February 15, 2012
Loras College Academic Resource Center, Dubuque, IA

Iowa Campus Compact member faculty is invited to participate in this free workshop (lunch will be provided). Presenters will discuss two successful models of strategic partnership to help attendees gain insight on:

• the meaning and purpose of building strategic partnerships in service-learning and civic engagement;
• strategies for developing and sustaining partnerships;
• faculty, staff, community partner and student role in building these partnerships.   Attendees will also have the opportunity for group discussion (discipline-specific where possible) on their own challenges and opportunities incorporating this approach.  

Presenters:
Dr. Charles Connerly, University of Iowa Professor and Director of the School of Urban and Regional Planning will present on his experiences with whole-community strategic partnerships through the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities. To better address the problems and challenges faced by small towns in Iowa and the Midwest, the School of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Iowa launched the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC) in 2009. IISC’s purpose is to enhance the capacity of towns, cities, and counties in Iowa, as well as elsewhere in the Midwest, to better become sustainable communities.

Maggie Baker, Loras College Service Learning Coordinator will present a practical model for creating strategic campus-community partnerships to maximize impact, while enhancing community-based learning programs. This approach to building strategic partnerships is grounded in the concept of transformative relationships (Enos & Morton, 2003). Loras College has been piloting this model since 2009. Collaborative efforts with Dubuque Art Center (DAC), a start-up non-profit focused on creating programs designed to increase youth and community access to the arts, (and one of the College’s strategic partners), will be highlighted and staff from DAC will be co-present with Maggie.