President’s Letter for the Carnegie Classification in Community Engagement Dear Advisory Panel: As President of Eastern Michigan University, my role is to support, encourage, and sustain community engagement efforts and to ensure that they are expressed in our formal documents, particularly our Vision and Mission Statements, our Values and the Strategic Plan. EMU has long had a robust culture of community engagement. Our vision and mission statements reflect this commitment. Our vision statement reads: “Eastern Michigan University will be a premier public university recognized for student-­‐centered learning, high quality academic programs and community impact” (Vision Statement, 2013). Our mission statement similarly emphasizes community engagement: “EMU enriches lives in a supportive, intellectually dynamic and diverse community. Our dedicated faculty balance teaching and research to prepare students with relevant skills and real world awareness. We are an institution of opportunity where students learn in and beyond the classroom to benefit the local and global communities” (Mission Statement, 2013). We have a Strategic Plan for 2014 that formalizes and institutionalizes our community engagement activities, and which provides greater visibility to our tradition of public engagement. To that end we have added “Service and Engagement” as one of our four strategic themes. We have two goals under this theme of service and engagement: 1) Enhance community partnerships with EMU. This goal has two key objectives: 1.1) enhance and disseminate academic service – learning opportunities; and 1.2) create institutional infrastructure and leverage EMU resources and talent to serve the community and Michigan as a whole. The second goal is 2) Improve community perceptions of EMU. This goal has two objectives: 2.1 Effectively utilize university activities (including athletic and arts related activities, etc.) as vehicles toward engaging the community and improving perceptions of EMU. 2.2 Institute activities and procedures to ensure environmental sustainability and awareness at EMU. We are in the process of developing specific initiatives and measurements for these objectives and these will be updated annually. (Information about EMU's mission and vision statements, as well as the strategic plan can be found at: https://www.emich.edu/strategicplan/). While these objectives are expressed in our 2014 Strategic Plan, they have guided the university’s community engagement efforts for a very long time. This letter describes how we put these values into practice in four key areas: academic citizenship, student participation, institutional support of on-­‐
campus community engagement initiatives, and institutional support of local, regional, national, and global communities. Academic Citizenship: the new faculty AAUP contract (2012-­‐2015) directs faculty members to engage in pursuits that further the interests of the community at large. We have seen a significant increase in the number of external grant awards for service initiatives since our earlier classification, particularly for programs to assist our local school districts. The Office of Research Development supports faculty in their applied research endeavors by assisting with grant applications, and through approving in-­‐kind contributions and cash matches for service awards. As a result of this support, in FY2013 approximately 78% of all external funding went to service programs. In FY2012/FY2013 EMU provided 83% and 89% of all research support (in-­‐kind contributions and cash match) for service work. The fundraising group Women in Philanthropy at EMU uniquely exemplifies our commitment to academic citizenship. Launched in 2010, WIP-­‐EMU cultivates faculty, staff, alumnae and friends as University supports through: 1) strengthening ties between women and EMU; 2) educating women about the power of personal and collective philanthropy; 3) increasing gifts by women to EMU; and 4) distributing financial awards to members of the EMU community. Members of this group make a collective and powerful difference by joining their gifts with others to make annual awards to students, faculty, and staff in the EMU community for outreach projects. These projects have extended EMU’s impact on the local, regional, national, and international community. Student Participation: Students’ ties to the community are our strongest evidence of a deeply-­‐rooted culture of community engagement at EMU. Student service work is carried out through academic service-­‐learning, as well as through programs such as VISION and the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance, and through student-­‐led fundraising for various local nonprofits. The Student Funders Group (SFG) uniquely exemplifies this trend. In 2011, the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance launched the SFG with the purpose of strengthening the local community while training the future nonprofit workforce. In 2011, with funding from Women in Philanthropy at EMU, the SFG awarded $5000 to ten community-­‐based organizations for capacity building projects. In 2012, $6000 in grant funds were awarded to six organizations for executive training projects, and in 2013, $7000 in funding was awarded to seven organizations for sustainability projects. The 2014 request for proposals (due March 14, 2014) has been developed by students and sent to more than 250 area organizations. Our students volunteer a significant amount of their time in the community. As the most recent data from the National Survey of Student Engagement reveal, 62% of our seniors volunteered in the community through a campus organization or through a service-­‐learning project in fall 2013. While EMU has always maintained a strong tradition of academic service-­‐learning, student engagement in the community extends beyond classroom requirements. As data from our most recent community engagement survey suggest (October 2013), our students perform service in the community of their own initiative and not simply because the university requires it. Our students enter EMU with an initial impulse to serve; our strength as an institution lies in creating and cultivating an environment where that impulse can be acted upon and developed. In the last several years students have taken the lead in fundraising for Dexter tornado relief efforts, for the American Red Cross’s Japanese earthquake relief drive, and volunteered their time during spring break to serve a local fishing village in Jamaica. Institutional support of on-­‐campus community engagement initiatives: Through internal funding allocations Eastern supports multiple units in their community engagement work including the Institute for the Study of Children, Families, and Communities (ISCFC), the Office of Academic Service-­‐Learning, VISION, and the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. As a result of our AS-­‐L Faculty Fellows program, over 250 faculty work in the community through the development of academic service-­‐learning courses. ISCFC has seen tremendous growth in its Bright Futures program since our earlier classification. Bright Futures partners with local school districts and non-­‐profit agencies to provide high quality, out of school time activities at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition (SEMIS), another ISCFC program, is dedicated to building partnerships between schools and community partners to develop stewardship in the Great Lakes region. During the past year, the SEMIS Coalition has worked with a total of eight schools. In this timeframe, approximately 1000 students from 6 schools were engaged in hands-­‐on community-­‐based learning projects that address real social and ecological problems in their communities. The Autism Collaborative Center exemplifies the significant impact of our applied research in our local area. The Autism Collaborative Center (ACC) serves individuals of all ages and abilities living with autism spectrum disorders and related neurodevelopmental disorders. The ACC also serves the community through trainings, consultations, and evaluations. The ACC provides EMU students in multiple education and health-­‐related programs of study with significant training opportunities and experience. EMU purchased a vacant public elementary school in 2009 for $1 million to house the Center and has subsidized the ACC with at least $250,000 per year in operating expenses since 2011. Institutional support of local, regional, national, and global communities: The Office of Government and Community Relations (GCR) functions as the primary liaison between EMU and the community. The Office also contributes directly to economic development in eastern Washtenaw County and Ypsilanti Township by donating funds for particular initiatives like LiveYpsi, SPARK, and the SPARK East Incubator. The LiveYpsi Homebuyer Program, administered by the Office, provides eligible EMU employees with a $7,500.00 forgivable loan to assist with the purchase of their primary residence in the City of Ypsilanti. Established in 2012, the Office provided $21,000 toward the initiative. Because of its success, EMU committed an additional $22,500 in 2013. Since 2007 the Office has also supported SPARK, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the economic development of innovation-­‐based businesses in the Ann Arbor region. SPARK and EMU launched the SPARK East Incubator in May 2009. The SPARK East business incubator provides a dynamic business space for start-­‐ups and entrepreneurs. The Office has donated $60,000 each year to SPARK and SPARK east since 2008. EMU’s Office of GCR also provides extensive support to other local non-­‐profits in ways that are difficult to quantify. For example, in 2013 EMU provided $2,500 to Growing Hope for their new Farmer’s Market and contributed $500 to Big Brother/Big Sisters of Washtenaw County. Each year EMU is a lead sponsor of the American Heart Association “Heart Walk” for Washtenaw County and hosting the event on our campus. In 2013, I chaired the Heart Walk for Washtenaw County and in 2014 the Provost is chairing it. Our sponsorship includes cash (at least $5,000 each year) and in-­‐kind time. In 2014 I will CO-­‐Chair the Washtenaw County United Way campaign. The Office also donated $5,000 in 2012 to rebuild Ypsilanti’s community Rutherford Pool (this donation was part of a larger 2012 Rutherford Pool fundraising effort by me which raised $12,000 total for the project. EMU Facilities & Operations staff also assisted the city with the bid process, including drafting the bid documents and recommending contractors EMU has also been a significant contributor to the Ford Lake Boathouse project, having contributed $550,000 thus far to the construction of a boathouse which will be open to the public and serve as a storage facility for the Saline Rowers Club and the EMU Women’s Rowing crew team and serve the community as well. EMU sustains its commitment to community engagement, not only through direct funding but through its infrastructure. Since our earlier classification we have improved our infrastructure to support community engagement in several ways. First, in 2013, the University created a Vice Presidency designation for what was previously an Executive Director for Government Relations position; the new title is now Vice President for Government and Community Relations. This change in executive leadership significantly increases the visibility and impact of EMU’s community engagement activities. Additionally, in August 2013 the Provost’s office established a Community Engaged Council, made up of faculty, office directors, community members, and administrators, whose task it is to coordinate and unify institution-­‐wide community engagement efforts. We relocated the Office of Academic Service-­‐
Learning to Boone Hall which also houses the Institute for the Study of Children, Families, and Communities to improve coordination and consolidation of community engagement activities. Individual colleges are institutionalizing academic citizenship by bringing Departmental Evaluation Documents in line with the new AAUP contract’s requirements for promotion and tenure, and with the new strategic directive on Service and Engagement. Colleges are also institutionalizing community engagement through such internal grant awards as the College of Arts and Science’s Program Development Initiative and through the development of such new centers as the Center for Advancing Social Enterprises in the College of Business. Eastern Michigan University has made significant strides toward institutionalizing its community engagement practices since our last classification. In many ways, however, the story of our commitment to our local, regional, national, and global communities is revealed by what we have not done: in an era of fiscal austerity and economic contraction, EMU did not diminish its obligations to public engagement, but increased and strengthened them. This accomplishment remains a source of pride for me as President of EMU, and for all of us in the EMU community and beyond. I believe our commitment to community engagement is fundamental to our role as a historic great public university in Michigan. Susan W. Martin President