Faculty and Staff
Faculty and staff are welcome to participate in SEEDS programming and events. All ºìÌÒÊÓƵ community members are welcome to sign up for weekly, monthly, and drop-in volunteer opportunities. SEEDS also offers opportunities for faculty and staff to learn about and incorporate community engagement pedagogy and community-engaged learning in and outside of the classroom.
Project Pericles
To support faculty wanting to integrate issues of civic and social responsibility into the academic and co-curricular experiences of their students, ºìÌÒÊÓƵ partners with , a nonprofit consortium of colleges and universities that promotes civic engagement within higher education. ºìÌÒÊÓƵ’s Civic Engagement Committee—which aims to support ºìÌÒÊÓƵ community members in active engagement with issues of civic import within the curriculum, campus, and broader community—coordinates these efforts.
D4D: Letters to an Elected Official Competition
Debating for Democracy (D4D)™ is a series of campus-based programs that represents the mission of Project Pericles: D4D Letters to an Elected Official Competition, D4D National Conference, D4D on the Road™ workshops, and a number of co-curricular programs. Since joining the consortium in 2016, ºìÌÒÊÓƵ has placed two student teams as top five finalists in Project Pericles Letters to an Elected Official Competition. A team of four ºìÌÒÊÓƵ sophomores won one of five awards in the National 2018 Letters to an Elected Official competition. The winning team included Soha Ahmed ’20, Maya Arigala ’20, Mayaki Kimba ’20, and Kwani Marcellay ’20.
The students wrote to Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D) about the implementation of House Bill 2845, which directs the Department of Education to develop ethnic studies requirements for adoption into existing public K-12 education standards. They requested greater geographic and racial diversity on the advisory group responsible for the implementation of ethnic studies in the Oregon public school system. Gresham is the most diverse city in the state, but currently lacks representation on the advisory panel, whose members are drawn from Portland and Salem.
Periclean Faculty Leadership (PFL) Program
Supported by Project Pericles, Periclean Faculty Leaders create and teach courses in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences that address issues of social concern, enrich the curriculum, and enhance student social interest and involvement. In 2017, Assistant Professor of Dance Victoria Fortuna was selected to participate. Her course focused on community dance and collective creation. In 2020, Associate Professor of Theatre Kate Ming T'ien Duffly was selected to participate. Her course focuses on community-based performance and civic engagement in theatre. Faculty members interested in applying for the next round of this program should contact a member of the Community Engagement Committee.