Engaged Learning Forum – “Community-University Partnerships: Fostering Knowledge for Social Change”

Thursday, September 19, 12:00–1:30 PM; Geddes Hall Coffee House

Dr. Ira Harkavy, University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Harkavy is the Associate Vice President and Founding Director of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania. He has helped to develop academically based community service courses and participatory action research projects that involve creating university-community partnerships and university-assisted community schools in Penn’s local community of West Philadelphia. Harkavy teaches in history, urban studies, and Africana studies, as well as in the Graduate School of Education. In addition to this forum, Dr. Harkavy spent two days on campus meeting with faculty, graduate students, and others to discuss public scholarship and higher education. Cosponsors include the Center for Social Concerns, Office of Public Affairs, the Center for Civic Innovation, and the Office of the Provost.

Engaged Learning Forum – “Civic and Political Engagement and Higher Education”

Thursday, November 7, 2019; 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM; Geddes Hall Coffee House

Dr. Nancy Thomas, Tufts University

Dr. Nancy Thomas directs the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE) at Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life. IDHE is an applied research center that studies higher education’s role in American democracy and supports college and university student political learning and participation. The Institute’s signature initiative, the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) examines student voting rates, patterns, and conditions. Through NSLVE, nearly 1,200 U.S. colleges and universities (including Notre Dame) receive tailored reports containing their students’ aggregate voting rates following each federal election. Dr. Thomas’ work and scholarship include college student civic learning and participation in democracy, campus climates for political engagement, deliberative democracy, political equity and inclusion, campus free speech, and academic freedom. She holds a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a law degree from Case Western Research University’s School of Law. She is an associate editor at the Journal of Public Deliberation, a senior associate with Everyday Democracy, and a member of the Scholars Strategy Network. Thomas currently serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Public Deliberation and is a senior associate with Everyday Democracy. Space is limited. Registration is required and open to staff, faculty, and graduate students.

Beginning the day after the Fall 2019 election, Dr. Thomas spent two days on campus meeting with faculty, graduate students, and others to discuss the intersection of civic/political engagement and higher education. Cosponsors include the Center for Social Concerns, the Department of Political Science, the Constitutional Studies Minor, the Office of the Provost, Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy, Notre Dame Learning | Kaneb Center, the Division of Student Affairs, and ND Votes.

Engaged Learning Forum – Designing Courses and Research for Community Impact

Friday, December 6, 2019; 12:00PM – 1:15PM; Geddes Hall Coffee House

Dr. Viva Bartkus, Richard Jones, and Victoria St. Martin, University of Notre Dame

This lunch discussion featured two innovative community-engaged courses supported by Center for Social Concerns Community Impact Grants with insights from Notre Dame faculty Viva Bartkus, Richard G. Jones, and Victoria St. Martin, as well as students who participated in their community-engaged courses. Attendees had the opportunity to learn how they designed courses and research with community impact in mind  supported by the center’s Community Impact Grants.

Viva Bartkus, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Management in the Mendoza College of Business. Dr. Bartkus’s presentation “Designing Service Learning and Scholarship that Actually Serves” will present results of research she has conducted on the question of what it takes for service learning projects to effectively serve community partners. Dr. Bartkus received a Community Impact Grant to lead a cohort of MBA students in a Business on the Frontlines course designed to stimulate economic development in Santurce, Puerto Rico, a vibrant arts area. Business on the Frontlines is a series of community-engaged research courses that examine the impact of businesses in societies affected by extreme poverty and conflict. The program allows Notre Dame students to engage and partner with non-profit organizations and multinational companies to harness the dynamism of businesses to strengthen communities before they tip into conflict.

Richard G. Jones is the Walter H. Annenberg-Edmund P. Joyce Director of the John W. Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy. Victoria St. Martin is a visiting journalist with the Gallivan Program. Jones and St. Martin were awarded a Community Impact Grant to teach “Covering America | Puerto Rico: Journalistic Storytelling with Compassion, Empathy, and Professionalism.” This course involves a six-day reporting trip to Puerto Rico designed to combine digital technology with foundational reporting skills to cover complex stories for national audiences with a sense of both professionalism and empathy.