Volume 15 - Issue 1 - Home Page

Message from the Interim Associate Provost

Laurie Van Egeren, Interim Associate Provost for University Outreach and Engagement

Exciting New Changes Coming to UOE

In the last remaining weeks before a new year approaches, we often find ourselves in quiet reflection – recalling great achievements and challenging obstacles, while looking forward to the opportunities a new year brings.

The upcoming year will see a period of transition in leadership in the Office of University Outreach and Engagement (UOE), as we welcome Dr. Kwesi Brookins as associate provost.

I am so appreciative for the opportunity to have served in this position for the past few years, and I'm immensely proud of the work UOE has accomplished. Thanks to the commitment of my dedicated, generous, and brilliant colleagues, we have been able to effectively fulfill the mission of UOE by facilitating engaged scholarship among faculty, staff, students, and community partners ... Read more

Featured MSU Engaged Scholars

Camp for internally displaced persons in Bamako, Mali 2022

Peacebuilding in Mali Through Photovoice

More than 60 years ago, the landlocked west African country of Mali was regarded as a developing nation moving toward democracy. However, since the coup d'état in 2012, the country has faced an increasing amount of violence and is currently governed by military junta. Conflicts between differing ethnic groups as well as tensions between armed government forces and civilians, made worse by armed intervention by terrorist and mercenary groups, have left Malians displaced from their homes and seeking refuge in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps within Mali.

Unlike refugees, who cross national borders, internally displaced persons don't have the same amount of international protection, emergency assistance, or development aid. To date, there are ten official IDP camps in Mali, supporting more than 420,000 ...

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Students are able to participate in a variety of learning activities including computer programming and an introduction to robotics.

Encouraging Diversity in the Field of Engineering

A single sheet of standard-sized printer paper is all it takes to elicit a popular childhood memory. Strategically folding and unfolding, creasing and rotating, until a perfectly crafted, lightweight flying machine is engineered.

Paper airplanes can provide endless entertainment, but the creation process and overall design can also teach students the best ways to increase (or decrease) distance, speed, and overall flyability while taking constraints and limitations into consideration. This seemingly simple activity is often one of the first introductions to engineering students have.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recognizes the importance of encouraging students to explore engineering, as their website outlines crafts for young minds to do, including a step-by-step tutorial to crafting paper airplanes ...

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Looking for Community Partners

Collaboration and partnership with communities are at the core of engaged scholarship. In all of its work, University Outreach and Engagement emphasizes university-community partnerships that are collaborative, participatory, empowering, systemic, transformative, and anchored in scholarship. If you are a faculty or academic staff member wanting to establish a community partnership, University Outreach and Engagement may be able to help you. Our staff and researchers have connections across the state in areas such as education, mental health, human services, business, and government. For more information, contact Burton Bargerstock, Executive Director of the Office for Public Engagement and Scholarship, at (517) 353-8977 or bb@msu.edu.


Feedback

We would like to hear from you. Contact us with comments, suggestions, announcements, or "engaged scholar" project information for future e-newsletters. Send to: engaged.scholar@msu.edu.

Resources

MSU Graduate Certification in Community Engagement
This program prepares graduate students for careers that integrate scholarship with community engagement. It offers students a transcript notation indicating that they have completed the program.

Community Engagement Toolkits
Designed by the Center for Community Engaged Learning to guide and support MSU faculty, students, staff, and community partners.

Transformations in Higher Education: The Scholarship of Engagement Series
Available from Michigan State University Press

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