Building a national learning

community

The Bonner High-Impact InitiativeDeepening Community Engagement in Higher Education

Introductions• Ariane Hoy, Bonner Foundation (ahoy@bonner.org)

• Jamé Johnson, Crawford County School District (jame.johnson@craw.org)

• Mathew Johnson, Siena College (mjohnson@siena.edu)

• Dave Roncolato, Allegheny College (droncola@allegheny.edu)

Learning from you...

In your experience, who is or is not at

the table (students, partners, faculty)?

Your best examples

of integrative, collaborative projects

Place & community...how

is/could your institution contribute?

Engaged learning (HIPs) &

community engagement -

where connected or disconnected?

Questions to discuss• When it comes to expanding or deepening community

engagement on your campus, who is or is not at the table in designing and carrying out these initiatives? (Corner 1)

• Share 1-2 best examples of innovative civic learning/engagement projects that involve real collaboration across academic, student affairs, and even with community. (Corner 2)

• Reflect on where you have high-impact practices happening on your campus and where you have community engagement happening.  Are they connected or disconnected? (Corner 3)

• Think about the place or community where your institution resides.  As a part of the community, what are ways that your institution's engaged teaching and learning could also make a contribution or impact? (Corner 4)

What is High-Impact?Cohort-based, Strategic, Multi-Year

•Allegheny College•Berea College•Berry College •Carson-Newman College

•Sewanee—University of the South•Siena College•Stetson University•Washburn University

•Davidson College•DePauw University•Guilford College •Mars Hill College•Oberlin College

•The College of New Jersey•Ursinus College•Wagner University•Warren Wilson College

Began in 2012

Began in 2013

Building a national learning

community

Who we areand the places we work

1 - Albany, NY (Siena)2- Berea, KY (Berea)3- Black Mountain, NC (Warren Wilson)4- Davidson, NC (Davidson)5- DeLand, FL (Stetson)6- Collegeville, PA (Ursinus)7- Greencastle, IN (DePauw)8- Greensboro, NC (Guilford)9- Jefferson City, TN (Carson-Newman)10- Mars Hill, NC (Mars Hill)11- Meadville, PA (Allegheny)12- Moraga, CA (Saint Mary’s)13- Oberlin, OH (Oberlin)14- Princeton, NJ (Bonner)15- Rome, GA (Berry)16- Grundy, TN (Sewanee)17- Staten Island, NY (Wagner)18- Topeka, KS (Washburn)19 - Trenton, NJ (TCNJ)20 - Washington, DC (AACU)

2

1

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89

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1314

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What We Knew (20 years)✤ Co-curricular and

curricular matter

✤ Cohorts

✤ Diversity & “Dialogue across difference”

✤ Structured and unstructured reflection

✤ Mentors

✤ Affects careers and lifelong: Civic-minded graduates

Alumni Impact

✤ Low-income, first generation, diverse students

✤ 33% in non-profit sector careers

✤ 32% in government careers

✤ 25% in for-profit careers

✤ Career choices driven by a desire to affect positive change

✤ 90% demonstrating civic action in past 12 months

✤ joined organization; signed petition; did not buy a product due to company values; contacted a public official

✤ 90% voted in last election

30 campuses, 1066 Participants; 22-50 years old; 32% response rate

National Assessment of Service & Community Engagement✤ Siena Research Institute

✤ Implemented by 46+ institutions

✤ 19K completes—now the largest national data set on civic engagement

✤ Telling findings—more than half of students are never engaged

✤ Average POP score - mid 20’s

✤ Structure matters

Pete Cichettipcichetti@siena.edu

518-782-6997

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A strategy to change ourselves, campuses,

and learning

An approach to deepening student learning & community impact

Integrated

Developmental

Pervasive

Deep

Driven by integrated

change-oriented teams (students, faculty, partners,

staff)

A way to build communities of best practice &

move our towards greater

impact

Leveraging High-Impact Practices• first year seminars

• common intellectual experiences 

• place-based education

• learning communities 

• writing-intensive courses

• collaborative assignments & projects 

• undergraduate research

• diversity/global learning 

• internships & project-based learning

• service-learning & community-based learning

• capstone courses & projects

• deliberative dialogues

• PLACE

• INTEGRATION

• DEPTH

• DEVELOPMENT

• SEQUENCE

• TEAMS

• REFLECTION

• MENTOR

• CAPACITY

• EVIDENCE

• IMPACT

• LEARNING

Using High-Impact Community Engagement

as a magnifier

HIPs x HICEPs = engagement increases impact

Example: a First Year

Experience at Sewanee

Focuses on PLACE with internships, mentoring,

and reflection

Allegheny High Impact Project #1

The Community Listening Project a three-year initiative to tell the story of a town and its college

place • voice

Allegheny High Impact Project #2

A New Center for Local Research, Knowledge, and Integration

• A centralized locale for local research and knowledge• Responsive to the community

beyond the college • Co-coordinated by a community

partner and faculty member• Create local research agendas

that will facilitate faculty and student participation in addressing critical concerns• Increase campus-wide knowledge

of the community.

Allegheny High Impact Project #3

Civic Engagement Courses

• A Civic Learning requirement -

Discussion in 2013-14 Faculty meeting

• Community Engagement Faculty Development workshops - Summer 2013 and 2014

• Alternative course assessmentsFall 2013

• Student support with CBL-CorpsSpring 2014

• Including Civic Engagement: Investigating the Public Purpose

Making Civic Engagement more PERVASIVE in the curriculum

“The Saltmarsh Challenge”

The Process

Every voice,equal voice!

Powerhouse Team!•Terry Bensel, Associate Provost•Zac Callen, Assistant Professor of Political Science•Nancy Chen, Undergraduate and Bonner Leader•Linda DeMerit, Provost•Emma Dosch, Undergraduate and Bonner Leader•Larry Hailsham, Undergraduate and Bonner Scholar• Jamé Johnson, Instructional Coach in Crawford County

School District•Kaziputalimba (Kazi) Joshua, Dean for Residence Life•Stephanie Martin, Assistant Professor of Economics•Paige Missel, Undergraduate and High-Impact Intern•Dave Roncolato, Director of Community Service and

Service-Learning, ACCEL• Jamie Williams, Associate Director of Community Service and

Service-Learning, ACCEL

Siena High Impact Project #1

Community Issue Foruman initiative to mobilize greater and deeper engagement in

Albany through intensive focus on an issue and planned institutional response on an annual basis

Siena High Impact Project #2

Academic Pathwaycourses that include high-impact practices and engagement but

weave together as a pathway

Siena High Impact Project #3

High-Impact Curriculum LinksNEXT Prog.COMC Cert.

Athletics InternshipForum Internship

Powerhouse Team!• Ralph Blasting, Dean of Liberal Arts and Professor of Creative Arts• Cheryl Buff, Associate Professor of Marketing and Director of the

Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity• Claudia Congemi, Undergraduate and Bonner Leader• Lisa Hunter, Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Albany• Mathew Johnson, Director of Academic Community Engagement and

Associate Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies• Ruth Scipione Kassel, Assistant Director of Academic Community

Engagement• Jacqueline Lennon, Undergraduate and Bonner Leader• Jim Matthews, Professor of Mathematics• Yalitza Negron, Assistant Director of Academic Community

Engagement• Linda Richardson, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor

of Finance and Economics• Paul Thurston, Associate Professor of Management

strategic, focused visiondistributed leadership

evidence-based & outcome focused

Take Aways

senior leadership buy-in

coalitions & alliances must keep at it

partner driven

Learn more?•Does this resonate?  

•Your examples?

•Take aways?

•Where to learn more?•www.bonner.org

•bonnernetwork.pbworks.com

•How to get involved?