Community Beyond Honors: Butler University’s Community Fellows Program

ABSTRACT Campus collaboration between academic areas is often encouraged but can be difficult to implement in practice. Opportunities for instructional collaboration where the goals of each program must be met are even more challenging. Despite such challenges, a collaboration known as the Community Fellows Program was initiated between the Honors Program and the Center for Citizenship and Community at Butler University. The Community Fellows Program has not only brought together academic and programmatic areas at Butler but also introduced Indianapolis community leaders to honors students, faculty, and staff. While our students have appreciated the community leaders' "real world" experiences, the community leaders have been invigorated by the experience of working with our students in the Honors Program. This article describes the process that brought these elements together, the results of the collaboration, and our hopes for future implementation of the Community Fellows Program at Butler University. BACKGROUND Butler University is a comprehensive university that educates close to 4,000 undergraduate students. The Honors Program at Butler University is an interdisciplinary program open to all undergraduates. It is both selective and elective as students are invited to apply based on their academic achievement, program application, and decision to join the program. Once admitted to Butler, these students are invited to join throughout their first year of academic study. Additionally, students who achieve the appropriate academic qualifications may petition to join the program at any time provided they are able to complete the program prior to graduation. Approximately ten percent of the undergraduates at Butler are current participants of the Honors Program. The Honors Program requirements include completion of four of Butler's interdisciplinary Honors Program courses; completion of a departmental honors course, and completion and presentation of an honors thesis. The Honors courses are taught by Butler faculty from all five colleges as well as selected community members in areas of expertise not offered by our faculty base. Students from all disciplines enroll in these courses. With only one exception, these courses do not fulfill core requirements, and none of these Honors courses may be counted toward the academic major of the student. Butler University's Center for Citizenship and Community (CCC) was founded in 1996. Its work is informed by the educational mission of the university, and the Center is dedicated to engaging university faculty, staff, and students in addressing community-based issues that have an impact on individuals and families beyond the campus. In 1999, the CCC was awarded a Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) grant and in 2003 a COPC New Directions Grant, both administered through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of University Partnerships. These grants have enabled the CCC to strengthen its existing community partnerships, develop new relationships with community-based organizations, and invigorate the university's curricular offerings with innovative courses that bring students into direct contact with community members and the challenges they face. COMMUNITY FELLOWS PROGRAM In 2003, Dr. Margaret Brabant, director of the Center for Citizenship and Community, approached the director of the Honors Program with her idea to create a "Community Fellows" teaching position at the university. After years of working with secular and faith-based leaders and community activists throughout the broader Indianapolis area, Brabant sought to bring the experience and knowledge of some of these professionals to the campus. As she considered where within the existing curriculum such professionals might teach, the Honors Program struck her as most hospitable for the following reasons. First, the program encourages both an interdisciplinary and inter-college pedagogical approach to student learning. …