On September 25, the Office of Community Engagement at Temple’s College of Liberal Arts (CLA) invited guests to the first floor of Mazur Hall for an exclusive panel discussion with thought leaders from within CLA and our community partners. The event, titled Community Engagement: Powered by Partnership, also served as an unveiling of a newly established space for the Community Engagement Office.
In his opening remarks for the evening, Dean Richard Deeg noted, “As a public university, it is our duty, our role and our privilege to work with the Greater Philadelphia community and use our resources to work toward a better society.”
Community engagement is a pillar of the College of Liberal Arts’ greater mission. Part of that is empowering students to work and learn beyond the classroom walls, develop their professional skillsets, and grow as future advocates and agents of change within their communities. It also means establishing and maintaining meaningful connections in North Philadelphia, where Temple makes its home.
The new space in Mazur Hall commemorates five years of community engagement programming that includes capacity-building support for faculty and student projects, student programs, and collaborative community initiatives. This summer, the Office of Community Engagement’s portfolio further expanded to include the University Community Collaborative (UCC), a slate of high school leadership programs that bring additional staff and mentorship opportunities for undergraduate students. CLA's community engagement programs are made possible through generous seed funding from the Wieseneck family, as well as private foundation donors that support the CLA Translation Institute and the UCC.
The grand opening event was capped off by a panel discussion and Q&A, moderated by Director of CLA Community Engagement Heather Lewis-Webster. The panel featured Aunshul Rege, Professor of Criminal Justice, as well as two recent CLA graduates who have stepped into important community-serving roles: LeShan Wilkinson, CLA ‘23, a Business Service Consultant for the National Center for Urban Solutions and Christina Hassan, CLA ‘22, currently working in the District Attorney’s Office as part of the DATA CoLab initiative. Attendees were then offered a tour of the new space.
“We are thrilled to have a physical space that can serve as the hub we've always envisioned for students, faculty, and community partners,” said Lewis-Weber. “We have exciting plans to use the space to host programs and boost visibility for the various opportunities we offer that connect campus and community. With community engagement being a key priority for the university under President Fry's leadership, this expansion presents a thrilling opportunity for more intentional collaboration with our campus collaborators across the university—those conversations are already underway.”