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Bunker Hill Community College utilizes MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA program to institutionalize a full-time position

Meghan Callaghan and Ted Carlson at the MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA Swearing-In Ceremony, July 2006

Ted Carlson has been working on civic engagement initiatives at Bunker Hill Community College since the 1970s. Fast forward to 2008. With the help of a MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA member, a full-time position dedicated to Civic Engagement has been formally institutionalized at the college.

As a mathematics and calligraphy professor, Ted Carlson has been using service-learning in his courses for decades. "What's so unique about civic engagement is that it isn't cookie cutter it recognizes the culture of students and the work of faculty. It allows for freedom and creativity," Carlson says. Believing this, he knew that civic engagement could be adapted to work at a community college. At BHCC's 2005 Fall Convocation, he asked how many faculty and staff members were already engaged in their communities through various activities, and 90% of the attendees raised their hands. Ted utilized the involvement that already existed to embed civic engagement at the school.

While he served as the face of civic engagement at Bunker Hill, Ted recognized he didn't have the time needed to make crucial connections with the community. With an eye towards building a legacy and a developing a sustainable structure, Ted approached his work with the attitude that "it didn't depend on me, it depended on the concept." Turning to the MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA program, he envisioned what could happen with a full-time person dedicated to civic engagement initiatives. Ted's proposal was approved, and in July 2006, Meghan Callaghan arrived at Bunker Hill as the MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA.

Team BHCC at Project Bread's Walk for Hunger, May 2008

Meghan devoted her time to putting ideas into action. She researched different models of engagement at community colleges, set up various activities for students and faculty to participate in, and took advantage of trainings and resources available from MACC. BHCC's President Fifield had encouraged Ted to use a Professional Day to expand the awareness of community engagement on campus. The opportunity came in the spring of 2007. A MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA action planning activity helped Meghan and Ted develop the essential components of their Professional Day workshop. Working with Dr. Donna Duffy, Professor of Psychology at Middlesex Community College, Ted and Meghan delivered a training that gave the entire faculty and staff of Bunker Hill Community College an understanding of what community engagement meant and how they could utilize it in their work. With an inspiring keynote address by Dr. Keith Motley, from UMASS Boston, the 2007 Spring Professional Development Day was a huge success. It not only helped the college community understand the work Ted and Meghan were trying to accomplish, but gave their work legitimacy and demonstrated to faculty members that service-learning is an effective, proven pedagogy. "Developing A Campus Culture of Community Engagement" was a crucial step in the process of creating a full-time Coordinator of Community Engagement.

With that goal in mind, Ted started figuring out the process of requesting a full-time staff position for the Office of Community Engagement. Meghan utilized her connections in the vast MACC network to gather examples of job descriptions from community colleges. Together, they crafted the proposal, building upon the original proposal for a MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA, and modifying it to reflect the success of Meghan's work throughout her year. It was approved in the summer of 2007.

With her qualifications and experience, Meghan's two years of service as a MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA strengthened her application and she was hired as the Coordinator of Community Engagement in August of 2008. Through perseverance and lots of hard work, Ted and Meghan turned the potential of the MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA program into reality.