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JOURNALS     CONFERENCES     WORKSHOPS     GRANTS     IMPACT

The Office of Community Engagement supports University of Iowa graduate students through the Graduate Engagement Corps (GEC). The GEC provides graduate students interested in community engagement with training, networking, and funding opportunities to elevate their research and increase their impact in local communities. Publishing, conferences, and professional development workshops further enhance the graduate student experience.
GEC 2023 Icon

2023 APPLICATIONS NOW CLOSED

The Graduate Engagement Corps (GEC) program provides graduate and professional students with training in critical areas of community engagement, including community-engaged teaching, community-engaged research, and building community partnerships. 

A three day Orientation will kick off the GEC on January 9th - 11th. The Orientation will be in person, with the third half-day including visits to local community partner sites. After completing the GEC Orientation, graduate students can participate in additional workshops and training to gain a more profound knowledge of specific topics in community engagement through the Spring 2023 semester. Grant funding will be available for GEC participants to apply for in the late Spring of 2023 to encourage the implementation of the skills they have learned through the Orientation and subsequent workshops. To be eligible, participants must complete the Orientation and attend at least one Office of Community Engagement/GEC workshop during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Graduate Engagement Corps 
2022-23 Cohort Schedule

GEC Orientation: January 9th – 11th  
February – April: Workshops and trainings for GEC cohort
April/early May: Launch of GEC Grant Program for 2023

 

 

Orientation Schedule
UCC Seminar Room

2520D UCC

 

GEC Orientation Day 1

 

DAY 1


Monday, January 9th, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm 
Community Engaged Research

 

9:00 – 9:30       Welcome and Introductions

9:30 – 10:00     Orientation Overview + Defining Community Engagement

10:00 – 11:00   Introduction to Community Engaged Research 

11:00 – 11:15   Break

11:15 – 12:00   Lessons from the Field: Community Engaged Researchers (Panel Presentation and Q&A)

12:00 – 12:45   Lunch 

12:45 – 1:15     GEC 2022 Panel

1:15 – 1:45       Small Group Discussion

1:45 – 2:00       Circle back and Takeaways

 

GEC 2023 2

 

DAY 2


Tuesday, January 10th, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm
Community Engaged Classrooms + Incorporating Engagement into Research & Teaching

9:00 – 9:15       Welcome and Morning Downloads

9:15 – 10:15     Incorporating Community Engagement Into the Classroom

10:15 – 11:15   Lessons from the Field: Community-Engaged Courses - Instructors & Students (Panel Presentation and Q&A) 

11:15 – 12:00   Lunch

12:00 – 12:30   How can you incorporate engagement into your research and teaching?

12:30 – 1:30     Small group breakouts; How can engagement fit into research and teaching?

1:30 – 2:00       Circle back and Takeaways 

2023 GEC Day 3

 

DAY 3


Wednesday, January 11th 9:00 am – 2:00 pm
Building Community Partnerships 
 
9:00 – 9:05       Welcome

9:05 – 10:30     Introduction to Building Community Partnerships

10:30 – 10:45   Travel to Community Partner #1

10:45 – 11:45   Tour of Community Partner, Interview Community Partner  

11:45 – 12:00   Travel to Community Partner #2

12:00 – 12:45   Lunch

12:45 – 1:45     Tour of Community Partner, Interview Community Partner

1:45 – 2:00       Wrap-up and GEC next steps 

Why students have joined the GEC

Conor Hilton

Conner H. GEC Pic

Mavis Gyesi

Mavis Gyesi GEC Pic

Yuchen Liu

Yuchen Liu GEC Pic

2023 Graduate Engagement Corps (GEC) Members

Photo Name Department Degree Seeking What does 'community engagement' mean to you?
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim 
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim  School of Journalism and Mass Communication  Masters in Journalism and Mass Communication (May 2023) Community engagement to me means reaching out beyond the bubble of the University of Iowa and making an impact and contributing to the community around the university. 
Alexis Slade
Alexis Slade Civil Environmental Engineering PhD Civil Environmental Engineering, May 2025 Community engagement makes me feel that I am providing something back to the community and building a partnership with them that doesn't necessarily end once I collect all my data.
Ariane Thomas
Ariane Thomas Anthropology Ph.D. in Anthropology, May 2024 Community engagement is a dynamic process that involves listening and understanding the needs of the community and assisting them with their goals.
Christos Sidiropoulo
Christos Sidiropoulos School of Music Master of Arts, May 2023 Community engagement for me is mostly talking to peers outside of my research area. It can be very good to talk to new people because they offer "outsider" perspectives which I simply cannot think of incorporating either to research or teaching. 
Clara Reynen
Clara Reynen School of Library and Information Sciences, University of Iowa Center for the Book Master of Library and Information Sciences and Certificate in Book Studies, May 2025 Community engagement means meeting people where they are. Reaching people on the margins is the only way to make a community more tight knit and functional- if we can extend our reach to encapsulate folks who have traditionally been excluded, the community’s values and history can only become more rich and vibrant.
Dat Hong 
Dat Hong  Computer Science  PhD in Computer Science, May 2023 Do more socializing, understand more people in community around you, understand the community (what is happening and what it needs,...), participate in doing volunteer work,  helping people, etc. 
Ebenezer A.k Aidoo
Ebenezer A.k Aidoo Communication Studies Department PhD in Communication Studies   The process of meaningfully engaging and collaborating with community groups to effectively address challenges affecting their wellbeing. 
Emily V Schmitz
Emily V Schmitz Civil and Environmental Engineering  Doctorate of Civil and Environmental Engineering, May 2024 Community engagement is a meaningful partnership between me and a community I am a part of to make a positive difference. Fostering this relationship results in a positive step forward, creating effective and impactful change. 
Harry Mills, Agnes
Harry Mills, Agnes School of Art and Art History Master of Art, December 2022, Master of Fine Art, May 2024 I see community engagement as strands in a woven piece. Each strand is important, yet incomplete on its own. They must work together. One giving room for the other, supporting each other's strengths, and helping the next one's weaknesses. In the end, together they reach a common positive goal.
Isaac Addai
Isaac Addai Theatre Arts Department Master of Fine Arts in Acting Community engagement is essential to maintaining a healthy communal environment. If we only make decisions from the comfort of our offices without continually seeking out problems in the community, we are not doing our jobs to the best of our ability.
Jamie Weinfurter
Jamie Weinfurter School of Art & Art History Master of Arts, May 2023 and Master of Fine Arts, May 2024 Community engagement should connect with those living within the community in order to uplift and share individual and collective experiences in a meaningful way. 
Jaruam Miguez Xavier
Jaruam Miguez Xavier Dance MFA It means that we, as students, are a vast community, and sharing is the most important part of getting a degree. Thus, engaging in this community means being open to improving ourselves more and more. 
Katie Gucik
Katie Gucik College of Liberal Arts and Sciences- Theatre Arts Master of Fine Arts in Acting, May 2024 To me, community engagement is about connection. It's about having conversations. It's about uplifting and embracing the diversity of a community instead of polarizing different opinions. 
Kelly Carlson
Kelly Carlson School of Music - Music Therapy PhD in Music - Music Therapy, December 2025 Community engagement means participating in the community to help strengthen the entire community.  
Laura Carpenter
Laura Carpenter American Studies PhD in American Studies, May 2025 I value the process of building trust and maintaining reciprocity to such a high degree that, for me, community engagement means prioritizing inclusion and agency with partners and empowering them to own the means for reaching their goals.
Maeve Biscupski
Maeve Biscupski Graduate College - Sustainable Development Master of Sustainable Development with Thesis, May 2024 Responsibly and inclusively synthesizing a community's need for a specific project or goal.
Maria Marroquin
Maria Marroquin Perez Spanish and Portuguese PhD in Spanish, May 2024 I don’t consider community engagement to be solving problems for a community, but rather giving members of the community support to overcome obstacles. Community engagement is using the skills we have in collaboration with others to provide assistance in the growth of our communities. 
Mark Flores
Mark Flores Health and Human Physiology PhD May 2027 To me, community engagement means both impacting and allowing yourself to be informed and impacted by a community. 
Monté J. Howell
Monté J. Howell College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Theatre Master of Fine Arts, May 2024 Community engagement means reaching out to build community. My mission is to go out into the community and spread community through theatre, so they know they have a place where they can be seen and appreciated. 
Naomi Davis
Naomi Davis School of Music Master of Arts in Music Therapy, Spring 2024 Community engagement can mean a lot of different things. For me, it primarily centers around offering programming and resources that are relevant and meaningful to the individual communities that they are offered in. It's about becoming part of the community not just being in the community.
Onyeche Oche
Onyeche Oche College of Pharmacy, Division of Health Services Research PhD, December 2023 My definition of community engagement is the process of collaborating with members of a community in a way that gives them the freedom to express their needs, pain points, and challenges, and working with them to find solutions to any identified problems.
Osamamen Oba Eduviere
Osamamen Oba Eduviere Religious Studies Department PhD, Religious Studies, 2026 Community engagement is the collaboration of the researcher with the interlocutors in the field to contribute positively towards knowledge production. 
Sermantha Louisy
Sermantha Louisy College of Education: Teaching and Learning PhD in LCLE--Literacy Education (Children and Young Adult Literacy) Community Engagement is working collaboratively with and through groups of people who may be experiencing similar challenges, to help address these situations/challenges for and with them. 
Sophia McLaughlin
Sophia McLaughlin Dance Master of Fine Art, May 202 Community engagement means listening to the needs of the community and activating a project or event to build connection with others in the community. Community engagement can take many forms but ultimately brings community members together through a shared experience.
Sun Joo Lee
Sun Joo Lee Music Therapy  PhD in Music Therapy, December 2024  Community engagement invites everyone to share their voice when organizing their group to work toward the same goals. It encourages active participants' involvement to manage, interact, and communicate, which leads to achieve long-term and sustainable goals. 
Uchechi Anomnachi
Uchechi Anomnachi American Studies Department PhD in American Studies, May 2024 Community engagement to me is an act of translation. The academy, across the disciplines, is a storehouse of knowledge that is trapped in language that we cannot reasonably expect everyone to know. Community engagement is a way of making that knowledge accessible.
Ugochukwu Madu
Ugochukwu Madu School of Journalism and Mass Communication PhD in Mass Communication, May 2027 I view "community engagement" as working with a specific group of people, to identify their needs and problems, and collaborate with them toward proffering solution to those.
Yajaira Bolanos Flores
Yajaira Bolanos Flores College of Public Health, Community Behavioral Health Master of Public Health, May 2023 Community engagement includes community outreach to raise awareness of a particular issue, stakeholder involvement to share research and exchange ideas, advocacy and policy change to work with policymakers, training to build capacity, and feedback from community members to share perspectives about the research.
Zachery Love
Zachery Love Geographic and Sustainability Science M.A. (With Thesis) in Geography, May 2024

Community engagement are actions taken to build social understanding, bridge gaps in knowledge, and connect actors and stakeholders. 

Nicole Yeager
Nicole Yeager Counseling Psychology PhD  

 

Graduate student finds her target research population, grant support, community partnerships, and more in Graduate Engagement Corps

Yuchen GEC pic

Originally from China, Yuchen Liu, a Ph.D. candidate in Foreign Language and ESL Education, came to the University of Iowa after receiving an offer to join the Ph.D. program in 2016 after spending two years in Kentucky pursuing a master's degree.

Now in the sixth year of her program, Liu is in All But Dissertation (ABD) status after completing all doctoral degree requirements except for writing a dissertation.

In 2021, Liu joined the Graduate Engagement Corps (GEC), which introduced her to the concept of community engagement. 

"I had never done anything like it," Liu said. "I had engaged with local communities as a volunteer at locations like the food bank, crisis center, and some other nonprofit organizations around Iowa City, but that was all I knew." 

The GEC was launched by the Office of Community Engagement to connect University of Iowa graduate students with training and partnerships to advance their research in collaboration with Iowa communities.

"I gained a lot by joining the GEC, including how to find resources and support for my research," Liu said. "I recommend it to graduate students looking for a welcoming and open-minded program that helps connect research with communities through engagement."

READ MORE

 

Graduate Engagement Corps connects grad students to funding, community partnerships, and professional development

A group of students walk down the sidewalk together

The Graduate Engagement Corps (GEC) is an opportunity for students seeking advanced degrees to learn about and receive support for community-engaged teaching, learning, and research. Members of the GEC are also be part of a network of like-minded, community-engaged students that can provide friendship and connection throughout their time at the University of Iowa.

"This is a community of students looking for the opportunity to make an impact in the world through research and teaching," said Nick Benson, executive director of the Office of Community Engagement." The GEC will give you training, resources, and a community to join to advance those causes." 

The GEC was born out of the sunset of the Obermann Center's Graduate Institute on Engagement and the Academy. Benson and Obermann Center leadership worked over the summer to transition the program and make it more accessible and practical for participants. 

The GEC offers graduate and professional students training, support, and financial resources to help impact their communities through engagement. The orientation and workshops will provide the training, the GEC network will provide support, and grants launching spring of 2023 will provide the financial resources through grants for which GEC members can apply.

READ MORE

2022 Graduate Engagement Corps (GEC) Members

Photo Name Department Degree Seeking
Adolfo Carlos

Adolfo Carlos Fernandes de Mendonca Junior

School of Music

PhD in Music Teaching and Learning, December 2026

 

Ashley N. T. Williams

College of Public Health - Department of Community and Behavioral Health

Masters of Public Health, Spring 2023

Caleb K.

Caleb Klipowicz

Anthropology

Doctorate in Anthropology, May 2023

 

Christos  Sidiropoulos

School of Music

Master in Musicology

Conor Hilton

Conor Hilton

Department of English

PhD, May 2025

 

DeZhane Rouse

School of Liberal Art and Science 

Masters of Fine Art in Theater, May 2024

Diana Brace

Diana Brace

Grant Recipient

Educational Policy and Leadership Studies

PhD, Fall 2023

Emily Wieder

Emily Wieder

French & Italian

PhD French and Francophone World Studies, May 2026

Frankline Matanji

Frankline Matanji

Grant Recipient

School of Journalism and Mass Communication

PhD in Journalism and Mass Communication

Hannah Espy

Hannah Espy

Sociology and Criminology 

PhD in Sociology, May 2023

Jacob Gallagher

Jacob Gallagher 

Department of Health and Human Physiology 

PhD in Health and Human Physiology (focus area: Health promotion)

Jae Kim

Jae Kim

College of Education--Counseling Psychology 

May 2025

Jenelle S.

Jenelle Stafford

Cinematic Arts

Master of Fine Arts, June 2024

 

Jocelyn Williams

School of Planning & Public Affairs

Master of Public Affairs, May 2023

Kate Conlow

Kate Conlow

College of Law

Juris Doctor, May 2023

Keegan Hockett

Keegan Hockett

School of Music

Doctor of Musical Arts in Bassoon Performance and Pedagogy, May 2023

Mavis Gyesi

Mavis Gyesi

Grant Recipient

Educational Policy and Leadership Studies

Higher Education and Students Affairs, May 2025

Megan D.

Megan Dehner

Grant Recipient

College of Education, Teaching and Learning 

Masters of Art Education, May 2023

 

Megan Sinik

Carver College of Medicine

MD, May 2024

 

Nahid Zeinali

Informatics 

May 2026

Olivia Gallon

Olivia Galyon

School of Planning and Public Affairs

Masters of Urban and Regional Planning, May 2023

Rachel Conley

Rachel Conley

Law

JD Law Degree, May 2024

 

Sonya Madrigal

Liberal arts and science 

MFA acting 2024

Taylor Billings

Taylor Billings

Geographical and Sustainability Sciences

PhD in Geography, May 2024

Thiago Ancelmo

Thiago Ancmo de Souza

School of Music

DMA in clarinet performance and pedagogy

Yuchen

Yuchen Liu

Grant Recipient

Teaching and Learning

PhD

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you have a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to participate in this program, don't hesitate to contact Nick Benson at (319) 290-0006 or nicholas-benson@uiowa.edu.
Soft Blue Sky
The University of Iowa
University of Iowa

Office of Community Engagement

Iowa City, Iowa 52242

ui-engagement@uiowa.edu

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