News & Events

CCEL Welcomes New Associate Director

We warmly welcome Donna Aguiniga, Associate Professor in the School of Social Work, in her new role as Associate Director of CCEL. For Fall 2018, Donna can be reached at 786-4062 or dmaguiniga@alaska.edu.

Upcoming Events

• Think Tank Series

  A non-profit agency presents a challenge or issue, and attendees brainstorm solutions for the organization. Students, faculty, staff and community members -- join us to assist agency and contribute your thoughts and ideas to the discussion! Pizza Provided. All sessions held in LIB 307.

  Thursday, September 20, 2018

  11:30 am - 12:45 pm

   

  Thursday, October 18, 2018

  1:00 - 2:15 pm

   

  Thursday, November 15, 2018

  11:30 am - 12:45 pm

   

  Thursday, February 21, 2019

  11:30 am - 12:45 pm

   

  Thursday, March 21, 2019

  1:00 - 2:15 pm

   

  Thursday, April 11, 2019

  11:30 am - 12:45 pm

CCEL 2017-18 Awards

• Selkregg Community Engagement & Service Learning Award

  2018 Selkregg Award Recipient

  Dr. Hattie Harvey, Early Childhood Education

  Community Partner: Cook Inlet Native Head Start & Cook Inlet Tribal Council Head Start

  Project: Bridging Efforts in Early Childhood Yup’ik Immersion Programming

  Learn More
• Faculty Minigrants

  Amanda Walch, Dietetics & Nutrition
  Managing Economic Insecurity: The Role of St. Francis in Making Ends Meet
  Community Partner: Catholic Social Services - St. Francis House

  Rebecca Robinson, Psychology
  From Conflict to Cultivation: Evaluating the Impact of the Fresh International Gardens
  Project on Refugee Mental Health, Resilience, and Wellbeing
  Community Partner: Catholic Social Services - Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services

  Marsha Olson, Journalism & Communication
  Be Counted UAA: Increasing Young Voter Registration and Turnout
  Community Partner: League of Women Voters Anchorage

  Deirdre Bryan, History
  Oral History of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Alaska
  Community Partner: Alaska Association on Developmental Disabilities

  Kathryn Ohle & Jennifer McKay, Early Childhood Education, Consortium Library
  Sharing the Wealth: Connecting New & Seasoned Teachers
  Community Partners: Anchorage School District, Loussac Library

  Hattie Harvey, Early Childhood Education
  Family Engagement in a Yup’ik Immersion Head Start Program
  Community Partner: Cook Inlet Native Head Start

  Nancy Nix, Health Sciences
  Use of E-Portfolios as an Approach to Share and Preserve Cultural Knowledge and Practices
  Community Partner: Tuzzy Consortium Library in Utqiagvik (Barrow)

  Brian Cook, Theater & Dance
  Earth Matters on Stage 2018 Symposium
  Community Partner: Alaska Wilderness Forum and others

  Michael Mueller, Secondary Education
  Nurturing Responsibility for Bird Habitats in Alaska through Citizen Science Pen Pals
  Community Partners: Lake & Peninsula School District, Anchorage School District

  Rachael Hannah, Biological Sciences
  Anchorage Brain Bee
  Community Partner: Anchorage Museum

  Kathi Trawver, Social Work
  Evaluation of Mentoring of New OCS Line Workers
  Community Partner: Office of Children’s Services (OCS)

• Dr. Alex Hills Engineering & Civic Engagement Award

  2018 Alex Hills Award Recipients
  

  Canyon Lewis, Mechanical Engineering

  and Claire Lubke, Biological Sciences
  

   

  Faculty Advisor: Todd Peterson, Electrical Engineering

  Project:  Autonomous Aeroponic Garden  

  Learn More
• Second Bridge Award

  2018 Second Bridge Award Recipient
  

  Cole Murphy, Languages & International Studies
  

  Faculty Sponsor: Elizabeth Hodges Snyder, Associate Professor, Health Sciences.

  Project: Capacity & Sevices Development at Alaska Seeds of Change

  Learn More
• Community Engaged Student Assistants
  Alaska Citizen Science Initiative
  CESA: Erin Alexander Ingle
  Faculty: Michael Mueller, Secondary Education

   

  Alaska Native Student Persistence & Success
  CESA: Vincent Tomalonis
  Faculty: Beth Leonard, Alaska Native Studies

   

  Alaska Writing Project
  CESA: Caitlin Buxbaum
  Faculty: Jonathan Bartels, Secondary Education

   

  Analysis of Human Remains: UAA Bioarchaeology Laboratory
  CESA: Tyler Teese
  Faculty: Ryan Harrod, Anthropology

   

  Bean’s Cafe
  CESA: Brittney Ramert
  Faculty: Donna Aguiniga, Social Work

   

  Campus Votes Project
  CESA: Moira Pyhala
  Faculty: Marsha Olson, Journalism & Communication

   

  Catholic Social Services Food Planning Research
  CESA: Brynn Byam
  Faculty: Tracey Burke, Social Work

   

  Clark Middle School Leadership Fellows Junior Program
  CESA: Ashley Roylance
  Faculty: Terry Nelson, Management & Marketing

   

  Connected for Success Process Evaluation
  CESA: Rachel Boudreau
  Faculty: Mary Dallas Allen, Social Work

   

  Creative Activities Fair
  CESA: Grayson Jackson, Katrina Phillipps, Zachary John,
  Laurence Juan
  Faculty: Karen Roth, Early Childhood Education

   

  Dialogues for Public Life
  CESA: Amanda Hansen, Jaina Willahan, Margaret Herbert
  Faculty: Donna Aguiniga, Social Work

   

  Evaluating the Impact of Alaska Seeds of Change Activities
  CESA: Mariah Seater
  Faculty: Micah Hahn, Environmental Health

   

  Family Experiences with the State of Alaska’s FASD Care
  Management Program
  CESA: Kaitlan Head, Gibson Gamel
  Faculty: Travis Hedwig, Health Sciences

   

  Evaluation of Mentoring of New OCS Workers
  CESA: Diane Erickson
  Faculty: Kathi Trawver, Social Work

   

  Model United Nations
  CESA: Alex Jorgensen, IntiMayo Harbison, Johnnie Templeton,
  Tuan Graziano
  Faculty: Kimberly Pace, Political Science

   

  Northern Journeys Student Assistant
  CESA: Callie Akins, Kelsey Hernandez
  Faculty: Hilary Seitz, Early Childhood Education

  
  Oral History of Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities in Alaska
  CESA: Rachel Krahn, Kjasti McElwee
  Faculty: Deirdre Bryan, History

   

  Project Buhay
  CESA: Jessica Petalio, Suzanna Aguino
  Faculty: Gabriel Garcia & Joy Mapaye, Health Sciences

   

  Psychology Pathways to Recovery
  CESA: Alice Han, Andrew Richie
  Faculty: Rebecca Robinson, Psychology

   

  Realizing Solutions
  CESA: Joey Sweet, Camilla Hussein
  Faculty: Sheila Selkregg, Public Administration

   

  Semester By the Bay
  CESA: Jill Burnham
  Faculty: Deborah Boege-Tobin, Biology

   

  Sharing the Wealth: Connecting New and Seasoned Educators

  CESA: Tia Wagner
  Faculty: Kathryn Ohle, Education & Jennifer McKay, Library

   

  Successful Aging of Urban Alaska Native Elders
  CESA: Jeremiah Lewis
  Faculty: Jordan Lewis, Medical Education (WWAMI)

   

  Translational Comparison: Electronic and Paper Data Collection
  CESA: Bethany Munden, Makenzie Heatherly
  Faculty: Mychal Machado, Psychology

   

  UAA STEM Day
  CESA: Liam Sarwas
  Faculty: Brandon Briggs, Biological Sciences

   

  UAA Brain Bee
  CESA: Jessica Reisinger, Tarah Lehman
  Faculty: Rachael Hannah, Biological Sciences

   

  Unite for Literacy
  CESA: Andrea Pierce
  Faculty: Kathryn Ohle, Early Childhood Education

   

  Veteran’s PATHWAY Data Analysis
  CESA: Issac Winters
  Faculty: Vanessa Meade, Social Work

   

  Yupik Immersion Family Engagement
  CESA: Jennassy Regal, Melissa Schmitz, Felisha Orsborn
  Faculty: Hattie Harvey, Early Childhood Education

   

  Learn More

   

The Center for Community Engagement & Learning (CCEL) serves as the intersection of student learning, faculty research and creative activity, and community engagement. CCEL connects academic programs with community needs to use scholarship and action for the mutual benefit of the University and the State, its communities, and its diverse peoples.

The Center is committed to fostering resilient communities through social, economic, and environmental justice in community-campus partnerships. Our work focuses on six core themes: Health & Well-Being; Positive Child & Youth Development;  Arts, Language & Culture; Food System;  Our Alaskan Environment;  and Access to Justice.

• Special Initiatives

  CCEL collaborates with several special initiatives and partnerships across campus.

  Alaskero Partnership is a workgroup of Filipino American UAA faculty and community members seeking to increase visibility, vitality, and sense of community among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (API), especially youth

  Campus Vote Project UAA strives to increase voter registration, education and turnout, with a special focus on college students.  The project began during the spring 2016 semester and has continued each semester since.

  Civic Eats Initiative is focused on developing, promoting, and recognizing Community-University partnerships in creating strong, sustainable, and equitable community food systems.

  Dialogues for Public Life program was created to facilitate and develop the capacity of the campus and local communities to discuss challenging social issues in a productive and meaningful way.

  Urban in Alaska is an exploration of Anchorage  as an urban area with urban issues in what is more typically considered a rural state. Urban issues in Anchorage are similar to other cities: poverty, homelessness, access to affordable housing, mental illness, substance abuse, sustainability.

  Resilient Communities Initiative Community resilience offers a useful lens for assessing and working with the needs of communities such as Anchorage. Viewing communities as complex and dynamic living systems allows for creative solutions to emerge, new solutions that may lie in understanding systemic relationships among community issues found in our city.  The Resilient Communities initiative proposes to invest $30,000 in 2018-19 to bring faculty, students, and community partners together to foster community resilience through partnerships in several thematic areas. 

• ENGAGE Social Issues

  Food Security, Youth & Education, Affordable Housing & Neighborhood Development, Health & Mental Health, Environment & Sustainability - Find out what's happening on campus and in the community around these social issues.

  Learn More About ENGAGE Social Issuesoptional hidden text
• Civic Engagement Certificate

  UAA students can earn a Civic Engagement Certificate along with his or her major. This 30 credit Certificate prepares students to become active, effective, ethical citizens in their professional and personal lives.

  Learn More About the Certificateoptional hidden text

 Donate to CCEL and support civically engaged student and faculty projects at UAA!

Student Opportunities

• Civic Engagement Certificate
  UAA's Certificate in Civic Engagement prepares students to become active, effective, ethical citizens in their professional and personal lives. Students develop practical skills to link their learning to community involvement through service-learning experiences, internships, community-based research, and creative activities. This program highlights scholarly, community-based engagement in students' major coursework while making connections to academic, personal and civic development of skills and competencies.

   

   

  LEARN MORE
• Fall 2018 CEL Courses
  Impact Your Campus & Your Community!

   

  CEL A292 - 602: Introduction to Civic Engagement

  CRN: 70679 I T I 5:30pm - 8:15pm I SSB 223

   

  CEL A292 - 603: Introduction to Civic Engagement

  CRN: 70680 I MW I 1:00 - 2:15 pm I ADMIN 143A
  

   

  CEL A292 - 801: Introduction to Civic Engagement

  CRN: 70681 I TR I 4:00pm - 6:30 pm I Online | 10/12 - 12/15
  

   

  CEL A390 - 301: Issues, Approaches & Ideologies in Community-Based ESL Tutoring

  CRN: 77430 | TR 10:00 - 11:15 am | Location TBA

   

  CEL A395 - 801: Civic Engagement Internship

  CRN: 70683 I Contact Judith Owens-Manley at jowensmanley@alaska.edu
• CCEL Public Service Scholars - $$

   The CCEL Public Service Scholars program is funded by partial scholarships from the University of Alaska system. This application certifies that you are prepared to devote 5-10 hours per week to supporting community engagement as a liaison between the UAA campus and community networks and coalitions in particular thematic areas (e.g. Food Systems, Our Alaskan Environment, Health & Well-Being, Positive Child & Youth Development, Arts, Language & Culture; Access to Justice).

  Activities that you may be involved with can include but not be limited to:

  • Community-based research through academic courses; supporting faculty-community engaged projects or research.  
  • Policy analysis or issue briefs on assigned issues.
  • Participation in Think Tanks and Urban in Alaska Conference during academic year.
  • Construction and maintenance of Social Media/Community Information Hubs for issue areas above.   

  APPLY!

• CESAs - $$

  What is a Community Engaged Student Assistant (CESA)?

  Community Engaged Student Assistants support students, faculty, and community partners in four key areas: 

  • Developing community partnerships with faculty;
  • Recruiting, placing, training and coordinating service-learners for courses;
  • Developing creative projects, applying technical expertise, and collecting research data;
  • Providing direct service/research to the community partner(s). 

  Why be a CESA?

  • Have a meaningful experience working with faculty and community members;
  • Hands-on opportunities utilizing your major to work with the local community;
  • Administration Scholarship Awards available for eligible students.

  LEARN MORE

   

• Annual Scholarships - $$
  • Alex Hills Engineering & Civic Engagement Award
  • Second Bridge Scholarship Award
  • Community-Engaged Student Assistants (CESAs)

Faculty Opportunities

• Annual Awards
  • Fall & Spring Minigrants
  • Fall & Spring Community Engaged Student Assistants (CESAs)
  • Selkregg Community Engagement and Service Learning Award

Contact Us

LIB 211N
Center for Community Engagement & Learning
University of Alaska Anchorage
3211 Providence Drive
Anchorage, AK 99508

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