MacJannet Prize for Global Citizenship Awarded to Exceptional University Civic Engagement Programs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Elizabeth Babcock Talloires Network Coordinator [email protected] (p) 202-775-0290 (f) 202-355-9317 WASHINGTON, DC – The Talloires Network and the MacJannet Foundation today announced the winners of the second annual MacJannet Prize for Global Citizenship. The first place winner is PuentesUC (Bridges UC) at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. PuentesUC is an innovative model of collaboration between the university and municipal governments to further student learning and local development. “This prize brings great recognition to our university and its constant mission to unite academic work with the challenges of our country,” said Ignacio Irarrázaval, director of the Center of Public Politics UC, which oversees PuentesUC. The MacJannet Prize for Global Citizenship recognizes exceptional student civic engagement initiatives based in Talloires Network member universities around the world and contributes financially to their ongoing public service efforts. Sixty-six programs from 54 universities in 27 countries around the world were nominated. Lawrence S. Bacow, President of Tufts University, serves as the Chair of the Talloires Network, an international association of institutions committed to strengthening the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education. “The MacJannet Prize embodies the ambitions and founding goals of the Talloires Network and will serve to raise awareness of the contributions universities can make to active citizenship,” said President Bacow. The MacJannet Foundation, which so-sponsors the annual award, supports the Prize as an extension of the philanthropic work of its founders, international educators Donald and Charlotte MacJannet. The foundation’s president, Tony Cook said “The MacJannet Prize is an ideal way to spotlight the most worthy and productive student service-learning projects in countries around the world. We salute the winners for their unselfish volunteer efforts and their positive contributions to their societies and the global community.” Winning programs were selected by an international committee representing the MacJannet Foundation, the Talloires Network, and our partners. Members included: Tony Cook (President, MacJannet Foundation); Tony Kleitz (MacJannet Foundation Trustee); Rob Hollister (Dean, Tisch College, Tufts University); Goolam Mohamedbhai (Secretary General, Association of African Universities); Brenda Gourley (Former Vice-Chancellor, the Open University); María Nieves Tapia (Director, Latin American Center for Service-Learning); and Yazmín Cruz (Project Officer, Global University Network for Innovation). This year’s first place winner, PuentesUC, was launched in 2002 to set up a link between the university and neighboring municipalities. A university-wide program with strong institutional support, its general objective is to provide real-life learning opportunities for its students and to contribute to local community development, generating a permanent link between the university and local government. Participants are students, professors, town officers, and authorities in continuous learning and development. PuentesUC (Bridges UC) refers to a bridge that links academia with city authorities and workers. Since its creation, the program has developed over 1,000 projects in 14 municipalities, with the participation of 6,500 students and 200 professors of all faculties. These projects entail coursework, professional practices, thesis or dissertations, volunteerism, extension, and research. The $5,000 prize will be used to further the program’s inspiring work. The second place winners are the HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention Program at University of Mines and Technology in Ghana and Community Awareness Initiatives Responsibly-Directed by Engineers (CAIRDE) at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Both second-prize winners will receive $2,500. The HIV/AIDS Prevention Program at the University of Mines and Technology began with an FM station called Dynamite FM established in 1998. The station is used to educate the local community on environmental issues, HIV/AIDS, public hygiene, and other issues. The program then expanded to field work where competitively-selected and trained students and staff visit mining communities to administer questionnaires on HIV/AIDS prevention; put on various seminar discussions, public fora, video presentations and plays to educate the local population on HIV/AIDS prevention; and to distribute condoms in the local mining camps. Since the program's inception, the HIV infection rate in Tarkwa, Ghana has dropped from over 4% to 2.5%. Community Awareness Initiatives Responsibly-Directed by Engineers at NUI Galway is a service-learning program where all third-year Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering students apply academic knowledge and skills to address genuine community needs. Established in 2003 by Professor Abhay Pandit, it became an embedded part of the undergraduate Mechanical, Biomedical, and Electrical Engineering programs as part of a required module that previously had been solely lecture-based. The emphasis is on interacting directly with intended beneficiaries of projects. It remains the only service learning engineering program in Ireland. The MacJannet Foundation and the Talloires Network also awarded third-place prizes, worth $1,000, to five additional outstanding programs from four continents: The geographic diversity of the winning programs demonstrates the global scope of the movement to incorporate civic engagement within higher education. In all regions of the world, higher education institutions are responding to pressing social issues, and students in particular are championing the idea of global citizenship. The MacJannet Prize recognizes the winning programs as models for universities worldwide and will continue to encourage community engagement within higher education.

###

The Talloires Network is an international association of institutions committed to strengthening the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education (http://www.tufts.edu/talloiresnetwork/). Innovations in Civic Participation (http://icicp.org/) and Tisch College at Tufts University (http://activecitizen.tufts.edu/) serve as secretariat of the Network. The MacJannet Foundation carries out the life work of Donald and Charlotte MacJannet by offering scholarship programs, awards, and other financial support for the Tufts University European Center in Talloires, France (http://www.macjannet.org/). The MacJannet Prize for Global Citizenship recognizes exceptional student civic engagement initiatives based in Talloires Network member universities around the world and contributes financially to their ongoing public service efforts. Visit http://www.macjannetprize.org/ in the upcoming months for profiles of the winning programs, and for information about next year’s competition.