Berry College, Bonner Alum, Dr. Emily Melchior (16C), has established herself as a prominent figure in animal health research, serving as the Manager of Global Outcomes Research at Zoetis Animal Health. She is recognized for her contributions to ruminant microbiology and nutrition, and she actively supports young professionals through mentorship and her involvement in various organizations.
Davidson College, Bonner Scholar, Hannah Lieberman ’18 wrote, directed and performed Hysterical, a one-woman comedy musical exploring topics of relationships, identity and her family’s history of inherited ovarian cancer. Her hustling brought her to QED, a small arts venue in Astoria, Queens, New York, and, for at least the last decade, the only woman-owned and operated venue in the area.
TCNJ’s Bonner Community Scholars Program launched 20 years ago, it started with just 12 Bonner Scholars — students who commit to 300 hours of community service annually in exchange for needs-based scholarships. Now, with close to 100 participants each year, the TCNJ program is one of the largest and most successful in a nationwide network of Bonner college programs.
In celebration of Elaine Wheeler's retirement, we honor her invaluable contribution to the Bonner Foundation. Her commitment and mentorship have been instrumental in our growth as a Foundation and the Network we have today. As she embarks on her retirement, we celebrate her legacy of dedication and look forward to the path she has paved for us.
With over three decades sharing campus examples, guides, and documents to download, the Bonner Foundation is excited to announce a recently updated Bonner Resources Wiki.
This summer, the five National Bonner Summer Interns at the Foundation — Anu Baskar (George Mason ‘24), Camila Guayasamin (The College of New Jersey ‘24), Dominique Dore (University of Houston ‘22), Mikaela Chin (High Point University ‘24) and Selah Ndouta (Capital University ‘22) — worked with the Foundation staff to refresh the look of the wiki’s homepage and, more importantly, update campus examples and other documents.
They devoted particularly attention to the Bonner Program Management and Community-Engaged Learning sections. In addition, Mikaela and Dominique also created a short video on how to navigate this wealth of knowledge.
TCNJ’s Bonner Community Scholars Program launched 20 years ago, it started with just 12 Bonner Scholars — students who commit to 300 hours of community service annually in exchange for needs-based scholarships. Now, with close to 100 participants each year, the TCNJ program is one of the largest and most successful in a nationwide network of Bonner college programs.
Campus Compact is pleased to announce that Castel V. Sweet, Ph.D., director of community engagement and assistant professor of practice in community engagement at the University of Mississippi, has been awarded Campus Compact’s Nadinne Cruz Community Engagement Professional Award . The award celebrates the ethical leadership and advocacy demonstrated by Community Engagement Professionals. Recipients have demonstrated collaboration with communities focused on transformative change; a commitment to justice-oriented work; and an impact on the larger movement to build ethical and effective community engagement locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.
The Newman Civic Fellowship is a yearlong program that recognizes students who stand out for their leadership potential and commitment to creating positive change in communities. Fellows are nominated by Campus Compact member presidents and chancellors, who are invited to select one exemplary community-committed student from their campus each year. As we settle in to 2025 and prepare for the remainder of the academic year, we at Campus Compact wanted to share some voices we know will bring you hope and joy.
Mars Hill University student-athletes’ efforts in the wake of Hurricane Helene helped the university to a top-three finish for the NCAA Division II Award of Excellence. The award was announced this morning during the NCAA convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Mars Hill was selected as the top school in the South Atlantic Conference on the way to the second runner-up position in the national rankings for outstanding community service, selected by the national Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
Morehouse College, Bonner Office of Community Service and community partner Target, held an MLK Day of Service, which celebrates the enduring legacy of Dr. King, class of 1948, who developed his philosophy of nonviolent social change during his time at Morehouse under the mentorship of renowned intellectual leaders.
As the Bonner Foundation moves toward the 35th Anniversary of the Bonner Program, marked in 2025 at the Summer Leadership Institute at the University of Richmond in June, the Bonner Foundation team is updating communications, including new videos that showcase the impact of the Bonner Program on students, institutions, and communities.
staff and faculty from across the national Bonner Network gather to build community, share strategies and best practices, engage in professional development, and provide support to each other in our work to advance community engagement at our institutions and within higher education. From November 10 to 13, 2024, over one hundred administrators and faculty representing their Bonner Programs at sixty colleges and universities convened once again at the Claggett Center in Adamstown, MD.
Lauren Sermersheim, a Mars Hill University Bonner alumni and current Master’s candidate at the Clinton School of Public Service, has been selected as one of 100 members of the national Youth250 Bureau, a groundbreaking initiative led by Made By Us to amplify young voices in commemorating America’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
The Congressional Hunger Center recently announced that they welcomed new members to their Alumni Council, one of them being an Allegheny Bonner Alum, London Dejarnette. London Dejarnette is a recent graduate from Allegheny College where they studied Environmental Science and Sustainability & Community and Justice Studies. London served in the Hunger Center's 5th class of Zero Hunger Interns in 2022 and considers their career path to be a direct result of their experience in the program.
Approximately 120 Bonner Scholars and Leaders gathered in Woodstock, Illinois (outside of Chicago) at Loyola University Chicago Retreat & Ecology Campus from Oct 11-13 for an inspiring and engaging three days. The 2024 Bonner Congress theme was “Everybody, Everyday: Leading the Way.” As Bonners, we play leadership roles within our programs, on campus, and in our communities. The theme this year asked us to explore strategies for effective leadership. How do we mobilize our peers?
In July 2024, Allison Schultz, Director of Siena College’s Center for Academic Community Engagement (ACE), defended her doctoral research titled Listen to the Experts: What Happens When We Create Space for Authentic Student Voice in the Bonner Service Leaders Program? She completed her doctorate through the School of Education at Northeastern University in Boston, MA.
On Saturday, October 5th, 2024, the Bonner Program celebrated 25 years at Centre College. As part of the college’s 2024 homecoming schedule, the Office of Civic & Community Engagement and the Bonner Program staff, Jessie Weasner, Director, Nathan Whitlock, Assistant Director, and Caitlyn Barnes, Coordinator, alongside Bonner students, organized an anniversary event to celebrate amongst alumni, current students, former staff, and friends of the Bonner Program.
Mars Hill, North Carolina was among the numerous communities hit hard by Hurricane Helene’s devastating flooding across Appalachia. Reports share that families were trapped inside their homes with minimal access to basic necessities such as food and potable water. As of Wednesday, October 2, many homes still remain uninhabitable, landslides have occurred, and people remain unaccounted for.
Mars Hill resides in Madison County and is home to Mars Hill University. The University has been home to a Bonner Scholars Program since 1991. For over three decades, Bonner Scholars at Mars Hill have shown up for their community – and the last few days have been no different. In response to the devastation of Helene, Bonner Scholars have helped others gain access to basic needs such as serving food at Mars Hill Baptist, mucking out nearby Marshall, NC, and instilling a sense of hope during a difficult time.
Xavier Gonzalez (Master of Public Administration ’22) always felt called to make an impact through public service, and he wanted to prepare himself for that future as efficiently as possible. “I had the plan to go through undergrad as quickly as is reasonable, and then hop into a graduate program—make a good effort with it, have fun with it, but quickly get into the workforce so I can be the public servant that I wanted to be when applying for programs in the first place,” he recalls. He completed his studies at Christopher Newport University in two and a half years, focusing on international relations and getting hands-on experience in the public sector as a Bonner Scholar.
“I loved that community and that experience, and I found my niche within public service,” says Xavier. “It takes a long time for change to happen at the international level. In nonprofits and government agencies, you can see a more immediate and direct impact from the work you’re doing.”
Xavier’s experience with the Bonner Foundation introduced him to the Fels Institute of Government, and—rather than remaining focused on international affairs—he felt drawn to the versatility of the Full-time Master of Public Administration program.
Claudio Mir, a Dominican-born actor turned community engagement specialist, has been named Middlesex College's 2024 Alumnus of the Year. Mir's journey includes: Overcoming language barriers and pursuing education at Middlesex College, graduating from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, working in HIV/AIDS education through theater, and his current role as senior program coordinator at Rutgers' Collaborative Center for Community Engagement.
Mir credits Middlesex College for instilling a strong work ethic and providing essential tools for his success. He addressed the Class of 2024 at their Commencement ceremony on May 16, 2024.
On July 28 to 31, the Bonner Foundation welcomed twenty-one staff and faculty to the Bonner Network during the 2024 New Bonner Staff Orientation hosted at the Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey.
Participants include representatives from seventeen institutions of higher education, including eight with established Bonner Scholar Programs, eight with established Bonner Leader Programs, and one school that is expecting to start a Bonner Program this fall.
This summer, three Bonner Scholars, Gabe Miller, class of 2025 at Washington & Lee University, Olivia Norten, class of 2025 at Davidson College, and Danielle Savellano, class of 2024 at Allegheny College, were recipients of the selective Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. The PPIA Junior Summer Institute is a national fellowship program that prepares students for an advanced degree and ultimately for careers and influential roles serving the public good. The PPIA-JSI is a rigorous seven-week training offered each summer for rising college seniors, with coursework focused on quantitative, analytical, and communication skills.
While the executive director role may be a new one for him at the Madison County Arts Council, Brandon Johnson is certainly not a "new face in a new place at the nonprofit organization." He moved to the area in 2006 when he went to Mars Hill University as a Bonner Scholar, a program in which students participate in service, leadership development and meetings/trainings for approximately 10 hours a week. Johnson's community service in the Bonners Scholar program led him to the Bluff Mountain Festival, where he started as an intern in 2007, and in later years emceed the event and also performed.
Over 320 students, staff, faculty, speakers, alumni, and partners from 91 different institutions and organizations came together for the 2024 Summer Leadership Institute, hosted at Oberlin College and Conservatory from June 7 to 10. With Oberlin’s rich history of civic engagement and student activism as the backdrop, student leadership took center stage at this year’s Summer Leadership Institute.
The College Presidents for Civic Preparedness consortium is a collective of diverse higher education leaders dedicated to equipping students with essential civic skills for effective participation in democracy. They focus on three civic commitments: educating for democracy, preparing students for a diverse society, and protecting free inquiry. Centre College President Milton C. Moreland joins the consortium to advance these goals, emphasizing the importance of engaging students in democratic practices and civil discourse.
