Book Features Springfield College Community Programs
SPRINGFIELD, Mass., March 12, 2003—The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has chosen Springfield College’s community involvement as the subject of its first book in a series titled “Lasting Engagement.” The series will examine four institutions of higher education (IHEs) that have successfully made community engagement central to their missions. Springfield College is the only private college in the series.The 104-page book describes how Springfield College shifted over 10 years from a “missionary style” model of carrying out its public services, to working in partnership with a broad array of stakeholders in community improvement. It also includes descriptions of the college’s current community outreach, development and collaboration activities, and a chapter on 10 lessons learned that other IHEs can apply to their own efforts to institutionalize community engagement.
Richard B. Flynn, Springfield College president, said, “We hope that the case study provides good advice on steps to take and pitfalls to avoid in developing collaborative efforts that not only are successful, but also are sustained. The result would be students, faculty, and community members who are better prepared to share their resources in addressing needs in their communities.”
The publication, titled “Building and Sustaining a Commitment to Community Outreach, Development, and Collaboration,” describes changes that the college made to institutionalize its new approach to its historic community service philosophy. The college added and changed some educational programs and required courses to support community partnerships. It also made supporting infrastructure changes in administrative structures, finances, leadership, faculty and staff.
Copies of the new publication are available free of charge from the Office of University Partnerships by calling 800-245-2691 extension 3, and also can be downloaded from the HUD web site, www.oup.org
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