[COMM-ORG] query: CO and higher ed

[Discussion list for COMM-ORG]

[ed:  thanks to Aaron for responding to Bob's query.]

From: Aaron Schutz <schutz at uwm.edu>


Our department now includes community organizing along with an overview 
of other models of community participation as a concentration on our MS 
in Cultural Foundations of Education at the University of 
Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  However, our focus is really on understanding 
organizing not doing it. 

We have an undergraduate certificate program that includes participation 
in an external training program (usually Midwest Academy) and an 
internship with a local community organizing group that a small number 
of students have completed. 

Recently (just before the recession) were able to hire an assistant 
professor in "foundations of community organizing" who has background as 
an organizer.  It's possible we may develop a more substantial graduate 
focus of some kind sometime in the future, but given enrollment issues 
its hard to add new courses and we have other "irons in the fire."  Our 
MS is now fully online, but we haven't yet put the community organizing 
concentration in particular online. 

Our department is largely unique in the United States with a focus on 
"community studies" and "community education" within a School of 
Education, and with our BS in Community Education that doesn't focus on 
classroom teaching and is geared more towards people who work in 
nonprofits. 

For our MS program, see:  www.cfe.uwm.edu

Aaron Schutz
Associate Professor & Chair
Dept. of Ed. Policy & Comm. Studies
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
P.O. Box 413
Milwaukee, WI 53201
Office: (414) 229-4150
Fax: (414) 229-3700
Website: www.educationaction.org


Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
> --------
> This is a COMM-ORG 'colist' message.
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>  
> [ed:  please feel welcomed to copy COMM-ORG with replies to Bob's 
> query.  A bit from me below.]
>
> From: "Fisher, Robert" <robert.fisher at uconn.edu>
>
>
> I'm curious about the literature and data related to community 
> organizing education.  Recently it looked like community change programs 
> were going to take off -- with the election of Obama and the collapse of 
> capital markets -- but alot has changed in the past 18 months.  Since 
> part of my interest stems from wanting to expand our CO program, I'm 
> probably most interested in and least familiar with the current (or 
> relatively recent) state of formal programs in higher education, tht is, 
> education outside of the CO training networks and institutes.  That 
> would include social work programs, which have been in existence since 
> the 1950s, as well as the proliferation of community studies, community 
> building, community development, etc. programs in other disciplines in 
> the last  decade or so.
>
> Where does one go for such information? What's been written about the 
> state of CO education, from a basic accounting of numbers of programs, 
> students, alumni, etc. to where are the institutional sites and what's 
> their date of origin.   Is the current field of community organizing 
> education expanding, and, if so, in what disciplines, etc.  I'm 
> especially interested in graduate education, but would welcome any 
> information on published studies or sources of data on CO education from 
> community college and four-year undergrad programs as well.  
>
> Beyond published literature or reports, is there data that one would 
> expect to find somewhere in social work, for example, that would include 
> results of surveys related to the state of community organizing 
> education.  What about other disciplines?  Do sociology and political 
> science have professional associations or subgroups that gather such 
> data, issue reports, etc?
>
> I know this concept of community organizing education has porous 
> boundaries, including everything from service learning/civic engagement 
> efforts to programs specifically interested in educating students to be 
> social change agents.  I'm interested in the latter, but would welcome 
> any citations which include a broader definition.
>
> Thanking you in advance,
>
> Bob Fisher
>
> ***************************
>
> [ed:  the COMM-ORG website has a list of programs that could be 
> contacted for this.  Peter Dreier has also written a little about this 
> as well, so may be worth contacting, if he does not reply to this.]
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