We’re pleased to announce that Anthony Siracusa has started working for the CCE as our new Engaged Learning Specialist. We asked Anthony a few questions to get to know him better. Read his responses below!
Q: What brought you to the CCE? 
A: As an undergrad, I was a Bonner Scholar at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee – a place where I later served as the Community Service Coordinator. This staff position in the Bonner Center at Rhodes allowed meant that I oversaw the Bonner Scholars in addition to a bevy of other community engagement programs at the college. Working at Rhodes led me towards a passion for helping students think about and engage in meaningful community work. So when the opportunity to do this type of work at Colorado College came along, I knew I couldn’t pass it up.
Q: What is your past experience?
A: In 2002, I founded Revolutions Bike Co-op in Memphis with the goal of teaching people how to build their own recycled bicycles. I worked with people from all ages and backgrounds in an effort to build community while building bicycles. This experience led me to apply for a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 2009 to study bicycle cultures in Western Europe, China, Australia, and Central America. When I returned to Memphis following the Watson, I wanted to focus more on public policy as it related to sustainable transportation. To that end, I co-founded Bike Walk Tennessee to organize biking and walking advocates across the state to make policy changes that would create a safer state for people who walk and bike. Bike Walk TN now has seven local advocacy committees in communities across Tennessee.
Before coming to CC, I also completed a Ph.D. in History at Vanderbilt University. My dissertation examined the evolution of nonviolence in the black freedom struggle in the years before the sit-in movement of 1960. I have a deep passion for historical teaching and research, and look forward to finding ways to share this passion at CC.
Q: What does your job as Engaged Learning Specialist entail?
A: My primary job is to work with students outside the formal classroom setting to think critically about the connections between their academic coursework and the work they are doing in the community. I will work directly with students in the Community Engaged Scholars Program, The Public Achievement Program, the Bonner Pilot Program, the BreakOut alternative break program, and The Colorado College Farm. I will be primarily responsible for facilitating skill based trainings and other co-curricular workshops that will, if all goes well, help students to deepen their impact.
Q: What is one thing you are most excited about this year?
A: I am most excited about developing relationships with students, faculty, staff, and community partners here at CC and in the Springs. The best thing about living and working in Memphis for so long was the relationships I developed with people; I made so many friends and grew to know so many colleagues over time. Those relationships gave tremendous meaning to my life and work, and I am excited to find and develop those types of connections both on campus and in the community.
Q: What is your favorite type of candy and why?
A: I don’t eat candy very often…. but when I do, I eat a Butterfinger. It’s got a great texture, and it was the candy of choice for Bart Simpson – which is likely the primary reason I chose it.
Q: What would your pet say if they had to recommend you?
A: “Please, just sit down and stay a while. All that work will be there waiting when you’re ready to get back up. Promise!”
Q: If you turned radioactive and bit someone, what powers would they gain from you?
A: Aside from the general fright this whole scenario invokes, I’d say that an individual bitten by a radioactive me might acquire a passion for the outdoors. I love to camp and hike and bike, and I would be hopeful that this love for open spaces – rather than some other zombie-like transmitted quality – would be passed on to the unfortunate bitee.
Welcome, Anthony! We are glad to have you with us, and we cannot wait to see what you bring to the office and to the community!
