INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis celebrates another successful year of campus and community impact at the ninth annual Robert G. Bringle Civic Engagement Showcase and Symposium, from noon to 6 p.m., on Tuesday, April 23, at the IUPUI Campus Center, 420 University Blvd.
This year’s theme is “Our Role in the ‘Village’: Campus and Community Strategies to Support Youth,” and features Henry Louis Taylor Jr., director of the Center for Urban Studies, University at Buffalo.
“As a community, one of our greatest resources is our youth, and their future is highly dependent upon the choices we make on their behalf,” said Julie Hatcher, executive director of the Center for Service and Learning. She says IUPUI has a longstanding tradition of community partnerships to support the health, well-being and academic achievement of youth.
“Through free tutoring services, medical outreach programs, art and science camps, or service learning classes, annually a large number of college students from a variety of disciplines are involved with youth in central Indiana,” Hatcher said. “As youth interact with college students, they are inspired by role models and supported to reach for new goals, achieve new dreams and act in new ways on behalf of others in their community. We all benefit from such engagement.”
The symposium workshops are designed for community members and IUPUI faculty, staff and students to explore ways to build and enhance campus and community partnerships. The showcase features faculty and student poster presentations that highlight course-related accomplishments and community projects. More than 200 community partners have worked with the campus this year, and community partners in attendance will be recognized for their many contributions.
The event also celebrates the 2013 recipients of the William M. Plater Civic Engagement Medallion. This award recognizes graduating students who have demonstrated exemplary commitment to their communities during their college years. This year, 33 outstanding IUPUI students from 11 schools will be awarded this distinction.
The annual showcase and symposium is named in honor of Robert G. Bringle, an internationally known leader in the field of service learning. He created a lasting impact on the IUPUI campus as the first executive director of the IUPUI Center for Service and Learning and a Chancellor’s Professor of Psychology and Philanthropic Studies.
The Center for Service and Learning creates programming to involve students, faculty and staff in educational service activities that mutually benefit the campus and community. Since opening in 1993, the center has gained national recognition for its commitment to and scholarship on service learning and civic engagement. IUPUI has been named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for its commitment to volunteering, service learning and civic engagement.
For information about the 2013 Civic Engagement Showcase, please contact Mansi Patel, communications and administrative specialist, at patelm@iupui.edu, or visit the Center for Service and Learning website .