Friday, August 25, 2006
Practicing skills for better community
|
USI is seeking a diverse group of individuals to apply to the Connect with Southern Indiana program that encourages and provides individuals with skills and confidence to nurture citizenship and strengthen critical thinking. The core of the program is to help participants learn about and strengthen their skills, their options, and their opportunities for involvement in community and regional projects, often transcending traditional boundaries of towns and counties, occupation, and demography. Twenty-four people will be selected into the nine-month program. Applicants can be from a nine-county region in southern Indiana. Planners are looking for diversity by gender, race, interests, and occupation. A year’s residence in the region prior to January 2007 is required. Those interested may apply for the 2007 class through October 9, 2006. Connect with Southern Indiana has multi-purpose value. It is free to participants who are accepted because funding for the program is made possible by a grant from Lilly Endowment. The program will be a forum to practice critical thinking skills. Tim van Gelder, a College Teaching magazine writer, shares this thought, “Everyone knows that mastering a skill takes practice and lots of it. “Practice makes perfect” is a nugget of folk wisdom that has been extensively investigated by science, and it has come out vindicated. You will not get better without practice. The skills of critical thinking are no exception.” Connect with Southern Indiana programs will focus on • community overview • critical thinking • personality profiles • strategic planning • project management • public skills • project planning, and • government involvement. This is the second year of a pilot program that began January 2006. Also, persons in the program will have opportunities for collaborative problem solving. They will meet business and civic leaders and gain greater awareness of community and regional needs. Residents of nine counties (Dubois, Gibson, Knox, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick counties) will be eligible for the 24 positions in the nine-session program that starts in January and ends in August 2007. Because the program is free and openings are limited, applicants must indicate their willingness and ability to participate in all programs and the limited out-of-class assignments to be given. October 9, 2006 is the deadline for applications. The program is sponsored by Historic Southern Indiana, an outreach program through USI Extended Services. More information about the program, the dates of the sessions, and an online application is available at www.usi.edu/extserv/connect.asp. |
Copyright © 2013 University of Southern Indiana. All rights reserved.