Alyssa Alvarez ’26 named Newman Civic Fellow

Alyssa Alvarez ’26 has been named a member of the 2024–25 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows by Campus Compact, a national coalition of colleges and universities working to advance the public purposes of higher education. For 2024, this group includes students from campuses across 38 states, Washington, D.C., and Mexico.

The Newman Civic Fellowship is a yearlong program that recognizes students who stand out for their leadership potential and commitment to creating positive change in their communities. The fellowship is named for the late Frank Newman, one of Campus Compact’s founders, who was a tireless advocate for civic engagement in higher education. In the spirit of Dr. Newman’s leadership, each fellow is nominated by their campus president or chancellor, who is invited to select one exemplary community-committed student from their campus each year. 

Carleton president Alison Byerly praised the critical lens and thoughtful questions Alvarez brings to her work at the Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE). 

“Alyssa has exercised tremendous leadership both on campus and in the local community to promote engagement with environmental justice issues,” wrote Byerly. “This work has included leading the College’s collaboration with Sharing Our Roots, a nonprofit regenerative agriculture organization; co-leading the HOME program, an affordable housing initiative advocating for fair housing policies in Carleton’s surrounding county; and learning to use academic skills to address racial disparities through Academic Civic Engagement courses and public scholarship work with faculty.”

Through the Newman fellowship, Campus Compact provides students with learning and networking opportunities that help nurture their development as civic leaders. Programming emphasizes personal, professional, and civic growth that can empower them to collaborate effectively across disciplines and create large-scale positive change. The cornerstone of the fellowship is the Annual Convening of Newman Civic Fellows, which offers intensive in-person skill-building and networking over three days. The program also provides fellows with pathways to apply for exclusive opportunities, including mini-grants to help fund community projects, scholarships, and post-graduate opportunities.

“We are honored to recognize such an outstanding group of community-committed students,” said Campus Compact president Bobbie Laur. “One of the best parts of the Newman Civic Fellowships is the richness of students’ perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds — and how these varied stories all led to their passionate engagement with the social, political, and environmental issues impacting our world. These students will be the catalysts for change on many levels, and we are privileged to help empower them to create that change.”

About Campus Compact

Campus Compact is a national coalition of colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. Campus Compact supports institutions in fulfilling their public purposes by deepening their ability to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility. As the largest national higher education association dedicated solely to campus-based civic engagement, Campus Compact provides professional development to administrators and faculty to enable them to engage effectively, facilitate national partnerships connecting campuses with key issues in their local communities, build pilot programs to test and refine promising models in engaged teaching and scholarship, celebrate and cultivate student civic leadership, and convene higher education institutions and partners beyond higher education to share knowledge and develop collective capacity.