St. Olaf is celebrating the launch of the Svoboda Center for Civic Engagement. The center is made possible through a donation from Paul Svoboda ’81, who now works in Chicago as a tax and corporate lawyer. The Svoboda Center operates within the framework and shared mission of the Institute for Freedom and Community (IFC) in preparing students for civic engagement and leadership in their futures.
Professor of Political Science and Morrison Family Director of the IFC Christopher Chapp explained that the center formalizes the campus’s civic engagement work that is already being done and allocates resources to St. Olaf’s commitment to civic engagement.
The two main branches of the Svoboda Center will be Academic Civic Engagement (ACE) and Community-Based Work Study under the direction of Civic Engagement Director Alyssa Melby, who recently stepped into the director role. Melby will continue to oversee the ACE curricular programming, which is now part of the Svoboda Center, and expand new initiatives.
“We, the college, now have an opportunity to think more holistically about our community and civic engagement efforts, to better understand the connections between all the different ways we already engage in our community, to intentionally share the good work that so many students and faculty are already doing, and to have a centralized place where we can thoughtfully respond to new opportunities and priorities that arise from our local community,” Melby said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger.
The Svoboda Center will also sponsor programming events, such as its involvement in facilitating the Service Saturday event on Sept. 13 and co-sponsoring two speakers with the IFC this semester. “A key piece of the Svoboda Center is to do what we’re already doing better,” Melby said.
Students can look forward to a new program, the Common Good Fellows Program, which provides funding for 10 students to go through a year-long learning and social action project. The new initiatives from the Svoboda Center are designed to further St. Olaf’s mission to create civically-engaged future leaders.
Melby and Chapp look forward to the growth of these programs and a future with structured support for students ready to engage with the world.
