community relations

Lead Faculty member Brent Duncan (center wearing a green bandana), the U.S. military and Japanese volunteers worked together to clear tsunami silt from the drainage ditches in Miyako on Memorial Day.

Faculty member helps support relief to tsunami victims in Japan

In early March when the tsunamis hit Japan, Brent Duncan, a lead faculty member with the University, watched the waves crash into the shoreline firsthand. Since then, Duncan has contributed his knowledge of Japanese language and culture to support relief efforts. “Brent’s Japanese language abilities were instrumental for helping him to participate in relief and recovery projects since the initial stages of the disaster,” reports Thomas Hawks, campus director, Military Programs, Asia Pacific. “In addition to providing relief directly to families, Brent has also been able to provide translation, leadership and labor for military relief and recovery operations in the horribly stricken communities along the coast of northeastern Japan.”

On Memorial Day, Duncan volunteered at a recovery effort in Miyako City. He helped coordinate volunteers from the Misawa Air Base and Tokyo to clear tsunami sludge from the drainage ditches in a Miyako neighborhood, helping to spare the town from further flooding when a typhoon hit the next day.

While the physical cleanup and recovery seems never-ending, progress is being made on another front. “One of the amazing things to watch is the grassroots volunteerism revolution that is emerging in Japanese society,” says Duncan. “Volunteering for strangers is considered extremely unusual and somewhat inappropriate in Japanese culture. However, combining the scope of this disaster with the example of Americans who started volunteering as the disaster was still unfolding, governments have had to develop procedure and infrastructure to accommodate the thousands of Japanese who are showing up to help.”

Utah’s Governor Gary Herbert attends opening of Junior Achievement City’s University of Phoenix storefront.

Junior Achievement City holds ribbon-cutting for University of Phoenix storefront

Junior Achievement City (JA City), an interactive, 10,000-square-foot learning facility located in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to introduce its new University of Phoenix storefront. JA City has the feel of an actual community, including a City Hall, a Town Square and 15 different businesses, each sponsored by a real company, and featuring a storefront with the logo and actual marketplace appearance of the sponsor. Following the Junior Achievement Governor’s Breakfast on April 5, Utah’s Governor Gary Herbert participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newest storefront, sponsored by and modeled after the University of Phoenix. JA City offers hands-on opportunities for fifth-grade students to gain real-life experience working in a business, and eighth-grade students to learn the skills necessary to manage their personal finances.

Park restoration projects bring safe playgrounds to children of New Orleans.

Six-month Road to the Gulf service initiative culminates in New Orleans

University of Phoenix was the proud leadership sponsor and official Road to the Gulf sponsor of restoration efforts in New Orleans. The six-month initiative culminated on June 6, with the revitalization of 25 parks and recreation centers and restoration the city’s green play spaces. Leading up to the New Orleans service project, University of Phoenix, in cooperation with HandsOn Network and its affiliates, lead a total of four service projects in San Francisco, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Staff, faculty, students, alumni and community members painted, planted, cleaned, raked and revitalized schools and educational facilities. The projects benefited both the local community as well as friends in New Orleans through the creation of friendship and disaster kits, book drives and the sharing of ecology kits for students.

More than 150 K-12 classrooms received funding though the University of Phoenix Almost Home matching program through Donorschoose.org.

University supports classroom projects across the country

In the spirit of University of Phoenix’s Education Nation initiative, individuals were invited to support K-12 classroom projects across the country. With the University of Phoenix Almost Home matching program, the University dedicated $65,000 to projects submitted by students, faculty and alumni who are full-time K-12 public school teachers through Donorschoose.org. To date, more than 560 individual donors have contributed an average donation of $47 to 156 classroom projects across the nation. These efforts are making a positive impact on nearly 10,000 students. What’s more, 96 percent of the projects will provide materials that will be reused in future classes.

On May 25, 50 Military Division volunteers planted more than 10,000 flags in the lawn of the University of Phoenix corporate offices.

Phoenix celebrates Memorial Day

For the third year, 50 Military Division volunteers planted flags in the lawn of the University of Phoenix corporate offices. On May 25, volunteers planted 10,000 flags in the shape of U.S.A. and were joined by more than 300 spectators. Following the volunteer effort, guests and volunteers were treated to a presentation by the Color Guard and Taps played by Scott Coriell, academic counseling manager.

The flags were then donated to the Pat Tillman Foundation, which shared them with military cemeteries. In addition to the flag donations, Phoenix employees, students and alumni have generously donated $11,650 to the Tillman Military Scholars program.

Throughout the month of May, Apollo Group constituents across the country were also encouraged to sign a Virtual Tribute Wall and donate used cell phones and electronics to Cell Phones for Soldiers.

Through the generosity of supporters, including University of Phoenix, more than 200 students from Chicago middle schools shared their own research on wildlife at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo. More than 800 Chicago-area middle school students had the opportunity to participate in Young Researchers Collaborative. In April, Lincoln Park Zoo hosted 200 of these specially selected students at a culminating event titled Science Celebration to showcase their work. At the Science Celebration, zoo educators hosted Exploration Stations adjacent to students’ projects to provide them with the opportunity to engage with authentic specimens. Deer antlers, hooves and horns were just a few of the objects with which students could interact.