Augustana College’s Upper Mississippi Center is seeking its next partner to advance its mission of assisting municipalities and local organizations in tackling issues ranging from sustainability to business strategy.
UMC Director Dr. Michael Reisner explains that the Augustana Accelerator program brings together students from various disciplines and matches them with a community partner, such as a city or county, to tackle projects.
“What works best is if a city is interested, we come out and we do a brainstorming session," Dr. Reisner said in an interview on Wednesday, October 15th. "The city kind of tells us of their needs. If there's community partners like a school district or a nonprofit, they usually come and we leave with a list of potential projects. And then the challenging part for us is we have to come back and try to match those with learning experiences on campus.”
The center has helped Rock Island identify its lead water lines and develop ways to fund their replacement. In the past, geography students assisted Clinton, Iowa, in deciding whether to expand a bus line to a local Walmart.
The deadline to apply is November 15th. More information and the application can be found on the Upper Mississippi Center’s website.
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