Upper Midwest Civic Engagement Summit: Full Schedule

2015 Upper Midwest Civic Engagement Summit

8:00am CDT

Registration Open

Tuesday June 9, 2015 8:00am - 5:00pm CDT
Beck Academic Hall

8:45am CDT

The Global Is St. Peter, MN: Culture, Conflict, and Commemoration

Limited Capacity seats available

Attendees should meet at the registration are in Beck Hall by 8:45 am for car pooling and optional shuttle transportation to the site.

In 2012, Elizabeth Baer and Ben Leonard led a dedicated group of college students to immerse themselves in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. A complex and difficult story of sovereignty, power, and loss, the events of 1862 remain a living wound today. Through research, field trips, lectures, and listening to Dakota elders, the students created a traveling exhibit, “Commemorating Controversy: The Dakota-U.S. War of 1862.” The exhibit has been displayed at the Smithsonian, seen by over 100,000 people, led to statewide discussions of the U.S.-Dakota War sesquicentennial, forged new friendships with Dakota elders, transformed the service-learning students, facilitated a process for healing and reconciliation, and set in motion a vision for change that continues to grow today.

This pre-conference workshop is designed to provide participants key information on the process for, and outcomes of, this town/gown collaboration that reached across racial, religious, and political boundaries. Alyssa Auten will frame the Traverse des Sioux site as a gateway and a gathering place where different peoples and nations met for thousands of years; Euro Americans lived among the Dakota for nearly 200 years before the two nations signed a treaty there. Ben Leonard will discuss the treaty, sovereignty, cultural upheaval, broken promises, and stark aftermath of a short but bloody war. Elizabeth Baer will present the logistics and methodology of cramming all this into a four-week course, share the syllabus, and introduce the award-winning exhibit created by the students. Participants will also see the museum and receive a bibliography for further reading.

Speakers

Alyssa Auten

Executive Director, Nicollet County Historical Society

Elizabeth Baer

Professor, Gustavus Adolphus College

Ben Leonard

Manager of Community Outreach and Partnerships, Minnesota Historical Society

Tuesday June 9, 2015 8:45am - 11:15am CDT
Traverse de Sioux Treaty Site

Pre-Conference

10:00am CDT

Introduction to Youth Participatory Action Research

Limited Capacity seats available

Students, campus staff and faculty, and others interested in collaborative work and learning are invited to this introductory workshop on Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) led by Youthprise staff (www.youthprise.org) and MN Campus Compact. In addition to presenting the content, history, and principles of YPAR, this interactive session will allow participants to discuss how young people and faculty can use this approach together for positive change.

The workshop will be facilitated by staff from the Youthprise (www.youthprise.org) Research and Design Team and MN Campus Compact. Youthprise is a statewide intermediary that strategically combines funding, capacity building, policy advocacy, research and youth engagement to ensure that all Minnesota youth thrive. The Youthprise Research & Design Team uses Youth Participatory Action Research to train young people as critical researchers who can study systemic injustice and assist communities to take action.

Youthprise and Minnesota Campus Compact are partnering on a pilot program to provide training for anyone interested in learning more about YPAR, and funding to support research teams for member campuses in Minnesota. Questions about the workshop? E-mail par@mncampuscompact.org

Speakers

David Kim

Youthprise

Megan Voorhees

PAR Initiative Coordinator, Minnesota Campus Compact

Tuesday June 9, 2015 10:00am - 12:00pm CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 119

Pre-Conference

11:30am CDT

Tour and Lunch at the St. Peter Food Co-Op

Attendees will meet in Beck Hall for the prior part of this pre-conference session and travel by shuttle bus to and from the co-op.

The St. Peter Food Co-op has a unique position in the community as both a locally and cooperatively owned business with a triple bottom line: people, profit, and planet. It is not just a purveyor of food, but a community gathering place and a source of product knowledge with a particular emphasis on local partners and producers. The tour will focus on the cooperative difference and the value the co-op gains from and gives to its community through building relationships. (Please note: participants are responsible for the cost of their own lunch at the co-op.)

Speakers

Margo O’Brien

Manager, St. Peter Food Co-op

Tuesday June 9, 2015 11:30am - 12:30pm CDT
St. Peter Food Co-op

Pre-Conference

1:30pm CDT

Building the Case for Collaborative Networks

Collaborative networks provide a means to leverage organizational capacity to tackle significant systemic issues at multiple scales. Through engaging activities you’ll learn the key ingredients to effective collaboration. We’ll explore fun and engaging activities for building cross-sector relationships and discuss how to generate collective action among diverse stakeholders. The workshop will be illustrated through examples of how food systems based collaborative efforts have created successful action-oriented community engagement. We will provide examples from projects such as food policy councils, food networks, food hubs, and the Minnesota Food Charter - a document created through extensive public engagement that outlines the future of food in Minnesota where residents live, work, and play.

Speakers

Jamie Bain

Assistant Extension Professor, University of Minnesota Extension

Noelle Harden

Extension Educator, Health & Nutrition, University of Minnesota Extension

Tuesday June 9, 2015 1:30pm - 3:30pm CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 111

Deep Dive

1:30pm CDT

Citizen Engagement: Enhancing Student Autonomy, Accountability, and Investment

In 2006, Gustavus Adolphus College initiated a course in argument and citizenship with a semester-long citizen engagement project. Eight years and 1500 students later, the course has proven to have significant transformational influence both within the semester and longitudinally among alumni. We use the term “citizen engagement” as students and alumni of the course speak passionately and enthusiastically about how they came to see themselves and realize their potential as active and engaged citizens in their communities. Through our teaching of Public Discourse, analysis of student/alumni outcomes, focus groups, and discussions with others about the course, we have identified particularly potent elements of the experience. In our other community engagement courses, we have taken steps to intentionally embed these distinctive elements and have found an increased depth of student experience.

In this session, we address how to utilize elements of citizen engagement to intentionally enhance student autonomy, accountability, investment, ownership, and empowerment in civic engagement courses and programs. Participants will actively discuss the elements, identify them in their own courses and programs, contemplate how to more intentionally highlight these elements for students, and consider the possibility of citizen engagement endeavors in their own courses.

Speakers

Leila Brammer

Professor, Gustavus Adolphus College

Martin Lang

Associate Professor in Communication Studies, Gustavus Adolphus College

I've been teaching and researching communication and media studies for 20 years. I strive to link my teaching and scholarship to the local communities of which I am part. I'm a member of the #OurStPeter group and the Asset Mapping subgroup.

Sarah Wolter

Assistant Professor, Gustavus Adolphus College

Tuesday June 9, 2015 1:30pm - 3:30pm CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 119

Deep Dive

1:30pm CDT

Decoding Community Engagement: Working With and Supporting International Students

Since 2009, the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, has almost doubled its number of international students, who now make up 11% of the student population. This reflects a growing national trend in higher education, yet there is a scarcity of literature or conversation about the unique experiences of international students as it relates to civic engagement and academic service-learning. Inspired from programming developed at University of Washington-Seattle, the University of Minnesota began an intentional process to better understand and support our international students in their civic engagement efforts.

This workshop will explore both technical and adaptive challenges experienced by international students and how faculty, community organizations, and staff can best support their success. We will share our experiences working with international students in co-curricular and curricular based engagement activities and what we are learning about best practices. Participants will have a chance to experience activities from our training for international students. Preliminary findings from our focus group research with international students will also be presented. We will conclude with a large group conversation about what is happening on other campuses and your successes and challenges of working with international students in community contexts.

Speakers

Ngoc Ha

U of MN - Twin Cities

Laurel Hirt

Director, Center for Community-Engaged Learning, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Grace Machoki

Advisor/Counselor, International Student and Scholar Services, U of MN - Twin Cities

Katie Peacock

Community Service-Learning Center Coordinator, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Katie has worked in the Community Service-Learning Center at the U of M over 10 years where she is charged with developing partnerships with community organizations, supporting faculty who teach service-learning courses, and facilitating relationships between students and the community... Read More →

Decoding Community Engagement Working With and Supporting International Students 2015 06 12(1) zip

Tuesday June 9, 2015 1:30pm - 3:30pm CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 211

Deep Dive

1:30pm CDT

Hollistic Partnership and Reversal of Privilege: Refugees Set the Campus Agenda

This session will explore challenges that often emerge in ongoing relationships between the academy and community partners. We will begin with a short discussion of how we negotiated those challenges with our partners to meet community-identified needs and achieve authentic reciprocity, focusing on a partnership with a refugee-led community development organization that resulted in positive and mixed outcomes.

Then, in small groups, workshop participants will discuss their community partners’ needs and how a higher education model, at times, prevents service-learning programs from effectively responding. Presenters have developed an instrument that will guide participants, both service-learning practitioners and community partners, as they identify challenges and discuss potential ways of addressing them. The ensuing discussion will focus on how to reconcile potentially conflicting priorities. The social change wheel will be utilized to help participants discover the range of civic engagement possibilities when the partnership is approached holistically.

Speakers

Cheri Doane

Director of Community-Based Learning, Central College

Cheri Doane serves as the Director of the Center for Community-Based Learning at Central College in Pella, Iowa. In that role she develops community partnerships, provides faculty development, and oversees academic service-learning and other civic engagement initiatives. In addition... Read More →

Linda Laine

Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Central College

Keith Yanner

Professor of Political Science, Central College

Holistic Partnership, Upper Midwest Summit 2015 pptx

Tuesday June 9, 2015 1:30pm - 3:30pm CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 217

Deep Dive

4:00pm CDT

Bridging International and Local Service Learning Through Reflection

Gateway Technical College just completed the third of a five-year partnership with Peacework and Orange Walk District, Belize. During this skill-building session, representatives from Gateway and Peacework will share the model, a sample of the Global Change Agent Curriculum, reflection models (in country and at home), and the model of continuing the service at home over the following semester and year. We will discuss challenges and successes, as well as best practices. Participants will leave with examples of curriculum and related reflection activities.

Speakers

Madeline Carrera

Service Learning Coordinator, Gateway Technical College

Madeline has over 6 years experience in Service Learning and facilitation of Service Learning methodology, curriculum development, and promotion in Higher Education. As the Service Learning Coordinator at Gateway Technical College, she is responsible for establishing and maintaining... Read More →

Hunter Riley

Field Representative, Peacework

Tuesday June 9, 2015 4:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 111

Breakout Session

4:00pm CDT

Building Midnimo (Unity) through Deep Engagement

This session will dive into the work that Augsburg College and the East African Community have done together to enhance each others' lives and work in the neighborhood that we share. Through stories and videos, the presenters will introduce four major partnerships (The Sisterhood of The Traveling Scarf Boutique, Midnimo: Building Unity through Music, the Cedar-Riverside Explorers, and Scrubs Camp). Then the presenters and participants will discuss lessons for effective community building across cultural, religious, linguistic, and other differences, as well as developing the support of administrators and faculty for mutual engagement with new communities.

Speakers

Steve Peacock

Director of Community Relations, Augsburg University

Mary Laurel True

Director of Community Engagement, Augsburg College

Tuesday June 9, 2015 4:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 119

Breakout Session

4:00pm CDT

Fostering and Assessing Students’ Sense of Themselves at Engaged Global Citizens

This presentation will describe integrated civic engagement assessment efforts at our regional university, making use of qualitative/quantitative methods, measuring outcomes from freshman to senior year, and coordinating assessment processes across academic and student affairs, including integration with general education requirements. Findings from our Civic Engagement Survey (administered since 2008) and a recent study examining civic-mindedness and community service self-efficacy for first- and fourth-year students will be given, highlighting use of student staff and web-based resources as essential sources of support. Participants will be invited to discuss implications for intentionally fostering students’ sense of themselves as engaged global citizens.

Speakers

Christine Olson

Professor of Psychology, Faculty Co-Coordinator for Civic Engagement, Southwest Minnesota State University

Scott Peterson

Associate Professor of Psychology, Southwest Minnesota State University

Fostering and Assessing Students' Sense of Themselves as Engaged Global Citizens pptx

Tuesday June 9, 2015 4:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 211

Breakout Session

4:00pm CDT

Global Competencies for 21st Century Learners

Students who are working with diverse populations and traveling abroad are not always ready for these experiences. If we want our students to embrace the philosophy behind service learning and welcome experiences with diverse individuals from across the globe, we need to help them develop the necessary skills and thinking processes. Using the AAC&U (Association of American Colleges and Universities) rubrics as a starting point, this session will provide knowledge of global competencies and skill-building activities for incorporating globalization skills into college classrooms to support our 21st century learners.

Speakers

Debra Pitton

Professor of Education, Gustavus Adolphus College

Globalization Skills for 21 century learners2 pptx

Tuesday June 9, 2015 4:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 217

Breakout Session

4:00pm CDT

Preparing Global Citizens for the Future: What’s in Your Toolbox?

Post, share, tag, like, blog, tweet . . . these are some of the essential electronic tools every young person needs to stay connected to friends and family and keep up with the latest 24/7 trends on the global scene. Research shows that engaging youth in community based service learning opportunities has been critical in preparing them to be global citizens. Based on H2O for Life’s success in working with over U.S. 300,000 students in service learning opportunities, we'll explore how we each of us can support youth in making a successful transition from high school to college with their passion, interest and commitment to social change and support strategies needed. We’ll also invite participants to compare and contrast the benefits of community based service learning programs vs. emerging electronic engagement models that encourage students to demonstrate their support for social causes by competing for prizes and how these new strategies are influencing students’ “global citizen” toolkits for the future.

Speakers

Amy Crawford

Executive Director, H2O for Life

I love working in the field of youth development, service learning and education! For the past twenty plus years, I've been involved in various leadership positions with several MN foundations and nonprofits to improve the human condition through direct services, capacity building... Read More →

Tuesday June 9, 2015 4:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 219

Breakout Session

5:30pm CDT

Dinner, Introduction, and Keynote

Fatima Said is the Executive Director of Project FINE (Focus on Integrating Newcomers through Education) in Winona, Minnesota. Through her work, she seeks to create a community that welcomes all newcomers and is sensitive to cultural diversity. Fatima came to the United States as a refugee from Bosnia and helping others build a new life is her personal and professional passion. Her background in education and business has contributed greatly to the success of Project FINE, as they work to provide education and resources while maintaining a fiscally responsible and transparent organization.
In addition to her duties at Project FINE, Fatima is very involved in the community. She currently serves on the Winona Human Rights Commission, Winona County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, the MN State Colleges and Universities Council on Diversity, University of Minnesota Extension Advisory Committee, Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical Foundation Board, and the Cotter High School Board.
Fatima has received a number of awards, including an engaged partnership award from Winona State University, Woman of the Year Award from the Winona Women in Business organization, and a Virginia McKnight Binger Award in Human Service from the McKnight Foundation. Fatima was also recognized as a Welcoming America Champion of Change at the White House in Washington DC. Project FINE also received the Charities Review Council’s “Meets Standards” seal, a 2012 Nonprofit Excellence Award from the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and a 2014 Community Partner award from the Winona Education Association.

Speakers

Connie Gores

President, Southwest Minnesota State University

Fatima Said

Executive Director, Project FINE

Fatima Said serves as Executive Director for Project FINE, a nonprofit organization that is focused on integrating newcomers through education. In her role, she provides direction for the organization and works to build cross-sector partnerships that benefit both immigrants and refugees... Read More →

Tuesday June 9, 2015 5:30pm - 7:30pm CDT
Alumni Hall in Johnson Student Union

Networking Dinner Keynote

8:30am CDT

Applying Lessons from Leadership to Address Societal Problems

This presentation focuses on the application of research and leadership experiences of college students to address issues associated with living in a global and diverse society. Herb Childress, a nationally recognized academic leader, has identified a variety of societal problems and suggests that addressing these “wicked challenges” will require diverse thinkers and true collaboration from a variety of sources. Ron Heifetz, author of numerous leadership books, suggests that many of our global struggles are inadequately addressed because they are misidentified as technical issues when in reality they are adaptive problems. This presentation will bring these three sources of ideas together to help participants identify how problems should be addressed by first properly identifying the issues. Once appropriately identified we become better equipped to meet the challenges of adaptive problems. Servant leadership will be highlighted as a method to bring about needed change. Participants will work collaboratively to discuss how to adequately identify concerns and problem solve ways to address issues facing their own institutions. Collectively, we will help each other become more engaged and more well-rounded civically minded citizens who are better prepared to face the world’s unique challenges.

Speakers

William J. Soesbe III

Assistant Professor of Education, Wartburg College

Dr. William J. Soesbe III is an Assistant Professor of Education at Wartburg College and teaches a variety of secondary education classes. He serves as a Leadership Fellow within the Institute for Leadership Education. Previous to his current position he worked for five years as the... Read More →

UMCESleadershippresentation 14 15 ppt

Wednesday June 10, 2015 8:30am - 9:30am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 111

Breakout Session

8:30am CDT

Bridging the Local and the Global in a Sister City Relationship: Service-Learning as Citizen Diplomacy

The active participation of Gustavus Adolphus College in the Saint Peter, MN - Petatlán, Mexico, sister city has brought to the institution unique opportunities to engage the local and the global. The goal of this presentation is to provide insights as to how a global sister city relationship between Saint Peter, MN and Petatlán, Mexico has evolved over time, and more specifically illustrate the intentional ways by which international citizen diplomacy has been put into action. Citizen diplomacy facilitated through alternative spring break programming and academic service-learning courses has significantly advanced people-to-people contact that is building bridges of trust, mutual investment, and reciprocity. The presentation will start by framing the purpose of the sister city relationship and the various ways it manifests itself. A series of short presentations by various guests, sharing the Saint Peter experience from diverse viewpoints, will address the perceived value behind the initiatives in which they have been involved.

Speakers

Ana Adams

Associate Professor of Spanish, Gustavus Adolphus College

Carlos Mejía

Assistant Professor of Spanish, Gustavus Adolphus College

Assistant Professor of Spanish in the department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. Primary teaching interests include Latin American literature and culture, negotiation of difference between cultures, and content-based Spanish language instruction. I have led service... Read More →

Jeffrey Rathlef

Director for Community-Based Service and Learning, Gustavus Adolphus College

As Director for Community-Based Service and Learning, Mr. Rathlef oversees a robust portfolio of on-going co-curricular service programs and facilitates and supports faculty in curricular community-based learning. In addition, Jeffrey facilitates the development of meaningful campus/community... Read More →

Wednesday June 10, 2015 8:30am - 9:30am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 119

Breakout Session

8:30am CDT

Growing Community Partnerships by Unifying Engagement on Campus

How do academic institutions define (and refine) their models of engagement—and what challenges and successes emerge from different approaches? In spring 2013 the University of Iowa Office of the Provost announced the establishment of an Office of Outreach and Engagement to promote collaboration between UI faculty, staff, and students and community partners across the state. This session will explore the benefits we have seen of unifying engagement efforts at the University of Iowa, focusing on developing networks that respond to the needs of Iowans while purposefully building the capacity of the university to be an impactful partner in all engagement activity. Participants will also be invited to share how their institutions frame engagement in our changing environment and to discuss common factors and strategies pertinent to both developing and existing offices.

Speakers

Erika Christiansen

Director of Programming and Events, University of Iowa

Hailey Courtney

Communications Coordinator, Office of Outreach & Engagement, University of Iowa

Growing Community Partnerships by Unifying Engagement on Campus pdf

Wednesday June 10, 2015 8:30am - 9:30am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 211

Breakout Session

8:30am CDT

Lessons from Sustainability-Related Engagement Work That Everyone Can Use

In 2013, ecoAmerica released 13 steps for "Communicating on Climate," the first 3 of which are "start with people, stay with people"; "connect on common values"; and "acknowledge ambivalence." These proved very helpful as the University of Minnesota, Morris has engaged a wide variety of people in conversation about climate change, extreme weather, and water challenges in Minnesota and in our community. After briefly highlighting how the 13 steps have informed UMM's choices about engagement strategy, process, and principles behind this engagement work, we will invite participants to consider how they can be extended to other civic engagement and change-making work and to explore connections between sustainability change-making and other movement work.

Speakers

Troy Goodnough

Sustainability Director, University of Minnesota, Morris

Wednesday June 10, 2015 8:30am - 9:30am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 217

Breakout Session

8:30am CDT

Student Engagement: Understanding the Development of Core Competencies

This session will begin with a short presentation on research analyzing the impact of student involvement in student organizations on students’ development at the University of Northern Iowa. Participants will learn about and discuss the core competencies framework developed by Bok (2006) identifying crucial knowledge and skills undergraduate students need to be competitive in the global workplace, as well as strategies for assessing those competencies and various factors influencing students’ engagement and development.

Speakers

Julianne Gassman

Director & Professor, Community Engagement, University of Northern Iowa

Dr. Julianne Gassman is the Director of Community Engagement at the University of Northern Iowa. In this role she thinks strategically about the interface between UNI and its community from local to global. Dr. Gassman is also a Professor in Recreation, Tourism and Nonprofit Leadership... Read More →

Student Engaement & Core Competencies Upper Midwest Civic Engagement Summit June 2015 SE pptx

Wednesday June 10, 2015 8:30am - 9:30am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 219

Breakout Session

9:45am CDT

Collecting Data: Utilizing Campus Connect Database

In 2014, Madeline collaborated with Jenni Walsh, the then Executive Director at Wisconsin Campus Compact, to customize and utilize the Campus Connect database (created by Wisconsin Campus Compact). Since then, Madeline has appealed for buy-in from all departments. What she got was overwhelming interest for a database that could collect data for all service learning, internship, volunteering, club activities, mentoring, and student-attended workshops. Currently in Beta Testing, this database could revolutionize student engagement at Gateway Technical College in simplicity and connectivity. This mini-workshop will outline the database and the teaching materials developed for connecting the entire college.

Speakers

Madeline Carrera

Service Learning Coordinator, Gateway Technical College

Wednesday June 10, 2015 9:45am - 10:00am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 111

Mini-Session

9:45am CDT

Engaging Students as Voters

This mini-session highlights the results of research on reasons Simpson College students chose not to vote in the 2014 midterm elections. Conducted by student leaders in Simpson Votes and the Culver Public Policy Center, this research included survey questions on individuals' choices and their views of the effectiveness of voter engagement programs on campus. Attend to hear the results of this survey and to discuss the development of new strategies to increase voter turnout at Simpson College and across the Upper Midwest.

Speakers

MacKenzie Bills

student, Simpson College

MacKenzie Bills is a Culver Fellow from Altoona, Iowa. At Simpson, she is majoring in Political Science and International Relations and is pursuing minors in French and Religion. Bills aspires to work abroad for non-governmental organizations and travel. She also hopes to serve as... Read More →

Molly Monk

Student / Culver Fellow, Simpson College

Molly Monk recently graduated from Simpson College where she was heavily involved as a fellow with the John C. Culver Public Policy Center. Currently, she works as a graduate research fellow on a problem regarding herbicide resistant weeds for a partnership between Simpson College... Read More →

Civic Engagement Voting Patterns pptx

Wednesday June 10, 2015 9:45am - 10:00am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 119

Mini-Session

9:45am CDT

Incorporating Service Learning into Study Abroad in India

The presentation will illustrate the value of incorporating service-learning opportunities into an off-campus psychology course in India, in which students explore childhood and family life in modern India through site visits, lectures, and readings. The focus will be on hands-on service learning experiences during the month of study abroad that expand and deepen students’ understanding of Indian psychologists’ and social workers’ integration of traditional and contemporary approaches in their work in this religiously and linguistically diverse nation. Capitalizing on the mini-session format, the presentation will highlight one of these experiences, in which St. Olaf students interacted with their Indian college student counterparts during visits to NGO sites where the Indian students were engaged in field placements, including a school for street children in an urban slum area, a vocational rehabilitation program, a medical setting for palliative care, an outreach program for HIV/AIDS prevention, a shelter for women with cognitive disabilities, and a shelter for older adults without homes. The presentation will include examples from presentations that students gave in India about their experiences, excerpts from their field notebooks and final exam essays, and information about a large-group debriefing session and closing event that included numerous opportunities for reflecting and reframing.

Speakers

Dana Gross

Professor and Associate Dean, St. Olaf College

Civic Engagement in Study Abroad in India (Dana Gross) pptx

Wednesday June 10, 2015 9:45am - 10:00am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 211

Mini-Session

9:45am CDT

Introducing Service-Learning with Digital Media

College students spend a significant portion of their time online. For this project, we endeavored to meet students where they were – online – to introduce them to service-learning and help students engage fully in their service-learning experience. During this mini-session, we will share how a collaborative team at our university created digital media to connect with students. The digital media was the catalyst that got students thinking about service, how they could engage diverse members of their communities through service, and how that experience could enrich their classroom learning. In addition to showing clips of the videos, we will also briefly describe how we evaluated the efficacy of the videos. In an evaluation study, we found that students who viewed the videos when the service-learning assignment was introduced had greater self-efficacy (beliefs about their ability to perform an activity) for engaging with the community than students who did not view the digital media. Further, students who viewed the digital media also described having a more engaged and positive service-learning experience than students who did not view the digital media. The session will conclude with suggestions for creating digital media, or partnering with other institutions to create digital media.

Speakers

Martha Malinski

Director of Community Work & Learning, St. Catherine University

Jamie Peterson

Associate Professor, St. Catherine University

I focus my research on the scholarship of teaching and learning. I am particularly interested in service-learning as a means to provide students with meaningful experiences and contribute to our community partners. I also do program evaluation work; this project was an amalgam... Read More →

Introducing Service Learning with Digital Media pptx

Wednesday June 10, 2015 9:45am - 10:00am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 217

Mini-Session

9:45am CDT

Researching Student Experiences with Diversity and the Admissions Process

The research project, Gustavus Adolphus College: Student Experiences with Diversity and the Admissions Process, represents collaboration between researchers, a campus community, and college administrative staff. Where statistics and questionnaires first seem to be disconnected from the community, only applicable to the highly controlled laboratory setting, here research is used to inform potential actions to inform an entire community and its stakeholders. In eliciting the opinions and knowledge of each group this study examined, researchers were able to develop a comprehensive view of the impact of diversity on campus admissions—and vice versa—to craft suggestions to better serve underrepresented students on the Gustavus campus. Utilizing a brief PowerPoint and facilitated discussion, the presentation of this research will focus on educating attendees about the project itself, as well as the potential problems and impacts it might have on a college campus.

Speakers

Dillon Hall

Independent Living Skills Worker, Restart Inc. and 2014 Gustavus graduate, Restart, Inc

Marie Walker

Professor and Chair Psychological Science Departme, Gustavus Adolphus College

Wednesday June 10, 2015 9:45am - 10:00am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 219

Mini-Session

10:15am CDT

Facilitating Transcultural Competence in the Local and Global

This panel will feature brief descriptions of two case studies (engaging nursing students in Tanzania and Spanish students in St. Peter, MN), followed by time for small-group reflection and discussion on such questions as: What is transcultural competence and why is it important today? How do you instill and/or facilitate transcultural competence in others? When have you benefitted from transcultural competence? What challenges (related to multiculturalism, cultural education, global engagement, etc.) have you faced, and how have you moved forward?

Speakers

Kathleen Dwyer

Assistant Professor of Spanish & LALACS, Gustavus Adolphus College

Barbara Zust

Nursing faculty, Gustavus

Wednesday June 10, 2015 10:15am - 11:15am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 211

Breakout Session

10:15am CDT

Practicing Inclusive Excellence: Engaging Historically Underrepresented Students in Community-Based Learning

The Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) has identified Inclusive Excellence as a guiding principle for student access, success, and high-quality learning. Inclusive excellence requires institutions of higher education to be proactive in addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and acknowledges that doing so is an imperative of a democratic culture.
This presentation will ask participants to consider the ways in which Inclusive Excellence can be applied to community-based learning, and valuable to the goals of civic engagement. The presentation will explore the relationship between students’ racial and social class identity and their involvement in service and learning, and provide participants with the opportunity to evaluate community-based learning experiences of which they have been a part through the lens of Inclusive Excellence.
The primary goal of this session is to engage participants in a dialogue around the topic in order to identify effective practices as well as questions to inform further exploration.

Speakers

Awale Osman

Student, Augsburg College

Kara Trebil

Doctoral Student, University of Denver

Civic Engagement Summit pptx

Wednesday June 10, 2015 10:15am - 11:15am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 111

Breakout Session

10:15am CDT

The Growth of Community Engagement in Non-U.S. Contexts

This session explores the ways in which community engagement initiatives are advancing in countries across the globe. In addition to providing a scan of how different countries are defining and operationalizing community engagement in educational settings, the session will examine the broad range of purposes that undergird the various national service-learning and community-engaged scholarship initiatives. Participants will engage in a discussion of how these efforts compare and contrast to U.S. approaches to community engagement and engaged scholarship.

Speakers

Andrew Furco

Associate Vice President/Professor, University of Minnesota

1. Senior leadership and administrative issues regarding the advancement of community and civic engagement in higher education. 2. The latest research findings on the impacts of community engagement on students, faculty, institutions, and communities.

Wednesday June 10, 2015 10:15am - 11:15am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 217

Breakout Session

10:15am CDT

Tools to Examine the Language of Diversity and Inclusion in Community Engagement: An Approach Using Critical Discourse Analysis

This session focuses on the use of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to explore the language of community engagement in higher education. CDA is a theory and method aimed at understanding the relationship between language and society. Participants will learn and apply discourse analysis tools to examine language used in community engagement practices to describe diversity and inclusion. Together, we will consider what messages our language may be communicating about power and difference in community partnerships, service learning, and community-based research. Participants will leave with a set of reflective tools to raise critical questions about veiled messages underpinning language in their work.

Speakers

Kira Pasquesi

Doctoral Candidate, University of Iowa

Kira Pasquesi is a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education & Student Affairs program at the University of Iowa. Her dissertation is examining how colleges and universities use language to represent diversity and inclusion in community engagement.

Pasquesi Language Tools pdf

Wednesday June 10, 2015 10:15am - 11:15am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 119

Breakout Session

10:15am CDT

When The World Comes Knocking At Your Door

What do you do when people from a different cultural than you are used to working with show up at your door? What strategies and approaches do you use to serve them? We will share what we have learned when Somali people moved into Nicollet County and needed our services. We will highlight what we did to educate staff, the effects dealing with a new culture had on professionals and the services we offered, the impact of diversity on rural communities, and how collaboration of services and expertise got us to where we are now.

Speakers

Becki Hawkins

Consortium Coordinator, Area Adult Learning Cooperative

I have worked in Adult Basic Education since 1993 and for the AALC since 1997.

Dawn Michels

Financial Assistance Supervisor, Nicollet County Social Services

Deb Pipes

Nicollet County Family Resource Coordinator, MVAC

Joan Tesdahl

Director, Nicollet County Social Services

GAC Summit Presentation1 pptx

Wednesday June 10, 2015 10:15am - 11:15am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 219

Breakout Session

11:30am CDT

Cross Cultural Dialogue at a Racially Diverse Rural High School

Presentation

During the 2014-2015 academic year, two students from Carleton College have been facilitating discussion sessions for high school students in Faribault, focused on intergroup relations, racial and ethnic identities, communicating across identities and languages. These sessions built on a short-term project developed by Carleton students in their Educational Studies senior seminar focused on youth organizing, taught by Professor Anita Chikkatur. This mini-session will start with a brief background by Professor Chikkatur to the Intergroup Dialogue Program at Carleton College that informs these sessions at the high school. The college students will facilitate a short activity that demonstrates the kind of activities and discussion questions they use to facilitate conversations about identities and intergroup relations with the high school students. The college students will then discuss highlights and challenges of their work in Faribault High School.

Speakers

Anita Chikkatur

Professor, Carleton College

Sami Saltzman

Student (English major), Carleton College

Maddie Ulanow

Student (Political Science major), Carleton College

Wednesday June 10, 2015 11:30am - 11:45am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 219

Mini-Session

11:30am CDT

Language and Cultural Exchange Conversation Partners

This presentation will provide an overview of a Spanish-English language exchange project students in a Latin American civilization course undertook with Spanish-speaking residents of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The community partner, Literacy Green Bay, offers a variety of classes and tutoring, including for English language learners, citizenship preparation, and the GED. They expressed interest in the idea of pairing their Spanish-speaking ELL students with St. Norbert Spanish students in weekly conversations that would take place during the two-hour ELL class. In addition to improving language skills for each conversation partner, important goals for the students included gaining insight into Hispanic culture and making connections with the major academic themes of the course, as well as analyzing questions of social justice. After providing details of the project structure, goals, academic assignments, and connection to the course theme, the presenter will summarize and evaluate the service-learning project’s results for both the community members and students.

Speakers

John Day

Assistant Professor of Spanish, St. Norbert College

Wednesday June 10, 2015 11:30am - 11:45am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 217

Mini-Session

11:30am CDT

Media Literacy Civic Engagement Project

This mini-session will showcase a civic engagement project designed to connect students in media classes to groups in the communities of which students are a part. In groups of two, students create a media literacy project for a group of individuals in their communities. Students choose a group to which their project will be presented (e.g., a Girl Scout troop, a group from the Senior Center, a class of middle school/high school students) and present the materials to that group using knowledge gained from critically interrogating media and society for a semester. Students make sure their materials are appropriately adapted to the audience they choose by conducting research and setting up a meeting to talk with individuals in this demographic (or, alternately, representatives who work with individuals in this demographic, e.g., a teacher of preschoolers if preschoolers make up the group students choose). Based on this information, students develop a project prospectus and rationalize why they choose the lecture/exercises they do for their presentation. Then, the group presents their media literacy lesson to the group they chose. Finally, students reflect on their experiences, outlining what went well and what they would change if they were to complete the project again.

Speakers

Sarah Wolter

Assistant Professor, Gustavus Adolphus College

Wednesday June 10, 2015 11:30am - 11:45am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 119

Mini-Session

11:30am CDT

Rural Immigration Network Project

The Rural Immigration Network promotes community-building initiatives in rural towns across the United States. We share information through a website describing innovative events and programs that build community among immigrants, refugees and longer-term residents. We invite network participants including teachers, non-profit leaders, public servants, and advocates who want to develop their own pragmatic programming in areas such as education, public health and community outreach. Through the network, people can get nuts-and-bolts information about initiatives in other towns, including a list of required resources, planning steps, outcome reports and recommendations.

Speakers

Katherine Tegtmeyer Pak

Associate Professor, St. Olaf College

Immigration, contexts of reception, political opportunity structures, undergraduate teaching

Wednesday June 10, 2015 11:30am - 11:45am CDT
Beck Academic Hall room 211

Mini-Session

12:00pm CDT

Luncheon keynote and reflection with Tania D. Mitchell

Tania D. Mitchell is an assistant professor in the department of postsecondary teaching and learning at the University of Minnesota’s college of education and human development. Her teaching interests include social justice theory, civic discourse, public service, college student development and the pedagogy, philosophy and practice of service-learning in higher education. Much of her research focuses on service-learning as a critical pedagogy to explore civic identity, social justice, student learning and development, race and racism, and community practice.
Tania came to the University of Minnesota in August 2012 from Stanford University, where she spent five years leading an innovative program-based service learning and community engagement initiative for the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. With professional experience in admissions, student activities, residential life, and academic affairs, Tania is a scholar-practitioner who has taught both undergraduate and graduate students at Stanford University, Mills College, California State University Monterey Bay, and the University of Massachusetts.
An internationally recognized scholar in service learning and community engagement, Tania was recognized with the Early Career Research Award by the International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement and is frequently invited to lecture at conferences, universities, and community organizations. Her scholarship has been published in books and journals including: Equity and Excellence in Education, the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, and Diversity and Democracy.

Moderators

Justin Ellis

Director of Development, Iowa and Minnesota Campus Compact

Justin Ellis began at Iowa Campus Compact as a program coordinator in 2013. He graduated from IUPUI with a Master's in Museum Studies. While there he served as a graduate assistant in the Center for Service and Learning administering a scholarship program among other duties. Justin... Read More →

Speakers

Tania Mitchell

Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota

Wednesday June 10, 2015 12:00pm - 1:30pm CDT
Alumni Hall in Johnson Student Union

Keynote Lunch