On July 30 to August 2, the Bonner Foundation welcomed twenty-seven staff and faculty to the Bonner Network during the 2023 New Bonner Staff Orientation hosted at the Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey.
Participants include representatives from sixteen institutions of higher education, including five with established Bonner Scholar Programs, ten with established Bonner Leader Programs, and one school that might start a new Bonner Program in the future.
The New Bonner Orientation provides an overview of the history, vision, frameworks, and operations for building and managing a Bonner Program. The meeting offers opportunities for participants to share and explore how they build campus-wide civic engagement through academic study and co-curricular programs. Over the course of four days, participants become familiar with the fundamentals and best practices for managing the Bonner Program. Sessions cover how the program promotes student access and success, community engagement, and campus-wide engagement in communities to achieve positive impact.
Other topics include building and sustaining student leadership, developing mutually reciprocal community partnerships, and the resources and opportunities provided by the Bonner Foundation to support practitioners and scholars at scaling this work on their campus and in their communities. In particular, attending staff and faculty members were able to share their approaches and gain best practices from peers. They spent time planning next steps for their own programs and institutions, guided by worksheets and guides for their own recruitment, training and enrichment, students’ service positions, engaging faculty and other colleagues, and other topics.
This year's orientation featured a special visit to The College of New Jersey where participants engaged first-hand in learning how to develop and implement high-impact Bonner cornerstone activities. TCNJ's staff members, Althia Muse, Director of the Bonner Institute and Katie Kahn, Bonner Program Manager graciously shared their approaches to planning and implementing TCNJ Bonner New Student Orientation, First-Year Trip to New Orleans; state-wide Bonner Sophomore Exchange, and junior/senior community-engaged capstone projects. Senior TCNJ Bonner and 2023 Bonner Foundation Summer Intern, Bryan Wood, also joined for the TCNJ visit, which included a campus tour and viewing of their Bonner Center.
Participants included:
Allegheny College, Sarah Young, Bonner Program Coordinator
Allegheny College, Colin Hurley, Associate Dean, Director of Community Engagement
Birmingham-Southern College, Katy Smith, Director of Student Leadership Development and Civic Engagement
Centre College, Caitlyn Barnes, Coordinator of Civic & Community Engagement and the Bonner Program
Centre College, Nathan Whitlock, Assistant Director of Civic & Community Engagement and the Bonner Program
Columbia University, Caitlin Hughes, Program Manager
Davidson College, Christina Eggenberger, Director of Civic Engagement and Bonner Scholars
Elizabethtown College, Jocelyn Kosik, Graduate Assistant: Bonner Coordinator, CCCE
Guilford College, Kylee Crook, Bonner Coordinator
High Point University, Robert Tillman, Director
Rhodes College, Danita Dolly-Bonner, Bonner Coordinator
Rhodes College, Chris Williams, Director of Community Engagement
Rollins College, Victoria Teske, Associate Director
Rutgers University - New Brunswick, Rebecca Guardado, Senior Program Coordinator
Rutgers University - New Brunswick, Michael Kalage, Assistant Director
Siena College, Joshua Anthony, Assistant Director, Bonner Service Leaders
Siena College, Taylor Disco, Assistant Director, VISTA
Siena College, Mairead Carr, Assistant Director, NExT Services
Siena College, Sarah Toledano, Associate Director
UNC Chapel Hill, Sista Jakelin Bonilla, Social Initiatives Coordinator
University of Lynchburg, Cindy Ferguson, Director, Center for Community Engagement
University of Lynchburg, Cory Schutter, Community Engagement Coordinator
University of Lynchburg, Tasha Gillum, Bonner Leader Program Coordinator
University of Lynchburg, Nina Salmon, Bonner Faculty Fellow/Associate Professor of English/Director of Senior Symposium/PhD
University of Lynchburg, Ei Hlaing, CCE/Bonner Faculty Fellow/Assistant Professor of Psychology/PhD
University of Lynchburg, Stefanie Copp, CCE Faculty Fellow/Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction/Director of the Master of Education in Reading Program/PhD
University of Richmond, Ei Noe, Associate Director
We look forward to working with and seeing all of the great work they will carry out with their Bonners, campus-wide, local communities and beyond.
