Orser Center Strategic Planning Sub-Committee Report

Nicole King, Denise Meringolo, Ed Orser, Linda Shopes, Michelle Stefano

1. Revised mission statement:

The Orser Center at UMBC fosters innovative collaborations among scholars, students, and local community organizations. The Center seeks to put humanities research to work as a creative response to problems, challenges, and issues identified by communities in the greater Baltimore region.

2. The Center’s main goals and strategies to achieve them:

GOAL 1: Create and sustain working relationships between the university and communities in the greater Baltimore region.

a)     by further developing the advisory committee to include more academic and administrative units on campus and community partners

b)    by organizing two open public events annually that highlight the research and knowledge that emerges from place-based community work (ideally held in the community rather than UMBC)

c)     by organizing internal community building and networking events at UMBC focused on place-based community work in the greater Baltimore region

d)    by funding fellowships for student internships to enable community-based programs/projects to continue beyond the semester (two application cycles per year – must publicly present final work) – will potentially begin in 2014-2015 academic year

GOAL 2: Fostering a critical understanding of the connections among people, places, institutions, and cultures as well as practicing and promoting shared authority and inquiry during research and community engagement activities.

a)     document and promote opportunities for students to engage in place-based learning and faculty to build place-based teaching/research

b)    use forthcoming Orser Center space in the Fine Arts building for a library of place-based books and resources and a list of community contacts and opportunities for faculty and students

c)     develop a sub-committee to work with the director on increasing the quality and visibility of the Orser Center blog and develop a plan for a social media presence.

GOAL 3: Develop a five-year plan to grow the endowment (2013-2018)

a)     the director is working with the Office of Institutional Advancement on a letter to all contributors to the endowment summarizing the Orser Center’s activities and goals developed over the past three years.

b)    develop a sub-committee focused on developing specific strategies to grow the endowment in 2013-2018.