Building an Extended Community of Learning
 Can
an elite liberal arts college, steeped in tradition, fundamentally
recast its approach to liberal education? Can it simultaneously
help the troubled urban neighborhood of which it has long
been a part transform itself? And can it carry out these tasks
not as two separate and distinct projects but as one integrated,
essentially seamless process?
Since its founding in 1823 at the site of the
current state capitol, Trinity
College has been a part of Hartford. Not surprisingly,
Hartford has played an important part in teaching and learning
at Trinity, and many academic programs and other activities
occur in and around the City of Hartford.
But in spite of this long history and significant faculty,
staff, and student involvement, Trinity has viewed its relationship
with Hartford with some ambivalence. This relationship became
even more problematic during the 1960s and 70s as Trinity's
immediate neighborhood experienced significant decline.
In January of 1996, the College made a commitment
to a comprehensive community revitalization effort -- the
$175-million SINA neighborhood initiative -- to transform
the 15-block area in which Trinity and its SINA partners are
located. The centerpiece of this initiative is the learning
corridor complex of schools currently under construction immediately
adjacent to Trinity's campus. At about the same time, the
College initiated a strategic
planning effort focused largely on the goal of maintaining
the vigor and responsiveness of a Trinity liberal arts education
in a changing world. The primary elements of this plan --
urban experience, increased globalization, collaborative learning,
and the creative use of information technology -- represent
Trinity's vision of "liberal arts with a difference."
Trinity has merged parts of these two elements
-- the physical renewal of its neighborhood, and a distinctive
approach to liberal education -- into a process that will
create an extended community of learning. This five year endeavor,
underwritten by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, began in the summer of 1998.
Three overarching principles guide this effort:
-
Critical Transformation: The new learning
connections between the College and the city depend upon
the integration of two transformative processes: urban
revitalization and a careful rethinking of liberal education
for the 21st century.
-
Connection: Trinity must focus on fluid and
variable points of connection, rather than boundaries
or fences, to define its relationship with its urban setting.
-
Capacity Building: Creating and sustaining
an extended community of learning will require not just
the construction of buildings and corridors that invite
and reinforce linkages, but also fundamental changes in
customary ways of thinking and acting. We must develop
stronger, more inventive ways of educating students in
the values of civic responsibility, and we must also assist
our neighbors as they struggle to acquire the knowledge,
skills, and resources they need to reactivate the tradition
of neighborhood responsibility and hope.
Creating an Extended Community of Learning
There are three major areas of effort that comprise
the current design for the creation of this extended community
of learning:
-
Building a Culture of
Engagement
-
Ensuring Catalytic
Leadership
-
Building linkages between the College and
the neighborhood. These efforts include:
Evaluation and Administration of the Project
A comprehensive and ongoing process of evaluation
of all aspects of this initiative will help shape the evolution
of this project, as well as provide documentation and analysis
that will be of value to Trinity, its neighbors, and other
urban-based educational institutions.
The Kellogg
Project Group is responsible for coordinating planning
and execution of this initiative; its members can help interested
individuals become involved or provide additional information.
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