Set up a Cross-Campus Advisory Committee

The advisory committee is a crucial infrastructural element that takes significant time, but can yield significant return.  The committee can provide the focus, support and leadership necessary to build momentum for the importance of promoting awareness of federal opportunities on campus, as well reinforce long-term sustainability of the effort.

Find Campus Members with Federal Relations

Use the process of identifying committee members as an opportunity to discover the contacts that various parts of campus have with federal government.  This can also be informative on how different parts of campus are engaged in promoting federal service.

Multiplier Effect

A committee of diverse individuals and campus groups united under this shared interest has a multiplier effect.  Particularly at a larger campus, it can often bring together individuals who had not previously met but who have overlapping objectives.  For example, the Advisory Committee at George Washington University had a wide variety of constituencies that helped engage a broader audience, from multi-cultural groups to the School of Engineering.

Representation

Having a broadly representative body grants additional legitimacy and permanence to the effort, which is important for both students and the university faculty and staff.

Careful thought about including the right offices and individuals can make a huge difference in the ultimate success of the effort to promote federal service. Universities found that having academic leadership as well as “student affairs” leadership made for a more powerful and effective program.

Examples of key players on a Cross-Campus Advisory Committee include:

• President’s Office
  Provides gravitas and can rally the troops
• Government Affairs
  Can offer contacts and speak to the importance of government service
• Career Development Center
  The engine or the glue for implementation and sustainability
• Alumni Affairs
  Helpful for identifying and engaging alums in federal service
• Faculty, Chairs and Deans
  Particularly important in specialized areas like engineering, sciences, business, foreign languages – disciplines in which students may turn to faculty more than career services for advice
• Public Service or Service Learning Staff
  Crucial to making the tie to volunteerism and other forms of service
• Student Affairs
  Can provide useful linkages to freshmen and various student organizations

Establish a Working Subcommittee

The Advisory Committee of key senior campus representatives is important to sustaining a campaign, but equally important is to establish a working subcommittee to carry out many of the day-to-day activities. The operational Working Group should meet more often than the Advisory Committee to strategize on programming. This is an important way of coordinating and getting action going across campus.

 

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