PLU CCES receives $1,000 AAC&U Grant
PLU has received $1,000 for faculty and staff seminars around PLU’s civic commitment to justice, diversity and sustainability.
Pacific Lutheran University
Bringing Theory to Practice Seminar Grant: Integrating PLU's Civic Mission and Strategic Plan
Grant Overview:
Pacific Lutheran University (PLU), a liberal arts university with 3,700 students in Tacoma, Washington is in the process of affirming its commitments and shaping the future to move the university’s mission and long-range plan toward a strategic plan. While PLU’s civic mission is clearly articulated, the institution is interested in connecting commitments of “justice”, “diversity” and “sustainability” with local and regional civic engagement. A subcommittee of the elected University Diversity Committee will advance this agenda with two workshops during the 2012-2013 academic year to move overarching themes toward a concrete strategic plan. PLU recognizes the timeliness of these seminars in relationship to a recently adopted long-range plan, the arrival of a new university president and preparation and planning for a strategic planning process. Faculty workshops and working groups will launch in Spring 2013.
CCES enhances PLU Tutor and Mentor Training
CCES expands federal community work study trainings to include campus-wide tutors and mentors and community partners.
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The Center for Community Engagement and Service hosted the 3rd Annual Tutor & Mentor Training on Saturday, October 13, 2012 from 9-3 p.m. at James Sales Elementary.
Tutors and mentors from our Community-Work Study Programs - America Reads (18 PLU Students) and Big Buddies Mentors (24 PLU Students,) attended the training. Tutors and mentors from James Sales Power Club, Club Keithley, Parkland Education Project, Northwest Leadership Foundation Urban Leaders in Training, and Peace Community Center AmeriCorps members also attended. A total of 75 participants attended this training.
Each tutor or mentor had the opportunity to pre-register for three different workshop sessions. PLU faculty and staff, and teachers and staff members from Franklin-Pierce Schools facilitated the workshops for our tutors and mentors. The list of sessions and facilitators are listed below:
Next fall, we will continue expand the training to accommodate more PLU students, community members, staff, and volunteers to attend this training. For more information about our Tutor & Mentor Training, please contact Tiffany Lemmon at lemmontm@plu.edu.
200 5th graders become college students for a day
They walked the beautiful campus. They attended classes on anthropology, mathematics, psychology/science, music, ecology, art, and physical education led by real college professors. They -- 200 5th graders from Brookdale, James Sales, and Christensen Elementary Schools -- became college students for a day.
Called the Parkland Education Project, the partnership between Franklin Pierce Schools and Pacific Lutheran University started out as a brainstorming session in December 2011 to explore the opportunities for partnering on an event like Tuesday's tour. Dr. Frank Kline, PLU's School of Education Dean, and Dr. Frank Hewins, Superintendent of Franklin Pierce Schools, started the conversation. They soon invited other leaders from their respective organizations to join the conversation. As planning continued, the focus on organizing a tour was broadened to include a mentoring program. Modeled after a program that Western Washington University calls Compass to Campus, it was decided that the 5th grade tour of PLU would be followed by an entire academic year of PLU students volunteering in 5th grade classrooms as tutors and mentors.
"Tuesday was the just the begininng," said Superintendent Hewins. "We're excited that the tour allows 5th graders to experience the hope and real possibility of attending college after high school, and the mentoring that will continue after the tour will reinforce that hope and possibility," said Hewins.
The District is hoping to expand the program to include other elementary schools next year and thereafter.
Article from http://www.fpschools.org/News.aspx?ContentID=1465
Volunteer Center Merges with CCES
Volunteer Center Merges with CCES
As of August 1, 2012, PLU’s student run Volunteer Center has merged with the Center for Community Engagement and Service. The Volunteer Center has been instrumental in connecting hundreds of students with the local community through community engagement and service over the past 20 years.
The primary reason for the change is centered on an overlap in functions and confusion among campus and community partners around the relationship between the Volunteer Center and the CCES. By working more closely with one another, we envision stronger communication and a clearer understanding around the CCES’s ability to support faculty, students and staff in their interest to engage our local community.
The previous work led through Volunteer Center will remain under the name of the CCES into the future. The two student co-directors will continue to engage students throughout the campus, developing strategies to increase and deepen student involvement off campus.
Meet the 2012-2013 CCES co-directors:
Parkland Education Project
Introducing the Parkland Education Project:
Pacific Lutheran University, Franklin Pierce School District (FPSD), and Washington Campus Compact are proud to introduce the Parkland Education Project (PEP), a tutoring and mentoring program designed to connect local fifth graders with college students. The goals of the project are to increase retention and graduation rates while promoting meaningful post-high school opportunities. PEP is modeled after Compass to Campus, an initiative of Western Washington University. During the 2012-2013 academic year, 50 PLU students enrolled in Education 205: Multicultural Issues in the Classroom will commit a minimum of 30 hours per semester to in-school tutoring and mentoring at three local elementary schools, located in close proximity to the PLU campus. With a 5:1 ratio, 250 student protégés will receive instructional support and mentoring and take a field trip to the PLU campus where they will participate in developmentally appropriate college preparation classes, take a campus tour and eat lunch with students from across the campus. Mentors will also play a role as students prepare for transition to Keithley Middle School, where PLU’s Club Keithley provides additional academic and social support.
Melanie Bolte will serve as the AmeriCorps Parkland Education Project Coordinator for the 2012-2013. While Melanie will be housed in PLU's Center for Community Engagement and Service (CCES), she will work closely with the PLU School of Education & Movement Studies and Franklin Pierce School District. Additional partners in making this project possible include the Parkland Rotary and Washington State Campus Compact.
Melanie is a graduate of Franklin Pierce High School, Pierce College and University of Washington-Tacoma, where she studied Ethnic, Gender and Labor Studies. Melanie has worked with the Puget Sound Education Service District at Ford Middle School for the past three years, providing educational support for middle school students around reading, writing and comprehension. She has also served as an assistant track coach at Franklin Pierce High School.
