MWCC's weekly e-newsletter
Friday, April 21, 2006
MASSACHUSETTS CHANCELLOR OF HIGHER EDUCATION, MWCC AND NSCC HOST "CIVIC ENGAGEMENT ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH”
By Janice Battista
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Chancellor Judith Gill |
Strengthening partnerships with community colleges, state colleges and universities could help communities solve many of our most troubling societal problems. In addition, students could apply the lessons they learn in the classroom to meaningful, real-life community outreach projects, according to Massachusetts Chancellor of Higher Education Judith Gill, who spoke at the college Wednesday, April 19 during a forum on civic engagement and service learning.
Public service was once a key component of public higher education, and can be again, with renewed commitment, Gill said. “What could be more important for public higher education than for our students to really understand the importance of being a civic leader and a true citizen?”
The issue of expanding civic engagement and service learning initiatives will become a priority for the Board of Higher Education, the chancellor said. “We will make this a board initiative, and there will be much for students to gain, much for communities to gain, and also for all of public higher education to gain,” she said.
Gill said the board could work closely with legislators to provide incentives for colleges and universities to expand existing service learning programs and launch new ones. A civic engagement summit is slated to take place in the fall to showcase what individual colleges and universities have implemented, exchange ideas and create a more cohesive movement among public higher education.
The civic engagement forum was hosted by the chancellor, MWCC President Daniel M. Asquino, and North Shore Community College President Wayne Burton. The two colleges are leaders in Massachusetts’ public higher education civic engagement movement. Noted service learning/economic development authority Kenneth Reardon, associate professor and chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University, delivered the keynote address. Reardon’s research interests focus on community-based planning in severely distressed urban neighborhoods, alternative approaches to community development, urban social movements, and municipal government reform.
MWCC recently established the Center for Democracy and Humanity to oversee many of the college’s civic engagement programs. The college is reaching into area communities with a growing number of “civic scholars,” students who engage in community work, such as tutoring middle school students in math and one-on-one parenting support for new mothers provided by nursing students.
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Kenneth Reardon |
“We can make a difference,” Asquino said. “Partnerships are so very important. I have seen, time and time again, students who are out in the community get so excited when they connect what they’re learning with the community.” When students graduate, “they leave with a resume and a sense of commitment and understanding that they can make a difference,” he said.
Burton said the civic engagement movement stands to gain momentum with the chancellor serving as one of its chief advocates. He encouraged academic leaders and educators to work together to help strengthen communities through direct involvement. “We owe it to our students. We owe it to our state, and frankly, we owe it to our country,” he said.
In his talk, Reardon shared how the impoverished city of East St. Louis, Illinois rebounded from decades of severe economic distress with the support of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Reardon established and directed the university’s highly regarded East St. Louis Action Research Project, which worked to clean up blighted neighborhoods, build parks, enhance public transportation and access to jobs, and implement widespread housing improvements through grants and volunteer efforts.
“Our students began to weep when they saw the results their efforts made in assisting working class people move into their first decent homes. Those kids will never be the same,” he said.
Gill, who has worked in 20 states, said that Massachusetts gives the least recognition to public higher education. “It’s our responsibility to try to change that, and I truly believe that with the commitment we make to civic engagement, we can change the way the public, the legislature and the newspapers think about public higher education,” she said. “In doing so we will gain the respect public higher education has in other states.”
Gill and Reardon were joined in a panel discussion by John Reiff, director of Community Service Learning, UMass-Amherst, and Barbara Canyes, Executive Director for the Massachusetts Campus Compact, a nonprofit coalition of 65 college and university presidents committed to developing the civic skills of students, building partnerships with communities, and integrating civic engagement with teaching and research. Dwight E. Giles, professor of higher education administration at UMass-Boston, served as moderator.
Two MWCC Faculty Members Selected for Fulbright Program
Madhu Sharma, professor of English as a Second Language, and Marilyn Pennell, associate professor of Broadcasting and Telecommunication, have been selected for the prestigious Fulbright-Hayes Seminars Abroad Program for 2006.
The program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, provides study and travel seminars abroad for U.S. educators in the social sciences and humanities for the purpose of improving their understanding and knowledge of the people and cultures of other countries. There are approximately seven to 10 seminars with 14 to 16 participants in each seminar annually.
Sharma, who also teaches Spanish at the college, will spend a month this summer in Argentina and Uruguay, learning about the countries through seminars and travel experiences. When she returns, she will develop a project focusing on the South American culture to benefit students and teachers in her classes, as well as at high schools and colleges locally and nationally. The project will be submitted to the Department of Education for use by other educators.
“I’m very excited that I was selected for this program, and
look forward to sharing the information with as many people as I can,” she
said. “I think it’s an honor for any academician to be a Fulbright
scholar. It’s going to be a very good experience.”
Pennell will travel this summer to China to study the country’s
history and culture, as well as its media. She plans to develop a project
that will benefit broadcasting students by providing a more global perspective
on the media and issues relating to free speech in different countries.
“When we study the media in this country, sometimes we study it out of context. It’s important for students to look at it in a global context in terms of how information is disseminated and how media systems are related to governmental systems,” Pennell said. “I’ve lived in the Far East and have done professional projects there. Nothing can substitute for actually being in a country and meeting its people face to face. I’ve wanted to be a Fulbright scholar for as long as I’ve been teaching, if not longer, so I’m thrilled to have been selected, and honored.”
Sharma and Pennell said they are delighted to have the opportunity to represent MWCC as cultural ambassadors of the United States and continue a trend started by Psychology Professor Ray Coleman, who was selected to attend three seminars during the 1990s, in Japan, Eastern Europe and Poland.
“It’s a very intensive program,” Coleman said. “You’re busy from early in the morning until well into the night. It’s well worth it. By the time you leave, you have a good sense of what’s going on in the country and you have a good opportunity to meet a lot of people in the country.”
Other MWCC News :
MWCC’s Leadership Academy will present an interactive, two-hour forum on Appreciating and Motivating the Generations on Tuesday, May 2 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the James Murphy Conference Room. Presenters Roberta Chinsky Matuson and Michael Shipman of Human Resource Solutions will discuss ways to create an environment that supports a multigenerational workforce and student body.
• MWCC's annual Evening of Excellence will be held on Thursday, May 11 starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Four Points by Sheraton in Leominster. Students will be honored with merit and scholarship awards during this special ceremony. For more information, contact Jackie Suhoski at (978) 630-9142.
• Philanthropist and former Massachusetts Commissioner of Commerce and Development Ronald M. Ansin, will serve as commencement speaker at the college’s 41st Commencement, Thursday, May 18 at 6 p.m. Jimmy S. Pappas will be recognized as MWCC alumnus of the year and three Service Above Self honorees will be recognized.
• MWCC’s popular Kid Expo is doubling its efforts this year to provide health and safety information to families by holding events on two dates in two locations. Kid Expo 2006 will take place on Saturday, May 20 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the college’s Gardner campus, AND on Saturday June 3 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at HealthAlliance Hospital Leominster Campus. Both events will feature a wide variety of hands-on health and safety activities for children and families, food, music and fun. Free ID kits from the Molly Bish Foundation will be available to children. For more information, log on to http://mollybish.mwcc.edu or call Amanda Landry at (978) 630-9564.
• There’s still time to be a member of the MWCC Pacer’s Team at the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, taking place at the college June 9 and 10. Please consider joining our team and walking to raise funds for cancer research! You can register for our team online at http://www.acsevents.org/relay/MAgardner or you can complete a registration packet available from Jan LeClair, JoAnn Brooks, or Sue Goldstein.
• Registrations are now being accepted for MWCC Foundation, Inc.’s 11th Annual Golf Tournament to benefit student scholarships. The tournament will take place Tuesday, July 18 at Sterling National Country Club, 33 Albright Road, Sterling. The cost is $175 per person to play and $40 for dinner guests. Corporate sponsorship opportunities are still available. Two raffle drawings and an auction will be held. Registration will start at 8:30 a.m. with a breakfast buffet starting at 9. The shotgun start will be at 10 a.m. The tournament will conclude with a social hour from 3 to 4 p.m. and dinner and awards at 4. Players must wear soft spiked golf shoes. Proper attire is required: All golfers must wear a collared shirt. For more information about registering or becoming a sponsor, contact Diane Hamilton at (978) 630-9387 or dhamilton@mwcc.mass.edu.