| Description |
In the summer of 2008, we began discussing pathways to further engage students in the community through their academic disciplines. Our central aim was to provide more opportunities for students to apply what they are learning in the classroom to promote the public good. Experiential learning, especially those opportunities which are designed to aid the community, help students discover their passions and teach them about the ways in which they are connected to their immediate community and society as a whole. While the initial idea focused more on creating a Service-Learning Requirement, this idea adapted to include many other forms of community involvement that contained an academic component. Our adapted proposal came to be known as, the Community Engagement Co-Requisite. Throughout the summer and into the Fall Semester, we met with various individuals and committees throughout campus including President Young, Dr. John G. Francis, the Director of the Bennion Center, 13 undergraduate deans, department chairs, academic advisors of the University, Student Commission, Undergraduate Council, and numerous student organizations. From these meetings, we built a committee of more than 30 academics from various departments to further modify and refine the initiative in a way that would apply to all students. Additionally, we conducted a survey of all undergraduate students; assessing the need and desire for a community engagement piece to be added to the curriculum. The survey showed positive and helped us further refine the proposal. After the survey was completed, we felt it was necessary to move forward with the proposal in the Student Senate and Assembly. Desiring more information, the Senate stalled the proposal. Over Christmas Break, the economic situation became direr at the University and every department began implementing mid-year budget cuts. While the co requisite could be implemented utilizing current resources, we felt that the time of adding another requirement on departments was too demanding, and thus, we decided to start smaller in hopes of someday making this proposal a reality. Since then, our efforts have focused on implementing a service learning component into Writing 2010 courses in hopes of introducing students to engagement experiences early on in their college career. |
