Alma Collaboration Receives Carter Partnership Award
Alma College and the Pine River Superfund Citizen Task Force are the
2008 recipients of the Carter Partnership Award, the premier community
service award for higher education and community collaboration.
The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Award for Campus-Community
Collaboration is given annually by Michigan Campus Compact to one
partnership involving a Michigan college and a community group for
working together in exceptional ways to improve people’s lives and
enhance learning in the process. The College and Task Force will share
the $10,000 prize.
“The Carter Award is a wonderful affirmation of the collaborative
efforts of the campus and Gratiot County community,” says Alma College
President Saundra Tracy. “Many faculty, staff and students have
participated in this important collaborative effort over the years. It
is a well-deserved recognition for an extremely important effort.”
Gov. Granholm presents the Carter Partnership Award trophies to Jane Keon (center), Melissa Strait (third from left in front row) and the entire Alma College contingent attending the Governor's Service Awards at the Fox Theatre in Detroit June 19.
The Carter Partnership Award was announced at the Governor’s Service
Awards at Fox Theatre in Detroit on June 19. Task Force Chairwoman Jane
Keon, Alma College Professor Melissa Strait and more than a dozen other
students, College and community representatives were on hand to receive
the award and the governor’s congratulations.
A selection committee comprising representatives from community, higher
education, business and government organizations selected the award
winner. The other finalists included community collaborations at
Central Michigan University, Northern Michigan University and Hope
College.
The Pine River was declared a Superfund site in the 1970s due to
accidental PBB and DDT contamination. In 1998, the Environmental
Protection Agency determined the river was not undergoing the expected
“natural attenuation” of the chemical DDT. After learning of the EPA’s
recognition of emergency removal and remedial action of DDT
contamination, Alma College and the Alma/St. Louis community
collaborated to form the Pine River Superfund Citizen Task Force, an
EPA-sanctioned Community Advisory Group (CAG).
The Task Force is recognized as one of the most influential and active
CAGs nationally and as having the largest membership of any CAG in the
United States.
“Many of us who are involved with the Community Advisory Group are
members of both the College and local communities,” says Strait. “Over
the years we have worked with the EPA on issues related to
contamination clean-up and provided expertise to address scientific and
political issues.”
The College and the community work together to ensure the exchange of
ideas between the EPA, the Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality, local media and members of the greater community regarding
information and ideas concerning the Pine River are heard by all
parties, says Straight. The long-term goal of the group is to see a
complete clean-up of the contamination.
In March, the College and CAG co-sponsored the Eugene Kenaga
International DDT Conference, which brought in a number of national and
international experts to examine what is known about the impact of DDT
on human health and the environment.
Students have become a part of this partnership through research,
coursework and independent study in a variety of subjects and academic
fields, says Anne Ritz, service-learning coordinator at Alma College.
Many students assist with river clean-up and other service-learning
activities.
“The success of the college-CAG partnership can in many ways be
attributed to the program’s extensive opportunities for involvement,
seeking and incorporating diverse interests and skills to enable a
multi-faceted, meaningful and creative collaboration with its members,”
says Ritz.
The college-community team hosts forums and speakers, provides outreach
programs and public meetings, and sponsors the annual fishing derby in
St. Louis, among other events and activities, said Ritz. The CAG also
has enabled community members and college students to interact with
government officials and environmental agencies. Students and faculty
also experience the benefits of hands-on learning and how their
involvement positively impacts and influences the people,
organizations, and environment around them.
Michigan Campus Compact is a coalition of college and university
presidents who are committed to fulfilling the public purpose of higher
education. The MCC promotes the education and commitment of Michigan
college students to be civically engaged citizens through creating and
expanding academic, co-curricular and campus wide opportunities for
community service, service-learning and civic engagement.
Posted: Mon, June 23rd, 2008 at 3:44PM
