Five of our team members were privileged to present at April's Compact24 Conference, hosted in Denver by Campus Compact. Sessions facilitated by CCEL staff included Promising Practice collaborative sessions, Community and Network Meetings, Poster sessions, and Knowledge-to-Action Workshops. Keep reading to explore the diverse topics covered by our presenters!

 

Building Capacity and Support through a Special Topics Series for Community-Engaged Practitioners

Date/Time: Monday, April 8, 2024, 4:00 PM - 4:45 PM

Focus Area: Next-generation civic and community engagement professionals

Stephanie Brewer, Michigan State University
Michelle Snitgen, Michigan State University

Description: The Academic Programs Team (APT) within the Center for Community-engaged Learning (CCEL) at Michigan State University is focused on three main goals: support campus community-engaged teaching and learning (CETL), lead campus and community networks to support CETL, and contribute to the field of CETL broadly. In an effort to meet these goals, the APT developed a Special Topics Series for Community-Engaged Practitioners. This series began in 2019 with two topic areas and has evolved to include ten topic areas, a multitude of faculty/ practitioner exemplars, a mini-conference, and hundreds of attendees from across the United States. This session will provide an overview of the development and implementation process, session details and examples, lessons learned, and outcomes data.

 

Collective Strategies for a Healthy and Vibrant Michigan

Date/Time: Monday, April 8, 2024, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Focus Area: Building collective strategies and impact

Neeraja Aravamudan, University of Michigan
Renee Brown, Michigan State University

Description: Join facilitators from Michigan State University and the University of Michigan for a refreshing conversation about reconnecting Michigan’s colleges and universities and collaboration and collective impact strategies for the health and vibrancy of the State of Michigan.

 

Compensating & Recognizing Community Partners: Findings from a Survey of Compact Members

Date/Time: Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 1:15 PM - 2:00 PM

Focus Area: Centering community partner voice in decision-making

Doug Barrera, University of California, Los Angeles
Laurel Hirt, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Mindi Levin, Johns Hopkins University
Michelle Snitgen, Michigan State University

Description: This session will present the findings of a survey administered to Campus Compact institutions in fall 2023 to map how community partners are incorporated into leadership positions on our campuses and how they are compensated and recognized for their contributions to teaching and learning, research, and co-curricular initiatives. Following the presentation of survey results, we will engage in a discussion with session attendees to collectively begin to formulate best practices. Presenters are members of the TRUCEN Sustained Conversation Group on Cultivating Community Voice.

 

Demonstrating Impact: Data and stories shared in an Annual Community Engaged Learning Index

Date/Time: Wednesday, April 10, 2024, 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM

Focus Area: Communicating impact and fundraising

Stephanie Brewer, Michigan State University
Renee Brown, Michigan State University
Michelle Snitgen, Michigan State University

Description: Demonstrating the impact of community-engaged learning on faculty/staff, students, and community partners can be a challenge for many campuses. This session will share strategies for collecting and sharing the important data and stories of community-engaged learning as a way of demonstrating impact, elevating scholarship, and gaining trust and support both on and off campus. Presenters will share how this work has strengthened relationships and gained supporters and funders. This report has collected a decade of data and stories presented in annual reports. Presenters will also share high-level trends that have emerged from this process as well.

The Student Story: Developing An Intentional Assessment Plan Of Student Learning (Poster)

Date/Time: Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Presenters: Michelle Snitgen, Stephanie Brewer, Tina Houghton

Description: In the summer of 2022, Michigan State University’s Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL) revisited its mission and vision to detail strategic priority areas and create a plan for ensuring civic and community engagement as “the way forward” at MSU. Born out of these efforts, CCEL staff engaged in a process to develop learning outcomes statements (LOs) for student learning as a result of participating in the scaffolded suite of CCEL programs. This poster session will depict the process of shaping learning outcomes, compiling an assessment plan, and reflecting upon the implementation of an assessment pilot phase.

One Vision: Preparing Students for Lifelong Civic Engagement (Poster)

Date/Time: Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Presenters: Tina Houghton, K.C. Keyton

Description: When you're a Spartan, you're part of something bigger than the campus' 5,200 acres. We're a global community of more than 500,000 strong, and we're passionate about making the world a better place. Through our strategic partnership between the MSU Center for community-engaged Learning and the MSU Alumni Office, Spartans learn from Day 1, that serving with your community is an essential component of being a “Spartan for Life.”