President Margee Ensign announced the creation of a Center for Civic Learning and Action, headed by Gary R. Kirk, to “get students involved with communities in an authentic way,” said Kirk.

Kirk hopes the center will provide a “skill set, toolset, a level of comfort engaging with the community… not to serve communities, but partner with communities.” Kirk has directed similar programs at Virginia Tech and James Madison University. 

Kirk said the center was created because of Ensign’s experience with community engagement in higher education and interest from faculty and students. Kirk also said there is a growing national movement for higher education to focus on “preparing citizens” rather than just readying students for the workforce. Community engagement also “prepares [students] for post-graduation, post-baccalaureate opportunities,” he said.

The center is funded in part by a grant of $900,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a philanthropic organization established by the children of the industrialist for whom it is named. Kirk said the center will also seek funding from additional sources, and that the tangible impacts of community engagement are often a “very compelling story for donors.” 

“A lot of really great work is already going on,” Kirk said. He said it would be important for the center to assist other programs and that “[f]aculty and students that have already been working with community partners will be great liaisons” for the center.

The center is trying to “lift their visibility,” said Kirk, and to engage students he said the center will need to overcome packed schedules. “[S]tudents are always busy,” he said.

Shante Toledo, ’21, said that while there are “a lot of opportunities for students at Dickinson to volunteer,” there remains a need for “more engagement” and “events where students can contribute something.”

Kirk said he hopes the center will become a “third pillar” to sustainability and global education at Dickinson College.