Saying “I Do” to Community Partnerships

Saying "I Do" to Community Partnerships: How UGA Fellows Elevate the Athens Community

Monday, March 27, 2023

by Nelson Millán Nales

College towns around the US, like Athens, GA, are paying careful attention to the complex, symbiotic relationship between university campuses (Gowns) and their surrounding host communities (Towns) – a partnership that researchers of Innovative Higher Education liken to a “marriage” between the two.[i]  Essentially, the daily interactions between institutions of higher education and their local communities - and the daily pursuit of shared needs and goals - are crucial for the social, economic, and cultural well-being of both entities, requiring a healthy balance of give and take. As a result, university leadership in major college towns around the nation are developing effective strategies to further engage host communities beyond their campuses, to nurture a harmonious relationship between the two - and an environment where creativity and innovation can prosper.  

One way the University of Georgia has begun to bridge the gap between town and gown is through its adoption of an experiential learning (EL) degree requirement. Supporting an Experiential Learning Initiative was a triumph of UGA’s commitment to high-impact practices, making UGA one of the first institutions to require EL through project-based initiatives as part of its cutting-edge undergraduate curriculum. In addition to providing students with opportunities to gain invaluable experience, awarding EL credit effectively delivers direct impact to surrounding communities and beyond by design, advancing the work of UGA’s First Community Relations Director, Pat Allan, and continuing through UGA’s current award-winning Director, Allison McCullick.

Strengthening and developing town-gown relations yields a host of reciprocal benefits: a survey of four Georgia college presidents[ii] found that the careful stewardship of an intuition’s economic influence over their host community – via the active promotion of economic and cultural development – imposed the most significant impact in reconciling the town-gown “marriage.” Specifically, universities aimed at cultivating an “innovation-fueled economy,” one that organically attracts private actors and allows local economies to thrive as new businesses and industries emerge, lured by the dynamic collaborations between private and public sectors, and academia.

One of UGA’s exemplary town-gown channels, the UGA Innovation District, forms an ecosystem that draws a wealth of professional expertise from around the state. Industry actors are drawn, for example, to UGA’s impressive talent pipeline, composed of some of the best thinkers, innovators, and future leaders. By engaging students in service-learning projects and partnering with local organizations, higher education institutions can help tackle problems such as poverty, homelessness, and environmental concerns.[iii] Students gain valuable experience in problem-solving, teamwork, and empathy, while community members benefit from the fresh perspectives and resources brought by these young minds.

Another important player in UGA’s town-gown strategy, the Student Industry Fellows Program (SIFP), provides students the opportunity to offer their consulting and research services to local organizations that are working to better our shared environments. SIFP Fellows are collaborating with agencies around Athens-Clarke County to elevate campus-community partnerships and help solve some of the most challenging, modern-world problems.

In Fall 2022, Fellows completed a holistic, comparative review of Athens-Clarke County Government’s existing talent pipeline strategy by evaluating emerging trends. They analyzed current recruitment efforts, identifying future hire segmentation to develop an effective and efficient lead generation strategy. “We listened to recently hired employees tell us why they chose to work for the government - everyone from accountants to HR professionals to transportation staff,” said Christopher Rosselot (BA ’23, Int’l Affairs & Latin America/Caribbean Studies). “We concluded that, above all, early career employees value a range of professional experience, something a bureaucratic organization like a local government does not readily offer. Yet Athens, as a hub of technical education and research expertise, should be able to offer this rotational variety for future employees from a variety of educational backgrounds," added Rosselot.

“We worked with [ACCGov] to provide innovative ways to effectively and efficiently attract and retain talent. This leads to a huge opportunity for the members of the Athens and UGA campus community because they are the ones who will be able to take part in these innovative approaches to having a career with the local government.” - Shivani Patel, BA ’24, Finance

Similarly, the previous semester (Spring 2022), Fellows advised Athens Habitat for Humanity in refining their operations manual by reviewing their current functions, systems, and processes to propose a strategic and effective plan for improvement.  “Through the collaboration with [the Athens Area Habitat for Humanity], the Fellows were able to make a difference in partnership with a local nonprofit organization,” said Buhusuru Ranasinghe (BA ’24, Finance & Int’l Business), one of the lead Fellows on the project. “Using human-centered design principles, we were able to identify the pains of the organization and propose practical solutions. With that, the organization was able to continue serving our community more effectively and efficiently,” Ranasinghe explained.

Aligned with UGA’s $8.5 million commitment to enhancing campus safety – nearly half of which has been dedicated to lighting and security camera improvements in and around the Athens campus – the Student Industry Fellows paired with global experts in campus lighting, Belgian-founded company Schréder, to assess the conditions for potential “smart-campus” innovations on UGA’s campus. The Fellows surveyed over 700 students, finding that over 38% of women sometimes felt unsafe on campus, reinforcing the need for bottom-line improvements to campus safety. Ranasinghe reflected on the project with Schréder, noting how the Fellows were able to identify significant problems that college students were facing regarding their safety and how to effectively combat those issues through the introduction of revolutionary technology that would benefit both the University and its students.

With these innovative projects, the University of Georgia's Student Industry Fellows Program initiative serves as a model for how higher education institutions can actively participate in the betterment of their host communities. By nurturing an innovation-fueled economy and engaging students in service-learning projects, UGA has demonstrated the transformative power of effective town-gown relations. As more universities adopt similar approaches, the potential for positive change in college towns across the nation will only continue to grow.

[i] Gavazzi, S. M., Fox, M. D., & Martin, J. (2014). Understanding Campus and Community Relationships through Marriage and Family Metaphors: A Town-Gown Typology. Innovative Higher Education, 39(5), 361–374. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-014-9288-1. Gavazzi et al. argue that scholarship on marriages and families provide insight into what happens between campus and community relationships over time. There article evaluates that methods in which institutions and municipalities create healthy balances between their idiosyncratic needs and pursuit of shared goals and objectives.

[ii] Weill, L. V. (2009). The President’s Role in Cultivating Positive Town-Gown Relations. Planning for Higher Education, 37(4),37+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A221022961/AONE?u=egc1&sid=googleScholar&xid=4c5836d2

[iii] Martin, Lawrence & Smith, Hayden & Phillips, Wende. (2005). Bridging ‘Town & Gown’ Through Innovative University-Community Partnerships. The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal. 10.

Nelson Millán Nales is the Graduate Assistant for  the SIF program and business development within the Office of University Experiential Learning at the University of Georgia. Nelson is working toward earning his Master of Public Administration from UGA. He can be contacted at millannales@uga.edu. Stay up to date on all of UGA’s Experiential Learning programs at el.uga.edu and follow us on Instagram.