Mott Community College: MCC Student Mickeely Dias Honored As Newman Civic Fellow 

Press release from Mott Community College:

Dawn Hibbard

Apr 5th, 2021

MCC sophomore Mickeely Dias, of North Branch, has been named a Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact, a Boston-based non-profit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education. Dias is one of 212 students from 39 states, Washington, D.C., and Mexico who will be in the 2021-2022 cohort.

The Newman Civic Fellowship is a yearlong program for students from Campus Compact member institutions. The students selected for the fellowship are leaders on their campuses who demonstrate a commitment to finding solutions for challenges facing communities locally, nationally, and internationally.

Dias will graduate from MCC in May with an Associate’s degree in General Studies. During her tenure at the College, Dias has been part of the MCC Honors College, and served in multiple leadership roles including as President of Phi Kappa Theta Honors Society and as a member of the President’s Student Advisory Council.

“Mickeely has shown great leadership in the past academic year,” said MCC President, Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea. “She is able to look at current social issues from multiple perspective to find pathways for moving forward to make positive contributions. She was particularly influential in navigating community engagement projects for MCC students, while ensuring the safety of all concerned, during the pandemic.”

Mickeely’s leadership qualities were evident early. While still a a high school student, she participated in cross-generational communication to exchange letters with elementary school kids and develop their self-confidence, coached volleyball, and was a member of the National Honors Society.

“My past experiences were a springboard into my leadership roles at Mott Community College,” she said, “as the President of Phi Theta Kappa, I seek to empower our board members, many of whom are women, to see themselves as leaders because of the strength of their character and significance of their contributions. Both now and in the future, I want to continue to help others reach their full potential through leadership.”

The Newman Civic Fellowship, named for Campus Compact co-founder Frank Newman, is a one-year experience emphasizing personal, professional, and civic growth for students who have demonstrated a capacity for leadership and an investment in solving public problems.

Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides a variety of learning and networking opportunities, including a national conference of Newman Civic Fellows in partnership with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. The fellowship also provides fellows with access to apply for exclusive scholarship and post-graduate opportunities.

“We are proud to recognize these extraordinary student leaders and thrilled to engage with them,” said Campus Compact President Andrew Seligsohn. “The experience of the last year has driven home to all of us that we need open-minded, innovative, public-spirited thinkers and doers. That is what Campus Compact is about, and the stories of our Newman Civic Fellows demonstrate it’s who they are.”

The Newman Civic Fellowship is supported by the KPMG Foundation and Newman’s Own Foundation. Learn more at compact.org/newman-civic-fellowship.

Campus Compact is a national coalition of colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. Campus Compact supports institutions in fulfilling their public purposes by deepening their ability to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility. As the largest national higher education association dedicated solely to campus-based civic engagement, we provide professional development to administrators and faculty to enable them to engage effectively, facilitate national partnerships connecting campuses with key issues in their local communities, build pilot programs to test and refine promising models in engaged teaching and scholarship, celebrate and cultivate student civic leadership, and convene higher education institutions and partners beyond higher education to share knowledge and develop collective capacity. Visit www.compact.org.

This press release was produced by Mott Community College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.