A new office for civic involvement at the University of Iowa will help students and professors carry out a pledge to make this the school’s “Year of Engagement.” But students, professors, and community members who live outside Iowa City also have a resource that’s linking worthy programs with willing workers. A program called Campus Compact is serving as a guide for Mary Mathews Wilson, who coordinates the U-I Civic Engagement Program. Mathews Wilson plans to travel the end of this month to take Campus Compact’s intensive workshop. She admits not knowing much about Campus Compact yet but says the Iowa affiliate is growing stronger every day and has a leader who’s “putting all kinds of resources on my radar every day.” Private colleges have been a little ahead of public universities and are members of Campus Compact in greater numbers. She adds there are also community colleges. Anybody interested in making a connection with the community can search for links at schools that may not have an organized Civic Engagement program like the University of Iowa. People can do an internet search for “Campus Compact,” she explains, and find which schools in Iowa are involved. The program’s website says it includes more than 950 college and university presidents committed to “the civic purposes of higher education.” Surf to http://www.compact.org/
