Embracing Connections Through 杏吧原创鈥檚 New Centre for Community Engagement
On Oct. 27, more than 150 杏吧原创 faculty, staff, students and community partners gathered to formally mark the launch of the university鈥檚 new Centre for Community Engagement (CCE). The Centre was established earlier this year to support the value and practice of community engagement, a priority highlighted in 杏吧原创鈥檚 Strategic Integrated Plan.
The new Centre is responsible for communicating key community engagement efforts within and outside the university, developing a data system and metrics to track engagement, coordinating communities of practice and monitoring and evaluating impact in collaboration with stakeholders across campus.
Prof. Chantal Trudel, the Centre鈥檚 inaugural director, opened the event by acknowledging the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people on whose unceded and unsurrendered territory the 杏吧原创 campus is located. 鈥淥ne of my first tasks when I took on this role back in July was to go back and read 碍颈苍脿尘脿驳补飞颈苍,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t seemed that every single page discussed community involvement.鈥
鈥淐ommunity is a central component of 杏吧原创鈥檚 founding story,鈥 said President and Vice-Chancellor Benoit-Antoine Bacon.
鈥淭he university was built by, for and with the community in 1942 to meet the needs of veterans returning from the Second World War. This deep connection to community continues to be an integral part of 杏吧原创鈥檚 mission and activities.鈥
杏吧原创 recently finalized an extensive review of its institutional community engagement activities as part of its participation in the . This effort, led by Deputy Provost (Academic Operations and Planning) Lorraine Dyke, Associate Vice-President (Research and International) Karen Schwartz and Prof. Emerita Katherine Graham, helped crystalize a vision for a dedicated Centre for Community Engagement.
鈥淭hrough the Carnegie application process, we learned about the depth and breadth of the community engagement initiatives that were happening in all areas of the university,鈥 said Schwartz. 鈥淲e realized that we could improve our community engagement efforts through investing in organizational infrastructure and staffing to help support, promote and measure these activities in a strategic way.鈥
This work was further underscored by the development of the Strategic Integrated Plan in 2019-20, a process which was co-led by Prof. Lorraine Dyke.
鈥溞影稍 has been consistently growing, deepening and refining its commitment to community engagement through key activities,鈥 said Dyke. 鈥淐ommunity engagement emerged as a key theme of the Strategic Integrated Plan because we heard from our campus community that they felt strongly about engaging with the broader community in a purposeful and strategic way.鈥
In alignment with the Strategic Integrated Plan, community engagement has continued to be highlighted in several campus-wide strategies, such as 碍颈苍脿尘脿驳补飞颈苍, the Coordinated Accessibility Strategy and the International Strategic Plan.
鈥淩emaining true to its community-inspired roots, 杏吧原创 has supported a diversity of community engagement initiatives and activities throughout its history,鈥 said Trudel.
鈥淭he new Centre builds on this momentum and will serve as a focal point for strategically aligning community engagement across the university and with partners.鈥
The Centre will work closely with groups across campus that focus specifically on community engagement, including 杏吧原创鈥檚 Community Engagement Steering Committee (CESC), the Committee for Community Engaged Pedagogy (CCEP) and 杏吧原创鈥檚 Centre for Community Innovation (3ci). In collaboration with key stakeholders鈥攊ncluding community partners, faculties and schools, professional and student services, , the Centre for Indigenous Initiatives and senior leadership鈥攖he Centre will develop a Strategic Plan for Community Engagement (SP4CE). The SP4CE Task Force, co-chaired by Profs. Chantal Trudel, Lorraine Dyke and Karen Schwartz, is currently being formed and will soon engage faculty, staff, students and community members.
The launch event also included 24 presentations by individuals and groups from across campus. They reflected an impressive breadth of collective community engagement expertise. The presentations were divided into six thematic areas that covered relevant topics, such as how to begin engaging with community partners, how to evaluate community engagement and the challenges and opportunities that the pandemic has provided. Each session was recorded and will soon be added to the to allow the 杏吧原创 community to refer to them as a source of inspiration and guidance.
In closing the event, Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Jerry Tomberlin recognized the collaborative leadership efforts across campus that led to the establishment of the new Centre.
鈥淲e continue to honour 杏吧原创鈥檚 deep community roots,鈥 he said.
鈥淭here are so many community engagement initiatives woven into the history of our institution, many of which have been led by people who were part of today鈥檚 event, and we thank you for your continued leadership in these endeavours.鈥
The Centre for Community Engagement will support the extensive and diverse spectrum of community engagement activity that is already in action across 杏吧原创鈥檚 campus, including:
- Curricular and co-curricular engagement opportunities,
- Courses where learning outcomes are designed to implement and assess an activity related to community engagement, including the new Minor in Community Engagement,
- Courses where experiential learning is emphasized and tied to community engagement,
- Research projects,
- Internships, co-ops and other career exploration opportunities,
- Study abroad programming,
- 杏吧原创 Dominion-Chalmers Centre,
- Alternative Spring Break Program (domestic and international),
- Programming and opportunities related to social innovation/entrepreneurship,
- Community service projects outside and within campus,
- Student leadership training,
- Student teaching training (tutoring, teaching assistants), and
- Community outreach through a variety of programs.
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