Community Engagement News

October 23, 2017

In This Issue:

Community Engagement Award Categories Remain Unchanged

Organizers Announce Details of Symposium Poster Session

Applications for Service-Learning Fellowships Being Accepted

CCSI Calls for Proposals for Community-Based Research Incentives

Student Leaders Renew Focus on Farmworkers’ Rights

Discussion of Freedom to Worship Set for November 7

Volleyball Team Visits Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham

Community Engagement Award Categories Remain Unchanged

Nominations will open next week for the 2018 Community Engagement Awards.

The award categories will be the same as in previous years: Community Impact, Community Partnership, Community-Based Research, Engaged Scholarship, Community Engagement Educator, Service-Learning Faculty, and Engaged Department.

“The primary purpose of the awards is to publicly recognize students, faculty and staff members, departments, and community partners for their community engagement participation, contributions, and achievements,” according to a statement from the Center for Community Service Initiatives. “The awards are also designed to encourage excellence and to inspire similar achievements by others.”

The CCSI will host the fifth annual Community Engagement Awards on March 28, beginning at 6 p.m.

Nominations for awards will be accepted from October 30 to January 26.

Organizers Announce Details of Symposium Poster Session

The poster session of the 2018 Community Engagement Symposium is expected to showcase the social responsibility outcomes of Barry’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). Posters will highlight outcomes of both course-based and co-curricular programs, the organizers have announced.

Scheduled for March 28, the fifth annual Community Engagement Symposium is being organized around the theme, “Demonstrating Social Responsibility through Experiential Learning.”

Barry’s QEP is titled “Fostering Personal and Social Responsibility through Experiential Learning.”

Experiential learning includes service-learning, community-based research, fieldwork, clinical rotations, study abroad, capstones, and internships. The social responsibility outcomes are linked primarily to the “community engagement and collaboration” category of the QEP.

The two-hour poster session of the symposium is slated for Room 112 of the AndreasBuilding, starting at 1:45 p.m.

According to the organizers, poster session proposals may be submitted for review anytime between now and January 26. A document with the poster guidelines is available in CEMS – the Community Engagement Management System.

For additional information on the poster session, contact QEP Project Assistant Daniqua Williams at qep@barry.edu.

Applications for Service-Learning Fellowships Being Accepted

The Center for Community Service Initiatives is accepting applications for service-learning fellowships for the 2018–2019 academic year.

Service-learning fellows provide support for the coordination and promotion of service-learning across the university. They play a role in increasing the number and quality of service-learning courses and faculty who use the pedagogy effectively.

Each fellow receives a joint appointment in the CCSI to prepare for service as a workshop instructor, faculty mentor, and engaged scholar. In lieu of serving as a workshop instructor, the faculty fellow may focus on developing a special project to enhance service-learning. Each fellow also assists in promoting scholarship associated with service-learning pedagogy.

Fellows participate in monthly service-learning faculty development seminars and create or modify a course to include a service-learning component, with plans to teach the course either during the fellowship or within one year after the fellowship. They also participate actively in the Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship.

Two fellowships are available in the CCSI for full-time faculty members who teach either undergraduate or graduate courses. Fellowships are awarded through a competitive process. Each fellow is appointed for one academic year and receives a three-credit course reduction each semester (fall and spring).

The application deadline is January 15; however, faculty members interested in the program are asked to submit their applications as soon as possible. Additional information is available from CCSI Executive Director Dr. Glenn Bowen at gbowen@barry.edu.

CCSI Calls for Proposals for Community-Based Research Incentives

The Center for Community Service Initiatives has issued a call for proposals for community-based research incentives.

CBR incentives are awarded through a competitive process to full-time faculty members who teach undergraduate and/or graduate courses. Up to three CBR awards are available each year.

CBR proposals may be submitted at any time this semester. Applicants may request $500–$1,000.

A document with a detailed description of the Community-Based Research Incentive Program, the application form, and the rubric used by the Review Committee for assessing applications are available in CEMS – the Community Engagement Management System.

Student Leaders Renew Focus on Farmworkers’ Rights

A group of 15 student leaders and three CCSI staff members spent a recent weekend in Immokalee, renewing efforts to assist farmworkers and their families.

They visited the headquarters of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and other sites in the agricultural community located inCollier County, Fla.

The student leaders – all fellows in the Barry Service Corps – met with CIW members and Student/Farmworker Alliance interns. They discussed the CIW’s Fair Food Program and explored methods of community organizing.

Over the past three years, Barry student leaders have been at the forefront of the Fair Food Program, an initiative to promote better wages and working conditions for farmworkers. Barry Service Corps fellows have been participating at the leadership level of the Student/Farmworker Alliance.

The visit to the CIW headquarters took place during a CCSI-organized fall-break retreat focused on social justice and civic leadership.

 “The retreat allowed the fellows to critically reflect on challenging social issues facing local, regional, and global communities,” said Courtney Berrien, associate director of the CCSI. “They were able to bond with one another, experience another culture, and explore their role as student leaders.”

Berrien said the BSC fellows would play a significant part in organizing a demonstration in support of the Fair Food Program next month.

The BSC fellows at the weekend retreat were Alexis Alexander, Gabriel Bouani, Althea Hylton, Taila Garret, Alberto Liriano, Paola Lopez-Hernandez, Presler Maxius, Jasmine McKee, Dominique McMillan, Paola Montenegro, Pa Sheikhn Ngom, Paris Razor, Anel Ramirez, Shayna Ramirez, and Antonio Rodriguez. Accompanying them were Berrien and CCSI Program Coordinators Ashton Spangler and Donté Roberts.

While in Immokalee, the group also delivered dozens of bottles of water and packages of paper towels to Guadalupe Center, a local agency that coordinated the distribution of relief supplies in the wake of Hurricane Irma. They also assisted Guadalupe Social Services with delivering food to migrant farm families.

Immokalee sustained heavy damage after being hit by Irma’s eye wall. Many families lost their mobile homes.

Discussion of Freedom to Worship Set for November 7

In recognition of U.S. Constitution Day, Campus Ministry and the Campus Democracy Project Committee will host a Lunch and Learn session titled “Freedom to Worship?” on November 7.

“The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the right to freely exercise your religious beliefs,” the organizers note. “But how does this work in practice and especially when two rights collide? The political and legal aspects of the freedom of religion in American politics will be explored in this interactive discussion on religion and politics.”

September 17 is Constitution Day. Barry’s observance of the day was postponed because of Hurricane Irma.

The Lunch and Learn session will be held in the Weber Grand Hall, starting at noon.

Volleyball Team Visits Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham

Johanna Voss couldn’t help but notice the different water fountains.

“I personally thought it was very interesting and eye-opening to see how segregation affected the people back then,” Barry's junior volleyball player said. “Of course, we have learned about it in school, but to see two water fountains that were labeled with black and white right in front of you has a totally different impact.”

The Buccaneers visited the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham recently during their South Region Crossover weekend trip to Hoover, Ala. They spent an hour-and-a-half at the museum, reliving history in an educational setting. During their tour presentation, the volleyball team learned that 90 percent of the artifacts and displays in the museum were authentic.

Team members watched videos of incidents that took place in the area, saw collections of the civil rights movement, and soaked up some of the events that have changed history in America.

“It was a great opportunity to experience firsthand some of our nation's history,” Bucs head coach Steve Hendricks said. “We appreciated the opportunity, and were more impacted by the displays and struggled to discover why racism still exists in knowing our past.”

Reliving the fire hoses and attack dogs incidents during civil rights protests were an awakening for the Bucs. 

“That was pretty powerful,” Hendricks said. 

They relived a video of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech at the March on Washington. They saw KKK Grand Wizard robes on display. They stood in front of the 16th Street Church where bombings were routine to the point that during the late 50s and early 60s, Birmingham became known as “Bombingham.” The team saw pieces of artwork from students around the area, and how they interpreted that time. They also saw an old barber shop scene in the museum, and how life was depicted then. They learned about the music being played during that time in the United States,Brazil, Nigeria, and England. They learned for every one black teacher there were 45 black students, and for every one white teacher there were 20 Caucasian students. 

Afterwards, they experienced authentic Alabama life by dining at Saw’s Soul Kitchen, even trying grits, greens, barbecue chicken, pork, and shrimp. 

”It really got me when they started throwing statistics out at you, the one with the classrooms,” sophomore Monica Martinez said. “What really got me was how unbalanced things were. And the famous water fountains picture, they said it was the same water source, but the pressure and the temperature of the water were different.

“It was educational for us because even though there were things that happened in the 50s and 60s, it has some relevance to what is happening in today’s society. Even though it happened a long time ago, we can relate to what’s going on right now.”

Martinez had shivers thinking about the KKK bombing that killed two little girls as she stood in the vicinity where violence rocked Birmingham, taking note of the stained glass window on display where the infamous bombing took place.
 
“It was an eerie feeling,” she said. “I just thought it was crazy that something like that happened so long ago. It’s not something you can explain. It’s just weird being in the same spot, the same street where everything went down.”

Being exposed to this type of experience for a culturally diverse group like the Bucs volleyball team at a culturally diverse institution such as Barry University lends itself to team bonding and cohesiveness. 

“It reminded me of the fact that all the things we take for granted today are only that way because some courageous individuals stood up for their rights and fought for the freedom that we have today,” Voss said.

– By Jim McCurdy