April 8, 2019 |
Barry Celebrates Achievements in Community Engagement by Students, Faculty, Staff, and Community Partners Student Poster Competition Prizes Presented at Community Engagement Symposium Students Lobby Legislators in Tallahassee During Spring Break Faculty Member Stresses Benefits of Interdisciplinary Response to Developing Countries’ Needs All Set for Sustainability Saturday Projects as Part of University’s Earth Week Deliberative Dialogue on Natural Disasters and Climate Change Takes Place this Thursday Sale of Local Small-Farmers’ Produce Continues on Campus this Thursday Community Service Placements Available to Students Eligible for Federal Work-Study
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Barry Celebrates Achievements in Community Engagement by Students, Faculty, and Community Partners
Two Faculty Members Honored as Community Engagement Educators
Barry University recently celebrated the achievements made by students, faculty, staff, and community partners in the area of community engagement.
The occasion was the sixth annual Community Engagement Awards hosted by the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI).
Two students, three faculty members, and two community partners received major awards. Among the award recipients were Dr. Anthony Sadler, an assistant professor of marketing in the Andreas School of Business, and Dr. Lauren Shure, an associate professor of counseling in the School of Education. Both were recipients of the Community Engagement Educator Award.
Sadler made significant contributions to Barry’s engagement with the community through the Ladies Empowerment and Action Program (LEAP) at the Homestead Correctional Institution. As part of the program, he taught entrepreneurship basics, and the LEAP participants learned how to start a micro-business.
“By the end of the program, each graduate had her own business plan, together with a strong sense of self-worth and purpose,” said Community Engagement Awards Committee chair, Dr. Stephanie Bingham.
Shure assisted Pridelines with accessing much-needed mental-health counseling service for Miami-Dade’s LGBTQ youth. She also supported a social/emotional learning and empowerment program for trauma-sensitive youth in a Miami-area school.
The other major awards were in the categories of Service-Learning Faculty, Community Impact, Community Partnership, and Engaged Department.
The College of Nursing and Health Sciences’ Undergraduate and Graduate Nursing Programs won the Engaged Department Award.
“The curriculum (of these programs) provides opportunities for experiential learning and civic engagement, with attention to population groups that tend to be marginalized,” noted Vice Provost Dr. Christopher Starratt. “Additionally, this academic unit emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach by addressing the social determinants of health, including education and the physical environment.”
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Student Poster Competition Prizes Presented at Community Engagement Symposium
A Student Poster Competition was a feature of the Community Engagement Symposium last month. The competition was aimed at showcasing and recognizing students’ course-based and co-curricular community engagement in the context of Barry University’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP).
Barry Service Corps Fellow Paris Razor, a senior majoring in English, won the first prize of a 32-inch television set for her poster titled “Developing Resources for the Student/Farmworker Alliance to Engage Peers in Supporting Farmworker Rights.”
The project featured in Razor’s poster was designed to create capacity for the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) by compiling an instruction manual for community organizers and student leaders. The SFA organizes in support of the initiatives of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
“Nationwide, farmworkers face gender-based violence, wage theft, and, in extreme cases, slavery,” according to the abstract of Razor’s poster. “By drawing on the resources provided in the manual, groups can orchestrate their own projects in their community to promote and support farmworker rights.”
Dr. Patti H. Clayton, former director of the Service-Learning Program at North Carolina State University, presented the prize to Razor during the closing session of the symposium. Clayton was the lead presenter at the symposium.
Barry Service Corps Fellow Shayna Ramirez, a junior majoring in biology, took home the second prize of a smart speaker. Her poster was titled “Engaging Barry Students to Protect Florida’s Wildlife: A Partnership with Pelican Harbor.”
Saliha Nelson, chair of Barry’s Community Advisory Committee, presented the prize to Ramirez.
For their poster, “Growing Calculus: Using Calculus to Design a Garden,” mathematics students Kerri Richardson, Melody Williams, and Tracey Presume were the joint winners of the third prize. They received wireless headphones, presented by Kenneth Fuentes, a member of Barry’s Community Advisory Committee.
The judges for the Student Poster Competition were Saliha Nelson; Charles “Charlie” Weyman, education and outreach coordinator at Historic Virginia Key Beach Park; and Fabio Naranjo, an instructor in Barry’s School of Social Work. They used such criteria as content, relevance, and visual appeal to assess the 15 entries in the competition.
Barry’s QEP is titled “Fostering Personal and Social Responsibility through Experiential Learning.” QEP Project Assistant Daniqua Williams was the poster session coordinator.
Held on March 27, the sixth annual Community Engagement Symposium was organized around the theme, “Bringing Learning to Life through Community Engagement.”
The symposium consisted of seven sessions, including a workshop, a lunch-time seminar, and the poster session. In all, 19 posters by students and faculty members were on display.
Dr. Karen Callaghan, chair of the QEP Implementation Committee, delivered the closing address at the symposium.
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Students Lobby Legislators in Tallahassee During Spring Break
During spring break, Barry students lobbied legislators in Tallahassee in support of the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act.
Filed on January 14, HB 49 / SB 332 proposes free access to healthcare products and appropriate privacy for women in all correctional facilities throughout the state.
The Alternative Spring Break (ASB) participants were Catherine Taveras Abreu, Gabriel Bouani, Johania Charles, Luca McLeod, Joseph Minani, Paris Razor, Dai Jonnai Smith, and Melissa Tumbeiro. Participating alongside them were Dr. Victor Romano, associate vice provost for student success and undergraduate studies; Liz James, experiential learning coordinator; and Asha Starks, a program coordinator in the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI).
They all met with State Rep. James Bush III (D-Opa Locka).
The ASB participants also visited the offices of State Sens. Dennis Baxley, Lauren Book, Gary Farmer, and Jason Pizzo to urge support for university-based civic engagement programs under the auspices of Florida Campus Compact.
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Faculty Member Stresses Benefits of Interdisciplinary Response to Developing Countries’ Needs
Barry University’s Lambda Chi Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International, the nursing honor society, hosted a research poster conference on campus last month. The conference theme was “Research in Healthcare: Catalyzing Change through Intentional Connections and Collaboration.”
Eighteen posters were exhibited during the four-hour event, which attracted an estimated 230 persons. The posters addressed various issues, including the challenges faced by refugees in navigating health care.
Shaw also encouraged the up-and-coming healthcare practitioners to get actively involved in mission and service trips to other countries.
Dr. Virginia Hackett, an assistant professor of nursing, is the president of the Sigma Lambda Chi Chapter.
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All Set for Sustainability Saturday Projects as Part of University’s Earth Week
All arrangements for Sustainability Saturday (April 13) have been finalized.
The culminating event on Barry’s Earth Week calendar, Sustainability Saturday consists of collaborative service projects planned for Historic Virginia Key Beach Park in Key Biscayne and East Greynolds Park in North Miami Beach.
Coordinated by the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI), Sustainability Saturday is an annual event designed to promote sustainability practices by students in the wider community.
Sustainability Saturday supports the university’s social justice commitment, which calls for “all members of our community to …recognize the sacredness of Earth.” The day’s community-based environmental projects also advance the university’s commitment to collaborative service – “to engage with communities to pursue systemic, self-sustaining solutions to … environmental problems.”
Volunteers are asked to register in CEMS – the Community Engagement Management System (click on "GET INVOLVED"). For further information, contact CCSI Program Coordinator Asha Starks at astarks@barry.edu or 305-899-5465.
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Deliberative Dialogue on Natural Disasters and Climate Change Takes Place this Thursday
Climate change is the focus of the next forum in the Deliberative Dialogue Series. Scheduled for this Thursday, the forum is titled “Natural Disasters and Climate Change: Is Global Warming Causing More Hurricanes?”
The organizers note that climate change has long been a contentious topic, with some people dismissing its existence and many more denying its link to human activity. However, they say, increasing occurrences of natural disasters and more-intense storms are sharpening public discourse about disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, with rising global surface temperatures, the possibility of more droughts and increased intensity of storms will likely occur.
Community members, students, alumni, faculty, and staff will explore potential solutions to the global challenge of climate change.
A Barry Earth Week event organized by the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI), the forum will take place in Andreas 112 from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. |
Sale of Local Small-Farmers’ Produce Continues on Campus this Thursday
The sale of produce cultivated and harvested by local-area small farmers who practice sustainable agriculture will continue this Thursday (April 11) on Barry’s main campus. The Farmers Stand will be in operation that day, from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., on the Thompson Hall lawn.
To make it more accessible to the wider community, the stand will be moved next month to the 11600 Building site (11600 NE 2nd Ave.), the former location of Barry’s Facilities Management.
The Barry FairShare Farmers Stand provides produce, including fruits and vegetables, for sale. Purchases provide income and livelihood for the farmers.
Barry FairShare is part of the Barry Urban Garden (BUG), a community agriculture initiative designed to support low-income neighborhoods that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has categorized as urban food deserts. Liberty City and Little Haiti are two such neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County.
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Community Service Placements Available to Students Eligible for Federal Work-Study
Students eligible for Federal Work-Study are urged to apply for community service positions. Such positions include membership in the Barry Service Corps.
The Barry Service Corps is a civic engagement program. Members become acquainted with issues affecting local communities even as they gain valuable workplace experience.
The CCSI coordinates Federal Work-Study Community Service in partnership with Financial Aid and Human Resources.
For further information, contact Brittney Morales, coordinator of Federal Work-Study Community Service, in the CCSI at 305-899-3657.
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Community Engagement News
Posted On : April 10, 2019
