New Office Focus is Clear

In the past year our office has moved and our focus has shifted and evolved a bit.   When we think about the role of the University in the community we must think foremost about cultivating our strengths.  Our attention is three-fold:

• to serve as a resource for faculty for the integration of engaged teaching and research,
• to support students in their development as active citizens and scholars, and
• develop partnerships with communities as central missions of the University.

Recently a student wrote me about her service journey.  Her words indicative of immense growth and appropriate intellectual challenge.  She writes, “When I began to volunteer at William and Mary, suddenly I was expected to actively and critically think about service. I was not just volunteering to fix a problem; I was studying why the problem existed and being asked what my role was in addressing it. Every time I thought I had found the solution- gender equality, education, health care, public policy- someone would push me to think harder, to delve deeper.

“We aim to work with communities to question norms and hopefully discover new ways to thinking about alleviating suffering- to move from charity toward justice.  We must not allow ourselves to see social problems exclusively as easily managed needs to be met with charitable contribution and sporadic service.   If we find ourselves sliding along the slippery slope we risk unintentionally perpetuating privilege, classism and power.

Instead our approach need be collaborative and participatory, based on partnerships with an expectation that all learn and all educate, that engagement deals with difficult, evolving questions that take time and effort with diverse strategies and approaches.