Project Details
Hiring Manager: Iris DiMaio, Director of Community Action Nexus, Office of the President and Sowmya Kampara, Technology and System Specialist, Office of the President
Total Hours: 200
Project Stipend: $5000
Project Overview
Collaboratory is a web-based, public-facing platform designed to help institutions assess and understand their community engagement efforts. As part of the President’s initiative, it plays a crucial role in collecting and analyzing engagement data from both campus and community sources while supporting the seamless operation of Montclair State University’s Office of Community Engagement website. Launched in 2024, the system now contains data on approximately 114 community engagement and public service projects led by university faculty and staff in collaboration with community organizations.
Project Goals and Objectives
To conduct a preliminary analysis to identify key trends. This analysis will explore factors such as the types of community service projects prioritized, social issues addressed, target populations served, funding allocations, and the overall impact at both the community and institutional levels.
The findings from this analysis will:
- Enhance understanding of Montclair State University’s true footprint in community engagement and public service.
- Provide quantitative insights to support strategic planning and sustainable faculty and staff engagement.
- Leverage data-driven reports to help faculty secure funding, demonstrate impact to donors, and
strengthen community partnerships.
Methods to Achieve Goals and Objectives
The intern will utilize advanced data analysis and visualization tools such as Tableau, Stata, Power BI, or similar software to generate insights and compelling visualizations. By the end of the project, the team will produce a comprehensive 10-15 page report, analyzing key findings, highlighting successes, and identifying areas for improvement.
Skill Set Developed
- Gain insight into MSU’s extensive community engagement and public service initiatives.
- Develop organizational, interpersonal, presentation, and communication skills through collaboration with the OCEP team.
- Enhance data analysis and visualization skills through hands-on training and one-on-one mentoring.
- Strengthen reporting skills by learning to create official documents that analyze key trends and support data-driven projections.
Required Training
Intern will receive the following trainings throughout the course of the training:
- Orientation/training on the first week: providing a run-down of OCEP work, the Collaboratory data system, the institution’s resources.
- Intern will participate in the monthly check-in calls arranged by the Collaboratory team, attended by higher institutions across the nation, to understand the Collaboratory and its uses.
- Weekly one-on-one trainings with the project supervisor, start with the start of the project and continue throughout the time of the internship.
Key Deliverables
At the end of the project, the intern will provide
- A minimum of 10-20 graphs showing the areas related to social issues, department-wise breakdown of projects, target population, and notable partners, etc.
- A minimum of 10–15 page report integrating the approved graphs with the description of notable findings.