Dr. Eleni Roulis, associate vice president for Academic Service and Special Programs, invites the campus community to visit the Office of Service Learning and Civic Engagement (OSLCE) at its new location in Room 313, Aquinas Hall, and meet the recently appointed program managers Alex Hamel and Erin McCloskey.
“Both Alex and Erin bring with them a host of skills, ideas and vision for the goals of a 21st century service learning and community engagement unit,” said Roulis, who oversees the OSLCE. “Their vast experience in international studies and travel, their multilingual skills, and their commitment to social innovation provide a new excitement in the office as we kick off the year with new adventures.”
Throughout the summer the OSLCE team worked to develop new community partnerships that enhance and expand the work of service learning and civic engagement initiatives in a comprehensive manner. These partnerships continue to fit the changing profile of course offerings throughout the university both nationally and internationally.
Since its beginning in 1996, the OSLCE’s rich history of program development has grown as new faculty have come on board with new ways of imagining how their students can engage the world with curiosity and reflective practice, how they can engage their hearts as well as their minds, and how they can navigate the complexity of what they are studying through social innovation.
First OSCLE Community Partnership Conference
Everyone is welcome to attend the first OSCLE Community Partnership Conference on Tuesday, Oct. 8. Admission is free. The entire day has been planned to meet new partners on campus and learn what their organizational needs are and how the OSCLE can collaborate with them in different ways.
The conference will take place on two campuses (refreshments will be provided):
- 9 a.m.-noon in Room 201, Opus Hall, Minneapolis campus
- 1-4 p.m. in Woulfe Alumni Hall North, Anderson Student Center, St. Paul campus
The OSCLE team looks forward to energetic discussions among faculty, staff and community partners who will exchange ideas and create future projects.
The span of the OSCLE’s new partners and their work as social entrepreneurs include:
- Environmentalists: Sue Green from the Friends of the Mississippi River and Rebuilding Together Twin Cities with Tony Sjoren
- Energy: City Labs with Jason Maher and Clean Energy resource teams with Alexis Troshinetz
- Women’s Issues with the Jeremiah Program
- Family Wise with Tyler Wilcox
- Creative Thinking with Free Arts Minnesota and Deandra Bienneman
These and many more wonderful partners have been invited to the conference on Oct. 8. Look on the OSCLE website for November and December workshops. “This is an exciting time to be participating in social innovation and entrepreneurship with new partners,” Roulis said, “a time when we put together the best ideas in a room and then move forward with a call for action. We forget that mammoth changes have been made in our society by people who believe in finding innovative solutions to social and economic issues.”
