Civic Engagement Showcase returns to highlight campus-community partnerships

After a three-year absence, the Civic Engagement Showcase returns on April 6, offering campus and community members space to share their partnerships on issues that impact everyone.

The event is Thursday, April 6, 4-7:30 p.m. in the DeVos Center, Hager-Lubbers Exhibition Hall, on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus. 

Travus Burton, director for Civic Learning and Community Engagement, said more than 35 exhibits will be displayed, representing the work of many academic disciplines, campus/community initiatives, and university centers that support civic engagement work.

Michael Huner, associate professor of history, plans to exhibit and discuss the Civic Change Agent Badge program. Huner said the program draws from the social science, liberal arts, humanities curriculums in Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

"The badge program counters the notion that this curricular wheel has to be reinvented," Huner said. "This program comes out of the liberal arts tradition that is foundational to the university’s educational mission." 

Jordyn Horton, library specialist, is the first student to receive the badge certification. Horton graduated from Grand Valley in 2020 with a bachelor's degree in communications studies and enrolled in the undergraduate badge program last year. 

"It's been a couple of years since I've been in a class and I thought this program would be a good way to get back into it," Horton said, adding she is considering the master's degree program in social innovation.

Horton's project for the Civic Change Agent Badge program involved researching how an online community could be used to retain Black professionals in the library field. She is completing an annotated bibliography and literature review.

Burton said participants at the showcase will be impressed by the work done by community members.

"We will have a variety of displays that highlight the great work being done by our students, faculty and staff to address a range of community issues," Burton said. "I would encourage anyone who is curious about connecting with our community and the people from Grand Valley who are engaging with community members to join us." 

The GVSU documentary Climate Sisu will premiere following the showcase in Loosemore Auditorium at 7:30 p.m., in partnership with the Department of Geography and Sustainable Planning. Both events are INT 100/201 approved.