Office of Community Engagement

Agenda •Tony Baker – Introduction of new office of Community Engagement

•Sara Hinkley – Coordinator of Academic Service Learning (History and

goals for the year)

•Christian Peterson – Coordinator of Political Engagement Project

(History and goals for the year)

•Kristin Conley – Economic Inequality Initiative (History and goals for the

year)

•Common Theme – Mecosta County Literacy - Learning Community

•Introducing Suzanne Finney and Mecosta Reads

Office of Community Engagement

Origins: • Fall 2012 – Center for Latino Studies opens doors

• Promesa Summer Success – 2013 – Current – Grand Rapids, Holland, Oceana With College of Student Success and Retention

• Grand Rapids Partnerships• Public Museum School (GRPS, Kendall College, Public Museum, GVSU…)• Academy of Teaching and Learning (School of Education, GRPS)• Plaza Roosevelt – in collaboration with Latino Business and Economic Development

Center (Habitat of Kent County, Grandville Arts, GRPS…)• New Faculty Tours – “Where our students are from!” with FCTL

New Office of Community Engagement

• Coordination of Engagement Efforts• Academic Service Learning • Political Engagement Project• Economic Inequality Initiative

• Collaboration with CLACS (Center for Leadership, Activities and Career Services).

• Mecosta County Professional Learning Community• Literacy in Michigan – Crisis and Ferris Connections• Building Connections between Faculty, Administration, Staff and Community

Engagement Initiatives 2004 - 2018

• American Democracy Project – 2003/2004

• Robert Putnam – Declining Civic Engagement – Post 2000 and 2004 Elections

• Civic Engagement – Early Beginnings of formal ASL efforts at Ferris

• Political Engagement Project – 2006/2007

• Academic Affairs incorporates formal efforts to go beyond civic engagement

to specific political participation outcomes. Era of large political participation.

• National trends of 2008 – Rock the Vote, Obama Election

• Current efforts – Election – 2018

• Economic Inequality Initiative – 2014 – Increasing Inequality

• Robert Putnam – Our Kids, Other concerns.

History of Academic Service Learning

• Recognition of the need for formalized program supporting faculty in academic service learning approaches in classroom

• Academic Service Learning is a method of teaching that allows students to connect – and thus, learn more deeply – concepts, skills, and other course content with needs and goals of community organizations and agencies. While making this connection, students learn from and provide meaningful service to the community organization or agency.

2018-2019 Steering Committee:

Sarah HinkleyDavid MarquardLianne BriggsSandra BurnsMichele Albright

Katie AxfordKimberly BeistleCatherine BordeauTracy GlentzJoanie HazeltonPaul LongJulie Rowan

ASL Goals and Plan 2018-2019Goals

• The main goals of the ASL Committee for 2018-2019 center on better engagement with our community.• To inform others (faculty, staff, students, community members) about the

ways service learning can benefit FSU students and community organizations.• To explore service learning work around literacy.• To continue the faculty grant process.

ASL Goals and Plan 2018-2019

Tentative Plan • Continue faculty grant process• Engage in community literacy discussion and learn from community

needs

Political Engagement Project – Fall 2018

History of the Economic Inequality Initiative

• Currently, Ferris State University is one of only twenty-one institutions in the United States involved in the Economic Inequality Initiative, and initiative of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

• The goal of the Economic Inequality Initiative “is to help students think about and take action to confront the complex causes of growing economic inequality”. Once informed, educate them about the “relationship between public policy, economic inequality, economic opportunity and social mobility to prepare undergraduates for lives of informed civic engagement”.

Source: thedemocracycommitment.org

2018-2019 Steering Committee:

Fathima WakeelBonnie WrightGail BullardSusan Jones

Tony Baker Kristin ConleyEmmanuel JadhavSharon George

EII Goals and Plan 2018-2019Goals• The main goals of the EII Committee for 2018-2019 center on education. This fits with our mission

and vision and also with our plan to be more focused on how economic inequality impacts education.• To inform others (faculty, staff, students, community members) about issues related to poverty.• To educate the steering committee about literacy issues impacting Mecosta County.

Tentative Plan • Deliberative Dialogues

At least 2 campus-wide deliberative dialogue sessions for the year- one in the fall and one in the spring; smaller deliberative dialogues will also happen each semester. The fall campus-wide deliberative dialogue will be on Safety and Justice: How Should Communities Reduce Violence?

• Campus ReadingFall –Lives on the Boundary by Mike RoseSpring-Evicted by Matthew Desmond.

•Kristin Conley will moderate a Free Speech Five Star Campus Event.•Given our awarded grant monies for 2018, we will continue to partner with the Office of Multicultural Student Service and Office of International Education with Difficult Dialogs in the Classroom. •We will continue to partner with Mecosta Reads’ literacy efforts.

Why EII is focused on Education and Literacy…

Many First Generation College Students are entering Ferris underprepared:

• 11% increase for GNST fall 2017• 15% increase in GNST fall 2018

Source: Shelly VandePanne, RSS

The State and Local Community

• Michigan has fared poorly in several educational measures in recent years. About 56 percent of third-graders did not pass the reading test on Michigan’s state assessment in 2017. • The state also passed in 2016 a third-grade reading law, which calls

for the retention of third-graders who don’t pass the grade-level state assessment in reading in the 2019-20 school year.• A Brookings Institute analysis last year also found that the state’s

students made the least improvement in National Assessment of Education Progress scores since 2003.

Source: “Michigan Dip in 3rd-grade Reading Worst of 11 States” by Jennifer Chambers –The Detroit News March 6, 2018

Reading Proficiency Scores Reading proficiency scores have gone down in almost every district in the state and among all demographies --poor, not poor, black, white. The fall is the biggest among states taking similar tests.

Source: https://www.bridgemi.com/talent-education/see-if-reading-scores-are-down-your-michigan-district

Casting Aside Shame and Stigma, Adults Tackle Struggles with LiteracyOver the past 25 years, U.S. adult literacy rates have not improved. Learning how to read, one adult learner says, is like "opening up a Christmas present every day."

Sources: https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/04/26/602797769/casting-aside-shame-and-stigma-adults-tackle-struggles-with literacy