Woodbury University Bestows ACE 'Mini-Grants' On Civic Engagement Projects

Civic engagement is one of four pillars that serve as the foundation of a Woodbury education, through required core courses in the School of Business, optional studios and seminars in the School of Architecture, required outreach projects in the School of Media, Culture and Design, and through many other academic and co-curricular activities.  Last year, the Architecture + Civic Engagement (ACE) Center was re-branded as the Agency for Civic Engagement to better reflect its expanded mission of providing every Woodbury student with the opportunity to learn while serving the needs of nonprofit and community groups.  ACE encourages and supports collaboration across campus as well as within the community.

"Civic engagement has long been an important value at Woodbury, and these grants underscore that commitment," said Jeanine Centuori, FAIA, Director of the ACE Center and Professor of Architecture.  "ACE has created a mechanism by which we can begin to gauge and measure the quantity and quality of civic engagement performed by all our students."  Grant winners include:

• The Artist Bailout, Douglas Green and Rossen Ventzislavov, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy
  The Artist Bailout is a public meal that is designed to solicit community-driven financial support and democratically fund new work by the emerging artists and designers currently enrolled at Woodbury.
• Constructed Nature: A Public History Exhibition, Megan Kendrick
  Constructed Nature: How Suburban Development Transformed Burbank Landscapes is an exhibition that will tell stories of the ways that specific communities and institutions have manipulated nature in order to maintain political independence and create cultural community. Students are working with museum educators from the Autry Classroom Curators.  The exhibition will occur on campus.

In addition, one project received the Director's Choice Award, for a third $1,000 grant:

• The Barrio Bicycle Cooperative, Stan Berteaud
  Faculty and students will design and construct a bicycle maintenance station to be permanently located on the sidewalk in front of Woodbury San Diego that is accessible to the public.  The goal is to develop and maintain a sustainable bike coop at the campus.

The selection committee also cited one project for Honorable Mention: 

• Soft Borders Programming Initiatives, Goyo Ortiz and David White
  A series of street-side talks will be given by professionals engaged in issues related to urban revitalization and gentrification.  These talks will be the inaugural programming for a space, Soft Borders, that was designed and built in the summer of 2015 to be a highly visible community platform for dialogue on issues related to art, architecture, urbanism, and urban culture. 

About Woodbury University
Founded in 1884, Woodbury University is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Southern California. With campuses in Burbank/Los Angeles and San Diego, the university offers bachelor's degrees from the School of Architecture, School of Business, School of Media, Culture & Design, and College of Transdisciplinarity, along with a Master of Business Administration, Master of Arts in Media for Social Justice, Master of Architecture (MArch), Master of Interior Architecture (MIA), Master of Science in Architecture (MSArch), Master of Leadership, and Master of Arts in Media for Social Justice. The San Diego campus offers Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Architecture, Master of Interior Architecture and Master of Landscape Architecture degrees, as well as an MSArch degree with a concentration in Real Estate Development and Landscape + Urbanism.  Woodbury ranks 15th among the nation's "25 Colleges That Add the Most Value," according to Money Magazine and is a 2014-2015 College of Distinction.  Visit woodbury.edu for more information.

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SOURCE Woodbury University

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