Countdown to Coalition Series Part 3: Sustaining The Public Purpose of Higher Education

“There’s a role we can play around helping to bring people together to work together to build a common good – that’s an area that needs a lot of help and it’s an opportunity for higher education to support engaged democracy.” -David Weerts https://youtu.be/cAHwyd-4aTU In this next installment of our Countdown to Coalition series, David Weerts (University of Minnesota) and Nick Benson (University of Iowa) join IAMNCC Executive Director Rob Barron to discuss how ideas around the public good impact the principles and practices that we use to do community engagement work, what that looks like here in the Midwest,…

Civic Action Academy: Reflection by Louise Ba

Louise Ba ’24, a student at St. Catherine University in Saint Paul, was selected as a Newman Fellow in 2022. The experience of convening with the Newman Fellows in Boston, Massachusetts that year allowed Ms. Ba to meet  people from across the globe who served as inspiration and a source of community – one she continues to rely on. Ms. Ba states that “The values of connection, community building, and inspiration stayed with me throughout my experience.”  This also led her to continue to be involved in Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact’s offerings for students, including this year’s Civic Action…

Countdown to Coalition Series Part 2: Strengthening Education Through Community and Civic Engagement

In our countdown toward unveiling our new organizational identity and our movement towards identifying as a Coalition, we reached out to Paula O’Loughlin, Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs at Augsburg University. Our Director of Member Services, Kara Trebil-Smith, asked Paula to help us explore the idea of how specifically civic and community engagement strengthens higher education, on a large scale and at the individual level. We share Paula’s interview below.  Let’s start by getting to know you a bit. Can you share a bit about your role at Augsburg, your experience in higher education, and…

VISTA Member Highlight: Emma Ware at Central College

This year, Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact has the privilege to sponsor AmeriCorps VISTA members at 15 sites across Minnesota and Iowa. This month, we are honored to highlight one of our VISTAs, Emma Ware, who is currently serving at Central College. So far during her term, Emma has led some amazing initiatives and projects, including a campus-wide service day, one of Central College’s favorite traditions! Emma had the opportunity to coordinate the day of service for 2023. On October 3, more than 600 Central students, staff, and faculty were sent out to volunteer with over 40 local nonprofit community…

Embracing Change and Coalition Building

As many of you know, Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact is in the midst of some big and exciting changes. On July 1, 2024, Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact’s affiliate status with Campus Compact will end. While our mission and work will remain the same, we will emerge from the disaffiliation process with a new name, new brand identity, and revitalized vision for our work together.  In the summer of 2022, our team began the journey of exploring a new organizational identity following Campus Compact’s decision to dissolve its affiliate-based model. As we were given a two-year timeframe to alter…

Campus Visit: College of St. Scholastica

A reflection from Executive Director, Rob Barron I tell people often that my favorite part of my job is visiting campuses across Iowa and Minnesota. As beautiful as your places to work often are, and as much as the foodie in me likes hunting out fun places to eat, the reason I love these visits is the opportunity to build and sustain relationships within the network. I’m grateful to work for an organization that is sustained by the relationships of community-facing individuals united by good work. With that in mind, I recently made a visit to Duluth. I spent time…

Reflection on Service to Mark Hispanic Heritage Month

A message from Executive Director, Rob Barron: In three days, we will mark the beginning of the 2023 Hispanic Heritage Month, an opportunity to share culture and celebrate the achievements of Latinos in our community. I am proud of my Latino heritage and these thirty days are always special for me. They represent an opportunity to connect with friends and family, celebrate our elders, and remind my children of their heritage. It is also an opportunity to reflect on how our network builds the human infrastructure needed to “create conditions for all people to thrive, experience a sense of belonging,…

MEDIA RELEASE: Announcing 2021 Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact Award Winners

Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact Announces Recipients of 2021 President’s Awards and Selective Engaged Campus Awards April 19, 2021 (DES MOINES and MINNEAPOLIS)  Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact (IAMNCC) today announced winners of the 2021 Presidents’ Awards and Engaged Campus Awards. The 2021 Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact awards honor over 90 individuals and organizations whose accomplishments exemplify and celebrate the public purpose at the heart of higher education, nominated by 32 of IAMNCC’s member campuses. Presidents’ Awards recognize outstanding contributions in civic and community engagement by students, faculty, staff, collaborative teams, and community organizations on individual member campuses. Engaged…

Constitution Day Dialogue Guide

You can now download Fulfilling the Promise of Full Citizenship: History as Foresight into the Continued Struggle for Universal Suffrage, Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact’s dialogue guide for Constitution Day this year on September 17. The 2020 Constitution Day Dialogue guide has been compiled to guide dialogue participants in reaching individual and collective understandings about the history and future of voting. The conversations these materials are designed to facilitate are not about debating or contesting the historic or current reality of voter suppression in this country. Rather, these conversations will critically examine case studies and themes in our histories of…

Critical Conversations Dialogue Series Announced

2020 has offered no shortage of opportunities for important dialogue about our nation’s future. While dialogue may be more difficult this year as we all reconsider what it means to be together and safe, it has never been more important. At Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact, we believe higher education has a key role to play in both leading the conversations and preparing students for the skills needed for them. Our Critical Conversations reflective dialogue series will support these critical efforts.  Through the fall and into 2021, we will offer monthly Critical Conversations dialogue opportunities for students, staff, faculty, and…

Student Needs During COVID-19

This unprecedented time has impacted everyone across higher education in disruptive and critical ways. Students who were already among the most vulnerable have arguably been impacted the most. The COVID-19 outbreak and pivot to distance learning have exposed and exacerbated socioeconomic and racial inequities, and many students are experiencing housing, food, or other forms of basic needs insecurity. While some lack the tools and resources to effectively engage in online learning, others (as much as 30% according to this LeadMN survey) have been laid off or are otherwise struggling more financially. First generation students, DACA students, international students, and others…

Staying Connected While Keeping Our Distance

For everyone who can, staying home and staying apart is essential to the health and safety of our communities right now. It’s important to stay committed to distance, but it doesn’t mean we have to disconnect. Higher education and our communities are facing new and daunting challenges that mean it’s imperative we continue to come together, support each other, and find ways to collaborate. Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact are here to help make this happen. Over the next several months, we are offering a variety of opportunities to connect, learn, get new ideas, and continue to build your networks…

Coronavirus: How are our members responding?

As the global pandemic crisis continues to unfold, the Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact team is continuing to monitor and respond. Our goals are to share relevant resources, provide support, and bring our network together to support each other. To achieve these goals, we have created the list below of links to each member campuses’ official COVID-19 responses. The majority of our member campuses have shifted to online courses and remote work for the remainder of the semester, but there are a number of differences in approach given specific campus contexts. Additionally, we are seeking to gather information on responses…

Perceptions of Partnership Study

Nearly all nonprofit organizations in Iowa have at least one partnership with a college or university, often partnering with more than one. This is among the findings of a study released by Iowa Campus Compact, a statewide coalition of colleges and universities committed to educating students for engaged citizenship and creating community-campus collaborations. The study, funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service and led by researcher Dr. Kara Trebil-Smith, found that most of these partnerships center on student opportunities including class projects, individual student experiences such as internships, and group student organization volunteerism. Community organizations often receive unique…

News: Funding for Social Changemaker Challenge

Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact Receives Grant from Principal Foundation for Social Changemaker Challenge For immediate release (Des Moines, IA): Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact today announced a new $20,000 grant award from Principal Foundation to pilot the college-student focused Social Changemaker Challenge. The Challenge will be held in November 2020 and engage business students to solve complex social problems using emerging business skills. Students teams will have a day to propose innovations to meet challenges posed by nonprofit organizations. Working with coaches from Principal, student teams will present their ideas and one will be selected for prize funding for…

Civic Action Academy Sessions Announced!

Iowa and Minnesota Campus Compact are excited to announce the session for the 2019 Civic Action Academy! Students from across the Midwest are invited to attend this two-day conference focused on civic and community engagement. Register today! The Academy is on November 8 – 9, 2019 in Cedar Falls, Iowa at the University of Northern Iowa. Registration is $75, but students from Campus Compact member institutions can receive a $50 discount by using the code CONFERENCE. Friday, November 8, 2019, 1:30 PM Civic Engagement through College/Community Collaboration Hailey Schmitz, Maddie Fletcher, Nicholas Kennicker, Nathan Trabue, Mitchell Boxwell, Warburg College The…

VISTA Leaves Lasting Changes in Southwestern MN Higher Ed Community

VISTA at Southwestern MN College creates big changes after 2 years of service.

Meet Our VISTA Members

Name: Alejandra Maldonado Pronouns: She/her Hometown: Chicago, IL Education: B.A. in Spanish and minor in Philosophy from Central College Host Site: Central College, Pella, IA An experience in my life that has shaped my decision to spend a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA: Coming from a poor community made me want to do something to help out and better communities like mine.  Three words that best describe me: shy, pensive, friendly One thing I can’t live without: Music Something I like to do for fun: Play Catan, draw, read, and travel   Name: Alexandra Hyatt Pronouns: She/her Hometown: Longview, Tx…

Minnesota Campus Compact Releases Annual Report

Minnesota Campus Compact today released its Fiscal Year 2019 Annual Report highlighting the accomplishments of the last year. Read and download below.

Health Student Engagement: Forming a Community Clinic-University-VISTA Partnership

Susana Carlos is serving with the 2018-2019 College Health Corps cohort at the University of Minnesota (UMN)-Center for Health Interprofessional Programs (CHIP), to develop the relationship between a unit focused on health interprofessional collaboration and a university-community clinic. In this blog post, she explains the formation of this partnership and where things are headed next.