Events for volunteers, accepted students, Corps of Cadets regimental commander change highlight campus calendar
Norwich University will spotlight its present — its service tradition — and its future — incoming students — in the semester and 2020-21 academic year’s next-to-last week.
The Center for Civic Engagement’s National Volunteer Week events and the Admissions Office’s Accepted Students Week will share the calendar with the continuation of the two-week Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activity, presented by the Office of Academic Research and the conclusion of the eight-week Peace and War Virtual Summit, presented by the John and Mary Frances Patton Peace and War Center.
National Volunteer Week began in 1974 and this week was heralded in a proclamation by the White House and President Joe Biden.
“By helping others, volunteers also help themselves. They learn new skills, expand their professional networks, connect with neighbors, and experience the satisfaction that comes from serving a larger cause.”U.S. President Joe Biden
“We are living in a moment that calls for hope and light and love — hope for our futures, light to see our way forward, and love for one another,” Biden’s proclamation read. “Volunteers provide all three. … This week, we recognize the enduring contributions of our Nation’s volunteers and encourage more Americans to join their ranks.”
Biden added that volunteerism has shown dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic across the country as retired doctors and nurses, students and veterans, government personnel and others administered vaccines, ran staff vaccination centers, boosted testing, tracing, and other life-saving public health measures. Over the academic year, nursing faculty and student volunteers helped keep a COVID-19 testing center running at Plumley Armory, administering tens of thousands of tests, more than 24,500 in the spring semester alone.
Center for Civic Engagement Director Nicole DiDomenico ran the testing center, coordinating with Nursing Director Paulette Thabault.
“By helping others, volunteers also help themselves,” Biden’s proclamation said. “They learn new skills, expand their professional networks, connect with neighbors, and experience the satisfaction that comes from serving a larger cause.”
The Center for Civic Engagement will highlight a different group, and different volunteer opportunities every day this week.
— United Nations, Monday. This transnational organization devoted to international peace and security and cooperation, listed 10 pages of opportunities this week, including data scientists, communications officers, nutrition specialists, public finance managers and board of inquiry officers. Sites for the volunteering included Burundi, China, Ethiopia, Mexico and Ukraine. Click here for details.
— Smithsonian Institution, Tuesday. The Smithsonian, the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, seeks digital volunteers for a variety of projects including its transcription center; its Encyclopedia of Life; and Invader ID, which tracks new occurrences of invasive species and early environmental changes. Click here for details. The Sullivan Museum and History Center is Vermont’s lone Smithsonian affiliate.
— Every Name Counts, Wednesday. Every Name Counts, a crowdsourcing project by the Arolsen Archives, the International Center on Nazi Persecution, aims to establish a digital memorial to the people persecuted by the Nazis during World War II. The group hopes to fully index all of the most important data by 2025. Click here for details.
The volunteer week also features Trash to Treasure Collections, under which Center for Civic Engagement and its volunteers will collect gently used clothing, uniforms, small appliances, office supplies, school supplies, sporting equipment and furniture that soon-to-exit-campus students would otherwise jettison. Items collected in drop zones in each dorm or barracks will go to Vermont nonprofits. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with questions.
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DANA LECTURES: The Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activity will feature three Charles A. Dana Category I Lectures, delivered by professors who received grants from the Dana Foundation, a New York-based philanthropic organization advancing brain research advocating for research’s potential.
Charles A. Dana (1881-1975) founded Dana Inc., a supplier of axles, driveshafts, transmissions and electrodynamic, digital, thermal, sealing and equipment for conventional, hybrid and electric vehicles. Dana and his wife, Eleanor Naylor Dana, founded the Dana Foundation in 1950 to support cancer research, higher education and the arts. The Sidney Farber Cancer Center, eventually renamed Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, was an early Dana Foundation grantee.
The Dana Category I grants go annually to tenure-track faculty who demonstrate superior scholarship, teaching ability and university service. To receive the grants, the recipients agree to give a presentation on a topic of their choice.
The week’s Norwich Dana grant lectures include:
Dr. Laurie Grigg, noon to 1 p.m. Monday. “Vermont’s Depositional Archives: Using Lake Sediment Cores to Reconstruct Past Climate Change and Ecosystem Change.” Grigg is an assistant professor of environmental science. Click here for details on her talk.
Dr. Tara Kulkarni, 2 to 3 p.m. Tuesday. “Building Professional and Personal Resilience and Security: Applications to Teaching, Research and Service.” Kulkarni is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Center for Global Resilience and Security. Click here for details on her talk.
Dr. Elizabeth Gurian, 1 to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. “In the Gray Zone.” Gurian is an associate professor of criminal justice and associate director of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Click here for details on her talk.
Dr. Matthew Bovee, 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. Thursday, “Superb Owl 50” - A Partridge-Model Experiential-Learning Example. Bovee is an associate professor of computer security and information assurance. Click here for details on his talk.
The celebration will close with a ceremony at 5 p.m. Thursday that will include a game of virtual research-related bingo for prizes. Click here to attend.
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ACCEPTED STUDENTS: The Admissions Office will hold webinars for accepted students this week. President Dr. Mark Anarumo spoke to the new cohort in a video, explaining his choice to lead Norwich University.
“I wanted to join a community that was fiercely dedicated to the preservation and the advancement of the common good,” he said. “I wanted to be part of an institution that values diversity, not just as a cornerstone of our democracy but something that should be fiercely defended. I wanted to part of a community that values and builds service to others before self.”
The week starts with Motivation Monday, which includes career-focused events from the Career and Internship Center including Career Jeopardy, career planning and career conversation. The week continues with Tour Tuesday, Families Wednesday, Taste of Norwich Thursday and Fan Friday.
As part of its welcome, the Admissions Office is running an Instagram promotion, encouraging accepted students to post pictures of themselves with their acceptance letters on Instagram with the hashtag #ontoNU or send one to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The pictures will double as entries to a daily contest. Admissions, which is on Instagram @norwichadmissions, will pick one submission each day during the week for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card.
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CHANGING OF THE GUARD: The Norwich University Corps of Cadets will deliver the academic year’s final official ceremony, a review with retreat and change of command on the Upper Parade Ground from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Friday.
At the ceremony, the Corps will announce promotions for the 2021-22 academic year and Commandant Col. Michael Titus will pass the organizational Color from the outgoing regimental commander Caleb Miller, to the incoming regimental commander, Matthew Cutting.
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Click here for a complete listing of upcoming events at Norwich University.
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