SYMPOSIUM OFFERS RESOURCES FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

Bryn Mawr's Civic Engagement Office will mark the close of its first academic year next Tuesday, May 3, with a symposium that aims to introduce the office and its work to members of the faculty and staff — and to encourage conversations about the relationship of civic engagement to teaching, the curriculum and community service.

The event will feature a daylong series of workshops and panels as well as a keynote address over lunch in Ely Room, but community members are free to pick and choose among the offerings (click here to download a complete schedule as a Word document). All programs are free of charge, but those who plan to attend the lunch in Wyndham should register by e-mailing nanderso@brynmawr.edu or calling x5031.

The Civic Engagement Office is a collaborative effort of the Community Service Office and the Praxis Program. Praxis Program Director Nell Anderson says that the new symposium grew out of an annual meeting of faculty members who had taught Praxis courses.

"We decided to make it broader this year," Anderson says. "We will still have some discussion of Praxis courses, but we're inviting faculty and staff from all over the campus, whether they have plans to teach Praxis courses or not. The Civic Engagement Office wants to be a resource for the campus community."

Panelists will include Tri-College faculty members and administrators who have developed a variety of civic-engagement programs for students; Bryn Mawr and Norristown participants in the Bryn Mawr/Norristown Community Partnership in Action, which matches Bryn Mawr students to community organizations in need of volunteers; faculty members who will discuss the impact that fieldwork can have on student learning and innovative strategies for coordinating field placements; and students who will discuss the effect civic engagement has had on their lives, academically and otherwise.

The keynote speech, "The Aesthetics of Service Learning," will be offered by Jamie Birge, executive director of Pennsylvania Campus Compact. According to Anderson, Birge and his organization have been instrumental in developing and strengthening Bryn Mawr's Praxis Program. In the afternoon, Birge, Professor of Sociology Judith Porter and Assistant Professor of Anthropology Katherine Woodhouse-Beyer will be honored for their efforts to develop civic engagement among Bryn Mawr students.

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