community-Based Learning Fellows for the 2009-2010 academic year. Application details and guidelines can be obtained from Br. Edward Coughlin, O.F.M. (coughlin@sbu.edu).
Director of Media Relations
In any given week, St. Bonaventure University students can be found in a number of area non-profit and social service agencies that range from working with children to visiting those who are in prison.
Establishment of the new Center for Community Engagement at St. Bonaventure affirms the university’s commitment to promoting student-centered learning. It also is a natural progression inspired by the Lilly Endowment-funded Journey Project, established in 2003 through a five-year, $2 million grant.
The Journey Project initiative was designed to create a campus culture in which faculty, staff, administrators and students give serious consideration to issues of faith, service and vocation — all in the context of liberal arts education. The initial Lilly Endowment grant expired in 2008, but the university received a $500,000 extension grant that runs through 2011.
The Center for Community Engagement seeks to enhance and broaden the university’s educational mission by leading, coordinating and sustaining a variety of integrative and transformative educational, service and volunteer activities in mentored situations. It also will create standard practices and procedures for all non-academic (and some academic) volunteer projects, service opportunities, internship placements and service trips.
Larry Sorokes, associate vice president for Franciscan Mission and director of the Fr. Mychal Judge Center, is providing leadership for the Center for Community Engagement. Michael Williams, who directed the Journey Project since 2005, has left St. Bonaventure for a new position at Thiel College.
The CCE will have three primary functions:
• Coordination: The center will be the central coordinating office to facilitate student service-learning opportunities and off-campus outreach.
• Communication and Marketing: The center will provide a clear entry point for communication with community partners and university audiences. It also allows for comprehensive and coherent marketing of the university’s commitment to using service as a means toward integrative and transformative educational experiences.
• Formation: The center will provide resources and training for people (faculty, staff, community members and service partners) who are mentoring St. Bonaventure students in the community and in the classroom. This establishes a collectively held understanding of the goals of experiential learning at SBU.
“We want to continue to further enhance and expand the learning through service opportunities that are available to our students,” said Br. F. Edward Coughlin, O.F.M, vice president for Franciscan Mission.
“Volunteer, service and internship opportunities typically have a significant impact on a students. It is important, therefore, that our students are invited to learn from those experiences through integration and reflection opportunities, to be critically conscious of the social, political and economic realities that create and perpetrate social problems through social analysis, and to be encouraged to thoughtfully consider how, for example, the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching might offer an alternative way of thinking about how to transform situations over time,” said Br. Ed.
“We want to invite students to be aware of the social context of their service, to be aware of how people we’re going to visit live. We want students to be attentive to the environment they’re entering.”
Community-Based Learning Fellows
One of the primary goals of the Center for Community Engagement is to support faculty. The effort to institutionalize service and experiential learning requires integration into the academic arena. To encourage and support faculty in this endeavor, the CCE will initiate a two-year Community-Based Learning Fellows program. Faculty will be invited to apply for grants to provide them with the support they might need to create or, in some cases, re-create a course to include a community-based learning component.
An ad hoc selection committee will be formed to review proposals and to select four Community-Based Learning Fellows for the 2009-2010 academic year. Application details and guidelines can be obtained from Br. Edward Coughlin, O.F.M. (coughlin@sbu.edu).
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