Civic Engagement – Page 2 – Roth on Wesleyan

Civic Engagement – Living United

December 8, 2010 by Michael S. Roth '78

Yesterday the faculty approved a new Certificate Program in Civic Engagement, the culmination of more than a year’s effort to bring together service learning, community research and other courses at Wesleyan that link work on campus to participation in the public sphere. To quote from the proposal that was submitted to the Educational Policy Committee: “Civic engagement encompasses a wide range of activities in which individuals work to strengthen their communities, to realize common goods, to enhance the capacities and dispositions necessary for democratic self-rule, and in general to deliberately shape their common life…The Certificate is structured to provide an understanding of what civic engagement involves. …During their sophomore through senior years, CEC students will complete a series of structured academic and co-curricular activities including courses, volunteering, practicums and opportunities for reflection that will enable them to develop a broad understanding of the varied components of civic engagement.”

Wesleyan has long been known as a politically engaged institution. I am delighted that we have formally connected that reputation to interdisciplinary academic work. More information on this program will be available through the Center for Community Partnerships and the Office of Academic Affairs.

We also learned yesterday that Wesleyan met our ambitious goal of raising $125,000 for the United Way fund drive. Our local United Way has been doing extraordinary work in Middlesex County to combat homelessness and substance abuse, to prepare youngsters for school, and to support people who need a leg up while looking for a job. I’m so proud of the Wes contribution, and I want to thank Shawn Hill, Mike Sciola and Frank Kuan for inspiring all of us to Live United!

Planning the Balance of Autonomy and Alignment

June 25, 2015February 4, 2010 by Michael S. Roth '78

On Friday I will be meeting with the faculty in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics to hear their thoughts on the framework for planning I posted last semester under the title Wesleyan 2020. When I began my presidency I asked faculty for brief proposals for new programs or initiatives. This resulted in the work we’ve done on Creative Writing, Civic Engagement and the College of the Environment, to name just three (the list of areas can be found on an earlier blog entry.) Last spring I met with many professors across the campus to gather their impressions of Wes past and present. Often over breakfasts and lunches, I listened closely to faculty who have been here for a long time and others who joined our ranks more recently. After putting on ten pounds and getting my own booth at O’Rourke’s, I wrote up my thoughts during the summer months. Since then the Board of Trustees has used 2020 as a springboard for the development of a strategy map, and I have been gathering feedback on the document from alumni, students, trustees and parent groups.

The meeting on Friday will be the first of a series of Faculty Fora dedicated to thinking through some of the issues and opportunities facing the university over the next decade. The questions sent out by the Deans are:

What is characteristic of a Wesleyan education at its very best?
What will be needed to sustain and enhance these characteristic features?
What kind of students can best take advantage of a Wesleyan education, and is the admission process succeeding in finding these students?
If we have additional resources, how should we use them?

I will be meeting with professors from the other divisions over the next week, and later in March there will be an open meeting for all faculty. Last term I met with the WSA, and I look forward to ongoing conversations with students. There will also be opportunities for staff to participate in dialogues this semester, and I will certainly have more opportunities to gather input from alumni as I travel around the country. The entire process should help us align our resources with a shared understanding of the university’s mission and values.

But how much alignment is appropriate for a culture like ours that values freedom and independence? That’s a subject sure to come up in these various meetings. I know already that many members of the Wesleyan family see individual or departmental autonomy as key to the vibrant energy of campus life. I appreciate this, and I am confident that we can find a way to balance the desire for independence with the importance of having a coherent educational agenda and sense of cultural purpose. I know I’ll learn a lot from the meetings this term.

Technorati Tags: Wesleyan 2020, Faculty Fora, future planning

Acknowledging Service

June 25, 2015November 10, 2009 by Michael S. Roth '78

At Wesleyan we often talk about our great tradition of honoring service in the community. Civic engagement has long been a hallmark of the educational experience here, and it provides the basis for lifelong participation in the public sphere to make a positive contribution to one’s neighborhood, city, and country.

Yesterday, I attended the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce’s annual Support the Troops breakfast. During the week in which Veterans Day falls, the Chamber honors our active duty men and women, as well as those who have served in years past in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and National Guard. There is always a great turnout for this event, a chance to say “thank you” for those who have put themselves in harm’s way to serve our country.

Yesterday’s breakfast was especially noteworthy for two reasons. First, in addition to the regular Wes contingent at Chamber breakfasts, we welcomed students who were either veterans or are now part of a joint ROTC program. Wesleyan has been fortunate to have received some very generous gifts for scholarships for veterans, and it was great to have the current recipients join us for this event.

The second reason yesterday’s event was noteworthy is a much sadder one. Our flag on campus flew at half-staff this past weekend in recognition of the fallen soldiers at Fort Hood. The murders at the Texas army base are a grim reminder of the risks our soldiers face every day. Whatever one’s views on American foreign policy and military strategy, I trust we can acknowledge with gratitude the service our troops have performed in contexts of great danger.

Technorati Tags: civic engagement, veterans, Middlesex Chamber of Commerce, Support the Troops, mourning, Fort Hood, foreign service

Writing, Public Life and Civic Engagement

June 26, 2015January 15, 2009 by Michael S. Roth '78

We know who we are, but it is always nice to be acknowledged. Over the break it was announced that the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching had selected Wesleyan for inclusion in the 2008 Community Engagement Classification in the category of Curricular Engagement, Outreach and Partnerships. Here’s what the Foundation had to say: “Your application documented excellent alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices that support dynamic and noteworthy community engagement.”

For generations, Wesleyan students, faculty, staff and alumni have connected their educational work to making positive contributions to the world around them. Here we have long believed in the power of a liberal arts education not only in helping one to live a more reflective and considered life as an individual, but also in enabling one to engage with one’s community in effective and generous ways. Our student volunteers at our Green Street Art Center, our tutors at Traverse Square in Middletown, and our teachers in prison programs are just a few examples of public service at Wesleyan. I have no doubt that we at Wesleyan — students, faculty and staff — will continue to work with our partners, our neighbors and our friends to connect our efforts here to productive work beyond the campus.

One of the new vehicles for studying public service generally is the nascent Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life. Led by Don Moon, the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Professor in the College of Social Studies, the Allbritton Center will bring together social scientists and activists, humanists, journalists, and elected officials to study complex social problems and the types of engagement used to address them.

As many of you may have heard, the Allbritton Center, located in Davenport (Scott Labs), will have a congenial neighbor. Recently Wesleyan received a significant gift from John Shapiro ’74 and Shonni Silverberg ’76 to establish a Writing Center, which will be the home of a Certificate Program in creative writing (fiction, poetry and non-fiction). Writing and the study of public life will live together in Davenport. The necessary renovations there begin presently, and we expect to open the building in the fall of 2009. These new centers, to be housed in one of our most beautiful and historic buildings, are wonderful additions to Wesleyan. We are grateful to our donors and eager to begin learning from the work of our students and faculty in these dynamic and noteworthy areas.

Technorati Tags: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, community engagement, Green Street Arts Center, Traverse Square, prison programs, Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, Don Moon, John Shapiro ’74, Shonni Silverberg ’76, Writing Center, Davenport renovations