Mark Wilson, Ph.D., Director of the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities at Auburn University’s College of Liberal ArtsOn March 3, 2025, the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) hosted its inaugural Community Partner Luncheon. Through the event, the College expressed gratitude to the many community partners—including nonprofit leaders, educators, and entrepreneurs—who help facilitate meaningful service learning, community-based research, and internship experiences for undergraduate and graduate students.
The luncheon concept emerged during the College’s recent strategic planning process for 2024-2028. The new plan—which complements UAB’s “Forging Ahead” plan—includes “Community Engagement” as a core pillar, and one of the activities associated with that pillar is: “Expand and celebrate connections with community partners.” With that in mind, members of the College’s leadership team determined that a luncheon dedicated to celebrating community partners would be a valuable tradition to establish.
The event took place at the UAB Alumni House and featured 80 guests, including community partners, CAS faculty and staff, and undergraduate and graduate students. At the beginning of the luncheon, attendees mingled and networked to better learn about one another’s great work. Soon after the group settled in, Dean Kecia M. Thomas offered opening remarks and expressed gratitude to everyone in the room, emphasizing the importance of bringing student learning outside of the classroom.
Attendees enjoying lunch together.Numerous organizations and academic disciplines were represented at the luncheon. Nonprofit partners including the Lakeshore Foundation, Alabama Humanities Alliance, Alabama Audubon, Red Mountain Theatre, and many more enjoyed lunch alongside faculty and students from the departments of Anthropology, Criminal Justice, Communication Studies, Physics, Theatre, Computer Science, History, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Work, Political Science and Public Administration, World Languages and Literatures, as well as the African American Studies program.
After lunch, Mark Wilson, Ph.D., Director of the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities at Auburn University’s College of Liberal Arts, took the podium to deliver the keynote address. Wilson reflected on his experiences working with students and community partners in the Appalachia region. Specifically, he cited the insights and philosophies of Marie Cirillo, a resident of Clearfork Valley who collaborated with Wilson on a spring break service experience for Auburn students. Wilson’s reflections emphasized the importance of reciprocity and respect when working alongside partners—in addition, based on Cirillo’s insights, he invited the group to reflect on the ways they currently think about and define “community.”
At the conclusion of the event, partners, faculty, and students gathered, took photos, and scheduled meetings to uncover new opportunities for collaboration.
