Anita Chikkatur, Juliette Bobrow honored with Minnesota Campus Compact Presidents’ Awards
Acknowledging colleges and universities committed to civic engagement that impacts student learning and community progress, the awards will be presented at a statewide summit April 10 at St. Catherine University in St. Paul.
Two members of the Carleton College community, associate professor of educational studies Anita Chikkatur and student Juliette Bobrow ‘19, will be honored with 2019 Minnesota Campus Compact Presidents’ Awards at an April 10, 2019, summit at St. Catherine University in St. Paul. The awards recognize effective leaders in the development of campus-community partnerships.
“Our member colleges and universities are committed to civic engagement that impacts student learning and community progress,” said Acting Minnesota Campus Compact Executive Director Emily Shields. “These awardees represent the kinds of people, projects, and collaborations we need to move Minnesota forward.”
Chikkatur will receive the Presidents’ Civic Engagement Steward Award, which recognizes efforts that have advanced a campus’ distinctive civic mission by forming strong partnerships, supporting others’ civic engagement, and working to institutionalize a culture and practice of engagement. A scholar driven by the pursuit of a more equitable world who also is a tremendous collaborator of Carleton’s Center for Community and Civic Engagement, Chikkatur co-directs a Participatory Action Research project about refugee and immigrant educational experiences in Faribault.
“It was a wonderful surprise to learn that I had been selected by Carleton to receive one of the Presidents’ Civic Engagement Steward Awards this year,” Chikkatur said. “Many of my Carleton courses have had academic civic engagement components, ranging from service-learning to community-based research. In addition to the intellectual benefits for students of incorporating community-based work and research, as a faculty member at an elite educational institution with a relative abundance of human and material resources, I believe strongly that I have an obligation to work collaboratively with surrounding communities to address local problems and be a part of the solution, when possible.”
Bobrow, of San Francisco, is the recipient of the Presidents’ Student Leadership Award, which recognizes a deep commitment to civic responsibility and leadership, evidenced by initiative, innovative and collaborative approaches to addressing public issues, effective community building, and integration of civic engagement into the college experience. A history major (with minor in art history and women’s & gender studies), Bobrow oversees 13 student-led volunteer programs at Carleton. Dedicated to the health and wellbeing of local communities, Bobrow has completed two community-engaged internships, researched transnational feminist peace networks, and serves on the board for the Undergraduate Journal of Humanistic Studies.
“I am deeply honored to be a recipient of the Presidents’ Student Leadership Award for my work as a Health & Wellbeing Fellow at the CCCE because community engagement has been such an important part of my Carleton experience,” Bobrow said. “In my position, I encourage student involvement in the CCCE’s health-related volunteer programs in Northfield and Faribault, and promote the incredible work of our volunteers, program directors, and community partners to the Carleton community. By navigating the complexities of building sustainable and reciprocal relationships with members of my community here, I have learned the skills and self-awareness to better myself as a member of all the communities I am a part of in the future.”
Additionally, the Northfield Public Library will be honored with a Presidents’ Community Partner Award, given to a community-based organization that has enhanced the quality of life in meaningful and measurable ways and has engaged in the development of sustained, reciprocal partnerships with a college or university, thus enriching educational as well as community outcomes. An inclusive and welcoming space, the Northfield Public Library has proven an excellent venue for blending college and community events. The library hosts Carleton interns, work-study students, is a site for academic civic engagement courses, and partners with the college to offer municipal identifications to Carleton students.
In total, 88 awardees were selected this year from 27 colleges and universities across the state. The April 10 summit and award ceremony will include a keynote speech by Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Natalie Hudson on “Seeing Differently Together: Pluralism, Interdependence, and Our Democracy.”
Founded in 1994, Minnesota Campus Compact supports civic engagement and democratic renewal through its diverse network of colleges and universities. Their work encompasses service-learning, community-based participatory research, co-curricular service, community-based work-study, and other forms of student engagement as well as institutional engagement efforts. Learn more here.