June 21, 2021

IN THIS ISSUE

• Faculty Learning Community Members Publish Book on Experiential Learning in Higher Education
• Girls Inc. of Greater Miami Added to List of Barry’s Registered Community Partners
• Three New ‘Civic Holidays’ on Campus Democracy Project Calendar for Next Academic Year
• Civic Nation Offering Paid Internships for Fall; Application Deadline is This Friday

Faculty Learning Community Members Publish Book On Experiential Learning in Higher Education

Chapters Highlight Innovative Approaches

Members of Barry’s Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship have published a book on experiential learning. The chapters cover innovative approaches to the pedagogy and practice.

According to Information Age Publishing, Experiential Learning in Higher Education focuses on best practices in experiential learning. Chapters address service-learning, community-based research, and other experiential learning methods, highlighting innovative approaches, successes, and issues of concern.

The volume also demonstrates the interdisciplinary nature of experiential education, the publisher says.

Chapters include “Community-Focused Experiential Learning: Creating Conditions for Fostering Social Responsibility,” by Glenn A. Bowen; “Exploring a Critical Model of Faculty Engagement With Service-Learning Programs,” by Heidi Whitford; and “The Germination of an Engaged Scholar: From Tilling the Soil to Growing the Tree,” by Pamela D. Hall.

Ligia A. Mihut has contributed a chapter titled “Multilingualism in the Home, Workplace, and Community: Lessons From an Experiential Learning Project”; Gerene K. Starratt a case study on community-based research as an approach to experiential learning in methodology of research; and Laura L. Finley a chapter on a campus–community coalition to address dating and domestic violence.

“Global Service-Learning as an Avenue to Address Social Determinants of Health” is coauthored by Mureen L. Shaw and Glenn A. Bowen. Similarly, “Building Minds and Organizations Through Conversational Learning” is coauthored by Sheila M. McMahon and Dale E. Hartz.

A chapter by Celeste Landeros with three of her students is titled “Acting Like a Prince, Dancing Like a Queen, Singing Like a Cop: Promoting Peace and Justice Through Community-Engaged Film and Theater in General Education Arts Courses for Adults.” The students are Samoya Gordon, Tanisha Durham, and Braxton McClams.

In another chapter, Ruth Ban and three colleagues—Clarence V. Walker, Jr.; Liliam Dominguez Menendez; and Valerie G. M. Scott—reflect on how novice researchers developed as social justice advocates.

The Foreword is written by Patrick M. Green, a nationally known experiential learning scholar-practitioner. Green was the lead presenter at Barry’s fourth annual Community Engagement Symposium in March 2017.

Experiential Learning in Higher Education is edited by Laura L. Finley and Glenn A. Bowen.

The Faculty Learning Community (FLC) is a cross-disciplinary group of faculty members who participate in a collaborative program focused on community-engaged scholarship. Formed in 2012, the FLC promotes the pursuit, advancement, and application of knowledge to benefit the wider community.

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Girls Inc. Of Greater Miami Added To List Of Barry’s Registered Community Partners

Girls Inc. of Greater Miami is now a registered community partner with Barry. The organization’s mission is to “inspire all girls to be strong, smart and bold.”

After a series of meetings and email exchanges between representatives of the CCSI and the nonprofit organization, Girls Inc. was added to the list of partners earlier this month. The meetings followed a preliminary introduction to Girls Inc. by Sue Rosenthal, Barry’s vice president of finance.

Girls Inc. was established in 2017 to provide girls with “a safe, consistent, nurturing space to help them understand and manage adversity, develop strengths, set realistic goals, build healthy relationships and manage conflict productively.”

The organization’s founder and chief executive officer is Virginia M. Akar, an attorney at law. Laurie Kaye Davis, a business management expert, is the chief operating officer.

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Three New ‘Civic Holidays’ On Campus Democracy Project Calendar For Next Academic Year

As part of Barry’s Campus Democracy Project (CDP), three new “Civic Holidays” will be observed next academic year. In addition to National Voter Registration Day, the CDP calendar will include National Voter Education Week, Vote Early Day, and Election Hero Day.

All four occasions for celebration are being promoted by the Civic Holidays organization. 

Civic Holidays are nonpartisan days of action designed to strengthen and celebrate American democracy. They bring together a wide range of organizations and communities to work towards a nation where everyone participates and votes.

“The unique challenges of the 2020 election cycle inspired the creation of three more civic holidays … to address specific actions and opportunities to help more Americans cast a ballot,” the national organizers announced recently. 

The CDP Committee is planning on-campus events to observe each day of action and will also celebrate the Civic Holidays via social media. Committee Co-chair Dr. Sean Foreman has indicated that the events will include the annual Florida Ballot Forum on the first day of National Voter Education Week.

National Voter Registration Day is September 28. The day was first celebrated in 2012, and in 2020 achieved record registrations and partnerships. Since its inception, some 4.5 million people have registered to vote on National Voter Registration Day.

National Voter Education Week is October 4–8. The purpose is to “give voters the tools, information and confidence they need to cast their ballot by helping them find their polling location, understand their ballot, and make a plan to vote.”

Vote Early Day, October 23, is aimed at making the early-voting process easier by helping all eligible voters understand their voting options while celebrating the act of voting early.

Election Hero Day is set for November 1. It is a special day to “celebrate the election administration teams, poll workers, and others around the country who help ensure voters can cast their ballots securely and successfully,” the national organizers said.

Alongside county/municipal election clerks and directors, election office staff, and poll workers, the Civic Holidays organization has identified voters as Election Heroes.

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Civic Nation Offering Paid Internships For Fall; Application Deadline Is This Friday

Civic Nation is hiring interns for Fall 2021, and the application deadline is this Friday (June 25).

The paid internships—requiring that 20–29 hours of work be completed remotely each week—will run from September 8 through December 10, said Civic Nation’s chief operating officer Zaneeta E. Daver.

Civic Nation Hub has positions in Communications/Digital, Communications/Press, Organizing and Training, and Partnerships and Government Relations.

Civic Nation Initiatives is offering opportunities in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, Made to Save, United State of Women: Communications, and United State of Women: Programs.

Details of all positions are available at civicnation.org/careers. Questions should be directed to Civic Nation staff via email at careers@civicnation.org.

Civic Nation describes itself as “a home for changemakers who inspire, educate, and activate people around the issues that will define this generation.” According to its mission statement, the organization “empower[s] people to take on the biggest challenges of our time—strengthening democracy; foster[ing] civic engagement, social justice and voter participation; addressing public health crises; fighting for gender equity; and more.” 

Through the Campus Democracy Project, Barry participates in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge at Civic Nation. 

Barry Service Corps fellowship alumna Dominique McMillan is program coordinator at ALL IN.

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