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September 24, 2018 |
In This Issue:
Community Service Volunteers Support Food Access and Homelessness Alleviation Efforts Psychology Faculty Member to Receive South Florida Award for Service-Learning Barry Marks Constitution Day with Forum Focused on Student Activism All Set for University’s Annual Community Engagement Fair This Wednesday Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship Meets This Afternoon Former Service-Learning Faculty Fellow Reports Success of Special Project Course Instructors Invited to Apply for Service-Learning Designation Alternative Breaks Information Session Scheduled for September 27
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Community Service Volunteers Support Food Access and Homelessness Alleviation Efforts
More than 40 Barry students and staff members recently performed service in honor of the victims and survivors of 9/11. They took part in community service projects designed to improve food access and alleviate homelessness in Miami-Dade.
One group of volunteers served at the Urban GreenWorks Cerasee Farm in Liberty City, and the other at Miami Beach Community Church.
At Carasee Farm, volunteers helped Urban GreenWorks staff prepare for the planting season. They did landscaping, planted saplings, and removed invasive species.
A nonprofit organization, Urban GreenWorks manages environmental and food-security projects that benefit underserved communities in South Florida. Cerasee Farm serves as an outdoor classroom that provides hands-on experience in urban agriculture and organic produce for the community.
At Miami Beach Community Church, a smaller group of volunteers packed, sorted, and cleaned items donated for an upcoming silent auction that will raise funds for the church’s homeless assistance project.
The church serves lunch to homeless individuals every Tuesday through Friday and also provides medical and hygiene assistance as well as access to social services.
The community service volunteers included Antonio Escobar Alonso, Beatriz Alvarez, Jocelyn Baquier, Kyesse Bidzimou, Mahli Christian, Sage Christian, Amanda Crespo, Juan Cruz, Ashley Franklyn, Chris Frazier, Dylan Graziani, Ping Chun Ho, Sparkel James, Jeanie Jerome, Anne Lane, Heaven Lasier-Torres, Patrick Lovely, Franchesca Lubin, Edgar Marcao, Quiteria Matthew, Alexa Nunez, Natalia Ozomana, Sandra Pajovic, Angela Rodriguez, Gabriel Russe, Donica Scott, Yobany Segorio, Katherine Sequeria, Jennifer Siverio, Carldwin Telemaque, Jamal Tucker, Melanie Valle, Felix Vega Pagan, Jennifer Velez, and Shaianne West.
Assisting with coordinating the projects for the September 11th Day of Service were nine Barry Service Corps fellows: Gabriel Bouani, Erica Cruz, Paola Lopez-Hernandez, Stephanie Nguyen, Paris Razor, Antonio Rodriguez, Dai' Jonnai Smith, Alexis Toussaint, and Tatyana Wimbley. The student leaders also facilitated orientation and reflection activities.
Asha Starks, a Florida Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) member based in the Center for Community Service Initiatives, coordinated Barry’s participation in the Day of Service.
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Psychology Faculty Member to Receive South Florida Award for Service-Learning
Dr. Pamela Hall, associate professor of psychology, is a winner of the Spirit of Service-Learning Award presented by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of South Florida.
The cash award is presented in recognition of educators who incorporate service-learning into the curriculum, meeting a critical need in South Florida while making academics more relevant.
Nominated by the Center for Community Service Initiatives, Hall will receive the award on October 6 at Returned Peace Corps Volunteers’ 7th Annual Spirit of Service-Learning event in Miami Springs.
Hall incorporated service-learning into her senior seminar/capstone. Her class of 15 students logged approximately 345 hours of service to children in a Head Start program,providing socio-emotional support and preparation for persistence in school.
In partnership with the Miami-Dade County Teacher of the Year Coalition and the Armando Alejandre Jr. Memorial Foundation, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of South Florida presents the Spirit of Service-Learning Award annually in two categories, K–12 and higher education.
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Barry Marks Constitution Day with Forum Focused on Student Activism
Barry University marked Constitution Day (September 17) with a campus forum on student activism. The forum featured a panel of current and former student activists who have advocated and agitated for change in the areas of immigration reform and gender equality as well as human rights generally and worker rights specifically.
The turnout at the forum was small, but the message from the panelists was powerful: Students can make a difference through activism.
Diego Sanchez, a third-year student at St. Thomas University School of Law, shared his experience as an immigrant rights advocate and his engagement in civil disobedience to stop deportations.
Before he started law school, Sanchez helped to run the Immigration Reform Bridge Project for two years and worked on immigration reform bills. He also participated in the work of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the youth program of the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
A citizen of Argentina, Sanchez came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant and has benefited from DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The program has protected an estimated 800,000 eligible unauthorized immigrants from deportation.
Sanchez noted that there were more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. He said he was interested in promoting public policy that would benefit undocumented immigrants and others.
“We can make change through activism,” Sanchez said. He emphasized the need for students to work collaboratively with organizations to tackle the root causes of social issues.
Barry alumna Paola Montenegro, the gender justice organizer for The New Florida Majority, was also a panelist at the forum. As a Barry student, she promoted farmworker justice and was an advocate for immigrants and refugees.
“We can all be advocates of social change in the community,” Montenegro said.
Asha Starks, also a Barry alumna, spoke mainly about her work with Miami-based civil-rights activists known as the Dream Defenders. The group has become a movement for “powerful change” in Florida.
Paris Razor, a Barry senior, said her activism was inspired by the 2014 film “Food Chains,” which focuses on the exploitation of farmworkers by corporations. She now serves on the national steering committee for the Student/Farmworker Alliance, working to uproot exploitation in the fields and campaigning for corporations such as Publix and Wendy’s to join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program.
Dr. Sean Foreman, professor of political science, was the moderator of the forum. He said its focus was on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which includes provisions for freedom of speech, the right to peaceably assemble, and the right to petition for a governmental redress of grievances.
Dr. Scott Smith, vice president for mission and student engagement, attended the campus forum.
This year’s Constitution Day was the 231st anniversary of the signing of the document on September 17, 1787. Barry’s Constitution Day event was organized as part of the Campus Democracy Project with support from the Student Government Association and the Department of History and Political Science.
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All Set for University’s Community Engagement Fair This Wednesday
All arrangements have been made for Barry’s annual Community Engagement Fair, which the CCSI will host in the Landon Student Union this Wednesday.
The fair will include a workshop on “Community Engagement Assessment and Evaluation” designed for community partners. Among the presenters will be Drs. Pamela Hall and Celeste Landeros, community-engaged scholars.
The showcase segment of the fair is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the atrium of the Landon Student Union on Barry’s main campus.
“Students, faculty, and staff can meet community partners to learn about their organizations and discuss opportunities to address issues of social concern,” says CCSI Associate Director Courtney Berrien. She noted that the community organizations address such issues as hunger and homelessness, community violence, human right violations, and animal abuse.
The Community Engagement Fair supports the implementation of Barry’s Quality Enhancement Plan, or QEP. For additional information on this event, contact the CCSI at service@barry.edu or 305-899-3696.
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Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship Meets This Afternoon
The Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship will have its first meeting for the academic year today (Monday, September 24), from 1:00 to 2:15 p.m. The CCSI will host the meeting in Adrian Hall, Room 208.
All FLC members and prospective members are urged to attend.
The FLC is a cross-disciplinary group of faculty members who participate in a collaborative program focused on the scholarship of engagement, or community-engaged scholarship. The FLC provides an intellectual venue in which faculty members exchange ideas with an academically diverse group and learn from one another’s experiences.
FLC members attend engaged scholarship seminars and other professional development activities, and they become familiar with the tools and resources needed for engaged scholarship.
For further information, contact any of the FLC facilitators, Dr. Laura Finley (lfinley@barry.edu), Dr. Pamela Hall (phall@barry.edu), or Dr. Celeste Landeros (clanderos@barry.edu).
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Former Service-Learning Faculty Fellow Reports Success of Special Project
A former service-learning faculty fellow has reported the success of a special project he initiated during his fellowship in the Center for Community Service Initiatives.
Dr. Adam Dean’s short film “Fighting Water with Water: Rising Seas and the Florida Everglades” was selected for the 12th edition of Voices from the Waters International Film Festival hosted by the Bangalore Film Society in collaboration with a consortium of organizations.
The film was also selected as a semifinalist for the GNG Green Earth Film Festival. Celebrating its sixth year, the GNG Green Earth Film Festival takes place on October 19–21 on Loyola Marymount University’s Playa Vista campus (Los Angeles, Calif.).
Then an associate professor of communication in Barry’s College of Arts and Sciences, Dean shot the film in 2016–2017. He completed the production in January 2018 and released it to the public in June.
Here is the blurb for “Fighting Water with Water”: “An environmental film about ongoing threats to the Biscayne Aquifer and the Florida Everglades. The Biscayne Aquifer is the drinking water source for millions of Floridians, from Palm Beach down to the Keys. Since it’s shallow and made of porous rock, the Biscayne Aquifer is very vulnerable to pollution from farm runoff and salt water intrusion as sea levels rise. This film contains interviews with a dozen public officials, local water researchers and activists on the subject of preserving the fragile wetlands that shape South Florida.”
Dean is now associate professor of digital media arts in the Department of Communications at Susquehanna University (Selinsgrove, Pa.) He was a service-learning faculty fellow at Barry during the 2016–2017 academic year.
Barry’s Service-Learning Faculty Fellows Program provides support for the professional development of faculty members interested in service-learning pedagogy and related scholarship. For further information on the program, contact CCSI Executive Director Dr. Glenn Bowen at gbowen@barry.edu.
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Course Instructors Invited to Apply for Service-Learning Designation
The Center for Community Service Initiatives is inviting faculty members whose courses include a service-learning component to apply for the service-learning designation.
Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates relevant community service with course work and critical reflection to enrich the learning experience, foster social responsibility and civic engagement, and strengthen communities.
Both undergraduate and graduate courses are considered for the designation. Sections of courses, internships, practicum assignments, field education, capstones, community-based research, and similar community-focused or community-based work also may be designated as service-learning.
The Service-Learning Course Review Committee refers to seven criteria for the service-learning designation. The criteria include the definition of service-learning, the connections between the community service and the course content, and the appropriateness of the service site to the course goals. Also considered are the number of hours of service, the percentage of the course grade allocated for the service-learning component, the learning assessment method, and the awarding of academic credit for demonstrated learning.
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Alternative Breaks Information Session Scheduled for September 27
Alternative Breaks executive board members will host an information session for students interested in this academic year’s fall and spring break trips. The information session will be held this Thursday (September 27), from 6 to 7 p.m., in the De Porres Center, Thompson Hall.
This year’s trips will include Immokalee (Florida), Port-de-Paix (Haiti), and McAllen (Texas) as destinations. In addition, the AB board will discuss the possibility of a trip to Tallahassee (Fla.) and Montgomery (Ala.).
A co-curricular civic engagement program, Alternative Breaks provides students with community-based immersion experiences designed to build awareness of social, political, and environmental issues through instruction, reflection, and service that benefits diverse populations.
During the information session, students who have participated in AB trips will provide information about fundraising opportunities and what to expect on such trips.
Both undergraduates and graduate students are encouraged to attend the information session.
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