KF News and Ideas

Introducing College Presidents on Higher Education and Its Civic Purposes

Submitted by Kettering Staff, on Fri, 01/29/2016 - 12:27

Kettering has recently begun working with college presidents to move beyond their administrative and fundraising roles and provide new leadership for civic engagement—to act as “public philosophers” for their institutions. Beginning with a meeting with a small group of college presidents in July 2015, we found that these presidents were indeed eager to take leadership on themes of democracy and civic engagement on their campuses and with their stakeholders. This blog series offers a space to gather and present their thoughts.

February #cgafridays— 4 Chances to Try an Online “Making Ends Meet” Forum

Submitted by Kettering Staff, on Thu, 01/28/2016 - 12:16

#cgafridays, NIF’s recurring Friday online forum series, continues this February with more chances to try online Common Ground for Action forums!

INTERVIEW: Patty Dineen - 20 Years & Counting with NIF

Submitted by Jack Becker on Tue, 01/05/2016 - 12:07

An interview with Patty Dineen, secretary and treasurer for the National Issues Forums Institute.

#cgafridays Return - Register for a Making Ends Meet Forum Today!

Submitted by Kettering Staff on Mon, 01/04/2016 - 12:22

Common Ground for Action, KF and NIF's new platform for online deliberation, has been steadily growing over the past year. In fact, demand for opportunities to try the new platform has been so strong that in November of last year we launched #cgafridays, a recurring series of CGA forums held each Friday for anyone who wants to participate.

New Kettering Study: Civic Aspirations

Submitted by Claire Snyder-Hall on Fri, 12/11/2015 - 10:29

What motivates faculty to do civic engagement work at institutions that do not reward it? To learn more about the deep motivations and civic aspirations of faculty, Claire Snyder-Hall interviewed a diverse group of academics from all over the country who do civic-engagement work of various kinds, including deliberative pedagogy, service learning, public scholarship, and community engagement.

INTERVIEW: Tina Nabatchi & Matt Leighninger on 21st Century Public Participation

Submitted by Jack Becker on Thu, 12/03/2015 - 10:45

Tina Nabatchi and Matt Leighninger have helped shape public participation methods and thinking for a number of years. Already collaborators in assembling Democracy in Motion: Evaluating the Practice and Impact of Deliberative Civic Engagement (2012), they’ve now teamed up to author Public Participation for 21st Century Democracy (2015).

Connections 2015

Submitted by Melinda Gilmore on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 11:54

The 2015 issue of Connections, edited by KF program officer and senior writer/editor Melinda Gilmore and KF director of communications David Holwerk, focuses on our yearlong review of Kettering’s research over time, or our “tribal history.” The issue includes stories that highlight all of Kettering’s program areas. We know from our research that when communities tell stories about their past, it can affect their behavior going forward.

December “CGA Fridays” Forum Issue = Making Ends Meet

Submitted by Kettering Staff on Mon, 11/23/2015 - 15:23

As part of the #cgafridays series, National Issues Forums has three exciting opportunities coming up in December.

Historic Decisions Create Citizens of Tomorrow

Submitted by Kettering Staff on Mon, 11/23/2015 - 09:10

Lisa Strahley of  SUNY Broome recently shared a video her college and a local middle school produced based on their experience using NIF's Historic Decisions curricula in their classroom. Historic Decisions issue guides take important decisions from American history and frame them, not as stories of great men making decisions for the country, but in terms of the difficult choices citizens at the time were confronting.

Cornell Brooks’ Kettering Homecoming

Submitted by Kettering Staff on Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:57

By Andy Mead

Shortly after Cornell Brooks walked into the Cousins House for lunch, David Mathews handed him a package of papers that Brooks had written for the Kettering Foundation.

The papers were dated in the 1980s and showed the unmistakable signs of having been written on a typewriter.

“Oh my, “ Brooks said, “this was before spell-check.”