About the event
The Annual Retreat kicks off the academic year for CEA partner institutions. This one-day event gives you the opportunity to connect (or reconnect) with your colleagues from around the state. We are happy to offer this event for free to our partner institutions!
Registration is open August 7-September 8, 2023. You can also join the discussion and follow event updates on Facebook.
The schedule
| 9:00-9:30 am | Networking & Light Breakfast |
| 9:30-10:15 am | Holly Davis, Keynote Speaker |
| 10:30-11:30 am | Concurrent Sessions |
| 11:45-12:45 | Concurrent Sessions |
| 1:00-2:00 pm | Networking Lunch |
| 2:00-3:15 pm | Gayle Hilleke, Keynote Speaker |
| 3:15-3:30 pm | Closing & Afternoon Snacks |
All times are Eastern Standard Time.
The venue
University of Indianapolis
Schwitzer Student Center
1400 Campus Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46227
What to expect
Attire for the Annual retreat is smart casual. University apparel is encouraged! Lunch and a light breakfast are included. The day typically includes a keynote speaker, breakout sessions, and time for networking.
Presenters
The presentations for the Annual Retreat have been carefully curated to cover a wide variety of topics in the field of community and civic engagement. We look forward to learning from the selected speakers!
Holly Davis, VP External Affairs, Indiana Philanthropy Alliance
Keynote Speaker
Holly oversees IPA’s public policy initiatives, executes strategic initiatives important to IPA members, and secures partnerships to aid in furthering IPA's mission. She directs the John M. Mutz Philanthropic Leadership Institute. Holly made the Indianapolis Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list in 2009, and was recognized by Governor Mitch Daniels as a Distinguished Hoosier in 2010. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History from Indiana University-Bloomington and is a 2007 alumnae of the Campaign School at Yale University. She is a Certified Association Executive (CAE), active as a member and speaker with the Indiana Society of Association Executives, and Government Affairs Society of Indiana, and serves on the Public Policy Committee for the United Philanthropy Forum.
Holly will share why it is important that we maintain focus on producing civic-minded graduates and why a healthy civil society is important for the overall health and wellness of Indiana.
Gayle Hilleke, Executive Director Kentucky Campus Compact
Keynote Speaker
In January, 2006, Gayle became the founding executive director of Kentucky Campus Compact (KyCC). Prior to moving to Kentucky, Gayle spent eight years in Washington D.C. at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) where she served as an AmeriCorps program officer and as a project manager for a national assessment initiative, the State Administrative Standards project. Prior to working at CNCS, she was the first program officer of the Ohio state commission (Governor’s Community Service Council) from 1994-1997.
Gayle will be conducting a Deliberative Dialogue workshop, a way for individuals from varied backgrounds and perspectives to come together to seek a shared understanding of a problem or issue and search for common ground and action. This session will help faculty and staff facilitate meaningful dialogue between students and the community throughout the academic year as local, state, and national elections draw closer.
Catherine Flynn, Maggie Morgan, Susan Ferebee, and Jennifer Haber, Purdue Global
This presentation will center on the design and implementation of the new Purdue Global Fellows program, how others can develop their own program designed around their unique institutional culture, and how a program like this can be done effectively in a virtual setting.
Jennifer Fishovitz, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Saint Mary’s College
Presentation of the development and outcomes of their funded research project, Cultivating a Social-Change Orientation Among Faculty Across Campus. This CEA-funded project was a unique experience for this group of faculty, and their campus colleagues, and also served as an excellent example of how a group of individuals can come together around a particular topic and learn from and with each other in support of their students, campus, and community.
Ebony Chappel, Indiana Local News Initiative
Ebony is an award-winning multimedia journalist and certified community health worker. Her work has garnered recognition from the Society of Professional Journalists, Hoosier State Press Association, National Newspaper Publishers Association and the Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation among other honors. In 2022, she was named to the Indianapolis Business Journal’s Forty Under 40.
In 2021, a steering committee of local journalism, community and business leaders worked with the American Journalism Project to conduct a comprehensive statewide research study, working with 27 community ambassadors around Indiana and collecting input through text messaging and online surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Ebony will share information about the news initiative, its growth strategy, and a civic side hustle opportunity for students with the new Documenters program.
Mari German, Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, Tisch College
Mari is the Outreach and Resource Specialist for the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE) at Tisch College. She supports the communication, outreach, and impact needs for IDHE and is involved in the campus reauthorization and recruitment processes for the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement. Her background is DEIJ, community and higher education focused. Prior to joining IDHE, she was a Mentor/Trainer at The Posse Foundation which brought her full circle as a Posse Scholar. Mari holds a double B.A. in Africana and Hispanic Studies from Hamilton College.
The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) offers colleges and universities an opportunity to learn their student registration and voting rates and, for interested campuses, a closer examination of their campus climate for political learning and engagement and correlations between specific student learning experiences and voting. Her session will highlight projects for campus community election engagement, best practices for data collection and utilization, and how NSLVE can help improve student voting and democratic engagement on campus.
Niki Messmore, Director of Medical Service Learning, Indiana University School of Medicine
Niki Messmore is the Program Director of Community & Civic Engagement. She has a bachelor's in political science and a master’s in higher education & student affairs. She holds years of diverse experiences in advocacy work, community organizing, and political campaigns.
In this interactive session, participants will work together to share information and strategize on how to maximize our university resources for statewide community impact on public health issues ranging from decreasing maternal mortality rates to food insecurity to youth programs and more. Led by the Service Learning Director at IU School of Medicine, we’ll begin with a focus on health disparities at the 9 Indiana cities where IUSM has a campus. Participants will engage by sharing the work at their campuses and the social issues affecting their community before strategizing together on relationships and resources that we can leverage to collectively make a powerful impact statewide. Frameworks utilized to structure these conversations include: critical service learning theory, critical race theory, and trauma-informed practices.
Our supporters & partners
Registration is closed for 2023.
Join us at our next in-person event, the Summit & Research Symposium.