Grant creates civic engagement pilot project

Students who attend Grand Valley, Aquinas College and Grand Rapids Community College will have more community-based learning opportunities through a pilot project funded by the Grand Rapids Community Foundation.

Ruth Stegeman, director of Community Engagement at Grand Valley, said the Engaged Department Initiative is a unique project that will lead to more sharing of resources and learning best practices to help faculty at each institution employ community-based learning as a strategy to achieve key academic goals.

Stegeman is the principal investigator for the two-year, $65,000 grant from GRCF. The three institutions will also work with Michigan Campus Compact, a coalition of colleges and universities established to create public service opportunities for students. Stegeman said an Engaged Department Institute will be held in the spring and facilitated by Richard Battistoni, a national leader in community-based teaching and learning.

At Grand Valley, the Office of Community Engagement will accept applications from academic departments that would like to be involved. Grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded to plan and implement strategic initiatives that will advance the integration of community-based teaching, learning and scholarship into departmental curriculum and culture.

Stegeman said one of the biggest advantages for students includes applying classroom theory to real-world problems.

“The more experiential learning opportunities students get, the more skills they develop for the work force, including collaboration, communication, quantitative literacy and problem solving,” Stegeman said. “In addition, community-based experience, including part of one’s coursework, can be added to a student’s resume.”

The deadline for faculty or staff members to apply for an Engaged Department grant is February 13. Contact Stegeman at [email protected] for details.