Education Commons^™

Uno Community Engagement Landscape Analysis (11.2.16), Deborah Smith-Howell, Anthony Starke, Keristiena Shenouda

Post Portfolio Previsit

The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is a nationally recognized engaged institution that wishes to expand the quantity and quality of its partnerships and outreach through its community engagement activities. Additionally, the University wants to assess, measure and evaluate the outcomes, impacts, and quality of its community engagement. This report presents findings from a landscape analysis which was conducted by the Office of Academic Affairs with the purpose of gaining more knowledge about current activities and practices in order to inform future data collection, analysis and measurement techniques. Additionally, the landscape analysis aims to comprehend how community engagement is …

Decentering The Writing Program Archive: How Composition Instructors Save And Share Their Teaching Materials, Stacy Olivia Nall

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation decenters the writing program archive through research on instructors’ digital archives. Artifacts of composition instruction are no longer saved to print archives alone; rather, digital technologies expand the locations where artifacts of writing pedagogy can be archived and accessed. The following archival ethnography, focused on a community engagement writing course in the Introductory Composition at Purdue (ICaP) program, finds that many digital archives of composition are hidden to outside researchers or not sustained (which are theorized as either “abandoned” or “pop-up” archives). At the same time, some pedagogical materials are publicly visible by virtue of personal web spaces …

Social Justice And The Future Of Higher Education Kinesiology, Brian Culp

Faculty and Research Publications

This article presents a rationale for the infusion of social justice into kinesiology programs for the purpose of reducing inequities in society. Specifically, the current climate for social justice is considered and discussed using examples from an university-inspired service-learning initiative, law, and politics. Of note are the following areas of discussion: (a) differentiation between social diversity and social justice, (b) public pedagogy as a means by which to inspire service action, (c) the creation of climates for speech and application of social justice, (d) modeling and socialization for equity, and (e) the neoliberal threat to inclusiveness. The article concludes with …

Achieving Teaching, Scholarship, And Service Through Community Engagement, Carole K. Ivey, Jodi L. Teitelman, Kelli W. Gary, Dianne F. Simons, Jayne T. Shepherd, Albert E. Copolillo

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy faculty currently face enormous challenges in meeting teaching load expectations, while also under pressure to participate in scholarly projects and to make administrative and service contributions. Community engagement projects may provide opportunities for faculty to effectively and efficiently meet the goals in each of these areas while imparting benefits to students and community partners as well. Faculty at the Department of Occupational Therapy (OT) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) embraced this idea as consistent with the university’s mission and strategic plan, and recognized its benefits in assisting faculty to meet workload demands. Four community partnerships reflecting the range …

Building Currency: Crafting New Channels For Undergraduate Communication Programs, Vickie Shamp Ellis, Kaylene Barbe, Kalyn G. Fullbright

Administrative Issues Journal

University professional development funds, generally present for faculty, and often available for graduate students through grants or stipends, are seldom available to undergraduates. In this study, we assessed Giddens and Pierson’s (1998) structuration theory in terms of how a professional development fund for undergraduates can impact the lives of students, create new structures within the culture to foster scholarship, and celebrate role models. Specifically, we used action research to trace seven steps involved in one program’s effort to establish a direct funding channel for those wanting to contribute to the lives of undergrads. We demonstrated how the new funding channel …

Non-Tenure-Track Faculty And Community Engagement: How The 2020 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification Application Can Encourage Campuses To Support Non-Tenure-Track Faculty And Their Community Engagement, Allison Lafave, Damani Lewis, Sarah Smith

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

In 2006, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching developed an elective classification for community engagement for institutions of higher education. To receive the classification, campuses must complete an application and respond to questions by providing evidence that demonstrates a commitment to sustaining and increasing their community engagement efforts (Welch & Saltmarsh, 2013). Many of the application questions relate to policies and practices that affect faculty careers. For example, the 2015 Community Engagement Classification application asked institutions to describe relevant professional development opportunities and ways in which faculty community engagement is incentivized, recognized, and rewarded. These questions are important, …

Uno Student Engagement Spotlights, Uno Office Of Academic And Student Affairs

Community Engagement

Community engagement and service are fundamental components of UNO’s identity. The following students exemplify commitment to community engagement. Their work represents the breadth of UNO’s involvement in various causes.

P-16 Initiative, Uno Service Learning Academy

Newsletters 2015-2016

This newsletter features: Gaining Perspective: Race & Our Juvenile Justice System; Mapping Histories: Learning Across the Ages; College & Career Readiness Characteristics Found in Service Learning; Service Learning Around the World; Student's Collaboration Leads to Environmental Sustainability; Multiple Collaborative Projects Created Diverse Experiences for Students; Students Learn to Speak Mandarin; Infusing Rigor into Service Learning: A K-12 Teacher & UNO Professor's Perspective; A Lesson in Ethics: What Would a Boys Town Middle School Student Do? and Letter from the Program Coordinator.

An Opportunity For Community: Building A Community College Center For Community Engagement In A “Distressed” Suburb, Jeffrey L. Wagnitz

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

Over the past several decades, poverty rates in the United States have been rising more rapidly in the suburbs than anywhere else. Today, in fact, more poor people live in U.S. suburbs than in its cities. While poverty is painful in any setting, a suburb in decline can present its residents with particularly difficult obstacles, including deteriorating public infrastructure, under-funded schools, fragmented social services, time-consuming travel to distant jobs, and a lack of coherent political influence to address those liabilities. For the community colleges that serve such regions, the rise of suburban poverty challenges the institution’s traditional mission of community …

Community Engagement, Graduate Students, And "Naive Complicity": Service In The University, Jonathan S. Isaac

Open Access Theses

This thesis takes issue with current models of community engagement and service learning that do not take into consideration the constraints imposed upon graduate students or short-term instructors who teach a service learning course or who undertake community-oriented research. Bound up in the long history of academic needs overshadowing or entirely neglecting community concerns, campus-community partnerships involving graduate students are much more likely to maintain, to quote Linda Flower, a “naïve complicity in the social structures that put power and prestige on the university side of the ledger while putting passive need and incapacity on the debit, community side” (105). …

The Impact Of Academic Service Learning On Community College Students, Sharon S. Ellerton, Sandy Figueroa, Peter Fiume, Debra Greenwood

Publications and Research

Although research clearly indicates that academic service-learning provides multiple benefits to college students in baccalaureate institutions, there is less known about its impact on community college students; a population who may benefit the most from this pedagogy. Four faculty members from four different community colleges within the City University of New York incorporated service-learning into their classrooms while also maintaining control classes. Quantitative survey data on student civic engagement and college skills were collected and survey responses from those students that did, and did not, participate in service-learning were compared. The data demonstrated meaningful differences between the non-service-learners and service-learning …

Dialogues That Dig Deeper: Surfacing The Multiple Faces Of Homelessness In Grand Rapids, Mi (Report One), Lauren Maher, Sarah Bennett, Cameron Costa, Ryan Fookes, Jason Matthews, Erica Clark, Aleaha Lorimer

Undergraduate Research

This Community dialogue was designed to discover what homeless individuals need, in terms of services and assistance, to prevent the perpetuating cycle of homelessness itself. After the discussion, our team hopes service organizations in Grand Rapids will take our findings into consideration in their efforts towards designing and implementing programs around homelessness.

Dialogues That Dig Deeper: Surfacing The Multiple Faces Of Homelessness In Grand Rapids, Mi (Report Two), Leah Marshall, Annie Taccolini, Joshua Fields, Faith Boyd, Caleb Brinson, Jessica Tharnish, Adi Sahitolli, Jeff Bradford

Undergraduate Research

This community dialogue was designed to identify current gaps in responses to homelessness in Grand Rapids as well as options for addressing those gaps. Given the feedback received, this report focuses on (1) mentorship programs similar to the aftercare program at Dégagé, (2) facilitated housing, and (3) ideas for fostering social connectedness.

Through primary and secondary research as well as an analysis of our dialogue, our team was able to identify key areas of need in the fight for consistent, stable housing. Below you will find an outline of those ideas, more theoretical research on the subject, and data on …

Dialogues That Dig Deeper: Surfacing The Multiple Faces Of Homelessness In Grand Rapids, Mi (Report Three), Chad Cleypool, Dallas Davis, Mara Kavieff, Chelsea Ortiz, Cassie Pataro, Ian Thompson, Morgan Vincent

Undergraduate Research

This community dialogue was designed to identify a wide-range of solutions, consider tradeoffs, prioritize options, and begin implementation efforts. We wanted to discover any possible areas of need for individuals experiencing homelessness that are not currently being addressed by the programs available. In order to accomplish this, we held a community dialogue at Dégagé and elicited responses from patrons, volunteers, and staff.

The results will be shared with Dégagé Ministries, Seeds of Promise, other local nonprofit leaders/experts, and this report will also be openly publishedso anyone interested can access the lessons learned.

Outcomes Of Mentoring Relationships Between University Service-Learning Students And Language Minority Students, Casey C. Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores mentor outcomes of university students serving in service-learning mentoring relationships between university service-learning student volunteers and language minority student mentees. These outcomes are helpful in improving academic and personal progress for both the student mentors and the mentees. The mentoring relationships may be particularly important given the challenges facing an increasing number of language minority students in communities and schools today. Research indicates that student mentees perform better academically when mentors assist in their learning and growth. As part of the greater network of educational and community leaders, university administrators have the opportunity to create mentoring opportunities …

Yvonne Miller And Carly Conrad, Student Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Carly Conrad and Yvonne Miller were t he recipients of t he 2015 Outstanding Student Service Learning Award. They raised awareness about Native Americans living in Whiteclay, NE through showing the documentary Sober Indian Dangerous Indian.

Jacques Musavyimana, Student Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Jacques Musavyimana is the president of UNO Students Against Hunger. Jacques founded UNO Students Against Hunger in fall 2015 with the aim to educate people about food insecurity and eradicate hunger.

Ferial Pearson, Faculty Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Feria I Pearson, M.S., is the founder of the Secret Kindness Agents. Ferial started the Secret Kindness Agents to create o kinder community following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Neal Grandgenett, Faculty Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Neal Grandgenett, Ph.D, is a strong advocate of advancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education. As the Haddix Community Chair of STEM Education and the Co-Chair of the UNO STEM Leadership Team, Dr. Grandgenett leads UNO's STEM outreach efforts.

Sandra Rodriguez-Arroyo, Faculty Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Sondra Rodriguez-Arroyo, D.Ed, was the 2016 recipient of the Service Learning Academy (SLA) Faculty Service Learning Award.

Jeanette Harder, Faculty Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Jeanette Harder, Ph.D., founded t he UNO nonprofit STEPs.

Matthew Van Ormer, Student Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Matthew Van Ormer worked at The Collaborative and is the co-founder of UNO Be The Match, a student organization aimed at adding individuals to the national bone marrow registry.

Michele Desmarais, Faculty Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Michele Desmarais, Ph.D., is one of t he founders of the UNO organization SPHRS.

Amelia Squires, Staff Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Amelia Squires is the UNO STEM Outreach Coordinator. She engages youth in STEM education opportunities like EUREKA-STEM!, which is an enrichment program that begins with a 4 week summer camp held on UNO's campus for middle school girls.

Anthony Hughes, Student Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Anthony Hughes led the Queer Nebraska Youth Network (QNYN) from JAnuary 2014 through May 2015. The QNYN is the only youth-focused, peer-led LGBTQ+ group in Nebraska.

Katherine Esquivel, Student Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Katherine Esquivel cores deeply about serving others. She founded the Habitat for Humanity UNO Student Chapter.

Alma Becerril Salas, Student Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Through the Office of Latin/Latino American Studies (OLLAS), Alma Becerril Salas helped create the Latino art exhibition ‘Latino-Latin American Artists: Exhibition & Conversations’. This art exhibit is the first of its kind to feature solely Latino artists from the Omaha metro area.

Joseph Allen, Faculty Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Joe Allen, Ph.D., is an associate professor in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. As the director of the Center for Applied Psychological Services and the founding director of the Volunteer Program Assessment- UNO, Dr. Allen has served hundreds of nonprofits.

Adrienne Cavill, Student Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

Adrienne Cavill was one of the creators of the Marss Magnet Middle School Financial Literacy Program. Taught by College of Business Administration (CBA) Scholars, the class gave back to the community by teaching financial literacy topics to students.

Breanna Brown, Student Spotlight, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Community Engagement Spotlights

UNO swimmer, Breanna Brown, participates in the Big Brothers and Big Sisters mentoring program.