Rock Island, Ill.-Augustana College will expand its outreach to the Quad-City community this fall with the creation of the Community Engagement Center (CEC). The center will centralize current and new on-campus offices that help students engage in the local, national and international community and provide a center where community partners may access student and faculty expertise.
The CEC will be made up of five offices: the Center for Vocational Reflection, Internship Services, Career Development, Entrepreneurial Development and Off-Campus Programs. The goal of the offices is to prepare and connect students with jobs, internships, and international programs; help build an experiential portfolio through volunteering, service learning and community projects; and meet the needs identified by the Quad-City community and beyond.
Augustana President Steve Bahls sees this new center as a way for the college to continue developing relationships with the community and teaching Augustana students to give back. "By establishing the Community Engagement Center, we seek not only to improve the learning experience of our students through integrative learning, but also to strengthen our continuing efforts in helping students develop personal and social responsibility," said Bahls.
The center is an extension of Augie Choice, an established program which enables students to apply for up to $2,000 to fund an internship, one-on-one faculty-mentored research or international experience. For more information about Augie Choice visit www.augustana.edu/augiechoice.
"The opportunities this new center gives our students -- to be out in the real world and to bring their gifts to the world outside Augustana -- will be a huge benefit to them and to the community," said Dr. Bob Haak, associate dean and CEC director. "We want to offer the resources we have to the great community that we live in."
Community organizations interested in learning more about the Center for Community Engagement and how they can get involved may contact Bob Haak at bobhaak@augustana.edu.
For additional information or requests for interviews, contact Kamy Beattie, director of public relations at (309) 794-7721 or kamybeattie@augustana.edu
About Augustana: Founded in 1860 and situated on a 115-acre campus near the Mississippi River, Augustana College is a private, liberal arts institution affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The college enrolls nearly 2,500 students from diverse geographic, social, ethnic and religious backgrounds and offers more than 70 majors and related areas of study. Augustana employs 287 faculty and has a student-faculty ratio of 11:1. Augustana continues to do what it has always done: challenge and prepare students for lives of leadership and service in our complex, ever-changing world.
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