Digital Commons Network^™

Issues With Implementing Service Learning Into An Agricultural Sciences Equine Program, Aleta C. Overby, Erin Tucker, Aaron Lusby

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

In the spring of 2007 service learning classes were implemented in an equine science program after being funded for animal evacuation and recovery grants. This program was met with great student enthusiasm and participation; however, the authors raise questions about some of the obstacles they have found while implementing this program. The three major areas of concern include the optimum class size for service learning, transportation, and the depth of responses to student reflective pieces.

How Students Learn In A Service-Learning Course: A Quasi-Experimental Field Study Of Generative Learning, Valerie I. Sessa, Dana K. Natale, Manuel London, Courtney A. Hopkins

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Sessa and London’s (2005, 2006) continuous learning model was used to generate hypotheses suggesting that service-learning courses trigger student engagement in generative learning processes moderated by the students’ prior experience and that engagement in generative learning behaviors impact learning outcomes. 127 students in eight courses participated in a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group design with a pre-test and two post-tests. Results partially support hypotheses. Implications for theory development, future research, and service learning pedagogy are discussed.

Consortium, University, And Program Impact On Regional Economy And Community, Sean Creighton, Robert J. Sweeney, Katherine Cauley

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Community engagement in higher education has become increasingly widespread. As a consequence, universities find themselves learning how to integrate community engagement on their own, from each other, and, hopefully, from their community partners. This article discusses three distinct cases–a consortium, university, and program–and their impacts on a regional economy and community. In addition to illustrating intentional macro to micro community engagement practices, the article notes key findings from regional institutional collaborations. Further, the article recommends benchmarks for evaluating the quality and effective practice of community engagement.

Service-Learning Pathologies And Prognoses, Roy Schwartzman

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This essay diagnoses and suggests treatments for several pathologies that afflict service-learning. Structural challenges include geographic isolation and optimization of institutional administration. Student challenges include reinforcing stereotypes, deficiencies in practical skills, elitism regarding suitable service, underdeveloped empathy, and excessive focus on time spent in service. Community partner challenges include appropriately defining student labor and systematically under-reporting negative experiences. The prognosis explores how service-learning projects could instigate student engagement with the systemic nature of social injustice.

Working Outside The Box: Advertising Campaigns, Downtown Revitalization, And Community Engagement, Laura Lindenfeld

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This descriptive analysis of an Advertising Campaigns course demonstrates how measured risk-taking can help establish a “virtuous cycle of improvement” between universities and communities. Student engagement in downtown revitalization efforts was supported by a flexible syllabus, strategic classroom management, and strong partnerships. The essay emphasizes the process of making curricular decisions that align with instructors’ experience, talent, and goals. When teaching outside of the box instructors should choose models that complement their own expertise and talents.

The Day One Leadership Program: Engaging Campus In Community Hunger Issues Through Service-Learning, April K. Heiselt, Chiquita A. Briley

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Hunger issues continue to be a major part of both the United States’ and the global health agenda. The “War on Hunger” is an initiative that engages college students in the solution to fight hunger. Using Mississippi State University’s Day One Leadership Community as a case study, this article details how freshmen students in a first-year, living-learning community participated in a service-learning project with their local food pantries in order to better understand the issues of food insecurity and domestic hunger. Elements of the program as well as challenges and benefits for the students and food pantry community partners are …

Serve At Your Own Risk?: Service-Learning In The Promotion And Tenure Process, Jacquelyn B. Frank, Mark Malaby, Laura Raidonis Bates, Marcie Coulter-Kern, Sheron Fraser-Burgess, J. R. Jamison, Linda Stalker Prokopy, Nathan A. Schaumleffel

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Pre-tenure faculty integrating service-learning into their professional roles are often uncertain about its position in the faculty reward system. This study gathered data from administrators at five institutions of higher education in Indiana to learn if and how service-learning is credited toward tenure and promotion at their institutions. The results point to the need for junior faculty members and administrators to be cautious when implementing and evaluating service-learning initiatives.

Supporting Community Safety Through University-Community Partnerships: Exploring Models Of Engagement, James M. Frabutt

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This paper explores various models of university-community engagement to support youth violence prevention and community safety. A series of case examples from the Center for Youth, Family, and Community Partnerships at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro are highlighted. The case examples-four projects spanning a six-year time period-are the springboard for exploring issues of funding, community collaboration, sustainability, leadership, evaluation, and communication.

Working Across Cultures: Outcomes Of An Initiative To Improve Student Capacity And Institutional Coordination Related To Global Engagement, Karen E. Kun, Suzanne Mason, Jennifer Foster, John E. Mcgowan, Courtney N. Coleman, Cornelia Lindenau, Edward L. Queen Ii

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

The Working Across Cultures Initiative was developed at Emory University to improve undergraduate and graduate student capacity and institution-wide coordination related to global engagement. The Initiative contributed to enhanced student knowledge and skills as well as changes in institutional policies and procedures. It may thus have implications for other institutions of higher education grappling with how best to prepare students for global engagement and how to bring about the changes in the institutional policies and procedures that would best support, enable, and engage students in these activities.

Transformative Opportunities For Community Engagement Within Teacher Education: Creating Opportunities To Prepare Preservice Teachers For Urban Environments In Post-Katrina New Orleans, Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Preservice teachers need meaningful opportunities to engage in authentic community activities that expand their cultural horizons and frames of reference, strengthening their preparation for urban teaching. Abramson Science and Technology Magnet in New Orleans East opened the 2007-08 school year without a library or functioning classroom libraries. Providing access to books is a cornerstone of reading development; thus, Louisiana State University education candidates engaged in a project that established classroom libraries in every K-8 classroom.

Welcome From The Editor, Nancy Brattain Rogers

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Project As Community-Engaged Scholarship, Young-Me Lee, Susan Poslusny, Sara Anderson, Howard Rosing

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This article describes the results of a 6 month integrated community service and service learning project aimed at the high prevalence of sexually transmitted infection (STI) in a largely immigrant Latino and African-American community area. A total of 64 participants were screened and six positive cases were identified. Results indicated that the adolescents studied lacked proper knowledge regarding safe sex and healthy behaviors, and most refused treatment despite providing anonymous education, screening and treatment services.

Engaged Citizenship: Public Discourse As A Foundational Communication Course, Leila Brammer, Sarah Wolter

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Public speaking is historically situated at the intersection of public discourse and community engagement, although meeting both tenets can be a challenge. In response, the Communication Studies department at a liberal arts college replaced its traditional Public Speaking course with Public Discourse, a course shaped by an extensive civic engagement project. Analysis of student, project, community, and departmental outcomes demonstrate the effectiveness of this new course in preparing students for lives as engaged citizens.

Design And Implementation Of A Service Learning Course And Project: The File Of Life, Theresa Mccullough

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This article details a service learning course within a pharmacy curriculum. For the service learning project, pharmacy students in their first professional year assisted community members with completion of File of Life medical information cards at various locations in Southern Illinois. Students reached over 750 community members. This project increased students’ level of confidence in delivering health-related programs and also encouraged them to participate in community service in the future. Based on feedback, the experience was beneficial.

Community Partner Perceptions About Community Engagement Experiences For Nursing Students, Judith E. Wattman, Marjorie A. Schaffer, Maureen J. Juarez, Leanne L. Rogstad, Timothy Bredow, Sara E. Traylor

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This study explored community agency staff perceptions about community engagement learning experiences for nursing students. Focus groups with staff from eleven health-related community organizations revealed seven themes that will contribute to effective curriculum development and implementation for community engagement: (a) agency expectations for students, (b) orientation, (c) schedule of student experiences, (d) invested student participation, (e) student match with agencies, (f) projects envisioned, and (g) effective interactions with the population. Practice implications for developing community engagement learning experiences are suggested.

Evaluating The Impact Of Seed Money Grants In Stimulating Growth Of Community-Based Research And Service-Learning At A Major Public Research University, Judith A. Jetson, Mary E. Evans, Wendy Hathaway

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

At a major research university, community engagement must intersect with research productivity and attract external funding to be well-regarded. At USF, community engagement increased its value to the institution by using seed grants for community-based research and service-learning projects. Between 1998 and 2006, 132 projects received $1.65 million in seed money from general revenue and local government funds, bringing over $9 million in grants to USF, a return on investment of approximately 6-to-1.

Providing Counseling Services In An Off-Campus Clinic: A Blueprint For Creating A Successful Partnership, Judith A. Nelson, Mary Nichter

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

We offer a blueprint for creating an off-campus clinic through a university, school district, and community partnership. The facility which is housed in the school district provides university students with direct counseling experiences with clients who have genuine needs, allows the university to expand its goal of providing for the public good, and benefits the school district by enabling it to grow its own school counselors who currently teach in the district.

Integrating Biological Determinants With Sociological Models Of Criminal And Antisocial Behaviors, Christopher L. Pitts

Student Theses and Dissertations

This thesis tests an integrated biosocial model of adolescent deviance using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Comprehensive OLS regression models reveal that the predictors of offending are highly behavior specific. For example, biological sex is a strong predictor for violent crime but not for noncriminal antisocial acts, where sociological factors are dominant. The results demonstrate a complex interplay of factors, with prior offending history, biological traits (sex, BMI), psychological states (mental health), and social context (community efficacy) all emerging as significant, simultaneous predictors of various outcomes. These findings challenge the sufficiency of single-domain theories. They provide …

Chinese Prostitution Policies From 1949 To 2024 : An Analysis From The Perspectives Of Marxism, Political Economy, Cultural Citizenship, And Feminism, Ning He

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

Existing scholarship on Chinese prostitution control largely focuses on limited historical periods, legal regulations, or single theoretical perspectives, leaving a gap in understanding how Chinese prostitution policies have evolved from a historical perspective across the entire post-1949 era. This study aims to fill this gap by addressing four research questions: (a) What were the main changes in Chinese prostitution policies from 1949 to 2024? (b) How far can the four approaches (Marxism, political economy, cultural citizenship, feminism) effectively explain the nature of Chinese prostitution policies in different periods? (c) What are the main factors shaping Chinese prostitution policies in different …

Associations Between Individual And Structural Level Discrimination And Psychological And Physiological Stress Indicators During Pregnancy, Özlü Aran, Melissa Nevarez-Brewster, Kimberly D'Anna-Hernandez, Julia Dmitrieva, Curt A. Sandman, Laura M. Glynn, Elysia Poggi Davis

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

In the United States (U.S.) pervasive health disparities in prenatal care disproportionately impact marginalized individuals. The present study investigates whether discrimination at the individual and structural levels are associated with indicators of psychological and physiological stress among pregnant Latinx people living in the U.S., including both U.S. and foreign-born individuals. Pregnant participants (n = 109) reported on birthplace, lifetime experiences of racial and ethnic discrimination, perceived levels of stress, acculturation, social support, and provided residential address data and hair samples for cortisol analysis. Regression analysis revealed that individual level discrimination was linked to higher psychological stress during pregnancy ( …

Review Of: Deep Transformations: A Theory Of Degrowth, Daina Cheyenne Harvey

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of: With The Best Of Intentions: Interreligious Missteps And Mistakes, William Skudlarek Osb

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of: Spreading Hate: The Global Rise Of White Supremacist Terrorism, Sachal Jacob

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Sudan: A War Of Atrocities Report Of The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission For The Sudan, - Annual Report Of The United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights And Reports Of The Office Of The High Commissioner And The Secretary-General

The Journal of Social Encounters

This report documents attacks on civilians and objects essential for their survival in Sudan. It concludes that both parties to the conflict violated international human rights and humanitarian law, with most violations amounting to war crimes. The Rapid Support Forces’ conduct may also constitute crimes against humanity, including persecution and extermination. The report calls for accountability and sets out a roadmap for justice.

Enhancing Peacebuilding For Integral Human Development: Caritas Good Practices And Lessons Learnt, - Caritas Internationalis

The Journal of Social Encounters

Today’s geopolitical context, with big powers choosing bilateralism over multilateralism, is fostering a proliferation of conflicts and violence throughout the globe. The Caritas Confederation has been working actively for peacebuilding for decades, especially since the Rwanda genocide in 1994. Indeed, there is a growing consensus within the Confederation supporting the urgent need to enhance peacebuilding efforts globally. This document explores best practices and lessons learnt, with a strategic focus on the importance of involving women in peacebuilding. Each best practice is illustrated by one or two projects implemented by Caritas Member Organisations.

Hezbollah's Military Setback: From Strategic Strength To Political Dilemma—A Comprehensive Analysis, Habib Albadawi

The Journal of Social Encounters

This study examines the unprecedented military transformation of Hezbollah from 2024 to 2025, analyzing how technological superiority and strategic constraints have fundamentally altered the effectiveness of irregular warfare organizations. Through extensive analysis of organizational adaptation, technological disruption, and external dependencies, this research investigates the paradox of how advanced military capabilities, when constrained by external dependencies, can become operational liabilities rather than strategic assets. The study employs multiple theoretical frameworks to understand this transformation and its implications for future irregular warfare.

Dalit Poetry On The Eve Of Indian Independence: Gurram Jashuva And The Quest For Critical Consciousness And Collective Remembering, Chris Conway

The Journal of Social Encounters

The Dalit Literary movement irrupted on the scene in the early 1970s in the state of Maharashtra, India. Unblinking in its criticism of casteism and unnerving in its depiction of Dalit oppression, the movement sought to concretize the political aims of B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956) through cultivating a critical Dalit consciousness liberated from caste identity and history. The movement enjoyed success in uniting Dalit groups across the country under this new name. However, fifty years later a new generation of Dalit and Dalit-supporting thinkers have begun to critically examine the implications of Dalit identity focusing particularly on its rootedness in suffering …

Willingness To Pay For A Restored And Protected Watershed: Evidence From The Countryside, Sherrie Ann Cananua-Labid, Julie Ann M. Quilatan, Lovely Rose A. Bolante

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

Climate change and human activity have severely degraded watersheds, jeopardizing their sustainability. The willingness of residents to pay for watershed management is essential for developing sustainable environmental protection efforts. This study determined the respondents' willingness to pay (WTP) for the restoration and protection (RP) of the Ulot Watershed of Samar Island Natural Park using a double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation approach. The researchers used the Kish grid method to draw respondents from 150 households. The study revealed that families with an average annual income of approximately $2746.70 were ready to contribute $0.78 per month, or $9.36 annually, to the watershed …

Validation Of The Jefferson Health-Related Social Needs Screener, Sara Beachy, Kristin L. Rising, Richard W. Hass, Terry Hyslop, Isabella Muti, Mackenzie Kemp, Rhea E. Powell, Cara Martino, Baligh R. Yehia, Joseph G. Cacchione, Patricia C. Henwood

Jefferson Hospital Staff Papers and Presentations

INTRODUCTION: Screening for health-related social needs (HRSN) is a growing national health priority. While multiple HRSN screening tools currently exist, none to our knowledge have been evaluated using robust statistical analyses. The goal of this work is to provide results from a validation study of the Jefferson HRSN screener conducted across inpatient and outpatient settings.

METHODS: This retrospective cross-sectional psychometric study included HRSN assessments conducted across inpatient and outpatient settings with adult patients from March 2023 to May 2024. The study was conducted across a 17-hospital academic health system serving a diverse community in a 9-county area crossing two states …

Two Essays On Health And Health Behavior In China, Jiamin Tan

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

This thesis consists of two empirical studies on elderly mental health and on health behaviors. The first study investigates the long-term impact of childhood hunger on mental health in later life, using data from two nationally representative surveys in China. The study finds that childhood hunger exposure significantly increases the risks of depression and anxiety in later life. These effects are most pronounced among individuals exposed after age 5, suggesting that autobiographical memory formation plays an important role beyond socioeconomic and health pathways. The findings further indicate these impacts can be mitigated through economic interventions, such as welfare programs, and …