Linking Learning and Communities through Service: The Jane Addams Center for

Civic Engagement

Michael S. Miller, Vice President and DeanBelinda Wholeben, Associate Professor

Rockford College, Rockford, Illinois

Belinda Wholeben

Hello!!!!

Overview

• The Jane Addams Center for Civic Engagement at Rockford College.

• Promoting a campus culture of social activism and community orientation.

• Characteristics for effective civic engagement-related activities, (e.g., voice, meaningful action, reciprocity, diversity, and sustained commitments).

• Process for effectively promoting civic engagement activities between academic affairs, campus life, and the broader community.

Rockford College

• Founded in 1847, RC exists to make a difference in the world through linking learning and citizenship.

• Jane Addams – founder of Chicago’s Hull-House and 1931 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

• RC is a community that is actively curious, creative, compassionate, and connected. An independent, coeducational, liberal arts college, RC is honored to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s leading advocate for the liberal arts and sciences at the undergraduate level.

The Jane Addams Center for Civic Engagement

The Jane Addams Center for Civic Engagement at Rockford College exists to make a difference in the world by linking learning and citizenship.

Mission

To advance the ideals of Rockford College through the study and practice of citizenship, service, and life-long learning.

General Purpose

• What personal qualities should we be trying to cultivate in our students (Astin 2003)?

• Challenges of the global society in which we live will require social responsibility, reflective understandings, and new forms of leadership.

General Purpose

• Competencies– The ability to listen – Empathy– Reciprocity– Respect and appreciation for diversity– Critical judgment– Commitment to action

Liberal Arts

• An education for a lifetime, an approach to our work as a teaching and learning community, accessible to all.

• “The best results of civilization…must be incorporated into our common life…through all elements of society if we would have our democracy endure.” Twenty Years at Hull House

Agile and Accountable

• The ability to adapt and respond to both problems and opportunities, while holding firm to abiding principles.

• “The one thing to be dreaded is that (we) lose its flexibility, its power for quick adaptation, its readiness to change…don’t wait for someone to ask you, find ways, be resourceful, stand up and be counted.” Twenty Years at Hull House

Humane Philanthropy

• Crossing boundaries, bringing people together, bias toward community, abundance, students, staff, faculty, alumni, and wider public engaged in service to each other.

• We must mix “on the thronged and common road.” Democracy and Social Ethics

Social Activism and Community Orientation (Astin, 1993)

• The extent to which an institution is perceived as concerning itself with producing student leaders who will become social change agents.– Teach students how to change society.– Develop leadership ability among students.– Help solve major social and environmental

problems.– Facilitate involvement in community service

activities.

CIRP Data

• Chances are "very good" that students will participate in volunteer or community service work while in college.– RC 27.10– Similar institutions 24.50

• Students consider it "essential" or “very important” important to participate in community action programs.– RC 14.77– Similar institutions 13.77

CIRP Data

• Students consider it "essential" or “very important” important to become a community leader.– RC 19.17– Similar institutions 20.10

• Students believe "strongly" or "somewhat“ – that realistically, an individual can do little to bring about changes in our society.– RC 24.47– Similar institutions 28.00

CIRP Data

• Students consider it "essential" or “very important” to be involved in programs to clean-up the environment.

– RC 8.93– Similar institutions 10.00

Student Involvement

• Plunge – Annual off-campus service project conducted during freshmen orientation.

• Peace Mural – Grant written by students and faculty for children in the Rockford community to paint their reflections on peace and 911.

Campus Involvement

• Jane Addams Conference – An International Conference on Higher Learning and Democracy.

– Institutional teams seeking to design and implement civic engagement-related practices.

– Student-led dialogues on democracy.

Student Organizations

• Rockford College Regent Players– Reading programs at a local grade school.– Theater workshops for high school and

middle school students.

• Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition (NESI)– Movie showings for children.– Food and money drives for the homeless.

Dialogues on Democracy

• Faculty – Focus on the fit between the college’s general education goals and vision/mission.

• Student and Academic Affairs – Focus on diversity, communication, and collaboration across campus.

Dialogues on Democracy

• Student – Student-led discussions focusing on free speech and democracy.

• Community – Focus on issues related to individuals and their ability to impact their communities.

Outcomes

Dialogues enabled the Rockford College community to respond proactively as a community of learners through discourse on issues resulting from the May, 2003, commencement.

Visible and integrated implementation of the strategic plan of the college and the mission of the Jane Addams Center for Civic Engagement.

Outcomes

Student leadership and student voice were fostered through student-led dialogue sessions. Students expressed an interest in becoming more informed about their community and the global community through print and broadcast media.

Mechanisms developed for campus-wide collaboration and diversity planning.

Outcomes

The role of the college in the civic life of the community and the role of the community as an influence on the intellectual life of the college has begun to be explored.

Increasing presence in the Rockford community, and the Rockford community is increasingly more present on the Rockford College campus.

Student and Academic Affairs: Diversity and Collaboration

• How well does the culture on campus support students’ participation in genuine, vigorous, open dialogue about the critical issues of their education and the democracy (Campus Compact)?

Student and Academic Affairs: Diversity and Collaboration

• To what extent are students on campus able to help build and sustain genuinely public cultures full of conversation, civil argument, and discussion about the meaning of their learning, their work, and the institutions as a whole (Campus Compact)?

Student and Academic Affairs: Diversity and Collaboration

• How diverse is out student body? Do our financial aid and admissions policies reflect our desire for a diverse student body (Campus Compact)?

Student and Academic Affairs: Diversity and Collaboration

• How do we enable students to encounter and learn from others different from themselves in experience, culture, racial background, gender, sexual orientation, ideologies and views (Campus Compact)?

Student and Academic Affairs

• Evaluation: Dialogues on Democracy (Handout/E-mail)

– Almost all faculty and staff who participated either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that faculty and staff should be encouraged to work together to examine and change the campus culture to support engagement.

– Almost all faculty and staff who participated would be interested in attending similar dialogue events.

Community

• Initial Dialogue

• Subsequent Dialogues

– Rockford School Board– Nonprofit Dialogue

Community• Case (Handout - Gold)• The Magic of Dialogue (Handout)• Community Dialogue: Questions for

Conversation (Handout/selected)– What are your reflections concerning what you have

heard today from our speakers or concerning the handouts on civility and dialogue?

– “There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.” What does the Rockford community care about?

References

• Addams, J. (1961). Twenty years at Hull House. New York: New American Library.

• Addams, J. (1961). Democracy and social ethics. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

• Astin, A. W. (2003). Studying how college affects students: A personal history of the CIRP. About Campus, 8(3), 21-28.

• Astin, A. W. (1993). What matters in college? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

References

• Astin, A. W., Sax, L. J. (1998). How undergraduates are affected by service participation. Journal of College Student Development, 39(3), 251-263.

• Astin, A. W., Sax, L. J., & Avalos, J. (1999). Long-term effects of volunteerism during the undergraduate years. The Review of Higher Education, 22(2), 187-202.

• Carter, S. L. (1998). Civility: Manners, morals, and the etiquette of democracy. New York: Basic Books.

• Isaacs, W. (1999). Dialogue: The art of thinking together. New York: Doubleday.

References

• Klein, K, (2002). Dialogue: The key to moving beyond structural conflict. About Campus, 7(1), 9-15.

• Sax, L. J. (2003). Our incoming students: What are they like? About Campus, 8(3), 15-20.

• Wheatley, M. J. (2002). Turning to One Another, Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future. San Francisco: Barrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

• Yankelovich, D. X. (1999). Transforming conflict into cooperation. New York: Touchstone.

Contact Information

• Belinda Wholeben– BWholeben@Rockford.edu– 815-226-4018

• Michael Miller– Michael_Miller@Rockford.edu– 815-226-3392