September 7, 2021

IN THIS ISSUE

• Provost Murray Appoints Eleven-Member Community Advisory Committee
• Membership of Various Community Engagement Leadership Groups Now Being Finalized
• Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship Looking for New Members
• Three New ‘Civic Holidays’ on This Academic Year’s Campus Democracy Project Calendar

Provost Murray Appoints Eleven-Member Community Advisory Committee

‘Mechanism For Systematizing Partnership Process’

Barry University has a new Community Advisory Committee. Provost John Murray has appointed 11 community partners to the committee, including two members who served on the inaugural committee.

T. Nikki Watkins, associate executive director of MCCJ, Inc., has been appointed chair of the committee, and Florence French Fagan, Florida state organizer of Bread for the World, will serve as vice chair.

“The primary purpose of the Community Advisory Committee is to assist in shaping institutional involvement with the community by offering suggestions and advice,” Dr. Murray said in the letters of appointment. “The Committee will also support the development, implementation, and evaluation of community engagement at Barry.” 

Among the nine other members appointed by Provost Murray are Anthony Grisby, manager of the Community Development Division at the City of Hollywood, and Guy Forchion, executive director of the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust. Mr. Grisby was a member of the Community Advisory Committee from February 2017 to February 2021, and Mr. Forchion served from November 2018 to February 2021.

Barry alumnae Ines Diaz and Quayneshia Smith will serve on the committee, as will Andrew Hoo, a former Barry student. Ms. Diaz is assistant principal at Hubert O. Sibley K–8 Academy and Ms. Smith the partnership manager at the Seattle, Washington-based Community Credit Lab. Mr. Hoo is executive director of A New Start: Financial & Social Services in North Miami.

Other members of the Community Advisory Committee are Rob Collins, education and outreach coordinator at Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence (HOPE), Inc.; Nadie Mondestin, executive director of the Haitian Youth and Community Center of Florida; Ruth Robert, ESOL chairperson at W. J. Bryan Elementary School; and Uriel Zelaya-Perez, national faith co-coordinator at the Alliance for Fair Food. 

All members have been appointed for a two-year term, from August 2021 to July 2023.

When the Community Advisory Committee was conceived in 2017, its primary purpose was to support the implementation of the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) by providing feedback and recommendations. A QEP is a requirement for the reaffirmation of accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).

Barry’s 2014 QEP was designed to foster personal and social responsibility through experiential learning. SACSCOC, the accreditation body, accepted Barry’s QEP Impact Report last year.

The new Community Advisory Committee will function as an institutional mechanism for systematizing the partnership process between the university and community entities while shaping institutional involvement with the wider community. Much of the committee’s focus will be on supporting service-learning and co-curricular civic engagement projects. 

In a document outlining the purpose and functions of the committee, the Office of the Provost explains that committee members will share their experience and expertise with the university primarily through the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI).

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Membership Of Various Community Engagement Leadership Groups Now Being Finalized

The CCSI is finalizing the list of members of various community engagement leadership groups. These groups will assist with the planning, coordination, implementation, and evaluation of community engagement programs, projects, and events.

Among the leadership groups are the Service-Learning Designation Committee, Community Engagement Awards Committee, and Community Engagement Symposium Committee. Others include the Campus Democracy Project Committee, the Barry Urban Garden Committee, and the Community-Based Research Incentive Committee. 

The co-facilitators of the Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship and the CCSI’s Faculty Senate liaison are part of the community engagement leadership at Barry.

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Faculty Learning Community For Engaged Scholarship Looking For New Members

The CCSI is inviting all faculty members interested in community-engaged scholarship to join the Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship (FLC). 

The FLC is a cross-disciplinary group of faculty members who participate in a collaborative program focused on the scholarship of engagement, or community-engaged scholarship. Functioning as a “community of practice,” the FLC provides an intellectual venue in which faculty members exchange ideas and learn from one another’s experiences. 

Formed in 2012, the FLC promotes the pursuit, advancement, and application of knowledge to benefit the wider community. As a faculty development initiative, the FLC is designed to advance engaged scholarship, including community-based research, toward scholarly presentations and publications. Participation in the FLC supports reflective practice in community-engaged teaching and learning.

For further information and to join the FLC, email Dr. Glenn Bowen in the CCSI at gbowen@barry.edu or call 305-899-3696.

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Three New ‘Civic Holidays’ On This Academic Year’s Campus Democracy Project Calendar

As part of Barry’s Campus Democracy Project (CDP), three new “civic holidays” will be observed this academic year. In addition to National Voter Registration Day, the CDP calendar will include National Voter Education Week, Vote Early Day, and Election Hero Day.

All four occasions for celebration are being promoted by the Civic Holidays organization.

Civic holidays are nonpartisan days of action designed to strengthen and celebrate American democracy. They bring together a wide range of organizations and communities to work towards a nation where everyone participates and votes. 

“The unique challenges of the 2020 election cycle inspired the creation of three more civic holidays … to address specific actions and opportunities to help more Americans cast a ballot,” the national organizers announced recently. 

The CDP Committee is planning on-campus events to observe each day of action and will also celebrate the civic holidays via social media. The events will include the annual Florida Ballot Forum on the first day of National Voter Education Week. 

National Voter Registration Day is September 28. The day was first celebrated in 2012, and in 2020 it achieved record registrations and partnerships. Since its inception, some 4.5 million people have registered to vote on National Voter Registration Day.

National Voter Education Week is October 4–8. The purpose is to “give voters the tools, information and confidence they need to cast their ballot by helping them find their polling location, understand their ballot, and make a plan to vote.”

Vote Early Day, October 23, is aimed at making the early-voting process easier by helping eligible voters understand their voting options while celebrating the act of voting early. 

Election Hero Day is set for November 1. It is a special day to “celebrate the election administration teams, poll workers, and others around the country who help ensure voters can cast their ballots securely and successfully,” the national organizers said. 

Alongside county/municipal election clerks and directors, election office staff, and poll workers, the Civic Holidays organization has identified voters as Election Heroes.

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