The Hagen Center celebrates our distinct, urban environment. Springfield is a real city facing many of the same challenges as cities across the nation. Working in the community allows Wittenberg students to experience the challenges and rewards of trying to make positive change in their community.
Thank you for your interest in connecting with Wittenberg University’s Hagen Center for Civic and Urban Engagement!
The Hagen Center seeks organizations (typically, non-profit or public sector agencies) who wish to join us as co-educators to help teach students to be active and engaged citizens. If you have opportunities for students to participate in your organization’s work and you wish to contribute to their educational experience, please consider partnering with us.
Organizations interested in connecting with the Hagen Center can start the process by completing the steps below.
- Fill out our online Community Partner Interest Form. This allows us to learn about your organization and/or your interest in connecting with us.
- Once the Hagen Center reviews the submission, a staff member will respond to provide information on the possibility of being able to connect your interest to our program.
- Because of the uniqueness of our calendar, we ask for as much advance notice as possible. If you are interested in becoming a partner, we would need to receive your interest form at least a month before the semester begins. If you need help with a special event, we would prefer to receive your interest form at least 3 weeks before the event takes place.
Examples of Partnerships
- Sustained Direct Service - Wittenberg students visit an organization regularly throughout the semester and engage in service projects in which they directly work with an organization’s constituents or assist with tasks that contribute to the mission of the organization.
- Community-Based Learning – Wittenberg faculty and students connect academic knowledge to your organization’s work through a Civic Engagement Course (CEC).
- One-Time Project-Based Service - Groups of Wittenberg students dedicate a few hours of support to a community organization in a one-time/short-term service project.
- Internship- Wittenberg students work full-time during a 9-week period during the summer as part of the Hagen Center Civic Internship program.
Goals for Partnership
- Mutual trust and respect. The partnership will be built on trust in each other’s goodwill and respect for each other’s knowledge, assets, and interests.
- Shared goals and strategies. Projects will be designed for mutual benefit, with all partners agreeing on the project’s goals and the strategies for reaching them.
- Clear communication. Understanding—across different cultures, languages, and perspectives—will be reached through communication practices that are clearly expressed.
- Flexibility. Few projects (if any!) are free of change. Partners will stay flexible and remain focused on achieving the project’s goals when the unexpected arises.
- Cultural understanding. Differences in culture—from key values to time and staff constraints—will be identified and respected.
- Shared priorities. Roles and responsibilities will be clearly defined, with decision-making based on the best interests of the project and the individual strengths of the partners.
- Reciprocity. The partnership will embrace the dual missions of community-university research: the community’s pursuit of positive change and the university’s quest for new knowledge. Both are equally valuable and mutually beneficial.
Engage Springfield Community Dashboard
Wittenberg & Springfield: Continued Community Partnership
In an effort to further expand and focus our commitment to Springfield, and to provide hands-on learning experiences for our students, Wittenberg has developed a community dashboard.
The Engage Springfield Community Dashboard pulls together data from a variety of sources to give a picture of Springfield and Clark County using commonly used metrics collected by public organizations.
Developed by Dr. Ed Hasecke, with contributions from Wittenberg faculty and students, the goal of the Engage Springfield Community Dashboard is to make data about our community easily available to facilitate research, grant-writing, and goal-setting.