Special Interest Articles:

• Letter from Campus Director

• Letter from AHSA President

• Community Service Projects

•  Internships

•  Upcoming AH Events

Individual Highlights:

•  AH Board Member Profile

•  AHMI 2006 Student Experiences

Contact us at:
221 Rackham
Ypsilanti , MI 48197.
Phone:
734-487-1612
Email: humanics@emich.edu

Greetings from the Executive Director

Dear American Humanics Friends and Partners,

Welcome to the first addition of our new newsletter for the New Year!

2005 was an eventful year for the AH program at Eastern Michigan University and we are looking forward to having another exciting year! Last year the AH office and student association (AHSA) completed many projects. We achieved an increase in program enrollment by 100%, AHSA elected officers, and they completed monthly service hours at nonprofit organizations like YMCA and Senior Alliance and are working on developing relationships with nonprofit organizations.

With a $35,000 grant ($25,000 given in 2005 and $10,000 in 2006) Comerica shows a great commitment to our program and to preparing leaders in the nonprofit sector. The Comerica grant provides internship stipends to the AH students working with nonprofit organizations. Presently our AH students are working with Washtenaw United Way and March of Dimes.

Ten AH students celebrated the beginning of the new year in San Diego where they attended the American Humanics Management Institute (AHMI). I am proud to say that among the over 90 universities attending AHMI, EMU was one the best represented university. Please take time to read the students' AHMI experience section of the newsletter.

I am also glad to report that we have a new Board member, Robin Lynn Grinnell. Ms. Grinnell, who is the Director of the Michigan Nonprofit Leadership Institute, will continue representing the Michigan Nonprofit Association on the Board of Advisors and replace Mr. Sam Singh who has retired from the Board. I would like to thank Mr. Singh for his great contribution to the program and to welcome Ms. Grinnell!

If you know about internship placements, have community service ideas for our students or fundraising suggestions, please contact me. Building partnerships and strengthening the existing ones are important to our program.

I look forward to a great semester and continue building our program!

Claudia Petrescu

AH Advisory Board:
Melinda Bostwick
Visteon

Caryn Charter
EMU

Char Luttrell
United Way

Cathi Duchon
YMCA

Diane Hockett
Girls Scouts

Dallas Moore
NEW Center

Dr. Chris Wood Foreman
EMU

Susan Rink
EMU Foundation

Amy Smitter
MichiganCC

Laura Schultz
American Red Cross

Peggy Harless
VISION

Robin Lynn Grinnell
MNA

AHSA Officers:
President
April Aretz

Vice President
Nicolet Horrington

Fundraising Chair
Sarah Smarch

Volunteer Chair
Kelly Cole

Treasurer/Membership Chair
Hodan Said

Greetings from the AHSA President!

My name is April Aretz and I am the 2005-2006 President. I would like to take a moment to further introduce myself. I am a senior here at EMU majoring in political science with a minor in Asian Studies. I am also currently working on my American Humanics Portfolio. I have been an active member of AHSA for a little over a year! One of my biggest passions in life is working with non-profits to make a difference in my own community. I currently work at the Farmington Hills YMCA and I was extremely fortunate to intern for the Washtenaw County American Red Cross this past summer. My plans are to attend graduate school after graduation this December.

Already this school year has been filled with many exciting things to share with all of you! We have many new faces taking on leadership roles within the student association and they already have surpassed my expectations as president! One of the largest tasks that this student association has faced is recruitment. While this is at the top of our list of priorities, it is with much excitement to announce that through this past semester we have nearly doubled our membership!

Along with these updates it is most important to share with all of you the progress of the latest American Humanics Management Institute. This year ten American Humanics students attended AHMI in beautiful San Diego where they participated in seminars, workshops, Ameri-corps training, job placement programs, and key programs dealing with ethics in the non-profit sector. The students showed passion, professionalism, and true EMU Character. This was truly a success!

The AHSA has been very busy this semester working on fundraising, grant writing, fulfilling service hours, and working diligently on competencies. However, the school year is far from over! We have many goals to complete this semester and I am among many who are excited to propel this program forward here at EMU. One goal the student association has made is to work closely with our Advisory Board this semester. Three committees will work on projects with a board member committed to assist us in our task. The committees include Public Relations, Fundraising, and Special Events. We are excited to utilize our wonderful board members and create new relationships in the nonprofit sector with this opportunity. Please look forward to seeing the progress on the projects these committees are working on.

Also, an important goal is fundraising! We are fortune to have some help with grant writing and we are looking to increase our budget through grants, student government awards, and good ole' fashion fundraising. Our specific target is to raise money for those students going to AHMI in 2007!

In closing, I would like to share with you all what a committed and passionate group of students, advisors, and faculty this program currently has apart of it.

April Aretz, AHSA President

Community Service Projects

One of the goals our student association desires to complete is a four hour community service project every month. Here a couple descriptions of the projects we completed so far:

A group of students helped out the YMCA Ann Arbor staff by cleaning up the grounds, raking leaves and weed picking. This was also fundraising opportunity for students. Through their hard work, they were able raise $277.00! The students also were given a tour of the new Ann Arbor YMCA facilities and enjoyed meeting the staff. American Humanics student, Mike Fitzpatrick, is currently working part-time at the YMCA and organized this student association event.

Another community service project was with the Senior Alliance® (TSA), which is a private non-profit agency established in 1980 that provides services to low-income disabled adults and the elderly. AH students sold Christmas cards. The money collected from this effort paid for the holiday meals provided to the seniors. The community service projects are organized by Volunteer Chair Kelly Cole.

For our January community service project, we will be teaming up with VISION and the Students Against Hunger and Homelessness (S.A.H.A.H.) organization to fundraise for those who are hungry and homeless. We are raising awareness of campus about these issues and promote the “2% Solution”. The “2% Solution” allow EMU students on a meal plan to donate one lunch per month (2% of their meals) from their plan to help hungry people in our community.

We are looking forward to receiving your ideas about other community services projects and internship placements!

Internships:

AH students Inna Gorlova and Shannon Reighard will be completing internships with the United Way and March of Dimes working on fundraising and event planning for 2006.

Check our website for more information about upcoming internships:

www.americanhumanics.emich.edu.

AHMI 2006 Participants

AH Students Hodan Said, Erin Sarbinoff and April Aretz in San Diego for AHMI 2006

American Humanics Board Member Profile: Char Luttrell

What sets our American Humanics program apart from other academic programs is our Advisory Board. This group is made up of Michigan nonprofit professionals that connect our students to the nonprofit world. Their purpose is to support the American Humanics Program at Eastern Michigan University in preparing and certifying undergraduate students for careers in the nonprofit sector. They support AH by assisting students to become well-prepared nonprofit professionals, fundraising for the program, promoting the program and participating in the development and maintenance of the AH program. In this newsletter we would like to introduce Char Luttrell, Senior Director of Marketing and Special Events, from Washtenaw United Way on our team.

Char Luttrell has been senior director of marketing and special events for Washtenaw United Way since 1999. In this position she supervises development of all of the communications touch points for Washtenaw United Way , including print materials, web, special events, media relations and print and broadcast advertising. She previously worked as public relations director for Girl Scouts of the Huron Valley Council and as community relations director for Huron Valley Ambulance, a regional nonprofit ambulance service. She has also done freelance writing and communications project management for several nonprofits in Washtenaw County , including Catholic Social Services , Michigan Visiting Nurses and the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from West Virginia University and began her career as a newspaper reporter and editor.

Ms. Luttrell can assist American Humanics students by providing job shadowing opportunities, collaborative projects and, possibly, internships. She can help them develop the Foundation Co mp etencies of Communications Skills and Personal Attributes and the Professional Development Co mp etencies of Fundraising Principles and Practices and Nonprofit Marketing.

For more information about the AH Board members check out website: www.americanhumanics.emich.edu.

AHMI Conference 2006

The American Humanics program at EMU had the largest group ever attend AHMI 2006. Ten students traveled to San Diego to complete this program requirement. They participated in various workshops and discussions about issues facing the nonprofit sector and had the opportunity to meet nonprofit representatives and other AH students to network and make new friendships. This was truly a wonderful experience for students to learn the principles of nonprofit management and tie them into the theme of the conference- culture, community, and careers.

EMU's AH students had this to say about their time in San Diego :

“So many nonprofit organizations were there to recruit students at the spot and train them. I was very surprised to see how CEOs or other people who had high positions wanted to know us and help us to reach our goals and dreams. They were so surprised to see how many students who were involve in making a difference in their community. I am glad that I was one of them. AHMI is a great experience to everyone who wants to succeed in life. There is a lot of opportunity out there but it is up to us to participate. This is for everyone who is looking for jobs and internships, and an opening to get you where you want to go.” –Noelle Ingabire

“AHMI 2006 was a wonderful experience for me. I learned so much about the current issues facing the nonprofit sector and had the opportunity to network with nonprofit representatives and other AH students from across the country. The most interesting part of AHMI for me was learning about the other American Humanics programs and how their student associations functioned. After my discussions with AHMI 2006 student representatives and student association presidents, I found that the most successful programs were ones with great administrative support. These students also gave me excellent suggestions to improve our student association. I am looking forward to the projects our students are going to take on to develop us into future nonprofit leaders.” –Erin Sarbinoff

“Attending AHMI was an eye opening experience. From the speakers to the workshop there was always something new and interesting to learn. The workshops I participated in discussed issues like building a successful community and how to be successful in mentoring youth. These workshops were motivating to me because they talked about things I want to do with my life. AHMI provided a real life case study that we will face in our future careers. The techniques and guidance the mentors provided was vital in how to handle certain situations if they were to occur. More importantly, AHMI provided connections to students who share the same vision as I do and to professionals who are willing to help in any way they can. AHMI was definitely an experience of a life time.” -Rukiya Hassan

San Diego , CA
January 6-7, 2006
AHMI Conference
AH Participants:

April Aretz
Jennifer Baller
Lindsay Buhagiar
Michael Fitzpatrick
Quinta Gaines
Inna Gorlova
Rukiya Hassan
Noelle Ingabire
Hodan Said
Erin Sarbinoff

AHMI 2006 Case Study Group Photo.

Upcoming Events:

AHSA meetings Feb.7, March7 and April 4.

Science IS for Girls April 8

AH Board Meeting March 29

Please call the office or check the website for more information!