Ivy Tech’s civic engagement director one of Chamber’s ‘10 under 40’ in Bloomington

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2013

Ivy Tech’s civic engagement director one of Chamber’s ‘10 under 40’ in Bloomington

Ivy Tech Community College’s Bloomington campus Executive Director of Civic Engagement, Chelsea Rood-Emmick, MSW, LSW, has been named one of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce’s “10 Under 40” young professionals in Bloomington. During an awards ceremony held on Friday, July 25, Rood-Emmick was recognized for her efforts in volunteerism, leadership of service-learning courses, and community engagement through Ivy Tech’s Center for Civic Engagement, which have resulted in a positive economic impact.

In the 2012/2013 academic year (to date), 3,546 students in76 service learning classes contributed nearly 33,000 volunteer hours in Ivy Tech-Bloomington’s service area of Green, Lawrence, Martin, Morgan, Monroe, and Owen counties. In the past year, through volunteerism and service learning combined, Ivy Tech-Bloomington has contributed a total value of *$1,185,995 in its service area. *Figure based on national value of volunteer time from www.IndependentSector.org.

Also, with Rood-Emmick’s leadership of the Center for Civic Engagement, Ivy Tech-Bloomington has been named a member of the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for six consecutive years.

In her role as Executive Director of the Center for Civic Engagement, Rood-Emmick leads students on international service trips through Ivy Tech-Bloomington’s Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program each year. She has led students on trips to Calnali, Mexico and currently takes students on trips to Antigua, Guatemala. ASB students help build houses, donate shoes, volunteer in schools, and often become active volunteers in Bloomington when they return to the States.

She also leads Ivy Tech-Bloomington’s annual “O’Bannon Institute Day of Service,” which brings together students, faculty, and staff for a day of volunteerism in our communities. As part of the 2013 Day of Service, she coordinated the “Little Free Libraries” project. Ivy Tech facilities staff built three weatherproof boxes, which were placed at Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, Community Kitchen-Crestmont, and Middle Way House, for people to borrow or donate books. The libraries were made of scrap materials and cost nothing except for some paint to decorate them.

In addition to her service work at Ivy Tech, Rood-Emmick fosters shelter animals for the Bloomington Animal Shelter and is a social work field supervisor for the GLBT Student Support Services office at IU. She also teaches intro to sociology and intro to human services at Ivy Tech and intro to social work at Indiana University Bloomington. In fall 2013, she will begin coursework in Indiana State University’s Ph.D. program in Higher Education Leadership.

For more information about Ivy Tech’s Center for Civic Engagement, log on www.ivytech.edu/civicengagement.

About The Center for Civic Engagement

Established in 2004, the Center for Civic Engagement allows Ivy Tech-Bloomington to model a service-oriented learning environment that promotes service learning, volunteerism and community involvement for our students, faculty and staff. This model benefits the South Central Indiana community, in which more than 90 percent of our graduates choose to live, work and raise families.

About Ivy Tech Community College

Ivy Tech Community College (www.ivytech.edu) is the state’s largest public postsecondary institution and the nation’s largest singly accredited statewide community college system serving nearly 200,000 students annually. Ivy Tech has campuses throughout Indiana. It serves as the state’s engine of workforce development, offering affordable degree programs and training that are aligned with the needs of its community along with courses and programs that transfer to other colleges and universities in Indiana. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association.

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