1

New York Campus Compact Weekly

In This Issue:
1- Spotlight on Members Annual Survey Campus Election Engagement Project Call for Exemplary Program Examples Call for Campus-Based Resources Student and Faculty Award Nominations 4- Call for Papers: Journal of Public Scholarship in Higher Education 5- Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service 5- Education Award Program Deadline Extended 34444-

January 6, 2012

Spotlight on Members Niagara University

Submitted by: Michael J. Freedman, Assistant Director of Public Relations & Manager of Online Content, Niagara University Pop or soda, the generic term for carbonated beverages has been a source of friendly debate between soft drink aficionados for decades, depending on the geographic region they call home. Niagara University students have chosen to settle the dispute through a goodnatured competition in the name of a good cause. Since the start of the fall semester, members of the universitys EAGLE (Experience And Growth in Leadership Education) Leadership student group have been collecting can tabs for the Tabs for Kids Fund, an organization that recycles aluminum, using the proceeds to purchase wheelchairs and related equipment for children with physical disabilities. To make the collection more interesting, EAGLE members proposed a tab-raising competition between students who call the fizzy soft drink soda and those who refer to it as pop. Two envelopes were placed above recycling bins in all of Niagaras residence halls, one labeled soda and the other pop. Students could then vote for their favored designation by placing tabs in the corresponding envelope. In addition, EAGLE leader Sean Farber, 13, constructed a necklace that he wore on weekends, which essentially served as a traveling donation center. To maintain the propriety of the competition, the Tabs for Wheelchairs Travel Unit allowed contributions to be counted toward the soda or pop totals.

Save the Date:

March 30, 2012, 12:00 5:00 pm: 4 Annual New York Metro Area Partnership for Service-Learning (NYMAPS) Symposium, St. Johns University Manhattan Campus, 101 Murray Street, New York, NY 10007
th

A call for proposals and further details will be available soon. May 31- June 1, 2012: The Fifth Annual Institute on Global ServiceLearning, hosted by Cornell University October 11-12, 2012: The Second Annual Eastern Region Campus Compact Conference: Promoting Clear Pathways to Civic Engagement, hosted by Dartmouth College

PHOTO: Niagara University students Sean Farber, 13, Rebecca Bailey, 12, and Gabi Sorrentino, 13, present a check to Tabs for Kids founder Robert Hampson

Spotlight continued on page 2

Spotlight continued from page 1

On Dec. 6, Robert Hampson, the blind young man who essentially founded Tabs for Kids at age 5, appeared at NU to accept the more than 37,000 tabs that had been collected on Monteagle Ridge. Supplemental cash donations and a $1,000 contribution from the Niagara University Student Government Association (NUSGA) brought the NU communitys total monetary gift to $1,101. This is by far the most weve ever received from a school in the United States, said Cheryl Hampson, Roberts mother and guide, who accompanied him on the trip from their home in Toronto. For years, the Hampsons have traveled from city to city to not only retrieve donations, but also to spread awareness of the difficulties faced by those with visual impairments. Throughout their hour-long appearance at Niagara, Robert Hampson coupled a biting wit with examples from his life to illustrate what its like to live without vision. At first, when I was learning to find my way around, I bumped into many things people, trees, brick walls, and I walked off the end of a deck at least three times, he said. Ill tell you, that water is really cold once the ice sets. It was evident that Robert Hampson, who swims competitively, water skis, scuba dives and rock climbs, has learned to use humor as a coping mechanism for his impairment, such as when he talks about his experiences with skydiving and downhill skiing. Guess what, no fear of heights, the 19-year-old joked. The ground doesnt look that far down to me. At one point, Cheryl Hampson invited the approximately 35 students in attendance to simulate what its like to be blind by walking up and down the Dunleavy Hall auditoriums stairs with their eyes closed, using a partner as a guide. The students were then asked to describe their experience following the activity. You have to really trust the person youre walking with, one student said. I found it really irritating when the amount of light would change depending on where you were in the room, commented another. Everything seems to be a lot busier. You cant really focus on any one sound or thing, added Mitch Alegre, EAGLE coordinator. The roots of Tabs for Kids were formed when Robert Hampson was diagnosed with a brain tumor shortly after his fourth birthday. Surgery to remove the tumor left him blind but did not take away his ambition. At age 5, he began collecting soda tabs and, after eight years, sold the accumulated tabs to a recycler, generating enough money to buy a young boy a wheelchair. When I was five, someone told me that it was possible to make a wheelchair out of recycled pop cans, Robert Hampson explained. I wasnt sure how they were going to do it but it seemed like a great idea in my 5-year-old mind. After all, I considered myself lucky. My arms and legs worked perfectly. I wanted other people to be able to do the same fun things that I could. Farber and fellow EAGLE leader Gabi Sorrentino, 13, came up with the idea for the can tab drive while brainstorming about potential experience-based learning opportunities for the group prior to the fall semester. After taking a survey of the campus, Farber and Sorrentino realized that there was an abundance of tabs that were either recycled or discarded with cans by university students, faculty and staff. An online search alerted them to Tabs for Kids, which prompted a phone call to Robert Hampson and the launch of the initiative. While EAGLE members will continue to accumulate tabs indefinitely, pop enthusiasts claimed short-term victory by less than 1/5 of a pound, or approximately 300 tabs. Of course, in this case, there were numerous winners. What you are doing right now is so amazing, EAGLE member Ian ORourke, 12, told Robert Hampson toward the end of his presentation. Im so inspired right now and Im so grateful for you coming out to share your story. For more information Tabs for Kids, please visit www.poptabsforwheelchairs.ca.

New York Reaches National Goal for Annual Survey

We are pleased to announce that New Yorks response rate for the Campus Compact Annual Survey is 63%! Thank you to those who took the time to fill out the survey! Individual reports will go out in the spring and the incentive books will be mailed out next week for those who completed the survey (Marianne will be contacting you shortly for your choice of books). A big THANK YOU goes out to the following members for completing the survey:
Adelphi University Alfred State College Alfred University Binghamton University Buffalo State College Canisius College Cayuga Community College Cornell University Corning Community College Daemen College Dominican College Hartwick College Hobart and William Smith Colleges Hofstra University Ithaca College Keuka College Le Moyne College Marymount Manhattan College Medaille College Mercy College Molloy College Nazareth College of Rochester New Community College at the City University of New York New York University Niagara University Onondaga Community College Queensborough Community College Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Sarah Lawrence College Siena College Skidmore College St. John Fisher College St. Johns University Stony Brook University SUNY Buffalo SUNY College at Old Westbury SUNY College at Oneonta SUNY Cortland SUNY Delhi SUNY Fredonia SUNY Geneseo SUNY Oswego SUNY Potsdam SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry Syracuse University The New School Union College University of Rochester

Wagner College

2012 Presidential Election Campus Election Engagement Project

NYCC is interested in supporting campus efforts to mobilize student interest and involvement in the upcoming presidential election. (Please note: these efforts must explicitly and legally exclude any students involved in our Education Award Program or personnel involved in our VISTA program.) We will be partnering with Paul Loeb again this year to encourage campus-based, bipartisan efforts to highlight the critical issues we face in our decision to elect the next president, as well as future decisions in Congressional elections. Please review Pauls e-mail announcing the relaunching of the Campus Election Engagement Project and respond to him with any interest and examples from your campus. http://nycampuscompact.org/News.aspx

Call for Exemplary Program Examples in New York State

NYCC is building a database of exemplary university/college community and civic engagement programs across the State. If your campus has what you consider to be an exemplary program, institutional initiative, or campus-community partnership, please let us know by completing the form at: http://nycampuscompact.org/ExemplaryProgramExamples.aspx

Call for Campus-Based Resources in New York State

NYCC is developing a New York State Resource Corps. If you or someone on your campus has expertise that you would be willing to share, WE WANT TO KNOW YOU! We are looking for people with expertise in the following areas: campus-community partnerships (local, national, international); developing an academic service-learning program, community/civic engagement student leadership programs, a successful faculty development program for service-learning and community-based research, or other community-civic engagement related initiatives, programs, policies on your campus. Please send a short description of the expertise you have to nycc@cornell.edu. Be sure to include your contact information (e-mail, name, title/institution, phone number). There is no limit to the number of experts per institution, so please forward this e-mail to everyone on your campus who has expertise in this area.

Student and Faculty Award Nominations

Newman Civic Fellows Chancellor/Presidents Nomination: Do you know student social entrepreneurs on your campus who would benefit from joining a national cohort of like-minded students engaged in changing the world? Consider nominating your students for a Newman Civic Fellowship. (Note: Applications will be available on-line only at www.compact.org) Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award: Each year Campus Compact presents this national award to an outstanding faculty member who has charted new territory in the field of campus-community community and civic engagement. Are there such faculty members on your campus? Consider nominating them for this prestigious award. Recent awardees include Sheryl Gelmon, Professor of Public Health, Portland State University, 2011; Barry Chekoway, Professor of Social Work, University of Michigan, 2010; and Thomas Dutton, Professor of Architecture and Interior Design and Cincinnati Professor of Civic Engagement, Miami University of Ohio, 2009. (Note: Nomination forms will be available as on-line submissions only at www.compact.org).

The Journal of Public Scholarship in Higher Education

Call for Papers, Volume Two (2012)
While there is variation in current terminology (public scholarship, scholarship of engagement, community engaged scholarship), engaged scholarship is defined by the collaboration between academics and individuals outside the academy knowledge professionals and the lay public (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity. http://jpshe.missouristate.edu/assets/jpshe/JPSHE_CFP_VOL_ 2.pdf

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service

As the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service approaches and programs are shaping up, it has come to our attention that there are some additional MLK Collegiate Challenge funds available to our campuses. If any of you are currently planning a large-scale MLK Day of Service program and have not already received an MLK Collegiate Challenge grant for this round, please contact NYCC as soon as possible. Call or email your name and contact information to Brittany Campese, bcampese@cornell.edu/607-254-6239.

In addition to these funds, MLK Day Community Conversations Toolkits are still available through the New York Council for the Humanities website.

New York Campus Compact AmeriCorps Education Award Program Deadline Extended
Through a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service and the New York State Commission on National and Community Service, NYCC has received additional AmeriCorps Education Award Program (EAP) funding for the 2011-2012 program year. EAP fosters civic engagement among higher education students, promotes the National Service movement, and encourages positive relationships between campuses and communities. The program meets critical community needs by engaging college students in service as part-time AmeriCorps members, and fostering within them an ethic of civic responsibility. Upon successful completion of 300 hours of service in a calendar year, students are eligible to receive a $1,175 Education Award to be applied toward outstanding federal student loans or the cost of attendance at a college or university. With rising tuition costs the education award earned upon successful completion of the program helps make service a viable opportunity for students with financial need. Campuses who are interested in implementing the NYCC EAP on their campus should contact Brittany Campese asap at bcampese@cornell.edu or 607-2546239. The following campuses have been already been awarded Education Award Program positions for 2011-2012: o o o o o o o o o o Binghamton University Buffalo State College Cayuga Community College Corning Community College Hobart & William Smith Colleges Purchase College St. Lawrence University SUNY College at Old Westbury Syracuse University University of Rochester

Educating Citizens, Building Communities

New York Campus Compact 95 Brown Road, Box 1006 Ithaca, NY 14850 607-255-2366 www.nycampuscompact.org