“

“

We must also uphold above all else the

beginning with our immediate

and extending outwards to

- Patrick Deane, Forward With Integrity, 2011

at large.

community, our city

the world

of the University to obligation serve the greater good,

Community Engagement at McMaster University: A Snapshot

Welcome to this snapshot of community engagement activities at McMaster, which seeks to highlight some of the many interesting and inspiring ways in which our University and the Greater Hamilton communities interact, overlap and influence one another. The stories we have featured are intended to give a flavour of the diverse types of engagement taking place on a daily basis, and are by no means intended to represent a comprehensive list. Rather, we seek to share our sense of excitement at the work underway and illustrate the ways in which our students, staff, faculty, retirees and alumni enrich and are enriched by their engagement with the broader community of which McMaster is a part. We hope to build on these initiatives in the coming months and years to integrate community engagement activities more deeply into the work of our University and the education of our students and realize the potential for further collaborations founded on an ethic of mutual respect and reciprocity. Sincerely,

Patrick Deane April 12, 2013

Setting the Stage

It was the City of Hamilton and its citizens who raised the money to move the University from its founding location in Toronto. That campaign and the city’s sense of vision seem all the more remarkable now that we know how entwined Hamilton and McMaster were destined to become.Canadian Club of Hamilton Luncheon, April 6, 2011

Service is so germane to McMaster’s identity that I believe it is the key to unlocking our potential, not just as an institution of higher learning, but as an entire community.Hamilton Community Awards Dinner January 24, 2011

We will continue to conduct research that can save and enhance lives anywhere. We will continue to produce alumni who can contribute internationally. But our primary focus should be down the street, not across the globe. In fact, if we have global aspirations, our local responsibilities become that much more important.Canadian Club of Hamilton Luncheon April 6, 2011

The University’s strengths often reflect our community context – from our research leadership in manufactur-ing and steel to the environmental research that capitalizes on our access to Cootes Paradise, the bay and the Niagara Escarpment as our very own backyard laboratories. The institutional strength in Hamilton, from our school systems to our hospitals, is a tremendous advantage to McMaster in training and attracting staff and faculty, as well as providing strategic partners for research, learning and clinical practice. Rotary Club of Hamilton Luncheon January 20, 2011

Table of ContentsReflecting our Community Context: Thinking Outside the ClassroomRenaissance in the ArtsCommunity Priorities for Health and HappinessTutors, Role Models, and PathwaysCommunity Perspectives on DisabilityWho Wants to Share a Bike?Port Mouton Bay to HamiltonTraining Sustainability ChampionsMacWheelers Rolls OnLearning by Giving

Engagement Through Learning and Vice VersaDig with the DeanA Habit of Service – MacServeVolunteer Action in Local Neighbourhoods

A visual representation of the geographic distribution of co-op/internship/academic& clinical placements undergraduate & MBA students are engaging with in theGreater Hamilton Area

Student Lab - First in CanadaPartners in Economic Development

Jim Dunn - Associate Professor, Department of Health, Aging, & SocietyRuta Valaitis - Associate Professor, School of NursingHenry Giroux - Professor and Global Television Network Chair, Department ofEnglish and Cultural StudiesBonnie Freeman - Aboriginal Pre-Doctoral Fellow, School of Social WorkJennie Anderson - Aboriginal Recruitment and Retention Officer, Enrolment ServicesJoseph Kim - Associate Professor, Psychology, Neuroscience & BehaviourGary Warner - Associate Professor, Department of French (Retired)Siobhan Stewart - President, McMaster Students UnionMandeep Malik - Assistant Professor, DeGroote School of BusinessJeanette Eby - Masters Student, School of Geography & Earth SciencesBrian Baetz - Professor and Chair, Civil EngineeringMilé Komlen - Director, Human Rights & Equity Services

Not All Experts Have DoctoratesKnowledge in ActionTurning Ideas into ActionA Community Research Alliance Exploring PovertyStudent Research Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Committing Ourselves Unequivocally: Community-Based Research

Mapping Our Connections

Burlington

Perspectives:

So Much to Learn, So Much to Do: Learning through Service

5

9

12

14

18

Sincere thanks to all who contributed photos in this report, including Athletics & Recreation, Gasenneeyoh Crawford, DeGroote School of Business, Faculty of Engineering, Gina Browne, Judy Major-Girardin, Karen Wang, McMaster Students Union, Nancy Doubleday, Office of Sustainability, Ruta Valaitis, School of Graduate Studies, School of Rehabilitation Sciences and the Student Success Centre.

Produced by the Lyons New Media Centre and the Science Media Lab.

LYONS NEW MEDIA CENTRE

With The Guidance of EldersEncouraging the Next Generation of Health Care ProfessionalsMany Perspectives, One GoalTraditional Languages, New Partners

Six Nations11

“The purpose of the institution from its inception has thus been through education and research to develop and realize the potential both of individuals and of society at large”

- Patrick Deane, Forward with Integrity, 2011

5 Thinking Outside the Classroom

Reflecting our Community Context:

Thinking Outside the Classroom

Community Priorities for Health and HappinessAn ongoing partnership that involves the School of Nursing and planning teams in the local community has determined that there is significant potential to sustain greater health and happiness for the people living in Hamilton’s McQueston, Crown Point and South Sherman neighbourhoods. This multi-phase project is called “Health in the Hubs” and it has delivered important benefits to both the participating communities and McMaster’s students. From the Uni-versity’s perspective, the project helps the School of Nursing and its students develop and refine local knowledge and skills in community engagement. The students also have the benefit of apply-ing their classroom learning immediately and practically where it can have a real impact. The three participating neigh-bourhoods have used the students’ work as a platform to address local priorities for health and livability. Incorporat-ing the input of 681 neighbourhood

participants, the students were able to identify 1,205 different issues, 956 causes and 1,032 potential strategies. Following presentations by the students and their professors to the local planning teams, each neighbourhood selected a single priority for action. Crown Point prioritized walkability, McQueston chose job creation through social enterprise and the South Sherman neighbourhood selected local beautification.

Tutors, Role Models and PathwaysBefore students ever apply to univer-sity, they have to dream of attending, so McMaster and its Faculty of Social Sciences introduce the idea of post-sec-ondary education to young students who might otherwise not consider it. Mac students in Sociology 4K03 – “Sociology of At-Risk Youth” complete intensive placements as tutors with the North Hamilton branch of Pathways to Education Canada, an organization that works in high-risk neighbourhoods

to increase high-school performance and graduation rates. Part of that same program offers local high-school students the chance to complete a for-credit university course, exposing them to the demands and opportunities of post-secondary education. The Crown Ward Education Championship program provides Crown Wards with information that helps them navigate not just to university, but to college or employment and apprenticeship programs as well. Taking these pathways one step farther, McMaster provided 53 Grade 7 students from Cathy Wever Elementary School with a two-day experience of university life by inviting them to stay overnight in residence, eat cafeteria food and explore university-style classes. The Faculty of Social Sciences is also a partner with Mohawk College in a new program that will develop information and a series of high school visits to discuss post-sec-ondary education with students and parents from low-income schools and Aboriginal communities.

7 Thinking Outside the Classroom

McMaster has played a key role in Hamilton’s artistic renaissance. The McMaster Museum of Art is one of only two prominent public galleries in the city and it serves as an important tool for scholars while also stewarding and displaying one of the great public collections in Ontario.The university’s students, staff and faculty also contribute to Hamilton’s evolving artistic culture. Local galleries, shows, festivals and arts organizations all involve people from the McMaster family. Students, in particular, are active volunteers on installation teams, as docents and in other capacities as they explore arts-related professions. The Applied Humanities program provides local arts organizations with invaluable support while participating students build their skills and connections in the local arts community. McMaster students’ art has recently appeared in Hamilton Arts and Letters, Liuna Station and Fusion Gallery. McMaster has also partnered with local organiza-tions like Hamilton Artists Inc. and Upper James Toyota to create new sponsored exhibitions in the community.

Renaissance in the Arts

Immersed in the experience at

the McMaster Museum of Art

Community Perspectives on DisabilityThe School of Rehabilitation Science and the disability community in Hamil-ton have partnered for a decade on the “Exploring Perspectives on Disability” initiative, an annual event that promotes positive attitudes about disability. Occupational therapy and physiotherapy faculty members collaborate with a representative from the disability com-munity to design, organize and evaluate the event which involves more than 125 students and 60 community volunteers every year.

Who Wants to Share a Bike?The MBA class on “Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility” explored Hamiltonians’ attitudes toward bike sharing as part of a public opinion survey run by the class in partnership with McMaster’s Office of Sustainabil-ity and the City of Hamilton. The city provided a non-academic supervisor for the project and is incorporating the

survey findings into its plans to launch a bike-sharing program.

Port Mouton Bay to HamiltonNancy Doubleday, the HOPE Chair in Peace Studies in the Faculty of Humanities, took students in the fourth-year Peace Studies course on “Communi-ty Development and Pathways to Peace and Health” to Port Mouton Bay in Nova Scotia to learn first hand about environ-mental sustainability, cultural sustain-ability, equity and social justice. The next step is to bring the same approach to the local community in Hamilton.

Training Sustainability ChampionsIn 2013, the Sustainable Future Project launched its own second-year course – Sustainability 2A03 – which gets stu-dents engaged with community projects that support sustainable activities. This multi-disciplinary course will provide the practical skills and experience students can use to become sustainability champions.

MacWheelers Rolls OnThe long-running MacWheelers program in the Department of Kinesiology’s Centre for Health Promotion and Rehabilitation provides exercise rehabilitation for adults with a spinal cord injury. The program brings people from throughout the community to McMaster’s campus to access specialized equipment and expert guidance in individualized strength- and endurance-based therapies.

Learning by GivingThe “Strategic Leadership and Philanthropy” course in the DeGroote School of Business introduces students to social venture philanthropy, fundraising and grant-making through a project that reviews more than 30 proposals a year from Hamilton’s charitable sector and then distributes $10,000 in grants from a fund created by donors looking to inspire the next generation of philanthropists.

Thinking Outside the Classroom 8

Left:Sketching for class credit from Stelco Tower

Right: Promoting Bike to Work Day during Smart Commute Week

Left:Completing the day’s rehab exercises at MacWheelers

Right:Exercising students’ green thumbs in the McMaster Teaching & Com-munity Garden

206 Business

137 Engineering

11 Humanities

39 MD Program

4 MidWifery

449 Nursing

77 School of Social Work

84 Science

140 Social Science

Number of McMaster Student Placements in the Community 1147 =

Throughout the academic year and summer, many students complete placements in the Greater Hamilton Area and beyond. The following is a visual representation, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), of the various placements (academic, clinical, co-op, internships) that students are undertaking as part of their academic programs in the Hamilton and Burlington areas.

For the purposes of this report, placements will be de�ned as arrangements made between McMaster and the partnering organization in which an undergraduate or MBA student spends a prescribed amount of time, either for pay and/or academic credit, as part of their academic program for a minimum of 4 months.

206 Business

137 Engineering

11 Humanities

39 MD Program

4 MidWifery

449 Nursing

77 School of Social Work

84 Science

140 Social Science

Number of McMaster Student Placements in the Community 1147 =

Throughout the academic year and summer, many students complete placements in the Greater Hamilton Area and beyond. The following is a visual representation, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), of the various placements (academic, clinical, co-op, internships) that students are undertaking as part of their academic programs in the Hamilton and Burlington areas.

For the purposes of this report, placements will be de�ned as arrangements made between McMaster and the partnering organization in which an undergraduate or MBA student spends a prescribed amount of time, either for pay and/or academic credit, as part of their academic program for a minimum of 4 months.

Since the late 1980’s, McMaster has made it a priority to support Indigenous students at the University and Indige-nous communities both locally and in other parts of the province. This commitment was the foundation for the creation of the Indigenous Studies Program and a number of communi-ty-based activities designed to connect and assist Indigenous students in raising and meeting their academic goals, to increase awareness of Indigenous culture and issues, and to work collabo-ratively with Aboriginal communities.

With the Guidance of EldersThe Elders-in-Residence program fosters the social, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing of students by offering a unique opportunity for students to learn from Elders who share their traditional expe-riences, knowledge and wisdom. The program increases awareness and under-standing of history, traditions and culture for all students.

Encouraging the Next Generation of Health Care ProfessionalsWhen the Aboriginal Students Health Sciences (ASHS) office sent McMaster medical students from the Aboriginal Health Interest Group to the Wikwe-mikong Unceded Reserve on Manitoulin Island to host a workshop called “Come Explore Medicine: Medical Students Ex-periences within First Nations Communi-ties,” they came home with a plan. They

expanded the program to include encour-aging students to pursue not just careers in medicine, but also careers in nursing, midwifery, occupational and physical therapy, and as physician assistants. They then launched the new program in Hamilton with students from Sir John A. McDonald and Sir Winston Churchill Secondary Schools.

Many Perspectives, One GoalMcMaster’s School of Social Work part-ners with Six Nations Polytechnic (SNP) to offer a child welfare course that com-bines in-person and online teaching with a range of perspectives related to Indige-nous cultures, experiences and histories. Students learn to promote and support children’s welfare both at the macro/sys-temic level and at the micro level where students develop hands-on skills.

Traditional Languages, New PartnersMcMaster has partnered with the Indig-enous Knowledge Guardians of the Six Nations community and Six Nations Poly-technic to develop the Indigenous Knowl-edge Centre (IKC). The centre has begun working to consolidate cultural history information that will benefit Indigenous communities and increase the state of Indigenous scholarship. Examples of the IKC’s work include helping to develop an Indigenous language immersion school plan and repatriating archival language and cultural materials.

Bonnie FreemanAboriginal Pre-Doctoral Fellow, School of Social WorkWe have a commitment to early involvement with Aboriginal communities, to engaging in meaningful dialogue based on mutual respect and trust. This approach recog-nizes the historical and current realities, and respects that each Aboriginal community is unique and diverse. Commu-nity engagement is about standing with and in support of Aboriginal people as allies, ensuring the sustainability of Aboriginal languages, cultural knowledge and the preserva-tion of the natural environment for future generations.

Jennie AndersonAboriginal Recruitment and Retention Officer, Enrolment ServicesI have been travelling across Ontario to engage with Indigenous youth about the post-secondary opportunities that are available through McMaster. There is equally critical work that needs to take place within the McMaster community to ensure that we maintain and improve the accessibility of these options as we move forward.

Six NationsPerspectives

Drumming at the annual McMaster First Nations Students Association’s welcoming pow wow

11 Six Nations

Partners in Economic Development

The Burlington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) was a strong partner of the DeGroote School of Business even before the opening of the Ron Joyce Centre in 2010. Now, as a funder of an extensive scholarship program and a marketing partner, the relationship between the school and BEDC is even stronger. Focus Business Consulting, an MBA student-run business based at the Ron Joyce Centre, has worked with BEDC on projects ranging from land development to investment attraction. This work not only benefits the BEDC and the Burlington business community, it builds skills and experience for MBA students.

The DeGroote School of Business is also a partner in innovate Burlington, an initiative designed to help local companies achieve focus through targeted market research, guided business planning and effective communications.

Student Lab – First in Canada

The DeGroote School of Business is the first school in Canada to offer the Student Lab created by global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney in 2008. Student Lab brings together a diverse group of students, academics and companies to explore business issues through industry-specific projects and seminars. Companies – and A.T. Kearney clients – provide real business problems and the students work in an environment that mirrors the experience they will have after graduation in the “real world.”

Burlington

Meeting the community - faculty and staff at a Burlington Economic Developement Corporation luncheon

Burlington 12

“In committing ourselves to a heightened level of community engagement we therefore commit ourselves unequivocally in the future to even greater achievements in research”

- Patrick Deane, Forward with Integrity, 2011

Community-Based Research

Committing Ourselves Unequivocally:

14

Knowledge in ActionMcMaster’s Gender Studies and Feminist Research Graduate Program offers a unique course – GSFR 702: Knowledge in Action – that not only serves as a magnet to prospective students, but also engages and has an important influence on the local community. The course, which reflects the high value feminist theory places on lived experience, provides students with concrete links to the pitfalls and joys of feminist advocacy and activism by allowing them to work alongside seasoned mentors in the community.

Students take their classroom experiences into placements with different community organizations and contribute to the partners’ valuable work in advancing the interests of women and disadvantaged groups. As the students gain a new lens through which to evaluate their class-based learning, the community partners – including Hamilton YWCA, Big Susie’s, Workers United, St. Joseph’s Immigrant Women’s Centre, The Well (LGBTQ Community Wellness Centre of Hamilton) and the Hamilton Status of Women Committee – gain added capacity and scholarly perspective on their work and impact.

“Community Faculty” are experts in their fields – experts whose knowledge and insight comes from direct personal experience. With the School of Rehabilitation Science (SRS) at the vanguard, an increasing number of academic programs at McMaster are connecting community faculty to research and the student experience.Jan Burke Gaffney, a mother of children with disabilities, has been a community faculty member for more than a decade. Personal stories and experiences like hers have been an important part of the work of the CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, a mutli-disciplinary research centre based in SRS.

In fact, CanChild brought parents and children from the Hamilton Family Network onto the research team working on a collaborative project called KIT (Keeping It Together). The KIT reviewed the staggering amount of information that parents of children with disabilities were being asked to understand, organize and prepare in the pursuit of the best care for their children. As a result, the KIT provides the most critical information in manageable quantities and employing a user-oriented organization system. The KIT was the focus of a 400-family research-in-use study that measured increases in participating parents’ confidence and control. They felt the KIT helped them be better parents and now 3,000 families have access to those resources.

Not All Experts Have Doctorates

15 Community-Based Research

Combining SRS faculty and com-munity expertise

to co-author a chapter on youth

mental health

Jim Dunn Associate Professor, Department of Health, Aging & Society Research that partners with local insti-tutions can be a win-win for everyone. It is a vehicle for integrated knowledge translation, where the research questions are developed collaboratively between the research team and the partners. In addition, partnered research can provide access to research environments and build additional credibility and confidence in decision-making partners.

Ruta ValaitisAssociate Professor, School of NursingWorking with our communities, not for them, will help ensure that what we research and teach will be relevant, meaningful and lead to the betterment of our communities. In research, by working with policy makers, managers, and front-line staff as active members on the research team, this principle holds true. Similarly involving community members as co-teachers in education can enrich learning for students and faculty in numerous ways.

Perspectives

Turning Ideas into ActionThe McMaster Innovation Park (MIP) on Longwood Road South is a 37-acre venue with space for researchers and entrepreneurs to connect and commercialize innovative ideas. It is home to private businesses, start-up companies develop-ing McMaster-based research and the federal materials laboratory CANMET-MTL. MIP is also a platform for social innovation. Gina Browne, the founder and director of the Health & Social Services Utilization Research Unit, is based at MIP and her work led the founding of CORE (Community Organizations Reaching Everyone) Hamilton. CORE coordinates and expands the involvement of com-munity agencies by linking resources, experts and volunteers for organizations involved with youth in Hamilton. The goal is to help students become active community members, particularly through artistic expression.

Community-Based Research 16

A Community Research Alliance Exploring PovertyMcMaster’s Wayne Lewchuk is part of the Poverty and Employment Precarity in Southern Ontario Research Alliance. His work explores the impacts of precarious employment on everything from communities to families in an economic environment where even good jobs might not last long. The project uses the Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) model to

build a comprehensive database and explore one of the most powerful caus-es of poverty in the current economy.

Student Research Where the Rubber Meets the RoadEngaging the City, a Bachelor of Health Science course, sends students on “learning trips” around Hamilton to expose them to local issues. Subse-quent conversations with community agencies spark research projects in

which students have addressed issues including poverty, the environment, ethics, housing and disability.The number of partner organizations continues to grow as the students’ work proves to be a powerful tool in helping agencies plan, project and advocate more effectively.

Gary Warner Associate Professor, Department of French (Retired)Conscious of my civic responsibility to the local and global communities, I have worked to com-bine my three academic functions, for example, by doing research in and on Africa, teaching African studies, and working as the country director of a Canadian NGO in Africa. Locally I have been engaged in such issues as immigrant settlement, poverty reduction, inclusion, and general community wellbeing.

Practising at McMaster Innovation Park, home of the CORE Program

So Much to Learn, So Much to Do:

Learning Through Service

“There is so much to learn, so much to do, so much to be

accomplished in our neighbourhoods and with our own neighbours”

- Patrick Deane, Canadian Club of Hamilton Luncheon, 2011

18

In the fall of 2011, McMaster piloted the McMaster Discovery Program by offering a free, university-level, non-credit course to local residents who face barriers to accessing post-secondary learning. The goal was to inspire a passion for lifelong learning, promote a sense of well-being, provide a bridge to other learning opportunities, and foster engagement and mutual learning between McMaster and the Hamilton community. The initiative is the product of a diverse group of advisors and partners from across the McMaster campus, the City of Hamilton, the Adult Basic Education Association, the Hamilton Community Foundation, the Hamilton Public Library, the

Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction and Wesley Urban Ministries.The pilot ran at the Hamilton Public Library offering a course entitled Voicing Hamilton: History, Arts, Expression, an introduction to general humanities studies that involves students in reading and evaluating works of history and different forms of literature and art, and in developing their own creativity. The course focuses on the different stories citizens tell about Hamilton through prose, poetry, and a variety of artistic media. The sessions included lectures, reading assignments and workshop discussions.

Engagement Through Learning and Vice Versa

19 Learning Through Service

The second class of the McMaster Discovery Program celebrates Graduation Day

A Habit of Service - MacServeMacServe puts McMaster students at the services of their communities – locally and globally – for short-term volunteer projects. • MacServe Day of Service: one day of service to local organizations• MacServe Reading Week: a week-long placement in February• MacvServe Global: an international, multi-week placement as far away as Peru or Costa Rica• Pop The Bubble: online and in-person effort to get McMaster students more involved in the Hamilton community.

Volunteer Action in Local NeighbourhoodsCommunity Volunteer Action is a service learning partnership with Student Open Circles, a charity that helps arrange and supervise placements with community agencies working on issues related to children, youth, seniors, homelessness and disability issues in Hamilton’s North End, Downtown, Beasley, Jamesville and Keith neighbourhoods.

Dig with the DeanAllison Sekuler, the associate vice-president and dean of Graduate Studies, created the inaugural Graduate Studies Tree Planting Team for Earth Day 2012. The team of 25 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staff planted nearly 100 trees.

Learning Through Service 20

Perspectives

Milé KomlenDirector, Human Rights & Equity ServicesMcMaster is a significant part of the Hamilton community, and as such, we have a responsibility to engage in community-build-ing. One way we do this is through our participation in the Ham-ilton Centre for Civic Inclusion, a non-profit organization that helps build welcoming and inclusive environments in all areas of civic life in Hamilton. Our active involvement allows us to help transform Hamilton into a great place to live and work.

Siobhan StewartPresident, McMaster Students UnionTo be engaged with the community in which our campus resides is not only an important aspect of student life, but also of the development of social consciousness. It is one of the ways in which the university experience helps mould and shape students to become citizens. When students and communities form partnerships, it strengthens both partners.

Giving back to the community during MacServe reading week

Graduate Students dig with the Dean for Earth Day

Jeanette Eby Masters Student, School of Geography & Earth SciencesI see my work with the McMaster Discovery Program, at the Good Shepherd and with the Beasley neighbourhood as interrelated. These experiences continue to show me what it means to value all people and embrace the gifts they have to offer. As a grad student, I need to engage with my city, because that’s where relationships are nurtured, where expert knowledge lies, and where we can move to action.

Joe Kim Associate Professor, Psychology, Neuroscience & BehaviourCommunity engagement is a central theme in my teaching, research and service at McMaster. The popular “Discover Psychology” series connects the community to faculty members through presentations that communicate big ideas with plain language. A new program called “Science in Real Life: The Insider’s Guide” invites community members to attend guest lectures integrated into our undergraduate honours program. My goal is to help students in my lab and classes discover that life-long learning is a journey worth taking.

Brian Baetz Professor and Chair, Civil EngineeringCootes Paradise and its surrounding ecosystems have been an abiding interest of mine for the past twenty years, and it has been a real privilege to work with campus and community partners to protect this natural gem right on McMaster’s back doorstep. The Dundas EcoPark, as part of the Cootes to Escarpment Park System project, is slowly but surely emerging as an amazing natural asset that the McMaster community and all of Hamilton can readily and regularly enjoy.

Mandeep Malik Assistant Professor, DeGroote School of BusinessMcMaster is a hub for experimentation, expertise and expression – all achieved through collaboration, and contributing to a better Hamilton and Canada. I have enlisted industry and local organizations to help shape our experiential learning opportunities. This engagement provides the relevance students want and helps develop good leaders and contributing citizens. The community gains innovators and motivated agents of change.

Henry Giroux Professor and Global Television Network Chair, Department of English and Cultural StudiesThe last few decades have raised fundamental questions about the connection between higher education and public life, between academic work, public values, and the major issues shaping broader society. The Centre for Scholarship in the Public Interest provides intellectuals both in and outside of the academy with an opportunity to address a number of important social issues. At the heart of the centre is a project designed to provide a platform for the general public to think carefully about a range of social problems that affect their lives.

Perspectives

Developing a broad understanding of the definition of Community Engagement …:

“- valuing the expert knowledge and passion that people have about their communities and issues affecting them; addressing issues that the wider community regards as priorities; - ongoing collaboration between academic and community partners on how to better understand and address those issues; and

- performing research and service that empowers community members as they strive to improve their own quality and conditions of life in their community.”- Community Engagement Task Force Report, 2012

…For the greater good of the communities of which we are a part :

“[…]it is paramount that CE activities are pursued alongside community goals and interests, and that relationships are based on equal partnership.”-Community Engagement Task Force Report, 2012

“Regardless of the discipline, graduates of McMaster will be citizens engaged in multiple communities in multiple ways but we recognize that our relationships within the community we call home are paramount to supporting the vitality and well-being of the greater Hamilton area.”-Community Engagement Task Force Report, 2012

This deepened understanding of what community engagement means to McMaster has begun to emerge over the past few months, and continues to evolve. In January, the Task Force was reconvened as a means to begin the work of establishing a network of community engagement champions to promote, encourage and support the University’s goals related to community engagement. An abundance of work remains to be done but we are optimistic, as we look to the future, that McMaster will continue to develop its community engagement activities and deliver on its obligations to serve the communities of which we are proud to be a part.

This Snapshot has aimed to capture what the Community Engagement (CE) Task Force describes as “the wealth of CE initiatives, both curricular and co-curricular, involving McMaster faculty, staff, students, alumni and retirees” occurring across campus and throughout the Greater Hamilton region and beyond. While it is important to celebrate our connections, and the individuals and groups who make these connections possible, we must also continue to strive to expand our thinking regarding the ways in which McMaster can best serve the broader community, both locally and globally. To this end, the CE Task Force emphasized the importance of developing a broad definition of community engagement in order to better coordinate these activities and align them with the academic mission.

Looking to the Future

“

“

We must also uphold above all else the

beginning with our immediate

and extending outwards to

- Patrick Deane, Forward With Integrity, 2011

at large.

community, our city

the world

of the University to obligation serve the greater good,

Community Engagement at McMaster University: A Snapshot