Southwestern University’s Second Annual Community Partner Fair Aims to Strengthen Public Engagement

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Southwestern University’s Second Annual Community Partner Fair Aims to Strengthen Public Engagement

Throughout Southwestern’s 186-year history, the University has been intimately connected with the city of Georgetown and the greater Central Texas community. Southwestern’s commitment to service, learning, and collaboration has fostered countless partnerships between the University and local organizations. On Wednesday, November 12, students, faculty, and staff will have the opportunity to strengthen these relationships during the second annual Community Partner Fair.

Hosted by the Office of Public Engagement, the Community Partner Fair will take place from 12:30 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. in Bishops Lounge within the McCombs Campus Center. Over 40 local nonprofits, advocacy groups, and organizations from both the public and private sectors will be in attendance to share their work and opportunities. Students, faculty, and staff can meet with these organizations, explore internship or volunteer roles, and discover new ways to engage in our local community.

“I see the Community Partner Fair as a first touchpoint to have with an organization to build a person-to-person connection,” Director of Public Engagement Manda Wittebort said. “The Fair aims to bring people from all different issue areas together, from animal welfare and environment impact, to city and county issues, to philanthropies and grassroots efforts. It will include anywhere from a group of residents that care about something to much larger, national organizations, like the United Way.”

The Community Partner Fair is designed to emphasize the human element of public engagement, building face-to-face relationships that are often not possible through digital channels. The come-and-go event provides the SU community with an opportunity to learn about local partners, their “why,” and how to become involved.

“Events like this are crucial to students and faculty by bridging the gap between academia and the surrounding community,” one anonymous community partner shared following last year’s event. “These in-person events help students to identify what opportunities lie beyond SU, and imagine new creative ways to use their degrees. It’s the perfect Paideia moment.”

During her time at Southwestern thus far, Wittebort has focused on exploring new ways that the University can become more involved within our region while working to deepen existing connections. Leading up to the Community Partner Fair each year, Wittebort invests time connecting with members of both the Southwestern community and the greater Georgetown and Central Texas communities to better understand where gaps in resources exist, and how she can help fill those gaps.

“Connection really matters, and many people are lacking connection today. People are feeling isolated, overwhelmed, and lonely,” Wittebort said. “Working alongside people on a service project, or getting to know members of our community and building connections are ways to make people feel more empathetic, understanding, caring, purposeful, loving, and compassionate.”

She also works to gain a better understanding of how the community perceives Southwestern as an institution and how the University can be a better neighbor and member of the community.

“I’m always thinking about how I can support real people right now, whether that be community members, community partners, students, faculty, or staff,” she said. “We cannot have solid, true, meaningful impact or public engagement without having all of those people involved in a meaningful way.”

Wittebort joined Southwestern during the summer of 2024 as the University’s first Director of Public Engagement, a position that was created through a $1.3 million Mellon Foundation grant initiative. Southwestern was one of just 10 liberal arts colleges in the nation to receive the grant as part of the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times initiative.

Under Wittebort’s leadership, the Office of Public Engagement works to ensure Southwestern’s culture and infrastructure continues to become more publicly engaged. Central to this initiative is fostering connections between campus and the broader community, ensuring that students, faculty, and staff see their roles as publicly engaged. Wittebort views the connection-building piece as a major portion of her role.

“My role, and the Office of Public Engagement’s role, is to support people so they can see the intersection of their skills with their passions, and how they can apply that to making a better world,” she said. “I try to be a thread amongst many different projects and different ways of viewing public engagement. I try to make connections between resources. Someone has money, someone has time, someone has students, someone has direct experience, and I’m trying to make connections between all of those folks.”

Wittebort is uniquely positioned to play the role of connector on Southwestern’s campus. After earning her bachelor’s degree in developmental psychology from Rollins College and her Master’s in Higher Education from the University of Denver, Wittebort has held a variety of national and international youth-focused roles, including as a City Year AmeriCorps member and working with the Peace Corps in the Youth & Families sector. Throughout her career, she has worked with youth aged from two to 25.

“I love working with young people and I always will,” she said. “I’ve found that I love pouring into other people and what they’re passionate about changing in the world. I’ve worked in coaching, mentoring, and training roles, so now in higher education, my role is really figuring out how to make it so that the rest of the campus can feel like they’re able to change their corner of the world.”

Internally, the Office of Public Engagement offers a wide variety of services to the Southwestern community. Wittebort is available to assist faculty and staff with identifying and planning opportunities for development through course offerings and campus projects. She is also a resource available to answer questions, provide support, and supply information about funding opportunities available through the Mellon Foundation grant. For students, the Office of Public Engagement can help facilitate connections, including working with individuals and groups to help turn their work outward to become more community focused.

“I know that if someone feels more confident, cared for, and resourced, that they will, in turn, bring that to their space, to the work that they’re trying to do, and to their teams,” Wittebort said. “I feel a lot of fulfillment in supporting and developing the supporters and developers of the world. Making connections between people is so important. I feel alive connecting and hearing about other people’s passions.”

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