Their efforts have given students hands-on opportunities to coordinate engaging, educational political and policy forums and the chance to host and promote a decades-worth of annual summits spotlighting progress toward a fairer, just and ecologically healthy planet. Now, the work of these two University of Wisconsin Oshkosh professors has earned them campus and community honors.
UW Oshkosh professors Andrew Robson and David Siemers are winners of the American Democracy Project 2011 Community Engagement Award. Both will also be honored April 13 during the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation’s Evening of Stars, a biennial event honoring people and organizations that give back to the Oshkosh community.
The Community Engagement Award is given to UW Oshkosh faculty or staff members who have created exceptional educational experiences for students that also address areas of public concern. Winners receive a $2,500 check to be given to a charity of his or her choice.
Robson, Ph.D., a professor in UW Oshkosh’s English Department, earned the honor based on his efforts to promote service learning and volunteer work, specifically in establishing the Earth Charter Community Summits. Since 2001, the UW Oshkosh-based fall summits have engaged campus and the greater community in forums, seminars and events relating to the Earth Charter Principles of Ecological Integrity: Social and economic justice, democracy, nonviolence and peace.
An area high school “Solar Olympics,” created in collaboration with Wisconsin Public Service, and a community banquet spotlighting grade-school art exhibits are just two of the vibrant events born out of the Earth Charter Community Summits. The summits have also triggered community change and local legislative action, backing creation of a city of Oshkosh Sustainability Advisory Board and, since 2007, supporting the annual endorsement of the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement.
“Hundreds, if not thousands, of students and community members have been educated in the ways and means of the famous Earth Charter; lives and attitudes have been positively affected because of Dr. Robson’s courage and dedication to this noble cause,” states MaryBeth Petesch, director of the Office of Field Experiences in the UW Oshkosh College of Education and Human Services in supporting Robson’s award.
Siemers, Ph.D., a professor of political science, was nominated for his work in providing students “structured experiences that advance the learning of and participation in the processes and activities of American democracy.” A charter member of UW Oshkosh’s American Democracy Project, since 2003 he has been primary organizer of about 25 political and issues forums at UW Oshkosh. Thousands of students and community members have attended, getting an up-close opportunity to question local, state and national candidates and elected officials and more closely examine budget proposals and government policy.
Siemers was also instrumental in creating UW Oshkosh’s unique Civic Engagement minor and Civic Engagement emphasis, two new, high-impact educational avenues for students hoping to pursue careers in public service or simply become more engaged and informed citizens and leaders in their communities.
“Through Dr. Siemers’ efforts in curriculum development, our students will be able to apply knowledge from their academic major to civic and societal issues,” states Carleen Vande Zande, assistant vice chancellor at UW Oshkosh. “And equally important, faculty and staff will assist students to recognize their responsibility to participate in their own communities and in the broader society.”
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