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Students, Faculty, and Community Partners Honored at Community Engagement Awards
Barry University honored three student leaders, four faculty members, and four community partners last Wednesday for their participation and achievements in various areas of community engagement. The Department of Communication received the Engaged Department Award (see separate story below).
The Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) hosted the fourth annual Community Engagement Awards, described as a celebration of community-engaged learning, teaching, service, and scholarship.
Naif Alkhathran, Jasmine McKee, and Paola Montenegro received the Community Impact Award from Dr. Scott Smith, vice president for student affairs. The award is in recognition of their exemplary community engagement, primarily through direct service and advocacy.
Dr. Stephanie Bingham, an associate professor of biology, and Dr. Marc Lavallee, an assistant professor of practical theology, received the Community Engagement Educator Award, which honors employees for significant contributions to the institutionalization and enhancement of community engagement at Barry University. Dr. Jill Farrell, dean of the Adrian
In the category of engaged scholarship, Dr. Adam Dean, an associate professor of communication, received the award for significant scholarly work across the faculty roles of teaching, research, and service that addresses community issues. The award was presented by Dr. Karen Callaghan, dean of the College
The Service-Learning Faculty Award went to Dr. Pamela Hall, an associate professor of psychology,for demonstrating excellence in using service-learning as a teaching and learning strategy. Making the presentation was Susan Rosenthal, a member of Barry’s executive committee.
The award recipients in the Community Partnership category were Gang Alternative, Miami Beach Community Church, Urban GreenWorks, and William H. Turner
Accepting plaques on behalf of their respective organizations were Ezra Dieuveille, Gang Alternative’s BLOC (Building Leaders of Character) program coordinator; Rev. Hunter Thompson, pastor of Miami Beach
In addition, a Service Award was presented to Amanda Knight, assistant director of athletics. Dr. Glenn Bowen, the CCSI’s executive director, thanked Knight for her outstanding service.
Dr. Patrick M. Green, director of the Center for Experiential Learning at Loyola University Chicago, was the guest speaker at the Community Engagement Awards. He spoke about the importance of learning and doing, as exemplified by the award winners.
“We celebrate their community engagement and honor (their) ability to do something,” Green said.
“How the world would be different if we celebrated learning over being right or having the right answer, sharing knowledge over claiming to know, being open to new ideas and new ways of knowing,” he said. “What if we all claimed today, ‘I am a learner’ – with all the mistakes and imperfections?”
Green called each of the award winners a “model of community engagement,” who “risked being a learner.”
Dr. Celeste Landeros, professor of English and humanities in the School
Speaking earlier during the ceremony, Dr. John Murray, the university’s chief academic officer, reaffirmed Barry’s commitment to community engagement.
The Rev. Dr. Carl Cramer, an associate dean of the College
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Department of Communication Wins Top Award for Community Engagement
The winner of this year’s top award for community engagement at Barry
Provost Dr. John Murray presented the Engaged Department Award last Wednesday. The occasion was the fourth annual Community Engagement Awards, held on the university’s Miami
The Engaged Department Award is emblematic of achievements in advancing the community engagement goals of the university, educating students for civic and social responsibility, and improving community life.
In presenting the award to communication faculty representing the department at the event, Provost Murray highlighted social advocacy projects undertaken by students with faculty guidance as part of a service-learning course and internships. Students have addressed such issues as homelessness, the environment, animal welfare, mental health, illiteracy, safe sex, and domestic abuse.
“The curriculum in this department also promotes awareness of issues related to gender, ethnic, and racial inequality,” Murray said.
He pointed out that department faculty assist in organizing the annual Community Engagement Symposium and Awards, and are involved in implementing Barry’s Quality Enhancement Plan focused on experiential learning. Some faculty members, he added, are active participants in the Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship and have presented at national and state-level conferences.
Dr. Vicente Berdayes, professor of communication, is chair of the Department of Communication.
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Student Leader Receives National Recognition for Commitment to Community
Barry University student leader Paola
A junior majoring in political science, Montenegro is originally from
Montenegro also helped to launch Barry FairShare, a community-supported agriculture project, as an outgrowth of the partnership with Urban GreenWorks. The project supports food-access programs in Liberty
As a Barry Service Corps Fellow, Montenegro participates in a civic learning and leadership initiative designed to foster civic-mindedness and to prepare students for future roles as agents of positive social change. She also serves on the executive board of Barry's Alternative Breaks student organization and has facilitated service trips to communities in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas as well as to Port-de-Paix, Haiti.
“Paola’s leadership of human rights campaigns has invigorated social justice-focused engagement among Barry students,” said University President Sister Linda Bevilacqua, OP, PhD. “After participating in a Coalition of Immokalee Workers training session on community organizing, Paola helped to recruit and coordinate the participation of more than 300 students in several peaceful demonstrations to advocate for farmworkers’ rights.”
In 2016, while attending an international conference in Washington, D.C., Montenegro was among a select group of student leaders who lobbied lawmakers to support programs aimed at ending extreme poverty and preventable diseases, particularly in Africa.
“Considering her proven, positive leadership ability, unrelenting and purposeful commitment and enthusiasm, I am confident that Paola Montenegro will be successful in her efforts to make a difference in her community and in the world,” Sister Linda said. “She has already begun to do so. The Newman Civic Fellowship will provide her with the training and resources to enhance her personal assets and passion to foster and bring about necessary, influential social change.”
Montenegro was a winner of Barry’s Community Impact Award this year. The university president nominated her for Campus Compact’s Newman Civic Fellowship on the recommendation of the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI).
“My involvement in civic engagement programs at Barry has influenced me to become a more conscious global citizen and to take action to help build a more just world,” Montenegro said.
Campus Compact is a national coalition of approximately 1,000 colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. The Boston-based organization provides resources to support faculty and staff as they pursue community-based teaching and scholarship in the service of positive change.
The fellowship honors the late Frank Newman, one of Campus Compact’s founders, described as “a tireless advocate for civic engagement in higher education.”
The fellowship experience will emphasize personal, professional, and civic growth, Campus Compact said in a statement. Through the fellowship, the organization will provide a variety of learning and networking opportunities, including a national conference for Newman Civic Fellows in partnership with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.
"The cultivation of community-committed leaders has never been more crucial," said Campus Compact President Andrew Seligsohn. “We (have) rebuilt the Newman Civic Fellowship experience because our country needs more people who know how to bring communities together for positive change."
The 2017 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows represent Campus Compact member institutions in 39 states and Washington
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Barry Group Explores Partnership Opportunities with Institutions in Haiti
Port-de-Paix, Haiti, was the Spring Break destination for a group of students, faculty, and staff exploring opportunities to develop partnerships between Barry University and institutions in that region of the Caribbean island nation. The partnerships will be focused on education and healthcare.
Teresita Gonzalez, the mission office director of the Archdiocese of Miami, was the trip leader. A Barry alumna, Gonzalez has led delegations to Haiti’s northwest department as part of
Through Barry’s partnership with Amor en Acción, a lay missionary organization founded by Dr. Alicia C. Marill, an associate professor of theology, the university is developing a relationship with the Diocese of Port-de-Paix.
“The aim is to build long-term partnerships that promote development in Haiti while also providing Barry students, faculty, and staff with civic learning and research opportunities,” said CCSI Associate Director Courtney Berrien, one of the Barry staff members who took the trip to
A full report on Barry’s Alternative Spring Break in Haiti will be published in next week’s Engagement News.
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Forum on Effects of Nuclear Power Plant Set for Next Tuesday
Campus and community stakeholders will discuss the effects of the Turkey Point nuclear power plant next Tuesday (April 11) at the next forum in the CCSI’s Deliberative Dialogue Series.
Should South Florida residents be concerned about potential ecological health risks posed by the Turkey Point reactors? What measures have been taken to ensure the preservation of
These and other questions will be raised during the 90-minute forum titled “Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant: Endangering the Environment for Cheap Energy?” The forum will be held in Room 112 of the Andreas Building, beginning at 4 p.m.
Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point (Homestead) nuclear reactors are located between two national parks and in proximity to one of the state’s major agricultural areas.
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Students Use Social Media to Promote Farmworker Justice
A group of Barry students have used social media to promote farmworker justice. Images posted by students through Instagram, the mobile photo-sharing application and service, have also drawn attention to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ (CIW) Fair Food Program.
“Support Farmworker Justice!” urges a student in one of the Instagram messages.
“Have a heart!! Join the Fair Food Program!” pleads another student to retail food companies that have refused to support the program.
The CIW is a Barry community partner. Its Fair Food Program is a unique partnership among farmers, farmworkers, and retail food companies that ensures humane wages and working conditions for the workers who pick fruits and vegetables on participating farms.
According to the CIW, the program “harnesses the power of consumer demand to give farmworkers a voice in the decisions that affect their lives, and to eliminate the longstanding abuses that have plagued agriculture for generations.”
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Nursing Students Provide Service at Broward-Based Food Bank
Students taking NUR 422: Community/Public Health Nursing spent a few hours lending a hand at a Broward-based food bank on March 24. Their professor, Gary Lees, was there as well.
The group helped Feeding South Florida sort canned and packaged food items in its Pembroke Park warehouse for distribution throughout South Florida.
Feeding South Florida is one of 202 member food banks of Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief charity.
“Our students are in their community clinicals, embracing the Barry mission every Friday during both the fall and spring semesters,” explained Dr. Mureen Shaw, an assistant professor of nursing, who coordinates many of the community engagement activities in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
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Athletic Training Students Serve as First Responders at Annual Event
A team of junior-level athletic training students from Barry recently volunteered as first responders for the Miami Marathon.
Because of cooler weather, the students working the event were well aware that hypothermia and muscle cramps may be the most common cases at the event.
“It was an interesting and eye-opening event,” said Daniel Zuluaga, one of the five Barry volunteers. “We were able to treat cases involving full-body (muscle) cramps and cases of hypothermia.”
The other students who volunteered said as much, referring to the “awesome experience to be able to view all the different types of medical personnel such as athletic trainers, nurses, and physicians all working together in the same setting to provide care at this event.”
Barry student athletic trainers volunteer annually at the marathon as a way to give back to the community and to gain experience dealing with emergency medical care.
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CCSI Newsletter
Posted On : April 03, 2017
