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    Graduation with Civic Honors: Unlock the Power of <Br>Community Opportunity
    Graduation with Civic Honors: Unlock the Power of <Br>Community Opportunity
    Graduation with Civic Honors: Unlock the Power of <Br>Community Opportunity
    Ebook115 pages1 hour

    Graduation with Civic Honors: Unlock the Power of
    Community Opportunity

    By Nels Lindahl

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Society needs to focus on practical programs that can realize the possibilities of stronger community. Academic programs have a rich tradition of offering graduation with Honors and are capable of implementing Graduation With Civic Honors. The Graduation with Civic Honors program is the institutional recognition of civic engagement in the community during the graduation ceremony. Graduation is an incredibly important time and a major life event for most people. Recognizing individuals with Graduation with Civic Honors, helps focus the attention of a new generation on realizing the possibilities of practical programs increasing civic engagement through community involvement.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateFeb 28, 2006
    ISBN9780595833610
    Graduation with Civic Honors: Unlock the Power of <Br>Community Opportunity
    Author

    Nels Lindahl

    Nels Lindahl, an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, is the author of Graduation with Civic Honors and founder of www.civichonors.com, which advocates development of ways to strengthen the community through volunteering networks. Nels, a Thomas and Barbara Kester Page Scholar, graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in political science and a minor in public service and civic leadership. As an undergraduate, Nels was an Ethan Allen Scholar in public administration, on the National Deans List all four years, and participated in a study on workplace literacy with Kansas City Consensus and the Public Administration Department. Nels received a master of public administration degree from the University of Kansas department of public administration. Nels holds a doctoral degree in public policy and administration from Walden University with specializations in knowledge management and e-government. In addition to academic work, Nels is spending time working on completing a new book dealing with the intersection of technology and modernity.

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      Book preview

      Graduation with Civic Honors - Nels Lindahl

      Graduation With

      Civic Honors

      black.jpg

      Unlock the Power of Community Opportunity

      Nels Lindahl

      iUniverse, Inc.

      New York Lincoln Shanghai

      Graduation With Civic Honors Unlock the Power of Community Opportunity

      Copyright © 2006 by Nels Lindahl

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      iUniverse

      2021 Pine Lake Road, Suite 100

      Lincoln, NE 68512

      www.iuniverse.com

      1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

      ISBN-13: 978-0-595-38979-7 (pbk)

      ISBN-13: 978-0-595-83361-0 (ebk)

      ISBN-10: 0-595-38979-1 (pbk)

      ISBN-10: 0-595-83361-6 (ebk)

      Printed in the United States of America

      Contents

      1

      2

      3

      4

      IS THE CIVIC HONORS PROGRAM FEASIBLE? 

      5

      CIVIC HONORS: SHORT-TERM IMPLEMENTATION 

      CIVIC HONORS: EXPANDING WITH ORGANIZATIONS 

      CIVIC HONORS: LONG-TERM MAINTENANCE 

      THE COSTS TO THE UNIVERSITY 

      6

      INCREASING CIVIC PARTICIPATION 

      BREAKING DOWN A DISCONNECT BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS AND THE COMMUNITY 

      STRENGTHENING THE COMMUNITY 

      INCREASING THE AMOUNT OF ACTIVE PARTICIPATION 

      STRONG LEADERSHIP IN THE COMMUNITY 

      THE ADVANTAGE OF HAVING LONG-TERM VISION 

      SPREADING THE ETHIC OF VOLUNTEERISM 

      7

      INDIVIDUALS BECOMING ADVOCATES FOR 

      PARTICIPATION 

      PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS AS 

      ADVOCATES 

      BUILDING CONNECTIONS IN THE COMMUNITY 

      8

      TRENDS FOR INDIVIDUALS 

      TRENDS FOR ORGANIZATIONS 

      TRENDS FOR COMPANIES 

      9

      10

      THE MODEL FOR EXPANSION 

      BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE 

      11

      KNOWING WHAT IS POSSIBLE 

      THE POWER OF DATA COLLECTION 

      BEING ACCESSIBLE 

      BULLETIN BOARDS AND THE PEOPLE 

      FUTURE TECHNOLOGY AND EMPOWERMENT 

      THE FUTURE OF E-COMMUNITY 

      USING FREE TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES 

      12

      LOOKING AT INDIVIDUAL CHANGE 

      LOOKING AT CHANGE IN THE ORGANIZATION 

      13

      BUILDING AN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MODEL 

      BRINGING TOGETHER THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY 

      14

      INDIVIDUAL ACTION 

      ORGANIZATIONAL ACTION 

      THE POWER OF THE MEDIA 

      References 

      To Joni, Susan, Paul, Boyd, Jenifer, Gus Jr., Jason, Ben, Cheryl, Gus Sr., Joe, Bev, Twila, and John for support during the struggles of higher education.

      The Story Behind Graduation With Civic Honors

      Believing in a dream like graduation with civic honors is only the first step in the process toward advocating the creation of a graduation with civic honors program.

      The story behind graduation with civic honors began in an academic setting during the spring semester of 2002 at the University of Kansas. I took a class from Dr. H. George Frederickson entitled Concepts of Civil Society. During the Concepts of Civil Society class, my collegiate interests focused on civic engagement. At one point during the class, Dr. Frederick-son posed a question to the class about what colleges could do to get people involved within the community. Over the course of the next year thinking about the idea of civil society, I became interested in pursuing a degree in the field of public administration. Thanks to the faculty of the Public Administration Department at the University of Kansas, I decided to endeavor to enter graduate school. I would like to thank Dr. Raymond Davis for advice and guidance, Dr. Thomas Longoria for defining the importance of collaboration, and Dr. H. George Frederickson for a thoughtful introduction to the world of civil society.

      Graduation with civic honors was only a dream until late in 2002. Dr. Charles J. Carlsen, the president of Johnson County Community College, learned of the idea from Susan Lindahl and, along with the board of trustees and civic honors steering committee, envisioned becoming the first community college in the state of Kansas to designate a graduation with civic honors. In 2004, after Johnson County Community College developed the initial graduation with civic honors pilot program, the next step was to start spreading the graduation with civic honors message. I was honored to submit an article with Dr. Charles J. Carlsen and Susan Lindahl entitled, "Civic Honors Program at Johnson County Community

      College," to the Journal for Civic Commitment for publication. The resulting publication (Carlsen, Lindahl, & Lindahl, 2004) was the first step toward globally sharing the positive message of graduation with civic honors.

      To realize the dream, students actually would have to graduate with civic honors. During the May 2005 graduation at Johnson County Community College, the dream became a reality when four students—including Deborah DeGrate, Carrie Donham, Chris Engle, and Jennifer Pittman-Leeper—were the first to graduate with civic honors. The story will be complete when students all over the world are graduating with civic honors.

      1

      What is Civic Engagement?

      Society has experienced a true revival of public interest in civic engagement.

      Robert Putnam’s (2000) epic work Bowling Alone brought the idea of civic participation to the forefront of the public mind. The value of civic participation is essential to the process of value implementation in the form of civic engagement. Civic engagement is a value choice, and the implementation of that value choice is individual civic participation in the community. One of the most basic definitions of civic engagement involves thinking about how government, society, and citizens interact. In terms of how scholars discuss civic engagement, the definition takes on a benevolent feel, referencing citizen activities that benefit civil society. Strengthening civic engagement, in practice, involves building civic skills, increasing active voter participation, and using public service announcements to encourage volunteering to strengthen civil society. Watershed events like 9-11 have created a reflective sense of national interest and significantly increased the willingness of individuals to participate in civic engagement.

      The best way to describe civic engagement is to take a step back from current views and look from the perspective of the potential benefits that higher civic engagement provides society. Civic engagement is increasing civic participation by encouraging participation in civil society. That participation could come in the form of volunteering, campaigning, or even discussing community issues with neighbors. Increasing civic participation through civic engagement breaks down the disconnect between individuals and the community. Robert Putnam (2000) clearly made the case that individuals within modern society largely have replaced community activities with social isolation. Helping to break down the disconnect between the individual and the community is valuable to strengthening the community. Reciprocally, strengthening the community through civic engagement increases the amount of active participation within the community.

      How does one spread the ethic of civic engagement? Civic engagement has to come from fostering strong community leadership from both professionals and community organization leaders. These leaders give the community a significant advantage by creating a long-term vision for increasing civic engagement. Civic participation through active civic engagement can involve spreading the ethic of volunteerism. Allowing individuals to work for community organizations is an important part of

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