Natalie Gersen ‘28 of Belmont, Mass., has been named a Newman Civic Fellow through Campus Compact, a national coalition of colleges and universities working to advance the public purposes of higher education. 

The Newman Civic Fellowship is a yearlong program recognizing students with exceptional leadership potential and commitment to creating positive change in communities. Named for the late Frank Newman, an advocate for civic engagement in higher education, the fellowship provides students with learning and networking opportunities that nurture their development as civic leaders. 

Gersen caught the attention of Darby Ray, director of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships and Donald W. and Ann M. Harward Professor of Civic Engagement, soon after she arrived at Bates. Gersen, a Community Outreach Fellow with the Harward Center, has been “a major force for deeply community-connected work since she arrived at Bates,” said Ray.

“Natalie is the kind of civic leader whose actions speak louder than words — which is to say, a deeply authentic and effective leader,” said Ray. “The community partners she has collaborated with praise her entrepreneurial spirit and highly developed organizational skills, and of course her enormous heart.” Ray noted that Gersen has applied her “impressive intelligence and skills to diverse projects and issues, always with care and impeccable follow-through.” Gersen spent her sophomore year building out what Ray called “a highly successful set” of volunteer opportunities, which focused on housing and homelessness.

Campus Compact provides the Newman Civic Fellows programming that emphasizes personal, professional, and civic growth intended to empower students to collaborate effectively across disciplines to work toward large-scale positive change. The Newman Civic Fellows gather annually for three days of intensive in-person skill-building and networking. The fellowship also provides mini grants to help fund community projects, scholarships, and postgraduate opportunities. 

Gersen’s work with the Student Resource Center, which supports students and families experiencing housing instability in Lewiston, as well as her volunteerism with Southern Maine Women’s Reentry Center, were key elements of her nomination for the fellowship. 

“I am deeply honored to be a recipient of the Newman Civic Fellowship,” said Gersen, who noted that the Harward Center offered “the frameworks and the opportunities to turn an abstract interest in civic life into real, sustained practice.” Gersen’s work alongside the Lewiston/Auburn community helped her see that  “meaningful public service is seldom defined by a single act of significance; it is cultivated through consistent, incremental effort — effort that is too often unacknowledged.”

This consistency was noted in President Garry W. Jenkins’ nominating letter. Gersen, he wrote, has “developed close relationships with community partners, developed volunteer opportunities with them for her fellow Batesies, and recruited, trained, and organized those volunteers for a sustained impact over the course of the year.”  

“Now more than ever, it is an honor to recognize student leaders who are applying themselves as changemakers and creating positive impact in their communities,” Campus Compact President Bobbie Laur said in a press release announcing the winners. “This is just the start of their lifelong journeys as Newman Civic Fellows, and I couldn’t be more excited to watch them continue to grow and pursue their passions.”

Last spring, Gersen enrolled in a Short Term course with Whitehouse Professor of Psychology Amy Bradfield Douglass called “Communicating Psychological Science to Incarcerated Students,” which involved visiting the Southern Maine Women’s Reentry Center, a minimum security prison. Gersen was “deeply inspired” by the time spent at the Reentry Center, and came away with an idea that would extend their connection — a book club between Bates students and the center, which kicks off this month. 

Bates’ most recent Newman Civic Fellow was Aaliyah Moore ’24.