Mission, Values & Engagement reflection

Reflection on Mission, Values & Engagement

Please respond to 4 of the following questions. Write approximately one paragraph in response to each of the 4 questions you choose to answer.

1)   Given what you know about this topic so far, please reflect on the heritage and values of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in the context of your own values and belief system. 

2)   What opportunities have you had at NDNU to develop relationships that honor the dignity or sacredness of each person or each being, including human and non-human beings? Why is this important? Can you apply this concept to the kinds of decisions you may have to make in your future professional career? Have any of the Community Engagement activities you’ve done this semester given you opportunities to develop in this area? 

3)   Have any ethical issues arisen for you during your time here as a member of the NDNU campus community? Did any of these arise out of your Community Engagement activities? Have you been challenged to assess your own ethical stances in any way? In what ways, if any, have these ethical considerations involved issues of justice or peace? In what ways, if any, have they caused you to change the way you think about your own future career choices?

4)   Have you, in the context of this or any class at NDNU, had opportunities to apply your classroom learning to address community or social problems? If so, did this make your classroom learning more successful in any way? In what ways, if any, did you find Reflection-Action-Reflection to be a useful model for combining classroom learning with social engagement in this way?

5)   How do you personally define diversity? What have you learned during your time at NDNU about the challenges and rewards of embracing diversity? Is embracing diversity of value to the human and larger Earth communities?

6)   In what ways, if any, have you had opportunities at NDNU to build a sense of community with others? Who were the “others”? Were they students? Teachers? NDNU staff? Were they people you met through community engagement activities? Were they non-human beings? Who benefited from these interactions? Do you feel that you built a sense of community forthose others or withthem?

7)   Have you had opportunites at NDNU to develop or refine your spiritual or ethical leadership skills in working toward a more just society? What specifically were those skills? How do you see yourself applying those skills during the remainder of your education and/or during your life and career after college?

Final Exam Study Guide

State & Local Government / Andrews

Spring 2019

Final Exam Study Guide

If you can discuss the following subject areas and apply your knowledge to the kinds of scenarios listed below, you should do well on the final:

Your responses can include information, examples and other details from any of the following sources: our textbook, your notes, notes you borrow from other students (with their permission, of course), any experience you had with your community partner, examples you learned about through other students’ presentations about their community partner experiences, anything our guest speakers shared in their talks, insights gained during our role play communities, your blog entries, blog entries of other students, examples or information you acquire from outside sources relating to current events.

1)   You should be able to discuss the different types of local governments and describe under what circumstances it might be appropriate to form a regional government. Why might local citizens support or object to a regional government proposal?

2)   Bureaucracy is beautiful. Discuss. 

3)   Types of budgets. Outline the different types of budgets relevant to state and local governments and purposes or applications for which each budgeting approach might be used.

4)   A budget is a statement of values. Is this a true statement? You should be able to discuss some examples that illustrate this idea, including examples of both where financial resources come from and what they are used for.

5)   Which city, town or rural area are you from (Lakeville, Unidad or Ornesse)? You should be able to describe the different kinds of taxes that might be imposed in your community, as well as in the other two communities, prior to moving to a regional governing structure. How do these tax structures reflect the values of your communities? Are they progressive or regressive taxes?

6)   You should be able to explain what gerrymandering is, how it happens, and why it is considered to be contrary to democracy. You should also be able to solve a gerrymandering problem, demonstrating how the same area with the same population can be redistricted in different ways which result in either a fair or unfair result. After the final, we will review the gerrymandering question together and you will have an opportunity for a do-over on Tuesday 23^rdif you want to respond to that question again. The do-over will involve a different gerrymandering puzzle.

California's efforts to preserve state values in face of changing Federal policies

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-state-wetlands-protections-20190402-story.html