Engagement and Service
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Chicago State University Self-Study Report 2012 Criterion Five: Engagement and Service As called by its mission, the organization identifies its constituencies and serves them in ways both value. Criterion Five 167 Chicago State University Self-Study Report 2012 INTRODUCTION Consistent with its Mission Statement, “CSU is an institution which provides educational access to students of diverse backgrounds and needs, and promotes community development including social justice, leadership and entrepreneurship.” The University’s Vision Statement articulates the institution’s role in addressing the unique needs of its community by aspiring to “be recognized for innovations in teaching and research, and in promoting ethical leadership, entrepreneurship, and social and environmental justice.” The University “embraces, engages, educates, enlightens, and empowers its CSU is an institution students and community to transform lives locally and globally.” Chicago State University’s constituencies include a broad collection of individuals, which provides institutions and organizations at the university, neighborhood, city, regional, state, and national/international levels. They include: CSU students, faculty educational access and staff; CSU alumni, trustees, and supporters; community businesses to students of diverse and volunteer organizations; neighborhood, city and regional K-12 schools and community colleges; local, citywide and regional environmental and backgrounds and social justice organizations; academic and professional organizations; and international students and scholars. needs, and promotes community development Deeply rooted in the University’s tradition is its sustained commitment to engagement and service for its many constituents. This commitment is including social exhibited strategically across academic and support units, student populations and organizations, and individual contributions. As a component of fulfilling justice, leadership and its guiding principles and goals, the University community has served in the capacity of a workforce developer, scientific discovery incubator, academic entrepreneurship. partner, agricultural stimulator, health care and preventive health services provider, community organizer, small business promoter, and in numerous other ways. This commitment has also directed improvements in physical facilities, personnel decisions, unit organizational restructuring, and communication to enhance the University’s ability to deliver its services more effectively. In addition to a comprehensive review of University documents related to engagement and service initiatives since the 2003 Self-Study, a campus-wide service and engagement survey was administered in Spring and Summer 2011 to assist in the identification of Criterion 5-related service and engagement endeavors across the University [A-5a1]. 168 Criterion Five Chicago State University Self-Study Report 2012 More than 275 responses were received from faculty, staff, and students briefly describing the various initiatives, institutionally based as well as personal volunteerism. Follow-up interviews were then conducted with selected respondents to gather additional information for core component classification, analysis and ultimate inclusion in the final HLC Self-Study report. The University is proud of its significant accomplishments in this area of its mission. This chapter will describe the quality and comprehensiveness of engagement and service activities at CSU and how this engagement is institutionalized through human and financial capital support. It will demonstrate how CSU is fulfilling its mission and achieving its vision by effectively engaging with its constituents to better serve their needs. Campus units collaboratively engage in mission-driven service and engagement activities. Examples of University initiatives that demonstrate its capacity to serve its constituents are described as follows [B-5a1]. Criterion Five 169 Chicago State University Self-Study Report 2012 Core Component 5A: 5A.1 Building Capacity through the Mission The organization learns The capacity for service and engagement by the University has increased from the constituencies through reaffirmation of the commitment included in the Mission, Strategic Plan, organizational expansion and operational realignment, curricular and it serves and analyzes its co-curricular growth, administration’s continued support, and enhancement capacity to serve their of dedicated financial as well as physical resources. President Watson has led the University to an enhanced level of community engagement, public service, needs and expectations. and collaborative efforts reflective of its priority. He has been instrumental in helping to establish more comprehensive articulation agreements with the Chicago City Colleges and other regional institutions of higher learning [B-5a2]. He has contributed his expertise to the strengthening of the University’s ties with the local affiliates of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Operation Push, and other civil rights organizations fighting for social justice. He has worked with legislative leaders to bring workforce development initiatives such as Entrepreneurial Idol to the University to help foster new business growth and opportunities in the community. He has also inspired the University to formulate and implement the “Contiguous Community/Violence Prevention” program, which will begin in Fall 2012 [B-5a3]. Grants and advancement gifts have helped to increase the capacity for engagement and service initiatives at the University. As evidence of its ability to build capacity through grants and gifts, the University has received the following: • $2.7 million for the current four-year funding cycle from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), ending in 2012, for Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) -- Support of Continuous Research Excellence (SCORE) Program [B-5a4] • $1.1 million for the current four-year cycle from (NIH), ending in 2013, for the Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) -- Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) Program [B-5a5] • $5.3 million to support the Textbooks and Learning Materials Program (USAID-TLMP) Ghana, established in 2005 [A-5a2] • $400,000 from the City of Chicago to support the Chicago State University Aquaponics Center, established in 2010. Another $1.0 million has been obtained for support of the facility over the next four years from the Department of Education [B-5a6] • $1.0 million from Dr. Julian Sheinbucks’ estate to support scholarships for biology majors and for distance learning initiatives [A-5a3] • $3.5 million to create the 21st Century Graduate and Professional Students Academic Studies Initiative in 2009 from the U.S. Department of Education [B-5a7] 170 Criterion Five Chicago State University Self-Study Report 2012 Emil and Patricia A. Jones Convocation Center: In October of 2008 the official dedication of the Emil and Patricia A. Jones Convocation Center (JCC) was held. The JCC has become the premier public use facility on the south side of Chicago. It is the new home of the CSU intercollegiate athletics program, and was a welcome addition to the University as it provided a 7000-seat multipurpose arena which would enable the University to increase capacity to more effectively host events such as basketball and volleyball games, concerts, commencements and other campus and public events. In FY 2011, the facility was used by external organizations to host 26 events with a total attendance of 85,100 people. In FY 2012, the facility hosted 25 events with a total attendance of 76,400 people. Representative examples of events held at the JCC in the last two years include numerous high school basketball games, an IHSA supersectional basketball game, the McDonald’s High School All-American Basketball Game (televised on ESPN), a T.D. Jakes Conference, a Maze Concert, the American Petroleum Institute Symposium, the Strength and Conditioning Clinic, the In Search of Genius Science Symposium, the Motown Review Concert, and commencements for many nearby high schools [B-5a8]. CSU’s Core Values Jacoby Dickens Center: The Jacoby Dickens Center (JDC), the former recognize the dignity home of the intercollegiate athletics program, has undergone many recent improvements/upgrades to enhance its ability to serve University and unique talents of constituents. These improvements include: increasing the number of basketball courts; adding an indoor baseball batting cage; refinishing and all persons, which foster refurbishing the swimming pool deck; replacing the swimming pool timing system; purchasing of new lockers for the women’s volleyball team and the creative and innovative men’s baseball team; refinishing and refurbishing the gym floor; purchasing thinking and learning, new stadium bleachers with a seating capacity of 1900 people; and renovation of the CSU Fitness Center which included the purchase of new exercise and which honor pride equipment and air conditioning [B-5a9]. in self, community and 5A.2 Environmental Scanning the University. Chicago State University gathers information from its constituencies (through periodic environmental scanning as discussed in Criterion 2A) on how best to meet its current and changing needs. Throughout the past decade CSU has employed a variety of methods to understand the needs of its constituencies and communities, and to inform the University’s strategic planning efforts. Large and small-scale environmental