Catching Waves: Using Engagement to Address Critical Issues
The Tenth Annual Continuums of Service Conference



CALL FOR PROPOSALS

We invite faculty members, students, scholars, community partners, educators, and administrators to address critical issues facing our global society, our local communities, and our schools and higher education institutions.

Catching Waves: Using Engagement to Address Critical Issues
Communities across our region, nation and world face similar challenges: homelessness, immigration, economic disparity, crime/corrections, healthcare, and declining rates of educational achievement. How can higher education use engagement strategies and partnerships to tackle very complex social, economic, and ethical issues?

Does traditional instruction prepare our students to be agents of change in regard to these issues?  Our institutions already face fundamental challenges about access, retention, learning, and student success. The traditional methods of teaching and learning may not sufficiently prepare students for a complex world or maximize higher education’s impact on critical issues. With this in mind, conference attendees will explore questions such as:

• How will successful service-learning models prepare students to address critical societal issues?
• What specific engagement strategies positively address specific education, community,
  and global issues?
• What partnerships are needed to achieve desired outcomes in specific issue areas? 
• What research supports successful models of engagement and what new research do we need?
• What internal and external resources are available (or need to be cultivated) to support this work?

Engaging students in the community has been shown to be an effective strategy to help students learn, develop critical thinking skills, increase job preparation skills, and improve civic attitudes and behaviors. It has been an effective model to build capacities in communities and improve K-12 educational achievement.  Through service-learning and civic engagement, students have the opportunity to experience working with others from different socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures, and sets of beliefs. Curricular and co-curricular service-learning projects, if done well, can transform students’ learning and better prepare them for a changing world while also creating significant change in community capacity and conditions.

We invite you to submit proposals that demonstrate how service-learning and civic engagement initiatives or projects address critical global, community, and education issues in the following areas:

• Educational Achievement/Attainment (pre-school – 12^th grade & higher-ed)

• Community Development

• Economic Opportunity Gap

• Immigration

• Health Disparities

• Environmental Sustainability

• Global Understanding

In preparation for developing a proposal, please also read:

• Concurrent Session Formats at http://www.acadweb.wwu.edu/campcomp/concurrentsessions.html
• Selection Criteria and Proposal Guidelines at http://www.acadweb.wwu.edu/campcomp/guidelines.html.

Guidelines for Submission
The deadline for submitting proposals is Friday, December 15,  2006. Please utilize the web-based form to submit your proposal. If you plan to submit more than one proposal, please submit each one separately.

If you have any questions, please contact

Diane Bateman
Executive Assistant
Washington Campus Compact
diane.bateman@wwu.edu,


If you would like to discuss a proposal idea, please contact:

Jennifer Dorr
Executive Director
Washington Campus Compact
360.650.7984
jennifer.dorr@wwu.edu