KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Thursday, March 31st - Dr. Tania Mitchell, assistant professor of higher education in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. Living Lives of Commitment –Dr. Mitchell will look at alumni perspectives on fulfilling commitments to citizenship and the impact that critical service-learning has on career choice, community and political engagement, and perspectives on social justice.
Friday, April 1st – Veronika Scott, Founder and CEO of the Empowerment Plan. A Journey to the Empowerment Plan- Veronika will take the audience through the evolution of the Empowerment Plan - the journey from design student to CEO of a non-profit. She will share stories from her time at a homeless shelter in Detroit where she conducted research for her capstone project and how that research led to a true understanding of what people who call the streets home need – not just warmth, but empowerment. The coat she designed transforms into a sleeping bag and the homeless women she hires to produce the coat transform into women who are empowered to earn money, find a place to live, and gain back their independence for themselves and their families.
BIG PICTURE WORKSHOPS– Thursday, March 31st
Dr. Tania Mitchell, assistant professor of higher education in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota, Aligning Intention and Action in Community Engagement: Enacting a Critical Service Learning Pedagogy. This workshop will introduce participants to the elements of a critical service learning pedagogy and create space to consider the challenges and possibilities of enacting this critical approach towards community engagement in their own practice.
Dr. Kristin Norris, Director of Assessment, Office of Community Engagement, IUPUI and Anne Weiss, Director of Assessment, Indiana Campus Compact, Fundamentals of Assessing Student Civic Learning. Session participants will be given the much needed time and space to become further acquainted with civic outcomes assessment. We will discuss the need to clearly identify civic outcomes, examine the quality of civic outcome statements, alignment of outcomes with activities, and consider data collection, measurement, and analysis strategies that result in improved practices. Participants should come with a specific community-based or community-engaged course, curriculum, or program in mind. Beginners through advanced practitioners and scholars are welcome to attend.
