2011 - 2012 ANNUAL REPORT

“Working to enhance university-community collaboration by engaging the university’s academic resources in the enrichment of civic and community life in our local, national, and global communities”

For more information on the Office of Civic and Community Engagement, visit

http://www.miami.edu/civic

The Office of Civic and Community Engagement reports to the Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education.

Message from the Director page 2

People & Staff page 2

Mission and Goals page 3

Defining Our Core Concepts page 3

About Our Work page 4

Our Community Partners page 4

Grants page 5

Focus on Affordable Housing Initiative page 6

Focus on Affordable Housing Programming page 7

Southridge High School Partnership page 8

Engaged Faculty Fellows Program page 10

Engaged Faculty Fellows Workshop page 10

Academic Service-Learning page 11

Internships page 11

Awards and Recognition page 12

Newman Civic Fellows Award page 12

Excellence in Civic Engagement Awards page 13

Spirit of Service-Learning Award page 13

2011-2012 Public Programming page 14

Urban and Environmental Sustainability Initiative page 16

Planned Fall 2012 Programming page 16

Civic and Community Engagement Task Force page 16

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTORThe University of Miami Office of Civic and Community Engagement’s mission is to enhance university-community collaborations by engaging the univer-sity’s academic resources in the enrichment of civic and community life in our local, national, and global communities. We seek to accomplish this by con-necting students, faculty, and community organizations together in a collab-orative process that translates academic knowledge into civic responsibility to promote positive social change.

The creation of the Office of Civic & Community Engagement at the University of Miami in June 2011 came at a propitious time for the institution and for Metropolitan Miami. Surveys and reports released over the last year suggest that Miami lags well behind other U.S. metropolitan regions in indicators of civic well-being such as trust in elected officials, support for not-for-profit or-ganizations, and engagement of institutions of higher learning in addressing local issues.

Miami’s distinctive characteristics, including racially and ethnically diverse populations; the transnational flow of goods, people, and ideas; and a highly transient local population, intensify the particular challenges Miami residents face in building civic cohesiveness. Yet, because these features also vividly re-flect trends that increasingly typify global cities in the new millennium, effec-tive approaches to enhancing civic engagement hold the potential to serve as models for the nation at large.

The University of Miami seeks to play a major role in identifying and imple-menting these approaches. By harnessing the University’s diverse academic resources, its deep connections to the region, and its spirit of innovation, our office helps solve complex social problems—and prepares students to make significant contributions to community well-being—through dynamic, col-laborative, multidisciplinary teaching, research, and community engagement. By breaking down boundaries between academic disciplines within the uni-versity, as well as between the university and the public, UM is forging a new model of the engaged university, one that will help restore an “education for citizenship” that educator John Dewey called for a century ago, and that is at the core of higher education’s historic mission.

We encourage you to get involved, whether you are a student, faculty mem-ber, or community organization. We welcome your ideas for collaboration as we seek to play our part in promoting community engagement and enhanc-ing Miami’s civic well-being.

Sincerely,

Robin F. Bachin, Ph.D. Assistant Provost for Civic and Community EngagementCharlton W. Tebeau Associate Professor of History

Office of Civic and Community Engagement Staff

Robin F. Bachin, Ph.D.Director

Michael Powe, Ph.D.Associate Director

Ashley ArosteguiAmeriCorps VISTA

Lee J. BlochAmeriCorps VISTA

Mara D’AmicoAmeriCorps Public Ally

Mariel ButanPracticum Student

MISSION AND GOALS

The mission of the University of Miami’s Office of Civic and Com-munity Engagement is to enhance university-community collabora-tions by engaging the university’s academic resources in the enrich-ment of civic and community life in our local, national, and global communities. We seek to accom-plish this by connecting students, faculty, and community organiza-tions together in a collaborative process that translates academic knowledge into civic responsibility to promote positive social change.

Engaged Scholarship is scholarship that puts the aca-demic resources of the university to work in solving pressing public problems and thereby contributes to the public good. Within the broad category of engaged scholarship there are two main areas of focus: academic service-learning and community-based research.

Academic Service-Learning: Courses that link the classroom and community through hands-on, experi-ential education that is transformative. These courses promote the interrelationship of teaching, research, and service through theory, action, and reflection in response to community needs; develop and translate academic knowledge, critical thinking, and community engagement into civic responsibility; and foster mutual-ly beneficial collaborations between the university and community to promote positive social change.

Community-Based Research: Research projects un-dertaken by faculty and students in collaboration with community organizations that respond to community-identified needs, promote civic engagement, and en-rich the scholarship of the institution.

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Our goals are to:

Foster stronger connections between the University of Miami and the larger South Florida community.

Coordinate existing University-wide efforts that promote community partnerships.

Embed experiential learning more fully into the cur-riculum.

Develop new courses in which community-based partnerships are central to course learning out-comes.

Enhance existing courses by integrating commu-nity engagement into course curriculum.

Work with the Butler Center for Volunteer Service and Leadership Development to promote commu-nity service among students and link those experi-ences to experiential learning.

Create new initiatives that bring multiple schools and disciplines together to work on shared commu-nity-based projects.

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ABOUT OUR WORKBuilding Partnerships

We consistently work to foster stronger connections between the University of Miami and the larger South Florida community. We also aim to bring together policy ex-perts, not-for-profits, scientists, grassroots activists, urban planners, government agencies, community members, faculty, and students to identify needs, develop strategies for solutions, and help translate lo-cal activism into effective public policy.

This year, we built and maintained partnerships with 58 community organizations, 23 non-academic university partners, and 21 univer-sity academic departments and programs.

Some of our partner organizations both on and off the campus include:

• Belafonte TACOLCY Center

• Butler Center for Volunteer Service & Leadership Development

• Carrfour Supportive Housing

• Catalyst Miami

• Center for Latin American Studies

• Center for the Humanities

• City of Coral Gables

• City Year Miami

• Earth Learning

• Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

• Florida Legal Services

• Habitat for Humanity

• Miami Beach CDC

• MDC Housing Finance Authority

• Miami Southridge Senior High

• Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida

• South Florida CDC

• Youth L.E.A.D.

One of the Office of Civic and Community Engagement’s prin-cipal goals is to foster the formation of experiential learning opportunities for UM students through curricular enhance-ments and community-engaged projects.

Working in collaboration with students, faculty, and commu-nity organizations, we support efforts to translate academic learning into civic responsibility to promote positive social change in South Florida and beyond.

• In 2011-2012, our office identified 133 courses offered in 23 different academic departments across the University of Miami that included a service-learning component.• We also catalogued 74 community-based research pro-grams and projects across 20 academic departments. • CCE offered a total of 87 internships for students with lo-cal community organizations.

In the 2011-2012 academic year, we hosted seven com-munity conversations and co-sponsored two additional public programs. Over 300 individuals attended these programs over the course of the year. We also convened meetings with faculty and community partners to discuss important issues facing South Florida communities, po-tential partnerships, and opportunities for collaboration.

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GRANTSCivic Professionalism: A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Liberal Arts Education.

University of Miami is one of 6 institutions working collabora-tively through the Imagining America consortium to receive a $150,000 grant from the Teagle Foundation. The project focuses on Civic Professionalism as a roadmap for transforming educa-tion through a dual focus on faculty work and student learn-ing. It seeks to interweave the traditional strengths of the liberal arts, the values of civic inquiry and reflection, and the practical work of sustaining and supporting our communities and our-selves. Civic professionalism takes higher education beyond the transmittal of content knowledge to include an explicit focus on the values and social purpose underlying our use of that knowledge in the world. Faculty who deploy the tools of civic professionalism, embracing engagement with the world stu-dents will inhabit upon graduation, can provide an education that is transformative for students, society, and themselves.

The Teagle Foundation provides leadership for liberal educa-tion, mobilizing the intellectual and financial resources that are necessary if today’s students are to have access to a challenging and transformative liberal education. The Foundation’s commit-ment to such education includes its grantmaking to institutions of higher education across the country, its long-established scholarship program for the children of employees of ExxonMobil, and its work helping eco-nomically disadvantaged young people in New York City—where the Foundation is based—gain admission to college and succeed once there.

Community Engagement and Affordable Housing

CCE, in conjunction with the School of Architecture, was awarded a grant from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund to support a collaborative community engagement strategy for affordable housing in South Florida. The grant will support efforts to preserve, design, and deliver affordable housing in Miami, resulting in greater access to quality homes that meet residents’ needs. We will approach the challenges of affordable housing in the area through a manifold approach that will include research, outreach, instruction, and design interventions. Over the next three years, we will convene a coalition of key stakeholders; create a publicly accessible database of affordable housing in South Florida and an asset map of community resources; lead design studios, charrettes, and design-build programs focused on affordable housing solutions; and develop an affordable housing com-munity scholars program that brings together community leaders and students to attend seminars led by experts in fields of architecture and community development. The grant will build upon the Office of Civic and Community Engagement’s 2011-2012 Focus on Affordable Housing Initiative.

The Jessie Ball duPont Fund is a national foundation that makes grants to more than 330 eligible organizations identified by Mrs. duPont in her will. The Fund organizes its resources around strengthening the independent sector; building the assets of people, families, and communities; and building the capacity of eligible organi-zations.

In August 2011, the Office of Civic & Community Engagement launched the Focus on Affordable Housing Ini-tiative. The current housing downturn and resulting foreclosure crisis have laid bare the extent to which govern-ment programs, developers, and non-profit organizations have been unable to adequately address the needs of cities’ most vulnerable populations in terms of housing. Florida has been par-ticularly hard hit by the crisis. Universi-ties have a key role to play in foster-ing connections among government agencies, non-profit organizations, grass-roots activists, developers, and policy experts to promote change in the community and translate local ac-tivism into public policy.

In the first phase of the University of Miami’s Focus on Affordable Hous-ing, CCE brought together faculty from across the school with a host of local housing organizations to iden-tify needs, develop strategies for solu-tions, and create an agenda for creat-ing more housing options for South

Florida residents. CCE also worked to embed service-learning courses relat-ed to housing and community devel-opment into the UM curriculum and offered students internships with local community partners. The courses ad-dress topics including urban affairs, social inequality, community well-being, city planning and design, real estate development, and housing and urban development. Students and faculty in these courses have worked with community organizations to cre-ate an informal learning community that enables students to translate their classroom learning into real-world ex-perience and understand the impact they can have working collaboratively with community partners as agents of social change. In addition, CCE hosted a series of Community Conversations designed to create a local, multidisci-plinary, cross-sector dialogue on how we can creatively and collaboratively address the need for affordable hous-ing and community development in South Florida.

We launched a number of projects and programs this year for the Focus on Afford-able Housing Initiative, in-cluding:

• Hosting a very successful series of lectures, discussion panels, and film screenings on topics related to affordable housing.

• Convening meetings with faculty and local partner stake-holders to address how faculty teaching courses related to housing might best collabo-rate with community organiza-tions working on housing-related issues.

• Establishing a research and resource website for students, faculty, and community mem-bers to draw from. We have also created a wiki for the Initiative that serves as a collaborative, transparent, and inclusive re-source of collective knowledge for the faculty, community partners, and students who will work together on this proj-ect beyond this academic year.

• Compiling a benchmarking study on community design models and initiating conver-sations about the possibility of a Miami Community Design Center.

FOCUS ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING

John Stuart, AIA, Chair and Professor of Architecture at Florida International Uni-versity and Dean of University of Miami’s School of Architecture Elizabeth Plater-

Zyberk at a screening of The Pruitt-Igoe Myth.

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Dr. Craig L. Wlkins, AIA, lecturing on housing and community design at our February 20 Focus on Affordable Housing event.

Focus on Affordable Housing 2011-2012 Programming:

“Housing Matters: America’s Quest for Decent

Homes”September 12, 2011: Lecture with

Alexander von Hoffman, Senior Research Fellow, Joint Center for

Housing Studies, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University

“Financing Affordable Housing: Strategies for Future Planning”

October 12, 2011: Panel discussion with Patricia Braynon, Hana Eskra, Gregg Fortner, Jeffrey Lines, Denis

Russ, and Michael Wohl. Moder-ated by Peter McDougal.

Film Screening: The Pruitt-Igoe Myth

February 6, 2012: Prefaced by a discussion of the history of public

housing in South Florida with John Stuart and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.

“Housing Class: The Elephant in the Room”

February 20, 2012: Lecture with Dr. Craig L. Wilkins, AIA; Director,

Detroit Community Design Center; Senior Lecturer, Taubman College

of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan.

“Designing for Diversity: Af-fordable Housing for America’s

Changing Demographic” March 26, 2012: A panel discussion

with Dr. Sherry Ahrentzen, Brian Phillips, and Mark Segal. Moder-ated by Javier Fernandez, Esq., of

Akerman Senterfitt.

“My experience with Neighborhood Hous-ing Services has fueled my passion to serve underserved populations. I have learned and developed skills such as communica-tion and empathy and increased my under-standing of the importance of trust. My view on medicine has changed as I have learned about the social determinants of health and have started to understand health in a broader scope than simply diseases and ill-ness.”

-Sophomore Meera Nagarsheth on her internship with Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida, a local communi-ty organization working on housing issues.

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The Southridge High School Part-nership pairs UM English and History majors with Southridge High School teachers in history and language arts to enhance the curriculum, give guest lectures, and mentor students. The initiative is designed to promote a col-lege-going culture among traditional-ly underserved students; enhance the public school curriculum with innova-tive lectures and projects; enable UM students to translate their research in-terests into practical classroom learn-ing; and foster intellectual engage-ment among the area’s youth. After meeting with partner teachers, shad-owing in the classroom, and getting to know the students at Southridge, the UM students give guest lectures to share their passion for and knowl-edge of these core subject areas.

Southridge High School students gain increased awareness of college expectations as well as aptitude in the skills necessary for collegiate success, including note-taking, studying, and critical analysis. The UM students also offer a novel perspective for many of the high school students who may have interest in attending college but do not otherwise have access to

individuals with firsthand knowledge of college life. In addition to their lec-tures, UM students share personal experiences from college, including course requirements and reading loads, guidelines for college applica-tions, and advice based on their re-cent experiences. With this guidance and perspective, students who may have never considered college may now see it as an option.

In 2009, the school received an F rat-ing, but due to the commitment and effort of the administration, teach-ers, students and families, the school earned a D in 2010 and an A in 2011. We are thrilled to be partnered with a school that has demonstrated such success, and we would like to take the model that we have implemented at Southridge and scale it up to other schools in Miami-Dade County. Fu-ture expansion of the program will be guided by an assessment tool cre-ated by graduate students in the UM School of Education’s Program Evalu-ation course. We will use this assess-ment tool as we prepare to introduce new disciplines into the program and as we consider implementing the pro-gram in additional schools.

SOUTHRIDGE PARTNERSHIP

Southridge students, administrators, and CCE practicum student Mariel Butan at a panel discussion on college life at a University of Miami campus visit.

“I really enjoyed having the University of Miami student in my class. They brought a fresh perspec-tive, and my students saw how hard the UM students work in col-lege. The kids were really amazed at how long the papers you need to write in college are.

Some really got the point that there’s more to col-lege than sports—that academics are the point of going to college. Men-toring really provided in-formation on the basics on college life. Both of my UM students talked about their outside inter-ests, and the kids really enjoyed it.”

-Testimonial from a Miami Southridge Senior High School teacher

We established a number of successful projects this year for the Southridge High School

Partnership, including:

• Representing the University of Mi-ami at a Spring College Fair hosted by Southridge that had roughly 75 colleges and universities in at-tendance. This fair gave students a chance to weigh their many op-tions for post-secondary education. Over 100 students stopped by the table to learn more about the Uni-versity of Miami!

• Staff of the Office of Civic and Community Engagement com-piled an information sheet for high school students and their parents about the importance of a college education. The information has been widely distributed at South-ridge.

• CCE coordinated two trips for Southridge Scholars Academy ju-niors to visit the University of Mi-ami to get an in-depth understand-ing of the resources available to students. The students received a campus tour, met with admissions and financial aid officers, and had an opportunity to speak with cur-rent UM students. These visits took place on March 23rd and April 13th, and we plan to continue these visits in the future.

Southridge students and administrators with UM student and partnership participant Amanda Klafehn at a University of Miami campus visit.

“The Southridge Partnership was truly eye-opening to the realities of urban public education. For one of my lessons, I assigned a research paper that forced the students to actively consider the next few years of their lives, and it created an awesome sense of community in the classroom. People who normally did not talk to each other saw that they had the same career goals, and everyone understood one another as equals: it was no longer a classroom with the ‘smart kids’ in one corner and the ‘slackers’ in another. I left class that day feeling more satisfaction than I have ever felt in anything I’ve done. It was a moment that re-ally made me reconsider policymaking for teaching.”

–University of Miami Senior Amanda Klafehn

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“In doing this partnership, I discovered a real passion for sharing my love of literature and learning with stu-dents who, most of the time, are only pushed as much as necessary to pass standardized tests rather than encouraged to discover topics that excite and inspire them. The tenth graders in my class at Southridge were just waiting to be asked for their thoughts. Because of this program, a future in the education sector has be-come my dream, and I am applying to teaching fellow-ships in various cities to spend several years doing Eng-lish or special education in a public school. I hope that students in my own classroom will decide to answer the question of what makes them think and tick, and that I can be the one to help them carry this revelation into real-world success that changes their futures and communities.”

–University of Miami Senior Erin Nutsugah

ENGAGED FACULTY FELLOWSAs part of our mission to promote engaged scholarship at the Univer-sity of Miami, the Office of Civic and Community Engagement devel-oped a program to incentivize the development of academic service-learning courses. CCE awarded summer stipends of $2,500 each to five faculty who committed to incorporating a significant academic service-learning component into their courses.

Recipients of the awards must commit to teaching their community-engaged class at least three times over the next five years. They will also participate in a faculty panel to discuss their work. A selection committee selected the five 2012-2013 Engaged Faculty Fellows from a competitive pool of 16 candidates from across the University. Con-gratulations to the recipients!

Engaged Faculty Fellows Workshop

The Engaged Faculty Fellows work-shop on May 1, 2012, provided a space for thought-provoking discus-sions and the opportunity for each of the Fellows to share their goals for embedding civic engagement more thoroughly into their courses. Much of the discussion focused on how to connect the service-learning com-ponents of a course to the course goals and ways to assess how well those goals are being met. Addition-ally, we covered definitions of key concepts within engaged pedagogy in order to create a shared knowl-edge base.

In addition to their plans and goals in regards to expanding engaged ped-agogy in their courses, the Fellows also discussed the perceived chal-lenges and potential pitfalls of this work. The Office of Civic and Com-munity Engagement introduced the modes and models of engaged pedagogy and facilitated conversa-tion around solutions to these is-sues. CCE also discussed with the Fellows both University-wide and commonly-cited definitions of such terms as academic service-learning and community-based projects.

Finally, each Fellow took the time to speak about his or her work and present the syllabi for their proposed service-learning courses. Logistical considerations, goals, challenges, and suggestions were covered. Fac-ulty will use the knowledge gleaned from the workshop to offer a planned and poignant service-learning expe-rience for students. CCE is very ex-cited to host follow-up meetings for the Fellows to further discuss their planned courses.

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The 2012-2013 Engaged Faculty Fellows are:

Dr. Joseph De Santis, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing and Health Studies

Dr. Scotney Evans, Assistant Professor, Depart-ment of Educational and Psychological Studies, School of Education and Human Development

Dr. Laura Kohn-Wood, Associate Chair and As-sociate Professor, Department of Educational and Psychological Studies, School of Education and Human Development

Dr. Michelle Maldonado, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Subha Xavier, Assistant Professor of French, Department of Modern Languages and Litera-tures, College of Arts and Sciences

ACADEMIC SERVICE-LEARNINGOne way in which engaged pedagogy takes shape is through aca-demic service-learning courses. In Spring 2012, we piloted a project to work with faculty to embed service-learning into a pre-existing course. Professors Don Spivey, David Wilson, and Joseph Alkana team teach a bi-annual course, AMS 301/ENG 395/HIS 367: The Sixties. Our office coordinated the service-learning component of their course.

We partnered with a staff member of one of our community partners, Catalyst Miami, to develop a mandatory pre-service workshop and assumed responsibility for coordinating students’ service-learning experiences. The central component of the workshop focused on de-fining and applying the concepts of “oppression” and “privilege” in re-lation to institutional, interpersonal, and internalized manifestations.

Students opting to take the service-learning component completed 20 hours of service with a nonprofit organization and wrote a reflexive final essay in lieu of one of the course’s other essay assignments. They worked with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Earth Learn-ing, the Children’s Movement of Florida, the Overtown Youth Center, Youth L.E.A.D, and the Black Archives. The students got the chance to apply their knowledge and skills to increase organizational capacity, and our partners greatly appreciated their contributions!

Student Testimonials:

Jack Lindsay ColesAfter School House

“As an exchange student from Australia and aspiring teacher, I was very excited and grateful for the opportunity to be-come involved in this kind of program as it provided me with a great avenue to become involved in something that would expose me to situations and experiences that were completely different to those I experience in my home country… I have also devel-oped a greater knowledge of not only the Miami-Dade area and its people but American citizens in general, an appreciation for the racial and ethnic diversity of American schools, and a first-hand understanding of the social and financial disadvantages that affect the lives of young children and how these disadvantages can in turn affect their experiences in school.”

Jessica CapersThe Children’s Movement of Florida

“This experience has given me a differ-ent stance on life. As a child I struggled with reading… I never had the oppor-tunity to be involved in an after-school program that helps teach children with similar difficulties how to read. Being involved in this type of organization really hit home for me.”

Kathryn BraddockEarth Learning

“The Earth Learning organization not only opened my eyes to the importance of sustaining local agriculture and busi-nesses, but it also gave me a window into the local area that I now live in… As a native Floridian, I had an idea of what living in the Miami or Coral Gables area would be like, but I could have never anticipated the great diversity and explosion of culture that is present in such a concentrated area… While I was not always able to communicate with every customer due to language barriers, I was given a firsthand look at the community that I am now part of.”

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Internships:A guiding theme in our office’s mission involves leveraging the ac-ademic resources of the university to serve community needs. By placing students in internships with local community organiza-tions, we provide students with opportunities and experience while increasing the capacity of local nonprofits to create a better South Florida. We are available to work with students to figure out the best way to get recognition for internships, including receiving course, independent study, or internship credit, and/or a transcript notation. As we receive new internship openings from our commu-nity partners, we also add them to our online listings and send them to relevant departments and programs.

Carlos Gimenez Internships: In Spring 2012, our office worked col-laboratively with the Office of Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez to identify students who could conduct national bench-marking studies on county government practices. CCE interviewed upper-level undergraduate and graduate students with strong re-search skills and an interest in the workings of county government. We selected Stephanie Horna, who majored in Political Science, Eco-nomics, and International Relations and is currently completing a national benchmarking study on county procurement practices.

Newman Civic Fellows Award: The Newman Civic Fellows Award is given out each year by Cam-pus Compact, an organization of institutions dedicated to promoting service in higher education. Member colleges and universities can nominate one sophomore or junior. According to Campus Compact, “the New-man Civic Fellows Award honors inspiring college student leaders who have demonstrated an investment in finding solutions to challenges facing communities throughout the country. Through service, research, and advocacy, Newman Civic Fellows are making the most of their college ex-periences to better understand them-selves, the root causes of social issues, and effective mechanisms for creating lasting change.”

In Spring 2012, CCE sent out a call for nominations to exceptionally engaged faculty and a targeted call for applica-tions to high-profile students who have worked with our office. We met with the staff from the Butler Center for

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Dr. Robin Bachin, President Donna Shalala, Meera Nagarsheth, and Andrew Weimer at the presentation of Meera’s Newman Civic Fellows award

From Meera Nagarsheth’s Application:

“My involvement with Alternative Breaks directly addresses social issues plaguing society by encouraging students to fully immerse themselves in the lives of individuals who are suffering from these injustices every day. My current role involves training site leaders by providing the resources they need to create a catalytic experience that results in a transformed perspective on the world and a life-long commitment to active citizen-ship amongst participants. In the process, I have furthered my passion and understanding of social change and civic engagement. I am con-stantly questioned, pushed out of my comfort zone, and forced to rethink my perspective of my role as a global citizen.”12

Service and Leadership and selected Meera Nagarsheth, class of 2014, to be the University of Miami’s Newman Civic Fellow for 2012-2013.

Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of South Florida’s Spirit of Service-Learning Award:

In January, we received a call for nominations from the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of South Florida for their Spirit of Service Learning Award, intended to recognize outstanding fac-ulty who use service-learning in their courses and research. CCE wrote letters of nomination for a number of engaged faculty at the Univer-sity of Miami. On March 1st, we learned that Dr. Erin Kobetz of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health in the Miller School of Medi-cine was selected as a winner of the award. She received a letter of commendation and a check for $500. Congratulations to Dr. Kobetz!

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Excellence in Civic Engagement Awards:

During the Spring Semester, the Butler Center for

Service and Leadership recognizes students at their

annual Celebration of Involvement. This year, CCE

participated in the process and gave two awards to

faculty members who work with UM students to en-

gage community-identified needs through academ-

ic service-learning courses and community-based

research.

Our office presented Excellence in Civic Engage-

ment awards to two faculty members who were

chosen from a highly competitive pool of appli-

cants: Dr. Scotney Evans, Assistant Professor in the

Department of Educational and Psychological Stud-

ies, School of Education and Human Development;

and Dr. Daniel Santisteban, Research Professor in

the School of Nursing and Health Studies. Congratu-

lations to Drs. Evans and Santisteban!

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING“Housing Matters: America’s Quest for Decent Homes”

September 12, 2011: Lecture with Alexander von Hoffman, Senior Research Fellow, Joint Center for Housing Studies, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University.

“Financing Affordable Housing: Strategies for Future Planning”October 12, 2011: Panel discussion with Patricia Braynon of the Miami-Dade Housing Finance Authority; Hana Eskra of Gorman and Company; Gregg Fortner of the Miami-Dade Public Housing Agency; Jeffrey Lines of TAG Associates, Inc.; Denis Russ of the Miami Beach Community Development Corporation; and Michael Wohl of Pinnacle Housing Group. Moderated by Peter McDougal, Housing Finance Director, Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida.

Food DayOctober 24, 2011: Food Day, sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, promotes a healthy, affordable, sustainable, and just food system. For the first annual Food Day on Monday, October 24th, 2011, the Office of Civic and Community Engagement partnered with faculty members, student groups, community and worker organizations, and local businesses throughout South Florida to raise awareness and mobilize members of our community to get involved. We hosted the University of Miami farmers’ market, a fair food organization fair, film screenings, and a discussion panel consisting of local activists, organizers, and scholars on the topic of food policy in South Florida.

Film Screening: The Pruitt-Igoe MythFebruary 6, 2012: The Pruitt-Igoe Myth explores the social, economic and legislative issues that led to the de-cline of conventional public housing in America, and the city centers in which they were built, while tracing the personal and poignant narratives of several of the residents of the notorious Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex in St. Louis.

“Reimagining the Ivory Tower: The Responsibility of Academia to Society”February 7, 2012: A lecture by Professor Rivka Carmi, President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Co-sponsored by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Ju-daic Studies, and the Office of University of Miami President Donna Shalala.

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National Volunteer Week

April 15 – 21, 2012: CCE planned a series of events for National Volunteer Week in partnership with the Wil-liam R. Butler Center for Volunteer Service and Lead-ership Development and the Toppel Career Center, in-cluding a Nonprofit Networking Night, an awareness campaign about civic engagement and volunteerism, and a video project on the importance of civic engage-ment. We interviewed University of Miami students, faculty, and staff about the importance of civic and community engagement and are currently working to produce a video with the footage that was gathered. This project was a great opportunity to showcase the civic mission of higher education and highlight the ways that the University of Miami community is en-gaging and working in innovative ways to tackle issues and promote solutions. We look forward to sharing the finished product with you soon! See our website for more details.

“Housing Class: The Elephant in the Room”February 20,2012: Lecture with Dr. Craig L. Wilkins, AIA; Director, Detroit Community Design Center; Senior Lecturer, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan.

“Religion and Civic Engagement in America”

March 5, 2012: A lecture by Dr. David Campbell, As-sociate Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame and founding director of the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy. Co-spon-sored by the Department of Religious Studies.

“Designing for Diversity: Affordable Hous-ing for America’s Changing Demographic”

March 26, 2012: A panel discussion with Dr. Sherry Ahrentzen of the Shimberg Center for Housing Stud-ies; Brian Phillips of the University of Pennsylvania; and Mark Segal of the Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Fund. Moder-ated by Javier Fernandez of Akerman Senterfitt.

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2012-2013 INITIATIVES

OUR TASK FORCE

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William Scott Green, Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education (ex officio)Edmund Abaka, Africana Studies & HistoryEtiony Aldarondo, Education and Human DevelopmentAnthony Alfieri, LawFrederick Bigham, Toppel Career CenterGregory Bush, HistoryAnita Cava, Business AdministrationRocco Ceo, ArchitectureSanjeev Chatterjee, CommunicationJ.C. Del Valle, Government & Community RelationsScotney Evans, EducationKen Goodman, MedicineRichard Grant, Geography & Regional StudiesStephen Guerra, MusicAli Habashi, CommunicationCasey Klofstad, Political ScienceErin Kobetz, MedicineLaura Kohn-Wood, Education and Human DevelopmentSarah Lawson, Nursing and Health StudiesMarni Lennon, LawMichelle Maldonado, Religious StudiesSarah Meltzoff, RSMASDevika Milner, Office of the ProvostJohn Murphy, SociologyGuerda Nicolas, Education and Human DevelopmentVincent Omachonu, Industrial EngineeringJyotika Ramaprasad, Communication Kefryn Reese, Prestigious Awards and FellowshipsSabrina Rembold, Office of the ProvostPamela Reid, RSMASDonn Tilson, CommunicationJoseph Treaster, CommunicationAndrew Wiemer, Butler Center

Student Government Representatives:Nawara Alawa, Senator and President-ElectJake Krupa, TreasurerBrandon Mitchell, President

We are pleased to announce the launch of our Urban and Environmental Sustainability Initiative for the 2012-2013 academic year. As we grapple with how best to address the depletion of natural resources, accelerating urban growth, poverty, hunger, and environmental degradation, it is clear that examining sus-tainability from multiple perspectives is essential. This initiative presents an opportunity to work collabora-tively across fields towards multidisciplinary learning and innovative solutions.

Planned Fall 2012 Programming:

“Sustainability = Equity”Wednesday, September 19th, 2012With Mike Pyatok, AIA, Professor Emeritus of Architec-ture at the University of Washington and Principal, Pya-tok Architects.

“Building Groups in Germany: A Democratic Alter-native for Multi-Family Housing”Friday, September 28th, 2012With Dr. Natan Hogrebe, Partner, Schwenke & Schütz.Co-Sponsored by School of Architecture.

Film Premiere: On CitiesMonday, October 22nd, 2012Directed by Sanjeev Chatterjee, award-winning docu-mentary media maker and professor at the University of Miami. Event co-sponsored by the Knight Center for International Media.

Food DayWednesday, October 24th, 2012Food Day is a movement sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest to promote a healthy, af-fordable, sustainable and just food system.

“Disability in 21st Century America: Political, Social, and Cultural Imperatives”Thursday, November 8th, 2012With Simi Linton, Ph.D., President of the Disability/Art consulting company and author of Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity and My Body Politic.

Raymond Mohl LectureTBA Fall 2012With Raymond Mohl, Professor of History at the Uni-versity of Alabama at Birmingham.

For more information on the Office of Civic and Community Engagement, visit

http://www.miami.edu/civic

The Office of Civic and Community Engagement reports to the Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education.

123 Everywhere Avenue City, ST 00000

Tel: 555-555-5555 Fox: 555-555-5555Cover left photo courtesy Byron Maldonado. Others courtesy University Communications.

1238 Dickinson DrivePentland House Suite 34PCoral Gables, FL 33146

(305)284-6636civicengagement@miami.edu

Visit us online:

http://www.miami.edu/civichttps://twitter.com/UMiamiCCEhttp://www.youtube.com/UMCCEhttps://www.facebook.com/umiamicivicengagement