Division of Student Affairs
2008-09 Annual Report
Department: Office of Civic Engagement, Leadership and Service
Person Completing Report: Pam Nessle Curtis
Date: 06/30/09
1. Major Accomplishments (accomplishments from your department associated with
the Strategic Plans. These should also be accomplishments we can use to promote
your department and Student Affairs.
General Statement: In August, a new director was put in place for this department that
only months before had seen a merger of two individual offices. Coming into the
department, it was discovered that staff had had little contact and less knowledge of the
work being done in each area (leadership and service). The focus for the majority of the
first year has been trust building between staff and the director and among the staff
themselves. This effort was facilitated by setting regular staff meeting and individual
supervision meeting times. There was also a road trip for a site visit to Miami of Ohio as
well as the CPAK conference. Additionally, the staff were asked to complete the
Strengths Finder assessment, which was facilitated by the director and incorporated into
numerous conversations over the year. The firm belief is that if this department is to be
taken to a level of national recognition, the staff needs to work well enough together to
make that goal happen. Much time must be spent nurturing the individual and
collective staff in order to be aligned for success.
Major Accomplishments:
(Tied to Department/Strategic Plan)
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Bonner 2.0 Grant received and Frazier intern program created
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Implemented first MLK Challenge recognized as largest in the state which also
received radio coverage
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Awarded host of Gulf South Summit conference in 2013
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Completed external review of leadership programs in May and self review of
service programs in October
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Completed year of involvement with i2a Collaborative Learning Community
culminating in facilitating/presenting two presentations at the May i2a Institute
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Completed involvement in Multi-Institutional Study on Leadership
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Created and presented Student/Campus Life presentation at Student Orientation
- "I Love College"
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Served on planning committee for living learning communities and created
proposal for 4 new communities in 2010
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Completed first local alternative break - urban immersion experience in West
Louisville which received media coverage on WDRB morning news
2. Staffing summary: (Changes, Updates, Challenges, Issues related to staffing in your
department )
General Statement: When the director position was created the coordinator for
leadership programs had been vacated. The director filled the position on a temporary
basis by doing a local search. Three candidates were interviewed and Gerome Stephens
(graduate assistant in CELS the previous year) was hired. His GA position was never
filled for the year and the funds allowed for covering the VISTA position that began in
the summer of 2008.
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3 Professional Staff
1 Graduate Assistant
2 Graduate Interns and 1 undergraduate intern
2 Freshmen LEAD Directors
1 VISTA
1 federal work study student
Specific Changes and Issues:
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Hired first ever VISTA in Student Affairs. The position allowed us to have the
MLK Challenge and the 2nd ASB option
3. Activities and initiatives that support Academic Units (Collaborative efforts with
academic units or programs and services that support students classroom
experience)
General Statement: The focus of the QEP, Ideas to Action, on critical thinking with
culminating experience requirement for all undergraduates being created is a natural
connection for the work being done in CELS and all of Student Affairs. The staff in CELS
is very supportive of the i2a work and will continue in the coming year to rewrite SLOs
to reflect Paul Elder Model language in several of its programs.
Specific Activities, Programs or Initiatives:
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The living learning community planning group has been developing relationships
with academic advising in A&S, Pre-Dental Hygiene, and Honors
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Hosted three interns (fall, spring and summer) - one Communications
undergraduate and two CSP graduate students
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Served on i2a Task Group as well as the Culminating Experience subcommittee
as a representative of Student Affairs
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Served on Book in Common selection committee for FYI
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Assisted a Communications class by having CELS serve as a case study; met with
the student group, responded to surveys and attended their class presentation
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Coordinated meeting with community partners working with immigrants, FYI,
Cultural Center and CELS staff for collaborations in the upcoming year
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Continued support to faculty members who participated in 2008 service-learning
seminar co-taught with psychology faculty
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Sponsored showing of "Holler Back" film and talk back facilitated by Dr. David
Owen and rep from Jobs for Justice - attended by 72 including one Poli Sci class
4. Activities and services that support diversity
General Statement: Where there has been an opportunity to connect with student
groups by doing programs and trainings, we have not missed the chance to position
ourselves as viable partners with these groups. We have researched how to better
ensure our programs are accessible to students with disabilities. We have continued to
return to the idea of recruiting students to want to work with us to create our programs
and have been developing a student activities board-model to do so (Engage Lead Serve
Board).
Specific Activities, Programs or Initiatives:
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Planned and facilitated two retreats for NPHC
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Working with Book in Common program on immigration program ideas and
issues related to Hispanics, Latinos and Latinas
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Frazier intern program has a focus on social justice. interns will be trained in the
concept of social justice, how to identify it and how to educate others in the
context of a museum setting
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Injecting the concept of social justice and multiculturalism into all our programs,
especially Bonner Leaders, Freshmen LEAD and America Reads is a high priority
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MLK Day of Service
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Assisting SNCC with planning their Alternative Break trip to New Orleans
5. Activities and services that support community service and/or civic engagement:
General Statement: The Office of Civic Engagement, Leadership and Service is uniquely
aligned to support the QEP's community engagement component. We have made a
strong first effort to work collaboratively with the Office Of Community Engagement to
better understand how our offices can be supportive of each other's work. Many of our
leadership programs have had a service component to them including America Reads,
Bonner Leaders and Freshmen LEAD.
The social issues students are engaging with at community placements include
literacy, affordable housing, food literacy, immigration & refugee settlement, special
needs, health, and social justice.
Specific Activities, Programs or Initiatives:
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Served on Steering Committee for Community Engagement at Provost's request,
as well as the task group to create the Excellence in Community Engagement
award
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Collaborative display with Office of Community Engagement for orientation
sessions
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Visit to Atkinson Elementary School to meet with staff regarding serving as a
tutoring site, attended President Ramsey’s assembly to kick off the laboratory
school at Atkinson
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MLK Day of Service
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Alternative Spring Break West Louisville
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Meeting with staff and community partners regarding immigrants at Churchill
Downs backside
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Assisted with HOBY High School Leadership program at Male High School and
facilitated two presentations
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Collaborated with SAB on Fall 08 Community Service Fair and hosted 32 agencies
looking for volunteers
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Served on advisory body for Mill Creek Elementary School as UofL rep
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Hosted first service-learning expo with Dept of Psychology and Brain Sciences poster displays of academic service-learning projects were set up by three
psychology classes, one art class, Rausch Planetarium, and FiberWorks, as well
as Bonner Leader and Alternative Spring Break projects
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75 Salvation Army Angels were adopted increased from 50 last year
6. Staff professional development activities and programs including: individual or
department recognition awards, conference presentations, publications and
involvement in university wide committees and /or professional activities
General Statement: All of the CELS staff is actively involved in various professional
organizations. Additionally, the entire staff has been involved in some way in planning
professional development opportunties for the Student Affairs staff during the year.
Specific Activities, Programs, Initiatives or Professional Involvement:
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Pam Nessle Curtis SGA retreat presenter
KY Engagement Conference
Student activities program for RSOs - presenter
Strengths presentation to Cultural Center and i2a/Delphi Center staff
Strengths presentations for Student Affairs leadership team, DOS staff, VPSA
staff, Counseling Center, DRC
Networking for Introverts with James Atkinson - presenter
Placement Conference Preparation and Mock Interviews (cancelled due to ice
storm)
SACSA 2008 - presenter
Game of Life – A&S Peer Advisors
I2a Institute - presenter
SPE as Message Center coordinator for SACSA
SACSA Chair for Career Services Committee
Leadership Educators Institute
CPAK
PDC chair
Student Award planning committee
Book in common selection committee
Presented two part session to ECPY capstone class on strengths
Attended Focus Louisville
REACH training presentation on CELS
Presented to ISLP group
RA in-service workshop on Burnout
Two presentations at Male High School HOBY leadership program
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Kim Shaver
Gulf South Summit - presenter
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CPAK
KY Engagement Conference
Bonner Summer Leader Institute – community gardening panelist
PDC member
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Gerome Stephens
Mid West NACA conference chair
CPAK presenter
Classified Staff Retreat planning committee
Bonner Summer Leader Institute presenter
Panhellenic retreats facilitator
7. Assessment initiatives - (participant surveys, program reviews, student learning
outcomes, focus groups, feedback etc.)
General Statement: All the assessment being done currently by this office is either
measuring satisfaction or collecting demographics. The work being done with i2a has
positioned us nicely to be ready to implement SLO assessment progressively more each
year over the next several years. The resources available for assessment from i2a are a
goldmine for our work.
Specific Activities, Programs, or Initiatives:
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Bonner Leaders and America Reads uses various asssessments of the students'
satisfaction with the program
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Surveys were completed by ASB participants
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Freshmen LEAD uses an annual report model that collects information about the
year and combines it in one place for easy access and use the following year as
needed.
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participated in Multi Institutional Study of Leadership - results due in August 19% response rate
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completed review by a consultant of leadership program
8. Top Goals for the Department/Program – Include specific goals your department
will be working on during 2009-2010. Goals should be in response to items in the
University and Student Affairs Strategic Planning documents.
General Statement: Utilizing the information collected from the self assessment of the
service programs and the consultant's report for the leadership programs plus research
done by the staff over the past year, a number of goals focusing on getting more
students connected to our program will be emphasized for the coming year. We
continue to focus on ways to support Student Affairs' strategic plan.
Specific Goals for 2009-2010:
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Expand SOUL to monthly weekend events partnering with FYI, Cardinal Covenant
and CEHD (SOUL Service Weekends).
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Develop a student committee model (like SAB) for connecting students to
leadership development and service opportunities - Engage Lead Serve Board.
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Implement Bonner Frazier Intern program beginning fall 2009.
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Create Learning Outcomes for Bonner Leader & America Reads Programs; create
assessments for Bonner Leader Program. Review all programs learning
outcomes in relation to i2A. Update as needed. Develop one assessment tool
that can be used in all of our programs.
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Develop an Alternative Break Fair for fall 2009 and advertise ASB planning
resources to campus organizations and departments.
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Create plan to increase visibility of Bonners on campus by end of fall 2009.
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Develop International Student leadership program by spring 2010.
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Continue to develop LLCs on campus in conjunction with H&RL and academic
programs.
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Promote National Learn and Serve Week by providing awareness programming
for students, faculty and staff.
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Collaborate on Cards Lead lecture series with Sigma Alpha Lambda, Alpha Phi
Omega and Athletics
9. Issues and Challenges for the Department During 2008-2009
General Statement: We are challenged by creating a vision for our office while still
responding to the spontaneous requests that come up for programs our office should be
doing.
Specific Issues and Challenges 2008-2009:
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Keeping website updated and making it appealing – regular comments that it is
hard to navigate and not friendly
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Managing the ISLP programs
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Location and lack of space for students in our area
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Recruiting students to work with and create programs through our office
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What is our department's role with community engagement on campus, how do
we fit with what the Office of Community Engagement does?
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Finding funding for day to day operations like computer upgrades, materials and
unexpected opportunities like providing snacks for a student meeting
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Can we create a nationally recognized program with multiple programs that
affect small numbers of students and take significant staff resources to manage?
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Financial aid and community service FWS hours
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Lack of administrative assistance
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Need GAs around all year long - work to find additional funding needed to do so
10. Report on metrics for programs and services during the year (usage and/or
customer numbers, occupancy data, number of programs provided, participant
demographics, retention statistics, revenue numbers, budget savings, new funding
sources and amounts, benchmark comparisons, professional
development/involvement data, web hits, student employee numbers, etc)
General Statement: We saw an energizing boost in interest in our programs. Freshmen
LEAD jumped from 53 applicants in 2007 to over 75 in 2008. A similar kind of increase
was seen in SOUL participation with 50% more participants from the year before.
Specific Metrics from 2008-2009:
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America Reads - Sixteen (16) students participated as Federal Work-Study
America Reads Tutors and provided 2196 hours of tutoring at three (3) JCPS
schools: Cochran Elementary, Jefferson County Traditional Middle School and
Noe Middle School and six (6) After-School Programs: Americana Community
Center, Brooklawn, Cabbage Patch Settlement House, Catholic Enrichment
Center, Down Syndrome of Louisville and Plymouth Community Center .
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Bonner Leaders - Nineteen (19) Laders were recruited. Five (5) of whom were
terminated from the program due to lack of follow-through with programmatic
requirements or due to personal extenuating circumstances that prevented
them from completing the program. Of the new members who applied to the
program, two (2) students signed up for a 900 hour term (2 year commitment).
One (1 )student signed up for a 450 hour term (extended one year commitment).
Sixteen (16) signed up for up a 300 hour term (one year commitment). Three (3)
of these students were returning for a second term. In addition to new program
recruits, four (4) continuing participants from the previous year completed their
300 hour term as Bonner Leaders.
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ASB - Black HIlls, NC - Nine (9) participants: Service-Learning Coordinator, Kim
Shaver; one (1) graduate advisor, Joe Frey; and seven (7) student participants.
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ASB - West Louisville - Ten (10) participants: Leadership Programs Coordinator,
Gerome Stephens; VISTA Community Engagement Coordinator, Kara Morrell;
and eight (8) student participants. Seven (7) of the eight (8) attendees were
participants of the 2008-2009 Freshmen LEAD class.
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Cards in the Community - Five people attended Focus Louisville during the 20082009 school year – one graduate student, three (3) Student Affairs staff,
including me and one staff from i2a.
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Cardinal Leadership Conference - planned by a team of eight (8) Freshmen LEAD
students and occurred on March 7, 2009 from 9am – 4pm. Nearly 150 people
attended with nine (9) being non-UofL students
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Freshman LEAD - Fifty (50) students were recruited into this year’s class. 46 of
those students were retained for the duration of the program. Of this total, 28
students were accepted into the REACH Ambassador program and will serve as
Ambassadors during the 2009-2010 school year.
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Sigma Alpha Lambda - founded in late spring 2008 and has 156 active officers.
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SOUL - 161 participants