Bates College awarded grant to fund 10 community service fellowships for students
Bates College, and its community partner LA Excels, have received a grant of up to $80,000 to support 10 community research fellowships for the summer of 2001 and 2002 for Bates College students. The award, from The Consortium for the Advancement of Private Higher Education (CAPHE) and the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), is part of a national program, “Engaging Campuses and Communities.”
Bates College is one of 13 from among 113 applying colleges or universities to be awarded the grant. The program will provide qualified students with unique interdisciplinary research opportunities that focus on issues important to the Lewiston-Auburn community. Each Community Research Fellow will be advised by a community adviser and a Bates College adviser. “The fellowships afford students an opportunity to put their academic work into practice and are aimed at assisting independent colleges and universities in establishing partnerships with their communities to enhance hands-on learning activities while addressing community needs, ” said Rebecca Conrad, Executive Director of LA Excels. “It is based on the premise that to prepare students for a lifetime of contributions to society, colleges should enable students to connect with the world beyond the campus while still in school.”
The research areas are based on public discussion that has taken place in the last two years as part of the work of LA Excels, a partnership of 36 local institutions, including Bates College. Local citizens have identified key areas where community development work can strengthen local educational aspirations, enrich local arts and cultural opportunities, undertake neighborhood empowerment projects, such as new housing, models and downtown neighborhood development and enhance local environmental quality and recreational options through the development of green space.
The Council of Independent Colleges is an association of nearly 500 independent colleges and universities that work together to enhance private higher education’s contributions to society. The Consortium for the Advancement of Private Higher Education (CAPHE) is a grantmaking organization that assists corporations and foundations in stimulating meaningful reform in private colleges and universities.
For more information, contact Beckie Conrad, executive director of LA Excels at 207-753-6900 and rconrad@bates.edu or Kerry O’Brien in the Dean of Faculty Office at Bates College at 207-786-6065 or kobrien@bates.edu.
