ACSP Administrators’ Conference November 16, 2013

 April 22, 2008: “Sustainability must and will become a central priority of all aspects of our university enterprise—our operations, our academic mission, and

our responsibilities to the greater

society. “

- University of Iowa President Sally Mason

    Higher education is overpriced in the US  Four percent average annual growth in last 20 years with students owing over $1 trillion.

 Higher education perceived as elitist Perception that higher education faculty spend too much time on irrelevant research. Remember the Morrill Act. Public land grant universities created to serve the public need for education. Yet, reduced support for higher education from state legislatures

   Public Engagement—a new kind of engagement based on reciprocity of ideas and knowledge, rather than top-down expertise.

Sustainability—a broad concept that unites many academic disciplines and that is highly relevant to the future well-being of society.

Targeted community engagement—focusing on one or several communities to achieve synergy, impact, visibility.

    Harnessing great student ideas to serve the public—using creative ideas generated in existing classes to benefit real communities.

Assisting local communities at a time of fiscal stress and continuing challenges.

Envisioning universities as public goods Result: universities will become increasingly relevant and important to addressing public problems. This helps both communities and students.

 The School of Urban and Regional Planning launched the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC) in 2009.  Address Iowa’s sustainability crisis  Enhance civic engagement at UI  Provide experiential learning for students  Apply faculty & student expertise

   IISC pairs UI students/faculty with Iowa communities to develop projects Partners may be a municipal government, nonprofit organization or regional entity Most projects occur as part of a UI course

     1 – 2 cities/regional entities are chosen Partnership lasts for 1 year Projects proposed by community partners Funded by the Provost UI student and faculty work is free (currently)  Partner communities pay for travel

    Experiential learning for students Opportunities to experience Iowa outside Iowa City Financial support for travel, equipment and other materials for projects Possibility to connect research with teaching and community engagement

 Program Coordinator—funded by Provost  Liaison between faculty, students and    community Coordinates initial project development with faculty and community Handles logistics for travel, presentations, media and other project issues Provides additional assistance to faculty and students as needed

 2-year partnership with City of Dubuque.  10 projects (5 each year) focused on enhancing Dubuque’s sustainability.  Projects cover a variety of topics: economic development, renewable energy, schools, housing, poverty and transportation  From 2011 – 2013, 65 graduate students contributed roughly 17,000 hours working on these projects.

  “This partnership with the University of Iowa is going to pay big dividends for the City of Dubuque.” Mayor Roy Buol “The IISC students brought creative, actionable solutions and developed tools we have been able to use right away.” Eric Dregne, Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque

   Big questions (sustainability) require multi-disciplinary answers IISC expanded to a campus-wide civic engagement initiative in the Fall 2012 New IISC staff support

  Fall 2012 – planning and recruitment Spring 2013:  5 different departments working on 9 different projects  3 cities: Dubuque (6 projects) and Muscatine (2 projects), Washington (1 project)  Urban Planning, Geoscience, Mass Communication, Dietetics and Public Health, Library Sciences  105 students

 Field Methods in Hydrologic Science  Catfish Creek stream flow measurements, topographic surveying  Installation of CrowdHydrology engagement tool in Bee Branch Creek

Muscatine Cedar Rapids Washington

 IISC Fall 2013 – Spring 2014:  9 different departments working on 26 – 28

different projects

 Muscatine (12 – 13 projects), Cedar Rapids ( 7 projects), Washington (8 – 10 projects)  Urban Planning, Engineering, Business, Public Health, Mass Communications, Library and Information Science, Art & Art History, Music, Rhetoric  120 – 150+ students

 7 projects  ▪ ▪ UI department matches: ▪ Urban & Regional Planning Dietetic Internship Program Public Health (health communications) ▪ School of Art and Art History (ArtShare) ▪ Mass Communications

 12 – 13 projects  UI department matches: ▪ Urban and Regional Planning ▪ Engineering ▪ Business/Marketing ▪ Public Health & Dietetic Internship Program ▪ CLAS (Rhetoric & IDEAL)

  6 – 8 projects UI department matches:  Business/Marketing  Library and Information Science  Engineering  School of Art and Art History (ArtShare)  School of Music (ArtShare)

 Starting small builds foundation for larger initiative  Use existing resources (course projects)  Rural Iowa requires regional approach  local college partnerships = sustainable

change

 Think broadly about sustainability (liberal arts)  Need selection process for communities  RFP process for selecting communities ▪ Released Nov 2013, due Feb. 2014 ▪ Community partner(s) chosen in March

   UI Strategic Plan—Five Pillars, including Better Futures for Iowans (under Provost Loh) Commitment of Provost Butler and VPR to community engagement President Mason also committed to community engagement (board member of Campus Compact)

    University is perceived by many in state as elitist and out of touch with state of Iowa—UI seeks to change this A faculty culture that supports community engagement—e.g. Obermann Graduate Institute for Engagement and the Academy Communities that both need and welcome the assistance of UI IISC Critical management and leadership role played by UI SURP—a field that “gets” community engagement

    Funded by Provost on a year by year basis SURP may employ coordinator on vacant faculty line, but plans to continue to apply to Provost for additional funds Iowa is a state of small towns and cities— consequently we spread projects over several cities Beginning in 2013, communities responding to RFP are asked to identify an amount they can contribute

 Contacts:  Program Coordinator: Nick Benson  [email protected]

; 319-384 3464  Director: Chuck Connerly  [email protected]

; 319-335  0039  Website: iisc.uiowa.edu

Facebook: www.facebook.com/IISCUIowa