The University of Alabama

Center for Community-Based Partnerships

CCBP Overview

The University of Alabama took a major step forward in 2006 with the appointment of three new staff members to the Center for Community-Based Partnerships (formerly Rural Services) and the designation of Cannon House as its headquarters. In addition to the new staff members, graduate assistants, student interns and work-study students play prominent roles at the Center.

Filling the staff positions are Dr. Estelle Ryan Clavelli, associate director of Community Education; Christopher H. Spencer, associate director of Community Development; and Yun Fu, program assistant.

“These appointments, and the plans we are developing for the Center, signal a new commitment by our University to community engagement that goes hand in hand with teaching and research,” said Dr. Samory T. Pruitt, vice president for Community Affairs and executive director of the Center.

“Our motto, ‘Engaging Communities and Changing Lives’, summarizes our mission,” Pruitt said. “We are very fortunate to have these outstanding professionals join us in carrying out this mission.”

Ryan Clavelli returns to the University after five years at Stillman College where she taught future teachers and directed international, cross-cultural and diversity projects. She has two degrees from The University of Alabama, including a Ph.D. in 1998 in Secondary Education, Curriculum and Instruction. At UA, she was an adjunct faculty member and coordinated several international programs, including the Fulbright program.

On her return to UA in 2006, Ryan Clavelli wasted no time applying her Stillman experience. One of her first assignments was to set up a language lab in Cannon House for students and citizens wanting to learn or improve their English, many of them new to our area.

“We held an open-house and were surprised by the response,” Ryan Clavelli said. “Obviously, we are filling a need.” A formal open house for the new lab will be held later this year.

At Stillman, Ryan Clavelli directed “Mi Futuro (My Future) Academy” to connect Hispanic high school students with Stillman undergraduates for mutual learning. “The strong sense of family and commitment to personal and religious beliefs shared by both groups made for an exceptional experience,” she recalls.

Ryan Clavelli sees UA  as a great setting for building partnerships in the community. “UA students have a wonderful sense of optimism. They have a refreshing confidence that difficult problems really can be solved,” she said. “Their passion for creating America anew, instead of just passively accepting things as they are, is contagious. Can any of us aspire to anything better than that?”

One of her main duties will be to work with the College of Education to create training programs for student volunteers who will work in P-12 settings.

“This training will improve the volunteer experience for both our students and our community partners,” she said. She will also work with the College of Education on a proposal to the Alabama State Department of Education that would make UA volunteer programs eligible for Supplemental Educational Funding under “No Child Left Behind” legislation.

The other associate director, Christopher H. Spencer, brings many years of military and educational experience to his community development role. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University and a master’s in counseling psychology from the University of West Alabama.

After graduation from UA, he served in both Gulf Wars as an intelligence officer. For his outstanding service he received the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award, one of the highest awards a junior officer can receive.

Spencer has an extensive public service background. He served as vice chair of the Sumter County Commission, chair of the Greene-Sumter Enterprise Community Committee, and chair of the Hill Hospital of Sumter County board of trustees. He recently lost a  runoff election for a District 71 seat in the Alabama House of Representatives.

Since his arrival on campus, Spencer says he has been impressed with the University’s resources and commitment to improving conditions throughout Alabama, especially in the Black Belt. He will work closely with the Hess Institute, the Center for Business and Economic Research and Alabama Entrepreneurial Research Network in the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration.

Already, he has partnered with the UA Purchasing Department and the South Regions Minority Business Council to help minority- and female-owned firms increase their business with the University.

A National Institutes of Health grant and UA’s Engineering Students Without Borders’ water safety project in Hale County are also on Spencer’s agenda.

As an ordained minister, Spencer sees great potential in teaming up in faith-based initiatives with Dr. Michael Parker, assistant professor in the School of Social Work, a leading investigator in these programs.

Here are some other projects with which the Center is engaged:

 Alabama REAL (Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning), which supports entrepreneurship education for K-12 teachers and students.

 Parents Academy, an initiative to increase parenting capacity among Alabama families of diverse backgrounds.

 Multicultural Journalism Workshop, now in its 24th year, a summer camp that promotes careers in journalism for under-represented groups.

To help UA faculty and staff with their community engagement efforts, the Center has created a $100,000 seed fund and made its first awards last fall.

Grants went to:

Melissa Jackson, UA Psychology Clinic, “Leadership Summit for Middle School Youth from the Black Belt,” in collaboration with the Black Belt Action Commission’s Culture and Youth Committee, $6,000.

 Heather Pleasants, Educational Research, “Engaging Elementary and Middle School Students in New Media Products,” in partnership with the Tuscaloosa Housing Authority and the student chapter of the Capstone Association of Black Journalists, $11,300.

 Matthew Elam, “Manufacturing Engineering Initiative in Hale County,” $20,000.

 Carmen Taylor, Arts and Sciences, “Science and Math Involved Learning Experience,” $10,000.

John Wheat and Cynthia Moore, Community and Rural Medicine, “Black Belt High School Leaders Program,” $10,000

Stephen Black, “Save First Initiative,” $5,000.

Program Assistant Yun Fu is the third new employee at Cannon House. She earned her master’s in Teaching of English as a Second Language from Oklahoma City University in 1995. Her B.A. in English is from Jiangxi University, China. In Oklahoma City, she taught in public schools from 1992 to 2006. Her leadership was recognized in 2005-2006 when she was elected president of the Oklahoma Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.

Fu’s early assignment has been to create a database of community-based outreach projects for the entire campus. “This will give scholars quick access to an important database that can guide our work. It will also enable potential grantors to see at a glance the impressive range of our engagement activity,” she said.

Dr. Pruitt summarized the early progress of the Center in theses words: “If you look at the engagement activity of individual divisions on the campus, it is certainly impressive, but when you look at is as a whole, which is the role of the Center, you begin to see our potential impact not only on communities, but also on the entire teaching and research enterprise of the University,” Pruitt said.

“Our university has a duty to work with communities and to use our knowledge to help others. In doing so, not only do we help others but we also keep ourselves sharp by putting our theories into practice in the real world.”