Board Spotlight: Nancy Rogers
Empowering Students to Make an Impact Today
At Community-Engaged Alliance (CEA), our Board of Directors brings together higher education leaders who believe colleges and universities have an important role in strengthening communities across Indiana. Through our Board Spotlight series, we're introducing the people who help guide that mission and sharing the experiences that have shaped their commitment to civic and community engagement.
This month, we're pleased to feature Dr. Nancy Rogers, Vice President for Student Experience and Engagement at Indiana State University and a longtime advocate for connecting students with opportunities to serve, learn, and make a difference.
A Family Foundation of Service
For Nancy, higher education and community involvement have always been closely connected.
Growing up, education was part of everyday life. Her father worked in higher education at Western Illinois University, while her mother was an elementary school teacher. Both also modeled the importance of contributing beyond their professional roles.
Those experiences helped shape Nancy's understanding that being part of a community also means contributing to it.
It's a value she has carried into adulthood, both professionally and personally. Just as her parents modeled service for her, Nancy has worked to instill the importance of community involvement in her own children.
Today, that commitment is reflected throughout her work at Indiana State University, where creating a meaningful student experience includes helping students understand the role they can play in the communities around them.
A Tradition of Giving Back
One of Nancy's favorite examples of community engagement at Indiana State is also one of the university's longstanding traditions: Donaghy Day.
Held just before the beginning of the fall semester, Donaghy Day brings students, faculty, and staff together for a morning of service projects benefiting both the Indiana State campus and the greater Terre Haute community.
Instead of starting college experience only with meetings, orientations, and introductions, students have an opportunity to roll up their sleeves and work alongside one another. For new students in particular, the experience provides something beyond volunteer service. It creates a comfortable environment where they can meet classmates, interact with faculty and staff, and begin forming relationships while doing something positive for their new community.
Students Making a Difference Now
That idea of introducing students to community engagement early connects to something Nancy believes strongly: college students don't have to wait until they graduate to make a meaningful difference.
Students sometimes assume that community impact comes later in life, after earning a degree, beginning a career, or reaching a position where they have greater resources or influence.
Nancy sees something very different every day.
"I think what's important for students to know, and they sometimes don't understand, is the impact that they can have, said Nancy."
Through service-learning courses, volunteer opportunities, part-time employment, and faculty-led projects, Indiana State students are already contributing their skills and talents to organizations throughout Terre Haute.
Those contributions are particularly meaningful to the nonprofit organizations that provide critical services throughout the community. As Nancy explained, these organizations form an important safety net in Terre Haute, and students help support their work in many ways.
Students may enter an experience expecting to learn or volunteer, but their work can have a tangible impact on an organization's ability to fulfill its mission. At the same time, students gain a deeper understanding of community needs and recognize their own ability to be part of the solution.
A Longstanding Connection to Community-Engaged Alliance
Indiana State University's relationship with Community-Engaged Alliance stretches back to the organization's early days. Nancy was involved during that era as a member of the advisory committee, working alongside other higher education professionals who were directly involved in community service and engagement on their campuses. That history made serving on the Community-Engaged Alliance Board of Directors a natural next step.
Nancy has now served CEA on the Board for three years and was an advocate for expanding the composition of the Board beyond college and university presidents.
She believed CEA would benefit from bringing a wider range of voices to the table, including professionals who work more directly with community engagement initiatives on their campuses.
That broader representation allows CEA to benefit from the perspectives of people working at different levels and in different roles throughout Indiana higher education.
For Nancy, joining the Board was an easy decision because it continued a relationship with an organization and mission she had already supported for years.
Connecting Faculty with Resources
Nancy also sees tremendous value in ensuring that Indiana State faculty understand the resources available to them through Community-Engaged Alliance.
From professional development opportunities to grants and program funding, CEA provides tools that can help faculty turn ideas into meaningful experiences for students and community partners.
At Indiana State, Nancy and her colleagues regularly share those opportunities with faculty and encourage them to take advantage of their institution's membership.
That continued communication is important because membership creates the greatest impact when people across campus understand what is available to them and use those resources to strengthen their work.
CEA's professional development opportunities also allow faculty and staff to connect with colleagues from other institutions, exchange ideas, and learn from programs already working successfully elsewhere in Indiana.
Expanding the Reach of Community Engagement
Looking ahead, Nancy would like to see Community-Engaged Alliance's footprint continue to grow both within existing member campuses and across Indiana.
That means helping more faculty and staff discover CEA's resources, but it also means welcoming more colleges and universities into the network.
"There are so many great opportunities for professional development and for funding opportunities, said Nancy."
The more institutions that participate, the more opportunities there are to exchange ideas, build partnerships, and strengthen community-engaged learning throughout the state.
For Nancy, that collaboration is especially important because community engagement is not limited to one campus, one department, or one type of institution. Colleges and universities across Indiana share the responsibility of preparing students to become active participants in the communities where they live and work.
Creating an Impact That Lasts
Nancy's work reflects a simple but powerful idea: students are already members of their communities.
They don't have to wait for a diploma, a job title, or a future leadership position before they can contribute.
Whether they're spending a morning serving during Donaghy Day, completing a service-learning project with a local nonprofit, volunteering their time, or bringing knowledge from the classroom into the community, students can make an impact right now.
And when colleges and universities intentionally create those opportunities, the impact extends in both directions.
Community organizations gain valuable partners. Students gain experiences that deepen their education and their understanding of the world around them. And communities become stronger because the next generation learns early that engagement isn't something reserved for later in life.
It's something they can begin today.
For more stories like Nancy's, stay tuned to CEA Chronicle. If you have any photos or additional stories to share about your community engagement work, please reach out to us. Together, we can continue to build stronger, more connected communities.