Some of the faculty and community team members whose proposals on initiatives in service-learning were selected by the Faculty Service-Learning Group. Frank DiMeo/University Photography
The Faculty Service-Learning Group, sponsored by the Cornell Public Service Center's Faculty-Fellows-In-Service Program and supported by Susan Murphy, vice president for student and academic services, has awarded financial support to seven faculty and community teams to write papers on new initiatives in service-learning.
The papers will describe new service learning curricula, models and new ways of linking the community, students and faculty in service-learning opportunities. Papers will be presented at a symposium on May 15, and will be published in a volume, University Community Service-Learning Partnerships: Bridges to the Twenty-First Century.
Service-learning is an educational strategy that enhances and reinforces the academic learning experience with practical experience for students while responding to community needs. It reinforces the value of Cornell's outreach mission and strengthens undergraduate education.
Cornell faculty were invited to submit an abstract and paper proposal. Seven faculty paper proposals were selected. Faculty will receive $2,000 for papers authored alone and $3,000 for those authored with a member of the broader community (the award is divided equally among the authors). The following proposals were selected:
·"The Biology Ambassadors"
Faculty: Laurel Southard-Hughes, lecturer/program coordinator, Division of Biological Sciences; Ron Booker, associate professor, neurobiology and behavior, Arts and Sciences; and David Ruth, lecturer, Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). Community: George Wolfe, Wilson Magnet High School, Rochester, and Dan Flerlage, Alternative Community School, Ithaca. Students: Orpheus Williams, Human Ecology, and Afreeka Phillips, CALS. $3,000.
·"A Partnership between University Archaelogists and Municipal Planners"
Faculty: Sherene Baugher, assistant professor, landscape architecture, CALS. Community: George Frantz, city planner, Town of Ithaca. $3,000
·"Speaking for Ourselves: Giving Voice to American Indian Communities Through Initiatives in American Indian Publishing"
Faculty: Donald Birchfield, instructor, American Indian Program, CALS. $2,000.
·"Project Speak Out"
Faculty: Pamela Stepp, associate professor, communications, CALS. Community: Helen Spanswick, Ithaca High School. Students: Jasmine Abdel-Khalik, Arts and Sciences; Meg Aguilar, Arts and Sciences; Bradley Corrion, Engineering; Jill Dash, Arts and Sciences; and Jeffrey Tompkins, Arts and Sciences. $3,000.
·"Experiential Community Design: Combining Service-Learning and Community Design in Landscape Architecture"
Faculty: Paula Horrigan, assistant professor, landscape architecture, CALS. Community: Margaret Harris, PTA, Belle Sherman School, Ithaca. $3,000
·"Collaborating in Community Development: The Potential of Community-Based Planning and Design Workshops"
Faculty: Terry Plater, assistant professor, city and regional planning, Architecture, Art and Planning. $2,000
·"The Ithaca Partnership for Service-Learning in Elder Care"
Faculty: Peter Chi, professor, consumer economics and housing, Human Ecology. Community: Marc Macera, director, Ithacare.
For more information about the Faculty Service-Learning Group or the symposium, contact Ruth Bounous at 255-2503.