UALR’s Community Connection Center at the heart of campus
March 28 - April 3, 2016
By Becca Bona
Nestled on the edge of campus in the plaza lining South University, is the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Community Connection Center (CCC). With a name like that, it’s hard to pinpoint the exact function of the entity, except that perhaps connections are involved.
Dr. Lillian Wichinksy, executive interim director, says the CCC is all about engagement and has been a long time in the works. UALR is already recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as a Community Engaged Institution – the only one in the whole state.
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Dr. Zulma Toro believes more can be done, however, and had an idea for the CCC when she first took her position with the university over two years ago. Dr. Toro wanted to focus on engagement through an interdisciplinary lens.
“The center was actually created to expand and enhance our engagement efforts,” Dr. Wichinksy explains, “or to basically institutionalize engagement.”
She continues, “It’s not just community engagement, it’s engaging in your classes, your friends, your organizations, and ultimately, making a lifelong engagement with UALR. It’s our job to help make that happen for students.”
The CCC includes and oversees Cooperative Education, Children International, and Community Engagement. Each of these include community-based and experiential learning.
Dr. Wichinksy wrote an editorial for the school paper, The Forum, to explain why service learning and engagement are so important. She says, “You wouldn’t want to drive a car without practicing first. … Nothing is as good as doing it and getting better at it.”
Through cooperative education and internships, students are able to do just that – test out a career field before graduating, and ultimately, see if they have chosen a good fit. The CCC puts on a job and service fair to this end, and also acts as a hub for alumni who reach out.
Children International works with the goal to break the barriers of poverty and currently serves nearly 3,000 children. Students working for the organization are bettering the community and, as Dr. Wichinksy says, “[The students] feel like they’re a part of something.”
With only about a 20 month period to the CCC’s existence, a lot has happened so far.
One of the organization’s first tangible projects includes the newly opened Trojan Food Pantry.
The pantry, while not an original goal of the CCC, was created to serve a need on campus. Everyone came together to make it happen: students, faculty, staff, and even alumni. Currently the CCC is working to eventually turn over the pantry’s daily operations to the students. “We would, of course, provide them administration and guidance,” says Dr. Wichinksy, “But we want them to take ownership in it, and to be engaged with their campus community.”
Dr. Wichinksy has really gotten to know the campus, outside of her background in social work. “That’s the greatest part of the job, working with people all over this campus. It’s truly a remarkable group of people,” she says.
In the future, the center will have a technological platform that will serve as a one-stop location for all of the volunteer opportunities available to students. “We will screen those first,” says Dr. Wichinksy, “But a student will be able to sign up to work at the pantry or with any other number of UALR partners.”
In the fall UALR will also host a conference for Arkansas colleges and universities to present their scholarship on service learning and engagement.
Dr. Wichinksy says, “As we move to a collective approach, we can accomplish even more.”
For more information on the CCC, visit: http://ualr.edu/community/.
PHOTO CAPTION:
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Community Connection Center sits on the edge of the grounds in the South University Plaza. Nevertheless, the projects taken on by the CCC, lead by Interim Executive Director Dr. Lillian Wichinsky, prove the center is truly at the heart of the campus. (Photo by Becca Bona)
