The University Record, January 21, 1998

Community service learning grants awarded to 11 faculty

From the Center for Learning through Community Service

Eleven faculty members have received course development grants from the Center for Learning through Community Service. The grants will enable them to integrate community-based research and service-learning into an existing or new course.

Community-based research is a methodology in which researchers collaborate with community members as partners and participants in the process. Service-learning is a pedagogy in which students serve the community, reflect critically and learn from the experience.

The recipients and their projects are:

  • William Alexander, English, will involve students and residents in research on juvenile detention centers and correctional facilities and incorporate the knowledge into theater productions.
  • Rosario Ceballo, psychology, will involve undergraduate students in a study of the impacts of community violence on children in Detroit in one course and incorporate the information in a new graduate course on a similar subject.
  • Margaret Dewar, urban and regional planning, will involve students and community partners in research to assess the effects of the Empowerment Zone on business employers in a Detroit neighborhood.
  • Larry Gant, social work, will involve students in environmental scans and asset mapping with a coalition of 12 social agencies in Detroit¼s Woodward corridor.
  • Aseem Inam, urban and regional planning, will involve students and residents in collaborative research on housing problems and planning solutions in a Detroit neighborhood.
  • Jed Jacobson, dentistry, will help dental students provide services and gather data on unmet needs in partnership with community agencies in Calhoun County.
  • Timothy Johnson, medicine, and Carolyn Sampselle, nursing, will involve students in community research and outreach activities to promote women¼s health.
  • Robert Ortega, social work, and Lorraine Gutierrez, social work and psychology, will help students assess organizational resources and service needs in four Michigan Latino communities.

    • Funding is provided by the Bonner Foundation with support from the Corporation for National Service Learn and Serve Higher Education Program.

    For more information, contact Barry Checkoway or Jeffrey Howard, 1024 Hill St., 647-7402.