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Faculty, Staff, and Students Invited to Submit Proposals for Presentations
The Center for Community Service Initiatives has issued a call for proposals for Barry
According to the CCSI, “Experiential learning is a process in which students acquire and apply knowledge, skills, and values in a relevant setting. The process involves linking theory and practice through student engagement and critical reflection.”
Forms of experiential learning include adventure-based activities, capstones, community-based research, fieldwork, internships, practicum assignments (student teaching and clinical placements), service-learning, and study abroad.
Proposals are being accepted for concurrent presentations during two hour-long sessions of the symposium. Successful proposals will highlight aspects or features of experiential learning activities that engage faculty, staff, and/or students with community partners at the local, regional, state, national, and/or global levels.
All proposals for concurrent session presentations will be peer reviewed and should be submitted by January 20.
There will also be a poster session, for which peer review is being offered as an option.
Additional information and the proposal form are available in the Community Engagement Management System (CEMS), accessed from the CCSI homepage, and directly from the CCSI.
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Redesigned Nursing Course Gets Service-Learning Designation
The Nursing Study Abroad course has been given a makeover – and the service-learning designation.
Students selected for NUR 300 will visit the northwestern region of Haiti during spring break to participate in health promotion activities in several villages.
Dr. Mureen Shaw, an assistant professor in theCollege of Nursing and Health Sciences, redesigned the two-credit course to focus it more sharply on intercultural issues and global citizenship in relation to health care and its social determinants in a low-resource country.
“This elective course integrates international education and service-learning into a traditional study abroad,” Shaw explained. “The course is designed to facilitate student exploration of intercultural issues, foster understanding of social determinants of health, and promote global citizenship. Students are expected to learn from direct interaction with host-country residents, cross-cultural dialogue, and critical reflection on their experience providing service in response to an identified community need.”
The principal elements of the course are readings, reflective blogs and journals, cross-cultural immersion and service activities, and post-travel presentations.
The Service-Learning Course Review Committee approved the redesigned course for the “SL” designation on October 12.
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CCSI Offering Two Service-Learning Fellowships for 2017–2018
The Center for Community Service Initiatives will offer two service-learning fellowships to faculty members for the 2017–2018 academic year.
Through the annual fellowships, successful applicants participate in a yearlong faculty development program focused on service-learning pedagogy, practice, and associated scholarship. Each service-learning fellow gets a course release to serve as a workshop coordinator/instructor, faculty mentor, and engaged scholar while benefiting from professional development sessions conducted by the CCSI.
The CCSI invites faculty members to apply for the fellowships by January 30, 2017. Further information and the application form are available from CCSI Director Dr. Glenn Bowen at gbowen@barry.edu.
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Students Take Lead Role in Campaign for Fair Food
Three Barry student leaders participated in the Wendy’s Boycott Summit organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers recently. As a follow-up to the conference, they led a demonstration against the fast-food chain in Miami.
Barry Service Corps Fellows Quayneshia Smith, Paris Razor, and Presler Maxius were among faith, community, and student leaders from around the country gathered in Immokalee, Fla., for a weekend primarily to make plans for the CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food. They took part in two days of intensive workshops and strategic planning, which focused on the CIW’s Fair Food Program, the CIW’s boycott of Wendy’s, and the worker-driven social responsibility model that the CIW promotes.
At the summit, the fellows learned about the Fair Food Program’s expansion into new (northern) states and new crops, and they participated in in-depth strategy sessions for the Student/Farmworker Alliance’s “Boot the Braids” campaign against Wendy’s. Sessions included workshops on the basics of planning local demonstrations and the integration of music and art into the campaign.
Maxius said that his participation in the summit changed his perspective on social movements.
“Patience is everything,” Maxius noted. “The CIW is promoting a non-violent movement; so it’s not going to happen overnight. It takes a lot of community-building and a lot of effort from everyone involved.”
In the week following the summit, Smith, Razor, and Maxius worked with other BSC fellows and theology service-learning students to organize a demonstration at a Wendy’s in Miami.
The demonstration drew attention to the Fair Food Program through colorful signs and chants about the “unfair treatment” farmworkers experience when picking produce for corporations that do not participate in the program.
“Wendy’s, Wendy’s, shame on you! Farmworkers have families too!” the students shouted.
The SFA is a national network of students and other young people organizing with the CIW to eliminate sweatshop conditions in the fields and to build a food system based on justice and dignity for farmworkers.
Smith is a member of the SFA’s National Steering Committee. In that role, she traveled to Stony Point, New York, last June to participate in the Steering Committee’s mid-year retreat, where she contributed to the planning of the Wendy’s Boycott Summit.
The CIW’s Fair Food Program has been described as “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.” The value of the program stems from both the standards outlined in the Fair Food Code of Conduct – backed by binding agreements between the CIW and some of the world’s large buyers of tomatoes – and the multilayered approach to monitoring and enforcing compliance with those standards.
Acclaimed as the most comprehensive and sustainable social responsibility program in U.S. agriculture, the Fair Food Program provides for legally binding Fair Food Agreements. Participating buyers in the program commit to paying the Fair Food Premium on top of the regular price they pay for tomatoes. The small premium has helped to alleviate the economic hardship faced by farmworkers for decades.
Despite pressure from students around the country, Wendy’s has yet to join the Fair Food Program. Currently, Taco Bell, Burger King, McDonald’s, Chipotle, and Subway are among the corporations participating in the program.
Smith and other Barry students have actively participated in the CIW’s boycott of Wendy’s through demonstrations and public education since the boycott was announced in March 2015.
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Next Tuesday’s Deliberative Dialogue to Focus on Plight of Refugees
This academic year’s Deliberative Dialogue Series will continue next Tuesday (Nov. 1) with a forum focused on the plight of refugees.
“Welcoming Refugees or Closing Our Borders” is the title of the forum, scheduled for 4–5:30 p.m. in Room 112 of the Andreas
CCSI Associate Director Courtney Berrien provided this context for the forum: “Recent international humanitarian crises have forced millions of people to flee their homes and seek refuge in other nations. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), by the end of 2015, 65.3 million people were forcibly displaced, 21.3 million were officially classified as refugees, and 10 million were classified as stateless persons. To date, nearly 5 million people have fled Syria alone. … The resettlement of refugees, especially those from
The forum is free of charge and open to the public.
This year’s first forum was held on September 21. Community activists, partnering organizations, students, faculty, and staff discussed the issues of inclusion, special interests, and a lack of substance in current American politics.
Titled “Political Discourse in this Election Season: Rhetoric, Rights, and Responsibilities,” the 90-minute forum drew attention to the language, labels, and claims of politicians running for the United States presidency as well as the way the candidates have been portrayed in the media.
The participants discussed ways to create a more respectful political atmosphere marked by the exchange of ideas over name calling and personal attacks. Some participants, including representatives of Florida’s Green Party, recommended a restructuring of the two-party system to allow for better participation of third party candidates and the infusion of fresh ideas into the political discourse.
Panelists and other participants called for more fact checking by reporters and debate moderators, the institution of journalistic policy that would support diverse perspectives over corporate interests, and civil discourse in social media.
Participants also suggested “finding ways to increase youth voice” and demanding that “quality civics education” be a required part of the state curriculum.
The panelists were Naif Alkhathran, a political science student and founder of Barry’s Saudi Students Club; Dr. Sean Foreman, professor of political science and advisor to Barry’s College Democrats and College Republicans; Christopher Riker, a Barry student leader currently serving as deputy campaign manager for the Scott Fuhrman for Congress campaign; Roberta Shevin, executive director of MCCJ, a Miami-based organization promoting an inclusive community; and Jennifer Thomas, former director of recruiting for Barry’s College Republicans.
Dr. Lawrence Byrne, associate professor of English, facilitated the forum.
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Organization Announces AmeriCorps Positions in Four States
Several AmeriCorps member positions will be available next year in Alabama,
In an announcement, Impact America stated that the AmeriCorps member positions combine service with five initiatives: FocusFirst, a high-tech vision-care initiative for preschoolers; SaveFirst, a high-quality tax preparation initiative for low-income families; SpeakFirst, a debate initiative for talented and motivated middle- and high-school students in Alabama; CollegeFirst, a summer advanced placement institute focused on math and science for high-school students in Alabama; and Stories from the Line, an initiative that navigates the complexities of poverty through the development of a series of short films.
Impact America provides opportunities for recent college graduates to “engage with communities of need in a meaningful way, broadening their perspectives and making a real impact in their communities.”
Successful applicants for AmeriCorps member positions will begin their one-year term of service in July. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with December 4, 2016 as the application priority deadline.
Impact America also announced that a limited number of AmeriCorps positions will become available this December in several cities across Alabama and Tennessee – Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, Montgomery, Memphis, Knoxville, Nashville, and Chattanooga. The deadline to apply for those positions is November 1.
For further information and to apply, visit the Impact America website.
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CCSI Newsletter
Posted On : October 24, 2016
