Engagement Opportunities

Excite! Empower! Engage! At Champlain College, we embrace the concept of community and we pride ourselves on the "human touch." There are many ways to become involved in our community, meet new colleagues, and find fulfillment. We encourage you to consider becoming involved in one or several opportunities which may interest you. If you have an engagement opportunity you'd like posted to this page simply email the Staff Council Communications & Engagement Committee with the details!

Staff Council Opportunites:

Go to the Staff Council Meetings: Meetings are held monthly (typically just during the academic year) and alternate between main campus and Lakeside. You can find the schedule meeting dates on the Staff Council Calendar.

Run for an open Staff Council position: Each March the call for nominations for open Staff Council positions is made. Staff members can nominate themselves or others for an open position. Elections are held at the Staff Council annual meeting which is held in May of each year. You can read more about the roles of each position and the election process on the Staff Council By-Laws webpage.

Join a Staff Council Committee: Staff Council has three active committees - Staff Welfare & Advocacy, Networking & Recreation, and Communications & Engagement. You can get a full description of each committee on our Staff Council By-Laws webpage. You can find current committee members and a contact email for each committee here.

Be a Staff representative to College Council: Annually, prior to the start of the new academic year, the Staff Council Executive Committee appoints seven staff to be on the College Council. If you would like to learn more about College Council or would be interested in serving as one of the Staff representatives please contact the Staff Council Communications & Engagement Committee.

Become a Staff Ambassador: The Staff Ambassador program was established to match new staff joining the Champlain College community with another staff member outside of their immediate area. This is a joint program between Staff Council and The People Center. For more information about the program or to volunteer as a Staff Ambassador please contact the Staff Council Communications & Engagement Committee.

Champlain College Opportunities:

Champlain College holds several events for all staff and faculty throughout the year: Town Hall Meetings (various dates throughout the year), the annual Holiday party, the All Campus Update (typically in January), Faculty & Staff Engagement Day (typically in May), and the Recognition Dinner (typically in May) just to name a few. Watch for calendar invites as these dates are set.

Affinity Groups: Champlain welcomes more affinity groups. For those interested in joining or starting a group, please contact the Office of Diversity and Inclusion for more information.

Blood Drive: Each year in the Fall Champlain College hosts a blood drive sponsored by Staff Council. We encourage all faculty and staff to get involved by volunteering and/or donating. For more information and to receive links for signing up to volunteer or donate please contact Jen Perlee.

Career Collaborative: Career Collaborative offers a wide array of opportunities to get involved in increasing the forward moving momentum for the career development of our students. Choose to mentor, guide, give feedback to our students on their career decisions and skill building by selecting to participate from the options in this listing. Also, we are always seeking recommendations of contacts. Once you let us know, someone from the Career Collaborative will be in touch to discuss details.

Champlain's Achievement Retention Excellence Program (C.A.R.E.): This program combines the best of research on retention and success for underrepresented students, students from our partner programs and first-generation populations. If you are interested being a mentor for a C.A.R.E. student or want more information, please contact the Office of Diversity and Inclusion for more information.

Champ Masters: A Toastmasters Club for Champlain College staff, faculty, students and alumni. Visit their website or email Champ Masters for more information. Meetings are typically held on the first Wednesday (8:30 to 9:30 am) and third Wednesday (5:30 to 7:00 pm) of each month.
Conduct Review Board: An experienced facilitator leads a group of faculty, staff and students in the review of student conduct cases. This Board hears cases involving everything from routine policy violations to high-risk behavior that is not related to a student's academic experience. For those interested in becoming a part of the committee should contact the Office of Student Conduct at studentconduct@champlain.edu

Dare U: Dare U provides developmental learning and growth opportunities for employees that are aligned with Champlain College's mission and goals. These opportunities will excite, engage and empower employees. Employee development is personal and meaningful, yet connected to the common purpose of the institution.You can view the full calendar of offering here. Interested in running a workshop? Please contact dareu@champlain.edu.

Managers Round Table: The mission of the Managers Round Table is to advance managers along the spectrum of leadership competencies through skill development and relationship building to support the 2020 Strategic Plan. The group meets monthly (except in May) and is open to anyone who supervises at least one employee. For more information please contact Jennifer Archambault in The People Center.

Student Supervisor Roundtable: If you supervisor students this group is for you. The Student Supervisor Roundtable was created in response to feedback from supervisors gathered by the Student Employment Initiative. This is a group solely dedicated to the needs and challenges of student employee supervisors. You can find more informaiton here.

Sustain Champlain: Sustain Champlain is a campus-wide initiative that strives to infuse sustainability concepts and practices across Champlain College by coordinating and promoting best practices within four areas: our institution, academics, operations and culture. You can read more about Sustain Champlain here or contact sustainchamplain@champlain.edu.

United Way Campaign: Each year Champlain College participates in the United Way Campaign. A committee is formed each year to run the campaign. If you are interested in being part of the committee please contact Katie Hawley - Vice President of Strategic Communications, External Affairs, and the People Center.

Wellbeing Team: The Wellbeing Team at Champlain College works to create a culture of wellbeing wherein all employees are encouraged to participate in diverse and holistic activities that engage, excite and empower individuals to discover paths to wellbeing. Our goal is to provide the resources, programs and community that will induce employees to be stewards of their physical, social and spiritual wellbeing while improving their overall health. Interested in being on the wellbeing team? Email them at wellbeing@champlain.edu.

Women's Empowerment Initiative: The Women's Empowerment Initiative aims to cultivate confidence and courage by fostering the achievements of women. Through the Initiative, we strive to empower current and future leaders and to provide learning, networking, and recognition opportunities for students, staff and faculty. For more details on the annual symposium go here. Interested in helping out with this initiative? Please contact WEI@champlain.edu.

External Engagement Opportunities:

Are you looking for a way to get involved in the Burlington community? The Everybody Wins! reading program at Edmunds Elementary School is looking for reading mentors on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 12-1pm. This site currently has a waiting list of children eager to participate, but they are in need of more mentors! Shaylea Scribner, Emma Darragh, Donna Swartwout and Christina Erickson are all current mentors. You will need to fill out an application, found here. Shaylea and Christina are both willing to serve as references for anyone interested. Check out the information sheet or feel free to contact the Site Coordinator, Wanda Stetson, for more information at burlington-edmunds@everybodywinsvermont.org.

United Way of Northwest Vermont: The Volunteer Connection is an online resource of hundreds of volunteer opportunities from more than 250 local nonprofits. Volunteers of all ages will find opportunities to serve once a week, once a month or once in a while.