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Short Term 2010 - Vol 2, Issue 3
In This Issue
Project Pericles: Debating for Democracy (D4D)
Alumni Feature: Julie Miller-Hendry '09
2010 Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series
The Fourth Annual Harward Center for Community Partnerships Awards Celebration
PLTC 423: Internships in Public Policy
Student Spotlight: Molly Radis '10
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Letter from the Interim Director
Patrick WilliamsDear Friends,

Out in back of the Harward Center grows a wonderful, snarly bush that has been my favorite point of contemplative focus since coming to the Harward Center in January.  Last week, when my colleague Laura Sewall told me that the snarls were actually an invasive species, I took the news as a metaphor for the work here.  Civic engagement invites us to contemplate and interact with snarly and complex systems.  Old and invasive new forces sometimes clash as the people who work in these systems seek solutions to what some academics are now calling "wicked problems," the kinds of problems that don't yield easily to solutions.  The sustained commitment and communication needed to solve wicked problems is what we try to nurture at the Harward Center.

This newsletter reports on events that have occurred since our last newsletter and celebrates the accomplishments of many individuals and organizations with whom we work.  You will see that since the last newsletter we have welcomed back our colleague Peggy Rotundo, whose service in the state legislature brings a rich perspective to everything we do.  The public policy course that Peggy describes here benefits enormously from her relationships with important leaders throughout the state.  You will also read about several events that grew out of our association with the national organization Project Pericles.  In addition to the Project Pericles activities our students participated in, Emily Kane, Whitehouse Professor of Sociology, was just named a Periclean Faculty Leader.  When you read about our awards celebration, what you won't hear are the vibrant voices of the many individuals who have contributed to the Center's mission.  Speaking on behalf of the van drivers who shepherd students to their sites of civic engagement, Ernie Ashton made us laugh and weep with his stories about driving our students.

As graduation approaches, we prepare to say goodbye to a fabulous group of seniors who brought great talent and energy to their public work.  Personally, I will miss our cohort of community-based research fellows, with whom I met throughout the winter semester.  One of them, Mariam Alam, presented her research on the use of pictograms on prescription labels for low-literacy populations in the Posters on the Hill event in Washington, D.C. in April.  Another, Julia Lee, who worked with the Community Food Assessment, will join Community HealthCorps next year.  Congratulations to all our seniors!  

We welcome your reactions, questions, suggestions, and stories.  The summer is a relatively quiet time at the Harward Center, and we'd love to hear from you.

Best wishes for a wonderful summer,
Georgia Nigro
Interim Director, Harward Center for Community Partnerships
Project Pericles: Debating 4 Democracy (D4D)
Submitted by Ellen Alcorn, Assistant Director, Community-Based Learning Program
D4DBates students choose many different pathways to civic engagement, including direct service on an ongoing or a one-time basis, academic community-based learning, community-based research, and public policy.  Each year, our partnerships-here in Lewiston, nationally, and internationally-continue to grow and evolve, providing richer and more exciting opportunities for student engagement.

This year, public policy was no exception.  In addition to a public policy course (see article by Peggy Rotundo below), the Harward Center sponsored two programs in our Civic Forum Series (centered on public affairs and policy issues of significance to Bates, Maine and beyond). The programs were "Tomorrow My Life: Orphans in Post-Genocide Rwanda," with guest speaker Berthe Kayitesi, author and survivor of the genocide of the Tutsis, and "Dealing with Climate Change: The Debate among Policy Makers."

In addition to these "home-grown" opportunities for students, there were two opportunities for students made possible by Bates' membership in Project Pericles, a New York-based non-profit organization that promotes the importance of teaching the principles and tools of participatory democracy in higher education.  While Project Pericles engages various stakeholders in higher education - faculty, administrators, students - its student-focused program is called Debating for Democracy (D4D), the hallmarks of which are a one-day training called D4D On the Road that teaches student activists the tools of accessing political power to create social change, and a two-day national conference that brings students from the 22 Periclean member campuses together to meet and engage in a series of workshops led by leading experts in a variety of fields such as politics, education, and the environment.

On January 30th, a mix of 50 students, faculty members, and local community organizers participated in the D4D On the Road program.  Led by Jackie Kendall from Midwest Academy (a national training institute based in Chicago committed to advancing the struggle for social, economic, and racial justice), participants learned how to use the tools of direct action organizing to advance issue campaigns at the local, state, and national levels.  "D4D On the Road was concise and well organized," says Bates student Catherine Elliott.  "I loved the wide range of participants, and I thought the tasks we were asked to do were meaningful and productive."

Catherine also attended this year's D4D national conference, which took place in New York City at the Eugene Lang College of The New School for Liberal Arts on April 8-9.  There, she joined 60 college students from across the country, all of whom attended a series of workshops on issues such as the education gap, social entrepreneurship, and the current state of journalism.  At the heart of the conference was an initiative that asked students, prior to attending the conference, to write a letter to an elected official about an issue of concern.   Six student teams were chosen to present their letters at a "D4D Legislative Hearing," presided over by former US Senators Bob Kerrey and Harris Wofford.

For more information on Project Pericles or the D4D initiatives, please visit the Project Pericles website.
Alumni Feature: Julie Miller-Hendry '09
Submitted by Marty Deschaines, Assistant Director, Community Volunteerism and Student Leadership Development
Julie Miller-Hendry graduated in May 2009 and has spent this year as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Rhode Island Free Clinic in Providence.  While at Bates, she was active in the community through the Harward Center in a wide range of ways, both academic and volunteer.  In September, she will begin working for Epic, a medical software company, in Madison, Wisconsin.

Click here to watch a YouTube video of Julie in action!
2010 Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series
Submitted by Kristen Cloutier, Assistant Director, Center Operations
ConcertThe 2010 Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series begins on Thursday, July 8 with the Caribbean sounds of the Pan Loco Steel Band.  Lakeside concerts start at 6 p.m. on consecutive Thursdays in July and August and are held at the Florence Keigwin Amphitheater, Lake Andrews, behind the Olin Arts Center.  The rain site is the Bates Chapel.

Sponsored by the Harward Center for Community Partnerships and the Garcelon Society at Bates, along with the Bingham Betterment Fund, the concerts are open to the public at no cost. Picnics are encouraged, as is bringing lawn chairs or blankets.

Here is this year's line-up:
  • Thursday, July 8 - Pan Loco Steel Band (sounds of the Caribbean)
  • Thursday, July 15 - Anni Clark (folk)
  • Thursday, July 22 - Highland String Trio (Celtic, Americana, bluegrass, Franco)
  • Thursday, July 29 - The Zulu Leprechauns (folk-rock)
  • Thursday, August 5 - Henry Vayo (hammered dulcimer)
  • Thursday, August 12 - Irish Hill (Celtic, bluegrass, old-time fiddle)
For more information, please contact Brenda Pelletier.
The Fourth Annual Harward Center for Community Partnerships Awards Celebration
Submitted by Kristen Cloutier, Assistant Director, Center Operations
Twenty individuals and organizations were the recipients of the fourth annual Bates College Harward Center for Community Partnerships Awards.  Recipients were recognized in a celebration at the Edmund S. Muskie Archives on May 4, 2010.

Firmly rooted in the academic purpose of the College, the Harward Center serves as a focal point for connected learning that fuses academic discussion and community.  In union with this mission, award recipients connect Bates with the larger community through collaboration, research and service.

The following individuals and organizations were honored:
  • Maryli Tiemann, recipient of the 2010 James and Sally Carignan Award for Career Achievement;
  • Sarah Davis, Bates class of 2010, Emily Grady, Bates class of 2010, and Julia Lee, Bates class of 2010, recipients of the 2010 Harward Center Student Award for Outstanding Community-Based Academic Work;
  • Carlen Arima, Bates class of 2010, Emily Crawford, Bates class of 2010, and Sarah Simpkins, Bates class of 2010, recipients of the 2010 Harward Center Award for Outstanding Community Volunteerism and Student Leadership;
  • Assistant Professors of Environmental Studies Holly Ewing and Sonja Pieck, recipients of the 2010 Harward Center Faculty Award for Outstanding New Community Partnership Initiative;
  • Lecturer of Biology Karen Palin, recipient of the 2010 Harward Center Faculty Award for Sustained Commitment to Community Partnership;
  • David "Ernie" Ashton, Robert Harnois, and Omer Parent, Community-Based Learning Shuttle Drivers, recipients of the 2010 Harward Center Staff Award for Outstanding Support for Community Partnership;
  • Shanna Bruno, Administrative Assistant, Office of College Advancement, recipient of the 2010 Harward Center Staff Award for Community Volunteerism and Leadership;
  • Androscoggin Bank and the Volunteer Lawyers Project, recipients of the 2010 Harward Center Community Partner Award for Outstanding New Initiative;
  • The Downtown Education Collaborative, recipient of the 2010 Harward Center Community Partner Award for Sustained Commitment to Partnership;
  • The Community Food Assessment, recipient of the 2010 Harward Center Award for Outstanding Community Project/Partnership;
  • Ron Joseph, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, recipient of the 2010 Bates-Morse Mountain Award for Environmental Stewardship;
  • Bob Cummings, recipient of the 2010 Bates-Morse Mountain Award for Environmental Lifetime Achievement.
PLTC 423: Internships in Public Policy
Submitted by Peggy Rotundo, Director of Strategic and Policy Initiatives
Policy CourseThe Politics Department, in conjunction with the Harward Center, once again offered the Internships in Public Policy Research course during the second semester, taught by Dr. Nicole Witherbee, the Principal in the consulting firm, PolicyEdge.  Students had the opportunity to participate in researching and developing public policy that was taken up by the Maine State Legislature during the winter and spring sessions.  Students worked with various state agencies, non-profit organizations and advocacy groups.  They also visited the State House where they met with the Governor and the Speaker of the House to discuss their projects. 

Placements included:
  • The Maine International Trade Center
  • Maine Fair Trade Campaign
  • Senator Justin Alfond's Office (Chair of the Legislature's Education and Cultural Affairs Committee)
  • Maine Center for Economic Policy
  • Restaurant Opportunities Center (work on the paid sick days legislation)
  • Change That Works
  • Maine People's Alliance
  • The Muskie School of Public Policy (New Americans Project)
  • St. Mary's Nutrition Center (Community Food Assessment)
For more information on the course, please contact Peggy Rotundo.
Student Spotlight: Molly Radis '10
Molly Radis"After reflecting on my recently completed senior thesis, I am so glad that I chose to complete a service project that allowed me to interact with members of the community. Staff members at the Harward Center connected me to Regis Bealieu, recently retired District Health Coordinator. Regis and I worked extremely well together over the course of the year as I helped him with three projects related to physical activity in local elementary schools. I first worked on a data analysis project in which I found that children who were more fit performed better on Math, Language, and Reading standardized tests. I also saw this positive exercise-achievement relationship displayed during the Pedometer Pilot Program that I implemented at Farwell, Martel, and McMahon Elementary Schools. I gave 92 students pedometers, and asked them to record their daily step values for one week. The students seemed to thoroughly enjoy the program, and excitedly told me all about their progress. Most importantly, I spent over 75 hours in two fourth grade classrooms at Farwell Elementary leading movement-based activities. I formed close relationships with the teachers and the students. Even after completing my thesis, I have returned to Farwell weekly to continue leading activities and to watch them perform songs I taught them at a school-wide assembly. This project has been extremely rewarding and I feel lucky that I had the chance to work with such wonderful members of the Lewiston community."
Questions?
Please contact Kristen Cloutier at [email protected] or 207-786-6202
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