I'm Professor Carroy Ferguson, although most people refer to me as "Cuf," and I'm with the Human Services Program.

Community Service — it's an interesting thing, if you look at where the college came from and how it came into being. It was actually started back in 1972 by a group of people who considered themselves to be — some were activists, some were community leaders, some were practitioners, and some were academic people. And I think the idea was to bring together all of these varied voices and to create a new way of trying to impact on the community. Not only community, but the public sector. So I think the name in itself speaks loudly for what the mission and the spirit of the college is about, which is College of Public and Community Service. It is service to people in the community - service to people in the public sector - and trying to bring about social change.

I think CPCS is quite unique in that its approach to education, which is called competency based education, allows students to work on and develop skills in a variety of different ways, and to be able to take advantage of a lot of students' prior learning. Not many places allow for an opportunity for students to have value around what they have actually learned in the world, and to integrate that with new learning. So, a person who comes to CPCS, not only has the opportunity to do additional new learning, but also to take advantage of what they have already learned in life, and to demonstrate that in such a way that it allows people to value and be more empowered by what they bring to the experience.

One of the things that excites me about the college is that it affords me the opportunity to be creative and to bring what I know and my energy and my enthusiasm for doing things... it affords me the opportunity to express that, and for that I'm very grateful.