Five students from across Illinois were nominated by their College and University Presidents for the 2017 Campus Compact Newman Civic Fellows Award for their outstanding work in civic engagement leadership. These students are among 273 nominees from Campus Compacts across the nation.

Illinois’ Future Leaders

This year, Illinois is represented by five incredible student-leaders. These students were nominated by their University President because their contributions to campus and community life stood out. To learn more about these outstanding students and to read excerpts of their nomination letters, click their names below:

Bianca Mena of Dominican University

Lindsey Earl of Illinois State University

Jessica Lirios of McKendree University

Ashley Tisch of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Alexis Smyser of The University of Illinois at Chicago

What is the Frank Newman Civic Fellow Award?

The Newman Civic Fellowship is a one-year fellowship for community-committed college students from Campus Compact member institutions. The fellowship honors the late Frank Newman, one of Campus Compact’s founders and a tireless advocate for civic engagement in higher education.

In the spirit of Dr. Newman’s leadership, Campus Compact member presidents and chancellors are annually invited to nominate one community-committed student from their institution for the fellowship. These nominees are individuals who have demonstrated an investment in finding solutions for challenges facing communities throughout the country and abroad.

The 2017 Newman Civic Fellows will be the first cohort to benefit from a completely re-designed fellowship experience emphasizing personal, professional, and civic growth. Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides a variety of learning and networking opportunities, including a national conference of Newman Civic Fellows in partnership with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. The fellowship also provides students with access to exclusive scholarship and post-graduate opportunities.

“The cultivation of community-committed leaders has never been more crucial,” said Campus Compact president Andrew Seligsohn. “We rebuilt the Newman Civic Fellowship experience because our country needs more people who know how to bring communities together for positive change. We are thrilled to welcome this group of 273 exemplary students as the first cohort to participate in this new model.”

About Campus Compact:
Campus Compact is a nonprofit coalition of more than 1000 colleges and universities— representing some 6 million students—committed to the public purposes of higher education. As the only national association dedicated to this mission, Campus Compact is a leader in building community engagement into campus and academic life.  For more information, visit www.compact.org or follow @Campus_Compact on Twitter.