The DSC recently created an ad-hoc committee, the Community Engagement Committee, to focus on two important aspects of engagement: how to engage the great St. Louis region with university events and how to encourage staff to be substantively engaged in St. Louis organizations. To address these questions, the committee, chaired by Emily Stenberg, is beginning work on the following:
- Research ways to promote university events to the Greater St. Louis region.
- Look at how other universities and other staff councils provide opportunities for staff to be involved in th
eir larger communities - Reach out to potential campus partners and put together a list of ongoing volunteer possibilities for staff within the university
- Brainstorm and solicit additional ideas on ways staff can be involved, such as a community service day or staff interest groups
- Define the mission for an ongoing committee
- Develop and host at least one project during 2017.
As an ad hoc committee within the Danforth Staff Council, it will only exist for 6 months for a specific purpose. At the end of the year, we will submit a report to the Council. One of our plans, so far, is to recommend that Community Engagement become a standing committee in 2018. This will allow staff council members to join the committee in January 2018 and work on projects throughout the year.
We welcome comments and ideas from university staff!
Our members are listed here: https://staffcouncil.wustl.edu/members/community-committee/