CCE Staff Meet with New WV Campus Compact Director

On June 22, 2009, CCE staff met with the new director of the WV Campus Compact, Franchesca Nestor, to discuss current partnership opportunities and the new role of the organization within the state. Wesleyan is one of eighteen institutions within WV that partner with the organization. Campus Compact, a national network of state chapters, provides various resources and opportunities for faculty, staff, students and administrators to help promote and engage in service. For more information, please go to http://www.compact.org.

WVWC Staff and Students Attend 2009 Summer Leadership Institute

From June 3-6, 2009, CCE staff and two Bonner Scholar students attended the 2009 Summer Leadership Institute (SLI) held at Stetson University in Deland, Florida. The conference this year focused on how students can turn the issues they’re passionate about into measurable impact in their communities.

LeeAnn Brown, Evey  Hepinger and Brooke Rawson (CCE Staff) collaborated with other Bonner Scholar and Leader schools on specific issue areas, and presented workshops on current initiatives at WV Wesleyan. (See workshop titles below.) Students Elizabeth Gain and Danielle Mullins represented WVWC as Bonner Congress Representatives, networking and collaborating with other college and university Reps on national issues, such as Youth Development.

Both the CCE staff and students gained a wealth of knowledge and ideas from the experience, which will result in a deeper focus on issues and community impact this coming year. Specifically within Youth Development, students Gain and Mullins will be working with peers to develop a new program that will help Buckhannon-Upshur high school students prepare for college.

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Workshops Presented by CCE Staff and WVWC Bonner Scholars:

• Community Gardens: a Project to Promote Sustainability, Food Security, Healthy Living, and Civic Participation – Brooke Rawson (Co-Presenter with 4 other schools)
  
• Expanding Global Understanding through a Belizean Experience – Evey Hepinger, Elizabeth Gain, Danielle Mullins
• Resources and Opportunities: Growing a Campus Wide Community Engagement Program – LeeAnn Brown, Evey Hepinger, Brooke Rawson

CCE Hires Foley for Habitat VISTA Position

Recent Wesleyan graduate Alice Foley was hired by the CCE to serve as the Habitat for Humanity VISTA, a position created to help aid the Buckhannon-Upshur community through the federal economic recovery plan.  Foley will work closely with the Buckhannon Chapter of Habitat for Humanity and the Parish House to build bridges that connect that chapter with students, faculty and staff on campus, as well as assist the organizations to build capacity by helping coordinate building projects, fund raising efforts, and grant writing.  In addition, Foley will work to organize a student Habitat Chapter, organize the first local Alternative Spring Break in Buckhannon, WV and build connections between other organizations in the community that serve local housing needs.

VISTA Positions Open in Buckhannon

The following are VISTA sites in Buckhannon, WV that are currently accepting applications. For more information about each site, please contact the organization listed.

- Habitat for Humanity – Center for Community Engagement (WVWC) — Contact Dean Kimberly Yousey at yousey@wvwc.edu

- Grant Writing – Stockert Youth Center — Contact Debora Brockleman at stockertyouth@aol.com

- Fund Raising/Programming – Literacy Volunteers Association of Upshur County — Contact Linda Feola at lvaupco@wirefire.net

Cale Hired as Community Partner Relations VISTA

The CCE recently hired Wesleyan senior Brandon Cale to serve as the Community Partner Relations VISTA.  During Cale’s year of VISTA work, he will develop an issues-based model for students working with various community partners.  This model will look at various issues (i.e. housing, poverty, children, environment) and coordinate/develop site locations with partners at the local, regional, state, and national levels that are developmentally appropriate for WVWC students.  Also during his year, Cale will assist with matching community partner needs with faculty course and research needs, and with various offices and organizations on campus for service-related projects and events.

Rawson Engages Student Development in Social Media

On Monday, April 20, AmeriCorps VISTA Brooke Rawson held an information session on social media use with the Student Development office at WVWC.  The session focused on 5 tools that institutions are quickly adopting and utilizing across the U.S.: Facebook, YouTube, Wikis, Google Applications and Twitter.  Rawson also informed the group about best practices within social media and how their respective offices could most effectively utilize these tools.  The slides from that session have been uploaded to Slideshare – a great online tool for sharing and publishing PowerPoint presentations.  To view the presentation, go here.  To view a list of examples used within the presentation, go here.

CE Integration Plan Adopted by Curriculum Council

The proposal submitted to Curriculum Council in February detailing a CE requirement for all Wesleyan students was officially approved this April.  Beginning in the 2010 Fall semester, first-year seminar students will participate in one of eight available Service Days.  After their experience in first-year seminar, students will then complete their community engagement requirement at Wesleyan by taking at least one CE-designated course before graduation.  Within the proposal, the requirements are intentionally designed to be completely integrated into current practices of the first-year seminar, as well as open for designation within other requirements, such as major/minor and general education requirements.  While the requirement will not be instated until Fall 2010, a pilot program for the first year service days will be implemented Fall 2009 with all first-year seminars.

CCE Sponsors Faculty Development Series

On March 10, 2009, the Center for Community Engagement held its first sponsored Faculty Development Series event to discuss the fourth bullet of Wesleyan’s mission statement that indicates graduating students will be able to “demonstrate their local and global citizenship through service.” The workshop engaged faculty in a discussion about the differences between “service” and “engagement”, how the institution as a whole can engage students in current issues, and the various ways service-learning is assessed.

Within the next few months, the series will continue the discussion with workshops on experiential learning, the use of technology and course development strategies. The series will conclude in an open retreat in June 2009 for faculty to develop strategies and plans for course integration via community-based research, policy research, direct service-learning, issue-based learning and more.

CCE Awarded $2,000 Serve 2.0 Grant

In March 2009, the Center for Community Engagement was awarded a $2,000 Serve 2.0 grant from the Bonner Foundation to help a local organization become engaged with their community on the web. With the use of social media applications, such as Facebook and YouTube, the grant will support the newly-formed Main Street Arts Co-Op located in downtown Buckhannon, WV. Students will gather video and stories from local artists in Upshur County and post these to various social media outlets to promote the Arts Co-Op. Since the organization is new, the grant will support the initial marketing and public relation needs, and will engage Wesleyan students with the local community. The launching of this social media campaign will begin in May/June 2009. For more information about the Serve 2.0 initiative, go to http://serve.pbwiki.com/.

Trayless Tuesdays in Effect

In an effort to increase sustainability on campus, every Tuesday for the past month has been “trayless” in Aladdin’s cafeteria. Sponsored by the Sustainbility Task Force – a group of faculty, staff and students – Trayless Tuesdays are just the first step towards building a “greener” campus.

To learn more about why Wesleyan has gone “trayless” on Tuesdays, check out the following video: