Elizabethtown College News 
Back to top 5/27/2008 Fisher, Clark earn All-America honors
Back to top 5/7/2008 College launches citizen journalism site Elizabethtown College has launched a citizen journalism site where anyone – campus community members as well as residents  of local communities – may add content.“We-town (www.we-town.com) is a site where anyone can add content, whether it be text, pictures, podcasts and more,” said Kirsten Johnson, assistant professor of communications. “It was launched for the community-at-large, meaning both students and community members can access it and contribute material. In essence, anyone can be a journalist.” The project is a collaborative effort by the Departments of Communications, Computer Science, and Information and Technology Services (ITS). It was designed by faculty members and students in the Department of Communications, with technical assistance provided by ITS. We-town was made possible through a Collaborative Interdisciplinary Scholarship Program (CISP) grant administered by the College’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Created through a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, CISP offers financial support for interdisciplinary scholarship projects undertaken jointly by teams of faculty, students and professional staff. “The site does not generate revenue, and is indeed purely a tool to facilitate community storytelling,” added Johnson, who may be contacted with questions at johnsonka@etown.edu. Back to top 5/1/2008 College participates in survey on personal, social responsibility A national climate survey administered at 23 college campuses, including Elizabethtown College, indicates that  college students and faculty want more focus on personal and social responsibility.The survey, titled The Personal and Social Responsibility Institutional Inventory (PSRII), examines perceptions of how well campus environments encourage five dimensions of personal and social responsibility: striving for excellence; cultivating personal and academic integrity; contributing to a larger community; taking seriously the perspectives of others; and developing competence in ethical and moral reasoning. The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) recently released initial findings from PSRII as part of its initiative, Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility. Data was collected across all the campuses that comprise the Core Commitments Leadership Consortium, which includes Pennsylvania’s Elizabethtown and Allegheny colleges. “What people are saying at Elizabethtown mirrors what’s being said at the 22 other institutions in the Consortium,” said Dean of Student Marianne Calenda, who also serves as co-chair of the College’s Core Commitments Project. “Our students, faculty and staff agree issues of social and personal responsibility are important aspects of the college learning experience. But the survey results also suggest we could do more to meet students’ expectations in these areas.” Institutions in the Leadership Consortium will use their own individual findings to spur campus dialogue and action. The data and dialogues about them will inform the development of programs and practices that expand, deepen and assess the education for personal and social responsibility they are providing to their undergraduate students. Elizabethtown entered into the Core Commitments Project because of its alignment with the College’s strategic vision, which expresses a commitment to provide an education with a focus an international and cross-cultural perspective, and on preparing students for purposeful lives and meaningful work. “We are, therefore, particularly interested in students’ perceptions on how our learning community supports discussions about controversial issues and multiple points of view, and how we as a community encourage integrity, respect and honesty,” Calenda said. “Programmatically, we will look very intentionally at our first-year experience,” Calenda said. “We’ve also undertaken a project to create a developmental model for global education.” |
Field Championships at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
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