World Café Invites Community Leaders

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On December 3, 2008, Ferris State University's Criterion 5 Committee held a World Café Event to solicit feedback from the community at large about how we were doing in the area of Engagement and Service. Several hundred invitations were issued and twenty eight community partners and leaders attended the event. The focus of the event was to analyze the four core components of Criterion 5 from the perspective of these community leaders and to assess the needs of the community.

Generally, the community perception is that community relationships with Ferris have significantly improved in recent years. They indicate that communication is definitely better and Ferris faculty, staff and students seem to be increasingly engaged in service to the community. Leadership at the university was identified as a primary factor in this positive relationship. The community perceives Ferris as enhancing the quality of life in the area and making the community more vibrant and unique by providing activities, cultural events and training. Services through the outreach clinics (Optometry, Dental, and Pharmacy) are a significant community benefit. Ferris also offers unique opportunities for the community through the Card Wildlife Museum, Jim Crow Museum, sports clinics, the Student Recreation Center and Tennis and Fitness Center, the Ice Arena and FLITE. The students serving as role models to area youth were also seen as a community asset.

The community voiced concerns in two major areas: the lack of available and accessible parking on campus and communication about events on campus. These two areas are seen as significant barriers to community involvement in campus events. The group also voiced the importance of Ferris understanding the needs of businesses and agencies before providing services through student service learning. There were several suggestions made by the community leaders that can be viewed in the final report.

World Café Questions

1. What is important to you about Ferris? Why do you care?
   
   
2. What opportunities do you see for the future of the relationship of Ferris with its greater communities? Which communities? What opportunities?
   
   
3. What do you observe that Ferris learns from its external communities?
   
   
4. How would you describe the commitment of the University to engage with its varied constituencies? Which ones? In what ways?
   
   
5. How is the University responsive to its communities?
   
   
6. How would external constituencies describe the value of Ferris?