The Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach will host the 10th annual National Outreach Scholarship Conference Sept. 28-30. This year’s theme, “Pathways of Engagement: Connecting Civic Purpose to Learning and Research-Locally and Globally,” will serve as a forum for discussing the state of public service and civic engagement in higher education.
“This three-day meeting is a platform for colleges and universities to discuss new ways of connecting disciplinary expertise to meet the needs of our respective communities,” said Trish Kalivoda, senior associate vice president of public service and outreach and co-chair of the event. “Here, institutions collaborate to discuss the future of outreach and engagement and how engaged scholarship may further develop broad, integrated approaches to teaching, research and service.”
E. Gordon Gee, president of Ohio State University, will open the conference with the keynote address, “Opportunity and Purpose: Outreach’s Changing Mission.” Plenary sessions include internationally recognized speakers such as Ambassador Gertrude Mongella of Tanzania, the first president of the Pan-African Parliament and 2005 recipient of UGA’s Delta Prize for Global Understanding; Steve Murdock, professor of sociology at Rice University and former director of the U.S. Census Bureau; and Alan Wurtzel, president of research and media development at NBC Universal. Session topics include creating outreach opportunities by leveraging university resources and system-wide strategies for enhancing community outreach and service-learning.
A key conference session will be “The Synergies of Partnerships: Working Together with Africa.” This session will feature leaders whose efforts address the various social, political and economic concerns of countries in Africa.
An additional highlight of the conference will be UGA’s receipt of the 2009 Outreach Scholarship W.K. Kellogg Foundation Regional Engagement Award, which recognizes one of four, four-year public universities for their outreach and engagement programs that are productively involved in communities. UGA is being honored for its Archway Partnership.
The conference will be held at the Georgia Center. More than 300 faculty, university leaders and students from across the U.S. and Canada are expected to attend. Registration is open to UGA faculty, students and staff.