Accomplishments
2020-2021
Advising Whole-Institution Community Engagement
- Defined effective community partnerships and community engagement terms and principles, and developed a plan to promote and equip W&M community members with tools for this approach
- Collaborated with the Sharing Authority/Highlands project in inaugural University Teaching and Learning Project (UTLP) session, May 2021, contributing resources on community partnerships and community engagement
- Dismantled silos by developing relationships amongst our Council and sharing information about and vision for engagement across schools and among faculty, staff, and students
- Engaging in in-depth conversation and grappling with sensitive topics such as ownership and power issues in community partnerships and acknowledging past harm and injustice, as well as creating a sense of shared investment and enjoyment
Expanding and Deepening Partnerships
- Identified current partnerships via a university-wide survey
- Data analysis is underway, examining gaps in geographic area, issues addressed, and communities/identities
- Outreach plans will be based on data analysis
- Developed a plan for a campus and community-wide art workshops for a Communal Quilt Project to begin Summer 2021
- Recognizing that many groups and parts of our community are not included when we host partner meetings on campus, we will engage and develop relationships with communities and neighbors in the places where they already are.
- Building relationships, learning from and with our neighbors, and hearing more about their strengths and shared interests, challenges existing negative power dynamics.
- The project will open avenues for us to engage in more sustained, rich partnerships for research, learning, internships, engagement and volunteerism, and outreach.
- Project will be led by the Director of Engagement and Distinguished Artist in Residence at the Muscarelle Museum and supported by PCSC members, Muscarelle interns and docents, and student, staff, faculty, and community volunteers.
Elevating the Profile and Reach of Community Engagement
- Built an accessible platform on W&M GivePulse for collecting and publicly sharing campus-community partnerships to increase awareness of current partnerships and access to partners for future research and other initiatives.
- Expansion is in process.
- Collaborated with the Center for Geospatial Analysis to develop a map of current community partnerships
- Expansion is in process (it’s at the very early stages!)
- Developed and began implementing plans to highlight and promote community-engaged research, teaching, and learning
- Promoted community-engaged research in the Charles Centers’ W&M 2021 Undergraduate Research Month
