Mapping the contours of community engagement
The geo-map below serves as an official record of one year’s worth of Western Michigan University's community engagement initiatives. The geo-map fosters awareness of the expansiveness of the University’s community engagement efforts and aims to encourage more collaboration, additional partnerships, and an increased impact on the community. The map currently displayed captures 2,848 community engagement initiatives that occurred in the 2017-18 fiscal year and contributed over 1.3 million hours to community partners.
Add outreach efforts to the map
The University is collecting information on 2019-2020 fiscal year community engagement efforts in three categories: Curricular, Co-curricular, and Other. Category descriptions and a link to the submission form for each follow.
Curricular Community Engagement Initiatives
Mutually beneficial endeavors in which course learning objectives are met by addressing community-identified needs. The courses to which a curricular community engagement initiative is tied may include clinicals, practical, field experiences, research projects, or internships. The courses may also occur at any level (general education, first-year experience, senior capstone, major, or minor) for either undergraduate students or graduate students.
Submit your Curricular Community Engagement
Co-Curricular Community Engagement Initiatives
Partnerships that take place outside credit-bearing academic studies and include some type of structured reflection. These initiatives are similar to volunteering, but they include reflection. Here, think of trainings, workshops, service projects, alternative breaks, leadership programs, internships, externships, work-studies, teaching assistantships, guest speakers, site visits, living-learning communities, athletic outreach, library programs, student engagement offerings, non-credit courses, or evaluation support.
Submit your Co-Curricular Community Engagement
Other Engagement Initiatives
Arrangements (volunteering, contract work, professional consulting, tabling) that provide university resources to community groups with or without financial remuneration. These arrangements may or may not involve students. They may be done on a voluntary basis or as required component of an academic course, research endeavor, supplemental program, or other campus organization. Most simply, this third type of engagement initiative is any arrangement that does not fit in one of the first two categories.
Submit your Other Community Engagement
Please contact us with any questions or concerns about submissions.