The Communicator 

Fall 2012

Civic Engagement  

  

Youth Vote Impact

Young people age 18-29 made their impact felt again in the 2012 election. According to turnout estimates released by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University, an estimated 23 million young Americans under the age of 30 voted in the 2012 presidential election, with youth voter turnout at 50% of those eligible to vote. This turnout rate was very close to the 2008 rate of 52%, and 2004 rate of close to 50%, indicating that youth held steady in their participation. The Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University puts the 2012 voter turnout at 58% of all eligible voters, compared to 62% who voted in 2008, and 60% who cast ballots in 2004. As this generation continues to grow into voting age eligibility, its proportion of the overall voting turnout has increased. Youth made up 19% of voters in this year's presidential election, compared to 18% in the 2008 election, and 17% in the 2004 election. The 18-29 year olds are 21% of the 2012 voting eligible population.

 

Not only did the youth turn out, they made an impact. The CIRCLE data (http://www.civicyouth.org/) shows that if 50% of the youth had voted differently, or if they had all stayed home, in the four swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida, those states' electoral votes would have changed and transformed the outcome of the presidential election. Concerning Oklahoma, while the overall voter turnout in the non-battleground states was much lower than the average turnout, the Center for the Study of the American Electorate indicates that Oklahoma experienced one of the lowest turnout rates of all. Data for the youth vote at the state level are not yet available. Considering the lack of polling places on Oklahoma higher education campuses, the extreme brevity of early voting opportunity compared with many other states, and the challenging process to vote by absentee ballot, Oklahoma's youth turnout will be an interesting comparison to that of other states where more convenient registration and voting systems are in place. Oklahoma Campus Compact would like to thank and congratulate all educators throughout the state for your role in encouraging youth to get informed and participate in this very basic and critical form of civic engagement, and we look forward to working with you to continue this work.

 

2012 Oklahoma Campus Compact Voter Registration Contest Winners

 iVote Logo

Congratulate yourselves for setting a new record this year for the number of higher education institutions participating in the Oklahoma Campus Compact Voter Registration Contest! A total of 24 members of Oklahoma Campus Compact participated by registering 3,880 students to vote during the five-day contest period from September 17th to 21st. The winning institution at each enrollment level will be recognized and receive its award at the December 6, 2012 meeting of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. Many campuses worked very hard. The winners and first runners-up are:

 

RED (1 to 3,000 FTE)

Winner:  Eastern Oklahoma State College (8.1%)

Runner Up:  Seminole State College (4.6%)

 

WHITE (3,001 to 7,000 FTE)

Winner:  Cameron University (6.3%)

Runner Up:  Northern Oklahoma College (5.5%)

 

BLUE (7,001 to 30,000)

Winner:  University of Central Oklahoma (7.9%)

Runner Up:  University of Oklahoma (3.5%)

 

2012 Oklahoma Civic Health Index

 

The 2012 Oklahoma Civic Health Index (OCHI) will be released December 4th at 2 p.m. in the Oklahoma State Capitol historic Blue Room and presented to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education at the December 6, 2012 meeting. Produced by the National Conference on Citizenship (http://www.ncoc.net/) and the University of Central Oklahoma, this report examines civic activity in the state, with a focus on civic skills and voter education. Oklahoma Campus Compact collaborated with funding and research on the project. The release of the 2012 OCHI will be followed up with some community discussions around the state and the distribution of an infographic poster highlighting key data to schools and libraries. Civic Health Indexes for the nation, various other states, and some cities are available at http://www.ncoc.net/CHI.

Awards

 

2012 Oklahoma Campus Compact State Award Winners

 

Please join us in congratulating the 2012 Oklahoma Campus Compact State Award Winners, announced at the 2012 Heartland Conference in St. Louis on October 12th.

  

 

 

Community Engagement Professional of the Year

Dr. Pat Fountain, East Central University

 

This award recognizes one professional from a member campus in Oklahomawho has worked toward the institutionalization of academic service-learning and/or service, created and strived toward a vision of service for his/her campus, promoted higher education as a public good, provided exceptional support to faculty and students, and has been instrumental in forming innovative campus-community partnerships. Dr. Fountain is a Professor of Business Administration who has been the Service Learning Director at East Central University in Ada for the past six years. At his institution Pat wrote the policies, rules, and processes that were established to approve individual courses as service-learning courses. He is a past recipient of an OkCC Service-Learning Incentive grant, and has helped ECU faculty to also successfully compete for this grant. Pat administered an AmeriCorps partial education award program for 15 students and exemplifies the professional idea for this award.

 

Excellence in Community-Based Teaching and Scholarship

Professor Dann May, Oklahoma City University

 

This award recognizes one faculty member from a member campus in Oklahoma who has successfully incorporated service-learning into at least one course with demonstrable outcomes, and conducted outstanding research in the field of service-learning and engaged scholarship. Dann May serves as the Director of the Vivian Wimberly Center for Ethics and Servant Leadership at Oklahoma City University where, under his leadership, every undergraduate student on campus takes at least one service-learning course. Dann teaches 2-3 service-learning courses yearly, and has conducted significant research on the effectiveness of service-learning in the curriculum, which he has presented at state, regional, and national conferences. Dann's hard work bears fruit, with over 80% of the students at OCU reporting that the service-learning experience enhanced their academic experience.

 

Outstanding Community and Campus Collaboration

Mrs. Rene Hurst and Ms. Lisa McConnell, Oklahoma State University-OKC and Ms. Liz Brandon, Regional Food Bank

 

This award recognizes a sustained campus-community partnership in the state of Oklahoma that demonstrates a true partnership as evidenced by community agency involvement in the development of the course goals and learning outcomes, measurable impact on students, faculty and institution, measurable impact on the lives of those served by the community agency, and commitment of community agency to student learning. Each year Business Administration Associate Professor Lisa McConnell at OSU-Oklahoma City partners with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to raise awareness of the hunger issue in Oklahoma. As a major initiative, her Business Management students direct the on-campus efforts of the fall and spring food drives. The management students work with the Regional Food Bank to design, implement, and conduct the annual food drive. Student learning outcomes in the course are met through establishment of a management plan related to the project. The Regional Food Bank works closely with Ms. McConnell and students to organize the timeline and process, which includes box drop off, collection, loading and weighing all of the food collected. Students also donate time to pack food in boxes on the assembly line. Ms. McConnell started this partnership with the Regional Food Bank over 10 years ago, and a total of 50 students per year have participated in the endeavor. The impact on the community is the provision of more than 8,000 meals since the program's inception.

 

Programs

 

President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll 

 

Applications are open for the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, a program which annually highlights the role colleges and universities play in solving community problems. This program helps to gain recognition for your institution's commitment to service and as a service leader in the community, and to fulfill your institution's civic mission. See the Oklahoma Campus Compact website for the nine Oklahoma institutions of higher education on the 2011 President's Honor Roll: http://www.okhighered.org/okcampuscompact/.

 

The deadline to apply for the 2012 Honor Roll is Thursday, November 29, 2012. More information and application forms are available at: http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/initiatives/honorroll.asp 

 

Oklahoma Campus Compact 2011 Annual Report

 

Oklahoma Campus Compact's purpose is to serve its members in their efforts to educate citizens and serve communities. One way we serve our members is the Annual Report. This report highlights findings from last winter's Campus Compact Membership Survey and Oklahoma Campus Compact's programs and institutional successes. OkCC continues to have one of the highest response rates (81 percent) to this survey among the 35 state offices. We thank you for your commitment to providing this information because it helps us to gauge where we are and determine where we want to go.

 

Some highlights of this survey, which was presented to the 13 presidents on the OkCC Executive Committee on November 7:

  • Oklahoma member campuses' students participated in 6.4 million hours of service, translating to more than $136 million of time contributed to their communities in the areas of K-12 education, health care, tutoring and mentoring, diversity, hunger, senior/elder services and on-campus service.
  • More support is needed for administrators who carry multiple responsibilities and are charged with coordinating service efforts for their campuses.

Please see the full report for more updates from 2011 on community service, service-learning and civic engagement activities on campus, campus-community partnerships, and much more information you and your colleagues have provided.

 

Campus Compact 2012 Annual Membership Survey

 

The annual Campus Compact Membership Survey is underway. Every Compact member institution's participation in this national survey is vital. Your participation helps assure that your institution's commitment and resources dedicated to service-learning and civic engagement are reflected in all our data. The results allow you to compare your campus' progress with state and national trends, and help all of us better articulate our case to elected officials, funders, and to the media. Last year, Oklahoma members achieved an 81% completion rate. We would like to reach 90-100% this year! The deadline for completion of the survey is Friday, December 14, 2012. The survey is available through the national Compact website, www.compact.org.

 

We encourage you to review the list of Frequently Asked Questions. Please direct questions to Dr. Amanda Wittman at survey@compact.org or (617) 357-1881, x205. If you are not the primary contact for your institution, but you have information related to the survey and would like to make sure it gets included, we can help you find the primary contact on your campus. Please contact Miranda Outon at mouton@osrhe.edu or (405) 225-9150.

 

Presidents Leadership Summit 2012

 

Campus Compact's Presidents Leadership Summit 2012 convened college and university presidents and chancellors in mid-October for a lively examination of the intersection between campus civic engagement and economic development efforts. Dr. Thomas K. McKeon, President of Tulsa Community College, attended on behalf of Chancellor Glen D. Johnson, Chair of the OkCC Executive Committee and Chancellor of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. Ms. Gina Wekke, Executive Director of Campus Compact also attended the Summit. A white paper, Engaged Learning Economies: Aligning Civic Engagement and Economic Development in Community-Campus Partnerships, provided the framework for the discussion. There will be additional follow-up with OkCC campus representatives and other advisory councils and constituents.

 

Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Collegiate Challenge Grant

 

 Three campuses in Oklahoma will participate in the MLK Day of Service Collegiate Challenge Grant program. Cameron University, which has participated in every MLK Day of Service event since the program's establishment 5 years ago, Rogers State University, and the University of Central Oklahoma. This mini grant aids campuses in soliciting donations and commitments for a large, high-impact day of service which honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and in creating lasting campus-community partnerships, encouraging students & community volunteers to make a long-term commitment to service, and meeting specific community needs. Funding is made possible through a matching grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service, Wisconsin Campus Compact, and administered regionally through Montana Campus Compact.

President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll 

Professional Development

 

If you are interested in professional development, there are a lot of opportunities to put on your calendar through Spring 2013. Alert! The November 30 application deadline for the Diving Deep Institute! The Engaged Campus webinar series, continuing January through March, is as close as your own computer and very budget-friendly. And looking ahead, we will be back in Tulsa for the Campus Compact Heartland Conference with our colleagues from Missouri, and Kansas in Fall 2013.

 

2012 Campus Compact Heartland Conference

 

The 2012 Heartland Conference, hosted by the Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma Campus Compacts October 11th - 12th in St. Louis, was attended by faculty, administrators and students from eight states and the District of Columbia who networked and learned from one another at 20 different sessions. The conference opened with an inspirational welcome from Chris Krehmeyer, President and CEO of Beyond Housing, a St. Louis neighborhood support nonprofit organization. Faculty and administrators from fourteen campuses in five states presented skill-building sessions where participants explored scholarship, celebrated successes and discussed challenging issues and solutions. In the keynote speech, Ken Reardon, Professor and Director of the Graduate Division in City and Regional Planning at the University of Memphis, shared his experiences with participatory action research through his early work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he established the East St. Louis Action Research Project. This interdisciplinary community development assistant project involved thousands of undergraduate and graduate architecture, landscape architecture, planning, law, history, sociology and engineering students in a wide range of collaborative research projects that have played a pivotal role in revitalizing several of East St. Louis' most economically-distressed neighborhoods.

 

The conference concluded with presentation of the state awards for community engagement professional, teaching and community-based scholarship, and campus - community partnerships for each of the host state Campus Compacts. Plan on joining us next fall when Oklahoma will host the Heartland Conference in Tulsa!

 

OkCC Spring Workshop

 

We would like your input on topics for the OkCC Community Service / Service-Learning Director Spring Workshop. Watch for a survey in your inbox soon, and tell us what you'd like to hear about and discuss with colleagues from across the state.

 

Diving Deep Institute

 

 

Campus Compact, in partnership with Iowa Campus Compact, will welcome seasoned practitioners and a team of distinguished facilitators to explore the future of the service-learning and civic and community engagement movement through Diving Deep: Campus Compact's Institute for Experienced Civic and Community Engagement Practitioners. Those chosen will participate in a stimulating community of diverse voices in which participants - through both structured programming and accidental discovery - will explore unknown territories, bring to the surface their own assumptions and come to an understanding on a deeper, more personal level of what it means to be a leader and professional in this field.

 

Date: July 9-12, 2013

Location: Des Moines, Iowa

Registration: $1,000 Compact members; $2,000 non-members (rates increase after June 1, 2013). Includes some meals. Applications due November 30, 2012.

Contact: Dr. Amanda Wittman, Director of Academic and Strategic Initiatives, awittman@compact.org, (617) 357-1881 x205

Website: www.compact.org/events/divingdeep/ 

 

Campus Compact's Engaged Campus Webinar Series

 

This series of webinars encourages member dialogue about impact, assessment and the connection between civic engagement and emergent trends.

 

Registration
: $50 per webinar for Compact members; $100 per webinar for non-members

Contact: Dr. Amanda Wittman, Director of Academic and Strategic Initiatives, awittman@compact.org, (617) 357-1881 x205

Information: www.compact.org/campus-compact-engaged-campus-webinar-series/Links and login information to each webinar will be sent after registration.

 

Webinars

 

Engaged Learning Economies: Linking Civic Engagement and Economic Development

Date: Thursday, January 17, 2013

Time: 1:00 -2:00 p.m. CDT

Presenters: Dr. Amanda Wittman, Director of Academic and Strategic Initiatives, Campus Compact, and Ms. Terah Crews, University Innovation Fellow, Arizona State University.

 

An Engaged Learning Economy connects economic outreach and civic engagement in community-campus partnerships. This webinar will explore the value of creating engaged learning economies to develop economically vibrant communities. Case studies will be used to highlight and discuss approaches to aligning civic engagement and economic development efforts.

 

The Engaged Campus: Linking Civic Engagement and Social Entrepreneurism 

Date: Thursday, February 14, 2013

Time: 1:00 -2:00 p.m. CDT

Presenters: Dr. Thomas Schnaubelt, Executive Director, Haas Center for Public Service, Stanford University, and Jacqueline Smith, J.D., Advisor to the President for Social Embeddedness and Executive Director, University Initiatives, Arizona State University.

 

This webinar will explore connections between civic engagement and social entrepreneurism and focus on areas for strategic alignment. How are institutions linking these efforts? Are there focus areas for greatest impact? What are the resources for connecting social entrepreneurism and civic engagement activities?

 

The Engaged Campus: Linking Student and Academic Affairs

Date: Thursday, March 21, 2013

Time: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. CDT

Presenters: To be announced

 

This webinar will involve participants in a discussion about creating partnerships between student and academic affairs in civic engagement strategies. Drawing on the perspectives of presenters from both student and academic affairs, we will share examples of successful models, opportunities for collaboration and the outcomes of greater alignment.

 

PACE (Pathways to Achieving Civic Engagement) Conference

This annual conference at Elon University in North Carolina provides faculty, staff, administrators and community stakeholders with valuable information and skills they can utilize in their civic engagement work. Workshops provide research, resources and best practice models for every aspect of civic engagement work.

 

Date: February 13, 2013

Location: Elon, North Carolina

Registration: Opens November 15, 2012.  $75 Compact members; $100 non-members.

Contact: Leslie Garvin, Associate Director, NC Campus Compact, lgarvin@elon.edu, (336)  278-7278

Website: www.elon.edu/e-web/org/nccc/confMeet-PACE.xhtml 

 

Gulf South Summit 2013

 

Kentucky Campus Compact and its member institutions will host the

2013 Gulf South Summit in Louisville, Kentucky from February 27-March 1, 2013. The conference theme stems from the role of education in democratic citizenship that is advanced in A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy's Future. Caryn McTighe Musil, Senior Vice President of AAC&U and a leading contributing author to the report, will address the Summit as one of the keynote speakers. Julie Hatcher, Executive Director of the Center for Service and Learning at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis will explore the role of service-learning as private gain and public good. Silas House, author, activist and the National Endowment for the Humanities Chair of Appalachian Studies at the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College will inspire conference participants to be more engaged in leading active, civic-minded lives alongside students, and to intentionally explore roles as educators in strengthening democracy and building social capital.

 

Date: February 27-March 1, 2013

Location: Louisville, Kentucky

Registration: Opened October 23, 2012. Please see Contact.

Contact: Kim Shaver, 2013 Gulf South Summit Co-Chair, kim.shaver@kycompact.org

Website: http://kycompact.nku.edu

 

6th International Barcelona Conference on Higher Education

 

Organized by the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi), this conference is focused on knowledge, engagement and higher education. The conference will provide visibility and will critically examine one of the most significant trends: the growth of the theory and practice of engagement as a key feature in the evolution of higher education. GUNi strives to approach the challenge of engagement by higher education institutions in the larger society in an integrated manner: it will explore ways in which engagement enhances teaching, learning and research; it will approach engagement in ways that accept the multiple sites and epistemologies of knowledge, as well as the reciprocity and mutuality in learning and education through engagement.In exploring this contemporary issue, the Conference will attempt to describe how university-community engagement is currently evolving and will propose to go beyond by offering new visions and ways for the future. GUNi invites the international academic community to jointly analyze how to build transformative knowledge to drive social change.

 

Date: May 13-15, 2013

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Contact:info@guninetwork.org

Registration: Open through website.  225 € (euros) GUNi members; 315 € (euros) non-members (rates increase after March 15, 2013).

Website:www.guninetwork.org/guni.conference/2013-guni-conference 

 

International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE)

 

IARSLCE will host Reinvigorating our Process of Discovery: Research and Best Practices in Service Learning and Civic Engagement at the University of Nebraska at Omaha next fall to showcase research and best practices in the field of service learning and community engagement.

 

Date: November 6-8, 2013

Location: Hilton Omaha, 1001 Cass Street, Omaha,Nebraska

Information and Call for Proposals: IARSCLE website at

www.researchslce.org

Other Updates

 

"Value of Volunteer Time" added to OkCC Web Resources

 

Need a figure for calculating the value of your students' service? You can now find a link to Independent Sector's latest Value of Volunteer Time information on the front page of the OkCC website! http://www.independentsector.org/volunteer_time has the latest national and state data on the value of a volunteer hour.

 

 

OkCC Fed Logo

In This Issue
Programs Update
Professional Development

www.okhighered.org/campus-com/

 

 If you have any

questions about items in

 this newsletter or need

assistance, please contact:  Ms. Gina Wekke, Executive Director

Oklahoma Campus Compact

Post Office Box 108850

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

73101

(405) 225-9150

gwekke@osrhe.edu