Widener University - Community

Community

Widener is one of only 22 colleges that is a member of Project Pericles, an organization promoting social responsibility and addressing civic apathy among students. It is also one of only 76 institutions classified as a Community Engagement Institution by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Only two other schools in the Philadelphia region share this classification - University of Pennsylvania and Bryn Mawr College.

Widener has several initiatives aimed at benefiting the surrounding community. These include:

  • Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center — The school opened the center in 2006 to provide consulting and educational programs to local small businesses and entrepreneurs. It is one of only 18 in the state and one of 3 in the Philadelphia region (with Temple University and University of Pennsylvania).
  • Philadelphia Speakers Series — Since 2004, Widener has sponsored this series which has had such notable speakers as Henry Kissinger, Walter Cronkite and Dave Barry.
  • University Technology Park — A joint project started in 1999 between the university and Crozer-Keystone Health System to foster small business opportunities focusing on health care, science and technology. It currently consists of two buildings (with three more planned) on 20 acres (81,000 m2) and is located directly in between the Main Campus and Crozer-Keystone Medical Center.
  • Widener University Observatory — The observatory has free public telescope viewings throughout the school year hosted by the physics and astronomy department.

Read more about this topic:  Widener University

Famous quotes containing the word community:

    The community and family networks which helped sustain earlier generations have become scarcer for growing numbers of young parents. Those who lack links to these traditional sources of support are hard-pressed to find other resources, given the emphasis in our society on providing treatment services, rather than preventive services and support for health maintenance and well-being.
    Bernice Weissbourd (20th century)

    Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.
    Marian Wright Edelman (20th century)

    Human life in common is only made possible when a majority comes together which is stronger than any separate individual and which remains united against all separate individuals. The power of this community is then set up as “right” in opposition to the power of the individual, which is condemned as “brute force.”
    Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)