IN THIS ISSUE:
*Events
*Volunteer Opportunities
*Internships, Jobs, and Beyond...
*In the Spotlight: UCSC Says "Thank You for Service"
EVENTS
A Marathon Reading of Les Miserables
May 14 - May 16
24 hours!!
Regenstein Library and the Quads
From May 14 - 16, students, faculty, and friends will read Les Miserables as a chance to reflect on the morals and values of our society. The event is open to all levels of French speakers (Note: French 201-205 will receive extra-credit toward their coursework. Come and hear our new professor Danel Désormeaux, who will be joining the Romance Languages and Literatures Department next year read the opening pages of Les Misérables.
12th Annual Volunteer Recognition Reception
Monday, May 18th
5:00pm – 7:00pm
The Cloister Club of Ida Noyes Hall (1212 E. 59th Street)
AVRR brings together community partners, students, faculty, staff, and administration to celebrate the hard-work, dedication and exemplary service in the community throughout this academic year. This year features keynote speaker Steven D. Biedermann, Investment Portfolio Manager for Chicago Public Schools and entertainment by Shower Songsters and Voices in Your Head. RSVP at ucsc.uchicago.edu.
New Politics of Race and Science
Thursday, May 21
4:00pm – 5:30pm
Adler Institute on Social Exclusion (65 E. Wacker Place, Room 1705)
Dorothy Roberts is Kirkland Ellis Professor, Northwestern Law School, and Professor, Department of African-American Studies and Sociology, and Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research, at Northwestern University. This presentation focuses on the uses of race as a category in science, law, and social policy. It demonstrates how different political approaches to racial equality influence scientific debates on medicine, biotechnology, and bioethics.
4th Annual Art in Action Festival
Saturday, May 23rd
11:00am – 6:00pm
First Presbyterian Church (6400 S Kimbark Ave.)
Art in Action is a day-long festival organized by a diverse group of artists, activists, and students from the South Side. This day long event includes music, barbeque, collaborative art projects, a poetry slam, and much more.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Help raise community awareness on the issues of Sexual and Domestic Violence. Join the YWCA at their Francis Center (6600 S. Cottage Grove Ave.) in May and June for Informational Saturdays where the group will be walking through the community with program information. Interested volunteers should contact Elspeth at the UCSC at
emcgarvey@uchicago.edu.
Share your paper writing skills! A student from a City College is looking for assistance with a persuasive final paper. She is willing to meet you on campus. Anyone interested in helping should contact Elspeth ASAP at emcgarvey@uchicago.edu.
Volunteer for the 2009 Green Festival, May 16-17. Green Festival is a
2 day event co-produced by Global Exchange and Green America committed to the movement towards a just and sustainable society, featuring over 400 socially and environmentally responsible enterprises, over 100 leading speakers, live music, and delicious organic food and drink. Volunteers are needed for the event and receive free admission, an organic cotton t-shirt and free memberships. For more information please visit: www.greenfestivals.org/volunteer.
INTERNSHIPS, JOBS, AND BEYOND...
United Negro College Fund Google Scholarship
Due: May 15th, 2009
Applicants must be entering their senior year of undergraduate study or be enrolled in a graduate program in 2008-2009 at an accredited college/university in the United States. Applicants must be pursuing a computer science degree, with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5. To apply, visit http://www.google.com/jobs/scholarships.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
UCSC Says "Thank You for Service"
Rachel Cromidas, Staff Writer
Next week, University of Chicago students will trade their old pairs of jeans (muddy from gardening during the Earth Week Day of Service, no doubt) for slightly more formal wear to honor their commitments to community service at the Annual Volunteer Recognition Reception (AVRR).
At AVRR, which will take place for its twelfth year on Monday, May 18th at 5pm in the Cloister Club of Ida Noyes, the University will award students, Community Service RSOs and houses for their particular community service endeavors while students from across the University’s College and graduate programs congregate for refreshments.
The college will give out several awards to students and groups, including: the Edward Turkington House Service Award, President’s Volunteer Service Award, Perry S. Herst Prize, the Brown Service Learning Award and the CSRSO award.
“AVRR really is not only for those who receive the awards, but for all the students throughout the year who have worked hard,” said Wallace Goode, director of the University Community Service Center.
For Goode, the AVRR awards are less about rewarding students and more about publicly thanking them for their achievements.
The awards “are certainly a goal for younger students to strive for, but for those students who receive an award, it is mainly a community affirmation of their efforts,” Goode said. Students “do it because they want to do it, and there are very personal reasons why people do service. This [award reception] is simply a public way of saying thank you for all that you do.”
Alex Gagne is one such student; she is a nominee for the Presidential Volunteer Award. Her experiences with community service on campus stem mainly from the tutoring program she runs at Woodlawn’s University of Chicago charter school on 64th and University, Gagne said.
Gagne became the RSO’s leader, she said, “because I really enjoyed the program. Sometimes it’s really frustrating because you are tutoring kids in math and they aren’t getting it, but then there are other weeks were you feel like you really helped them get better at something that’s really important.”
Gagne is graduating this June with a Masters of Public Policy.
“I knew I was going to be working in educational policy, with numbers and statistics. But before I work in an office somewhere just working with numbers and not really seeing the children I’m trying to help…I am trying to work with these kids as much as I can.”
Gagne is just one of more than one dozen students nominated for awards who will be honored at the reception.
Steven Biedermann, the Investment Porfolio Manager in the Bureau of Treasury at Chicago Public Schools, will give the keynote address at the reception. Mr. Biedermann served two years as a United States Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Kiribati as a mathematics instructor at Teabike College. Most recently, he spent several months volunteering with the United Nations in southern Sudan on The Global Fund project.
All students are welcome to attend the reception. Please RSVP to ucsc.uchicago.edu.
The University Community Service Center (UCSC) fosters the development of civic-minded students by providing substantive community service opportunities through community partnerships based on mutual trust and respect. If you have questions - how to get involved as a student or how to connect to students as a community organization - please contact us.
University Community Service Center
5525 S. Ellis Ave., Suite 160
Chicago IL, 60637
Tel: 773.753.4483
Fax: 773.834.1160
ucsc.uchicago.edu
