SHSU Joins Texas Campus Compact
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| Signing the Texas Campus Compact agreement
were, seated from left, Jim Gaertner, SHSU president, and
Jill Binder, TXCC executive director. Also present were,
from left, Dr. David Prier, Joyce McCauley, David Payne,
Tuesde Cavil and John de Castro. |
Almost 100
years after President Harry Estill approved the inscription
of Sam Houston State's motto--"The measure of a Life is its
Service," on an Old Main chapel window, President Jim
Gaertner has taken another step in that tradition.
On Monday Gaertner
signed an agreement that made Sam Houston State University the
53rd member of the Texas Campus Compact, which is part of a national
coalition of more than 1,000 college presidents committed to "the
civic purposes of higher education."
According to
the TXCC
Web site, the organization "promotes community
service that develops students' citizenship skills and values,
encourages partnerships between campuses and communities, and
assists faculty who seek to integrate public and community engagement
into their teaching and research."
Jill Binder,
executive director of the state group, came to the SHSU campus
to sign the agreement. She also met with SHSU's American Democracy
Project committee and discussed how the national and state groups
evolved.
"Education
was begun in this country to make sure our democracy continued," said
Binder. "But it evolved to a point that education was primarily
the way to get a good job."
Some 21 years
ago the presidents of Brown, Georgetown and Stanford universities
met to ponder the question, "What are we doing about democracy," Binder
said. The result was formation of a national organization, and
in June 2001, a Texas state organization.
"Getting
a good job is not the only purpose of Texas Campus Compact member
institutions," Binder said. "There is another important
aspect of life--citizenship and public service."
Participating
in the signing ceremony were several individuals representing
SHSU's community service commitment as well as one from the community
representing service opportunities.
- David Payne,
SHSU provost, has been a campus leader in encouraging organizations
and individuals to do community service and faculty members
to include service learning in their courses whenever practical.
- Joyce McCauley has chaired the American
Democracy Project committee since Payne created it in 2004.
The ADP has a Web
site and has been involved in a number of
activities and events that are explained there.
- John de Castro,
dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences,
is heading a relatively new ADP sub-group called the Political
Engagement Project.
- Tuesde Cavil
is one of the ADP student members. In addition to learning
how to be good citizens in classes that use service learning
teaching concepts, SHSU students can keep track of community
service through a co-curricular
transcript, an official university
document that can be useful in getting a job.
- Dr. David Prier
represented Huntsville's
Promise, an organization that monitors
needs of the community and is a key to university/community
interaction.
Gaertner, in
the speech he gave at his inauguration as Sam Houston State University's
12th president in February 2002, outlined three areas of focus
for his presidency. One was to better the relationship between
the SHSU and campus communities.
Monday as he
signed the agreement to join the Texas Campus Compact, he repeated
that pledge.
"We'll
be good members," he said.
—END—
SHSU Media Contact: Frank Krystyniak
Dec. 4, 2007
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