Washington, D.C.—In July of this year, 20 presidents/chancellors
and their spouses gathered in Santa Fe, N.M. to participate in a new
service-learning initiative of the American Association of State Colleges and
Universities (AASCU): The AASCU Footprint Project.
Held during the association’s annual Summer
Council of Presidents meeting, the Footprint Project—conceived and developed by
AASCU’s Spouse/Partner Program—affords the leadership of AASCU member
institutions and their spouses/partners the opportunity to, through a hands-on
volunteer activity in a local community, leave a lasting impression of AASCU’s
commitment to Deliver America’s Promise. By helping with a community-identified
need, those who participate learn from and give back to the host community.
In its inaugural year, the AASCU Footprint Project
partnered with the United Way of Santa Fe County and the Santa Fe Public
Schools to bring participants to the Aspen Community Magnet School to spend the
day interacting with children enrolled in a summer program.
Participants engaged the children in a variety
of learning activities, including placing pushpins on a map of the United
States and talking about where they lived; using adobe bricks, pre-made by the
children, to construct a model of a building around a courtyard; reading to and
with the children; exploring the children’s vegetable and flower gardens; and
using large geometric shapes to paint a mural on a wall leading to the school.
Planning for the 2013 Footprints Project is
already underway and will take place during the Summer Council of Presidents
meeting in Annapolis, Md.
2012
Footprint Participants:
- Esther Avery, spouse of President Reggie
Avery, Coppin State University (Md.)
- Janice Beran, spouse of Chancellor Paul
Beran, University of Arkansas - Fort Smith
- Connie Black, spouse of Chancellor Len
Black, University of Minnesota Duluth
- LaVera Burnim, spouse of President Mickey
Burnim, Bowie State University (Md.)
- President Tim Flanagan and Nancy
Flanagan, Framingham State University (Mass.)
- Chancellor Dean Van Galen and Mary Van
Galen, University of Wisconsin - River Falls
- President Ginny Horvath and Brooke
Horvath, SUNY Fredonia
- Judy Ingle, coordinator of Spouse/Partner
Program and Outreach, AASCU
- Mickey Howard, liaison to the
Spouse/Partner Program, AASCU
- Chancellor Bernie Patterson and Cinda
Patterson, University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point
- Chancellor Dennis Shields and Aundra Shields,
University of Wisconsin - Platteville
- Chancellor Dick Telfer and Roni Telfer,
University of Wisconsin - Whitewater
- Cynthia Shepard, spouse of President
Bruce Shepard, Western Washington University
- Alex O. Wood, former special assistant to
the Spouse/Partner Program, AASCU
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AASCU is a Washington-based higher education association
of more than 400 public colleges, universities and systems whose members share
a learning- and teaching-centered culture, a historic commitment to underserved
student populations and a dedication to research and creativity that advances
their regions’ economic progress and cultural development.