PROGRAM - Morning Workshops

10:45-12:15
Various rooms in Coffman Memorial Union

Medicine Wheels and GPS: A Successful Educational Partnership on the White Earth Reservation

Charlie Blinn, Department of Forest Resources
Terri Darco, Pine Point School
Eli Sagor, University of Minnesota Extension
Deborah Zak, University of Minnesota  Extension

The summer of 2008 will mark the 10th anniversary of a successful partnership between the White Earth Reservation and the University of Minnesota to deliver the White Earth Reservation Academy of Math and Science.

The workshop will include:

1. how this collaboration began and has been sustained, including key things that we have learned which might be relevant to other initiatives;
2. perspectives of the collaboration from Reservation and University partners;
3. curriculum examples;
4. program outcomes and future directions; and
5. new initiatives that will engage more teachers and students throughout the academic year.

Workshop participants will be engaged in a couple of hands-on forestry and wildlife activities to experience lessons delivered by University and tribal instructors to American Indian students.  Participants will learn how the curriculum was designed in partnership with the tribal community.

Engaging Mexican Communities Locally and Transnationally

Joan DeJaeghere, Department of Education, Policy and Administration
Kate McCleary, Department of Education, Policy and Administration
Patrick J McNamara, Department of History
Garth Willis, PhD Student

This workshop will discuss how universities, communities and schools in Minnesota and Mexico can develop collaborative and meaningful exchanges and projects.  The first presentation will talk about how we engage young people who are transnationally mobile in an understanding of civic identities and engagement.  A second presentation explores the development of community and school relationships in local and transnational contexts. The final presentation discusses the opportunities and challenges in developing student and faculty exchanges with universities in these two countries.

The Importance of Understanding “Power” in Community-University Partnerships

Susan Gust, Community Activist
Naomi Scheman, Department of Philosophy

The “real work” of community-university partnership is to learn how to share knowledge on an equal playing field established through mutual respect and trust.  Knowledge can truly be shared only when power is also shared.  An outline of a process called a “Community Impact Statement” or “CIS” will be distributed at this workshop.  The CIS was developed in the hopes that it would assist community-university partnerships to develop principled models that have parallel goals both to accomplish the work of the partnership and to build models of shared power, valuing the knowledge generated by the community.  The workshop format will engage participants in an interactive format to assess their own individual power and power in community-university partnerships. 

Students as Active Co-Creators in a Community Organization

Derek Johnson, Jane Addams School for Democracy (JAS)

Kong Her, JAS Children's Circle Coordinator

Elizabeth Schachterle -AmeriCorps member (2007 U of MN grad)
Emily Peterson -Americorps member

A group of current students and recent graduates will lead this workshop exploring ways for students to have meaningful, co-creative roles within community organizations. The workshop will be based in students' experiences at the Jane Addams School for Democracy in order to explore this theme in more depth. It will include interactive examples of activities that Jane Addams has done with students involved in learning circles in order to develop co-creative roles. In addition, several students and recent grads will be on a panel about creative work that they initiated while involved at Jane Addams and the factors that supported these projects. Finally, the presenters will moderate small group conversations about ways to impact the frame of students involved in community work so that students develop active, co-creative roles.

Growing Up Healthy in the Red River Valley:  Reducing Children’s Exposure to Pesticides

Linda Kingery, Northwest Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships
Stephanie Williams, White Earth Tribal and Community College
Ruth Rasmussen, Center for Public Health Education and Outreach 

This workshop provides an introduction to Photovoice® methods as applied to our project, involving three groups of mothers in the Red River Valley.  Participants will view an exhibit of the photos and stories of the women from three communities, and take part in follow-up discussion about responding to the concerns of the mothers. We’ll provide an overview of the public health training program, including a demonstration of the pediatric tool kit, and lead a discussion to consider ways to strengthen social connectedness and access to healthy local foods as strategies to reduce exposure. 

Sisters helping Sisters:
Increasing Community Resources to Fight Depression in a Maxed-out Medical System

Tai Mendenhall, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Maylee Vang, Phalen Village Clinic
William Doherty, Department of Family Social Sciences

The “Sisters helping Sisters” campaign is an innovative initiative created through a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project involving a collaborative partnership between providers (mental health, physical health) and members of the local Minneapolis/St. Paul Hmong community. This work, guided by the Citizen Health Care (CHC) approach, offers a unique method for tapping heretofore-untapped resources in a patient community without further extending already over-extended resources within clinic administration’s finances and providers’ time. Presenters will elucidate the CHC approach and highlight key lessons learned through their CBPR efforts of engaging patients/families and providers in collaborative and action-oriented partnerships as citizens focused toward a common set of goals.

Reflections on a University/Community Partnership and The Great Idea! Exchange

Kristine Miller, Department of Landscape Architecture
Carrie Fathman, Graduate Student
DeAnna Cummings, Juxtaposition Arts Director
Satoko Muratake, Juxtaposition Arts Project Manager
Marcy Schulte, Design Institute Instructor

How can small community organizations work with university partners to generate and implement new ideas? Juxtaposition Arts, the Department of Landscape Architecture and the Design Institute in the College of Design will present a workshop about our ongoing partnership. We will focus on our newest recent endeavor, called "The Great Idea! Exchange," which we hope will be a useful model for neighborhood-based collaborative projects. "The Great Idea! Exchange" illustrates the potential for a community university partnership that has primarily involved one community group working with university partners to grow into a partnership that engages a broader group of community organizations.

America Reads and Community at the U: How to engage students through reflection

Rosemary Miller, Literacy Liaison
Cristina Lash, America Reads Coordinator
Jennifer Kohler, America Reads Coordinator

Participants will learn about the sense of community and foster increased knowledge about literacy and engagement, the America Reads literacy tutoring program has developed a model for reflection. Learn about this model, participate in a reflection session developed for this workshop, and create ideas for reflection in your own program.

University on the Prairie: Where Can Science Take You?

Pauline Nickel, Head, Southwest Research & Outreach Center
Susan Anderson, Education Specialist, Southwest Research & Outreach Center
Kathy Huntley, Executive Director, Southern MN Area Health Education Center
Wendy Foley, Health Careers Specialist, Southern MN Area Health Education Center

“University on the Prairie - Where Can Science Take You?” is an innovative engagement model that engages a cross-section of university and community resources to assist students in grades 8-10 as they explore the excitement in understanding science and potential career paths.  For three days, students experienced 90 minutes of hands-on learning in four science tracks: Engineering, Environmental Science, Food Science and Health Science. All four science tracks have an economic impact in southwest Minnesota. Come prepared to learn, have fun and be amazed!

Exploring an Appreciative Inquiry Approach to Building Stakeholder Communities

Renee Pardello, University of Minnesota Extension
Nate Meyer, University of Minnesota Extension
Diana Martenson, University of Minnesota Extension

Participants will take part in an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) process to 1) define key principles of the AI approach, detail the 4-part AI cycle (discover, dream, design, destiny), and discuss issues and concerns with AI for community involvement. Presenters will draw from lessons-learned through the COPE-supported model Building Stakeholder Communities for Regional Water Quality Education project to support development of strategies to effectively use the AI process for stakeholder engagement. They will provide participants with sample agendas, invitations, and follow-up communiqués. This model project provides a useful design for other University programs seeking to cultivate a more robust and sustainable stakeholder support network.

Changing Landscapes: Visiting Artists with Disabilities Project

Pat Salmi, Institute on Community Integration
Megan Dushin, Institute on Community Integration
Marijo McBride, Institute on Community Integration
Anna Gove, Interact Center for Visual and Performing Arts

This project, a unique partnership between the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) and three local disability arts programs, brokers the resources of the University with those of the community, resulting in a joint effort to benefit artists with disabilities while enriching the lives of University community members. At this session, attendees will learn how a small grant from College of Education and Human Development provided funding that turned the unadorned walls of Pattee Hall into an art gallery showcasing the work of artists with disabilities, and engaged members of the University community directly with the artists. Presenters will share what we have learned from the engagement process, how the process has evolved, and our hopes to move the project into the next phase. Participants will be invited to engage in a dialogue about art produced by people with disabilities through a number of interactive exercises.