Office of Civic Engagement (OCE) offers a wide range of support to community organizations, including capacity building support through the South Cumberland Plateau AmeriCorps Program,  student interns through Bonner and Canale leadership programs (paid-by-Sewanee) , service opportunities through outreach & service-aways trips, short-term volunteer assistance through pathways to civic engagement; as well as research support through faculty and courses.

Resources

Collaborate with us

What collaborative projects do you envision? We are interested in learning how we might partner with you.  Completing the form linked below enables us to determine what your interests and needs are and how best we might approach working together.

Internal Grants for Bonner & Canale Sites

Each year the Office of Civic Engagement offers up to $10,000 in grant funding to student leaders for projects that meet specific needs with capacity-building projects at partner sites. The goals of the grant funding are:

  • To deepen the Office of Civic Engagement’s commitment to partner sites.
  • To foster students’ learning and professional development as they identify community needs and collaborate to create sustainable, positive change.

Bonner Site Leaders and Canale Interns are eligible to apply for awards between $200 - $1000, each semester.

Grant funds are directly tied to the student's project at their site. Should the student leave their site or the project not be completed, the funding will remain with the Office of Civic Engagement. Site Leaders are encouraged to identify capacity building needs at partner sites in collaboration with their Site Supervisor.

SCCF Funding Programs

Over the last ten years, South Cumberland Community Fund has made over $1.5 million in grants to local organizations in the tri-county area of the South Cumberland Plateau, and has invested an additional $700,000 in convenings, professional development for the area’s nonprofits, and placemaking projects. 

The grant program is divided into three main rounds: spring grants round, summer collaborative grants round, and the Philanthropy Internship Program grant round, an innovative partnership with the University of the South which combines educating college students in philanthropic principles and goals with change making on the Plateau. 

AmeriCorps Resources

The annual AmeriCorps Summer Program is a short-term, intensive ten-week community service program to directly support anti-poverty efforts on the Plateau, focusing on alleviating child hunger and reducing summer learning loss. 

Community partners interested in being an access point for children to access no-cost nutritious meals can apply to become meal distribution sites. 

 

 

Civic & Global Leadership Capstone Projects

The Certificate in Civic and Global Leadership is an academic program for students interested in integrating their co-curricular community engagement–through summer or academic internships, for example–with related academic coursework.  This coursework has three aspects:   an introduction to leadership for social change, policy courses in the student’s community engagement interest area, and a senior capstone project designed to help a community partner develop changes in policies and practices to enhance their capacity to achieve their mission. 

This certificate rests on the principle that In a liberal arts context, we aspire to connect. This certificate program uses an intentionally interdisciplinary lens to help students make sense of social issues they care about while weaving applied scholarship, meaningful service, and collaboration together to advance the well-being of community members.

In the senior capstone project, students contract as consultants contracted with nonprofits to address a specific challenge. Based on their client's expressed needs, they do research that allows them to develop research and well-organized consultancy reports on implementable plans to address their client’s challenges.

Sewanee Academic Calendar

View the University calendars with detailed information about the academic year.

Included in the academic calendar is everything you need to know about the start and completion of each semester, midterms, final examinations, holiday closings, and commencement.

The master calendar includes information of all the events happening at the University.