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By Sophia Xiong
CCBP Volunteer

The UA Parent Teacher Leadership Academy (PTLA) held its third session of the Academy year Dec. 6 on the campus of The University of Alabama (UA). The day’s topic was “Collaboration and Communication.” During the morning and early afternoon, teachers attended Teacher Leadership Academy (TLA) workshops and lectures for elementary teachers. Kara Bernal and Kristi Garcia, both with the Tuscaloosa City Schools, gave the lecture “Breaking through Language Barriers to Create Partnerships.” They introduced some of the obstacles bilingual students could face in school and provided examples. Bernal has been the ESL (English as a second language) school social worker for the Tuscaloosa City Schools for almost 19 years, and for the past four years has also served as the moderator/interpreter/translator for the Hispanic parents participating in PTLA. Garcia serves as the coordinator of the ESL program for Tuscaloosa City Schools. She began working in the program in 2008. She has also worked with Global Café through UA’s Center for Community-Based Partnerships (CCBP), as well as Voces de los Padres, a parent-led educational advocacy group, to assist limited or non-English-speaking families with involvement in schools and with the difficulties of assimilation into a new community.

During the TLA session for middle school teachers, Dr. Lisa Matherson and Dr. James Hardin gave a lecture on “From Parent to PARTNER: Digital Tools for Building Bridges.” Matherson, a clinical assistant professor in the College of Education at UA, has served as the LiveText FEM coordinator since 2015 and works with stakeholders in their implementation of the LiveText FEM tool for the College. Hardin is a clinical assistant professor of technology applications and assessment systems in UA’s College of Education. He has served as the College’s LiveText coordinator since 2010, and is also the College’s director of the Innovative Teaching and Technology Lab. Matherson and Hardin not only provided a list of digital tools teachers could use to communicate with parents, but also offered tips for them in the communication process. Following their presentation, Dr. Sara McDaniel, associate professor in UA’s College of Education, presented “School & Family Partnerships with Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.”

This meeting was the first session for teachers that offered different workshops provided simultaneously. In TLA for middle schools, teachers could choose between “Grades and Test Scores: Who Knows What They Really Mean?” by Andrew Maxey, and “Reading Activities for the Family” by
Carrie Jo Powell. Maxey is the director of special programs for Tuscaloosa City Schools. He served as director of middle school education for the district for the last two years and continues to lead system work at the middle school level. He also writes and speaks publicly about effective grading practices, transforming the role of the teacher in public education and leadership that works. Powell has been an instructional coach at Hillcrest Middle and Hillcrest High Schools since 2016. Prior to being named to her current position, she taught English at Hillcrest Middle for 15 years.

In elementary TLA, teachers could choose two of three available workshops. Topics included “Handling Sensitive Conversations” by Krista Snyder, “Transformational Family Conferences and IEPs” by Hannah Ruggles and Dr. Holly Morgan, and “Mindset Matters” by Lynn Evers.
Snyder is a speech language pathologist at Communication Advantage Inc. She received both a BS and an MA degree in communicative disorders from The University of Alabama in the 1980s. Her nearly 40 years of experience have provided an enriching career focused on giving communicatively challenged people of all ages the gift of improved skills. Ruggles is a graduate research assistant in CCBP, pursuing her master’s degree in marriage and family therapy. She works directly with PTLA under the direction of Morgan, who is director of Community Education at CCBP. Evers is an elementary math specialist in the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative at UA.

“How to communicate with parents and students is a very critical thing for educators,” said Taril Slater, a Matthews Elementary School teacher. “I found myself sometimes in difficult conversations; where I know what I want to say, but you need to be professional and say the right thing. I learned a lot from the first workshop about that.”

Teachers said what they learned from the workshops was very useful and could be applied in their classrooms. “I’ve never learned about mindset until two years ago,” said Kaylee Neal, a teacher from Cottondale Elementary School. “Now I realize that it really is the effort you put into it or the time you put into it, but you have to make a choice to do those things. So now, I can make sure that my kids know that now and they are not waiting until adulthood to make those same decisions.”

The community and its collaborating institutions of higher education are experiencing a multitude of benefits from the Tuscaloosa Consortium for Higher Education (TCHE), made up of The University of Alabama, Stillman College and Shelton State Community College. The Consortium’s purpose is to create partnerships that aid students and provide lifelong continuing education learning opportunities for faculty and staff at the three institutions.

“Through the renewed dedication by all institutions, the decades-old Tuscaloosa Consortium for Higher Education is having an unprecedented impact on our students, faculty, staff and local citizens,” said Dr. Nicole B. Prewitt, director of Programs and Partnerships for Community Engagement in UA’s Center for Community-Based Partnerships. “New programs are being established as we update older ones. The TCHE liaisons look forward to advancing this great work at our respective institutions.” (The liaisons are Dr. Byron Abston, associate dean for student services at Shelton State, Dr. Lamin Drammeh, executive director of the Stillman College Foundation, and Dr. Prewitt.)

“Moving forward, TCHE has the capacity to promote educational opportunity, support economic development, and enhance the quality of life in the Tuscaloosa community,” said Dr. Prewitt.

According to Dr. Samory T. Pruitt, UA vice president for Community Affairs, who also serves as a member of the Stillman College Board of Trustees, “TCHE has its roots in the leadership of the late Dr. Cordell Wynn, who greatly influenced all three institutions, hence all of Tuscaloosa. His legacy extends to all three TCHE institutions. Not only did he serve as Stillman College president, but also as a UA Board of Trustees member and special assistant to C.A. Fredd State Technical College, a subsidiary of Shelton State.”

Consortium influences are found in academic programs, grants, community-engaged research, and training and development activities. For example:

• Seed-fund collaboration in which faculty from Stillman and Shelton State collaborate with University faculty in carrying out small research projects designed to lead to larger grants. UA’s seed funds, administered through the Division of Community Affairs, are available to UA faculty who then partner with colleagues from the other institutions.
• Creation of collaborative nursing and study-abroad programs.
• Joint STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) educational opportunities.
• Promoting scholarships. Examples include the Community College Distinguished Scholarship program in which students with a 3.75 GPA and 45 hours of transferrable coursework are eligible for $5,000 per year for two years, and the All-Alabama Academic Team Scholarship program, which awards $1,000 per year plus a $300 book grant for two years.
• TCHE Employee Scholarship Program. This program creates a “common market” among the academic disciplines for employees of the three institutions. Employees may take courses at a TCHE institution for certificate and undergraduate degree programs not offered at the employee’s home institution.

“By combining our resources we are bringing new energy and benefits to all three institutions,” said Dr. Pruitt. “This collaboration is resulting in benefits for all three institutions and its future looks very bright. My thanks to Dr. Prewitt and her counterparts at the other consortium institutions for breathing new life into this valuable program.”

For more information about the consortium, email Dr. Prewitt at nbprewitt@ua.edu, Dr. Abston at babston@sheltonstate.edu, or Dr. Drammeh at ldrammeh@stillman.edu.

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By Yiben Liu
CCBP Graduate Assistant

On Dec. 6 at the Bryant Conference Center, the Parent Leadership Academy (PLA) held its third session of fall 2018 under the theme “Helping Your Child Achieve Academic Success.”

The participants were divided into four groups: parents of elementary school students, parents of pre-kindergarten school students, parents of middle school students and parents of Hispanic students. Each group participated in two to three workshop sessions designed specifically for the unique needs of students at each level. Parents were encouraged to choose from multiple speakers based on their specific needs as a parent and as a parent leader.

First-grade teacher Emily Glasgow from Buhl Elementary, speaking to the elementary school group, gave an interactive presentation titled “Achieving Success Through Purposeful Conversations.” She stressed the unique role of parents in the success of students. Considering all aspects of a child’s education, Glasgow said discussing school activities at home has the most powerful influence on students’ academic performance.

Woodland Forrest Elementary teacher Rachel Hill provided a presentation titled “Helping Your Child Achieve Academic Success: Math Matters” on efficient methods of teaching math to elementary students. Tuscaloosa County Schools’ Kay Haas conducted a presentation titled “Growing Successful Readers” aimed at developing reading skills among young students. “The most important thing that you can do to grow a reader in your house is to talk to your child,” Haas said.

The middle school groups also carried out two learning sessions. Andrew Maxey, director of special programs of Tuscaloosa City Schools, led a discussion titled “The Adolescent Brain and Student Achievement” in which he explained how to support adolescents’ psychological needs. Fayette County’s Sherry Corbett (reading and English language specialist) and Tuscaloosa County Middle School teachers Traci Primm and Samantha Heath gave presentations about coaching the students in reading, social studies and math, respectively.

Leah Lowery, parent participant and mother of a 7th-grade student, called attending PLA “a great learning experience.” “[Middle school students] are more complex,” said Lowery. “[PLA] gives us a different way to look at our children.”

Pre-K parents attended two sessions — “Growing Successful Readers,” presented by Dr. Cheryl Fondren, director of United Way of West Alabama’s Success by 6 program, and “Preparing a School-Ready Child: Using the ABCs,” presented by Rock Quarry Elementary School Pre-K teachers Alicia Berry Jenne’ and Angela McClinton. They gave specific instructions on how to teach young children to learn words and prepare them for school.

Amy Lamoreaux, mother of a 4-year-old, said: “We want to give our kids a jumpstart at education. To be able to do it at age four is amazing.” She said her son is giving her positive feedback every day.

Two instructors gave presentations to the Hispanic parent group. Coordinator of Secondary and Exceptional Education of Alabaster City Schools Dr. Keri Johnson discussed special education, and English as a Second Language (ESL) Coordinator of Tuscaloosa City Schools Kristi Garcia gave a report on ESL in public schools. Both speakers focused on how to address the special needs of students who speak English as their second language.

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In attendance:  Carol Agomo, Carrie Barnes (for Dr. Hee Lee), Karyn Bowen, Julia Brock, Jackie Brodsky, Dee Cook, George Daniels, Elizabeth Hartley, Beverly Hawk, Peter Hlebowitsh, Diane Kennedy-Jackson, CeeCee Johnson, Billy Kirkpatrick, Tony LeMieux, Stephanie McClure, Holly Morgan, Ed Mullins, Nicole Prewitt, Samory T. Pruitt, Sarah Saeed, Hailah Said, Whitney Sewell, Tommie Syx, Matthew Wisla, Luna Yang

Dr. Hlebowitsh, dean of the College of Education and chair of the Council on Community-Based Partnerships, opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and thanking them for coming. He then turned the agenda over to the rest of the individuals listed.

A video highlighting the goals and ambitions of the Community Affairs Board of Advisors (BOA) members was shown. This video was produced for use at the BOA fall gala, a fund-raising event held Sept. 10 in Birmingham.

The video was followed by announcements for the engaged scholarship in action segment of the meeting. Julia Brock, assistant professor, UA Department of History, shared that she is a new faculty member who came to this, her first Council meeting, in order to make new connections through the Council. Stephanie McClure, assistant professor, Department of Anthropology, also a new faculty member, said she wants to learn about community needs in the West Alabama area and then determine a community partner. Tony LeMieux, an American Fellow on the Council for Education and director of the Global Studies Institute at Georgia State University, is interested in learning more about the engaged scholarship initiatives at UA. Tommie Syx, retired program specialist at the Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute, shared that she is currently working with the Tuscaloosa Civil Rights Task Force and would love to help anyone connect that might need help meeting new people for their projects.

Dr. Samory T. Pruitt, vice president for Community Affairs, gave an update on the new Student Community Engagement Center, which will be located in Capital Hall. Pruitt shared that the concept for this space is to facilitate opportunities for UA students to work across disciplines with other students in the manner that we encourage faculty members to do. Renovation of the existing space is set to begin soon, and the Center is scheduled to open early in the 2019 spring semester. It will feature six offices, collaborative space and common workspace, with reconfigurable furniture that will allow for flexibility and future expansion. Pruitt shared that students have had a lot of input on what the space will look like, and also noted that Matthew Wisla, instructor, Advertising and Public Relations, and his students have been a big part of this, creating the first Prezi presentation about the Center. The Crimson White is writing an article about the Center.

Those in attendance were asked to begin identifying possible partnerships that might be utilized to apply for seed funds or any other of the Council awards opportunities. Information about the call for proposals can be found on the Council website at http://ccbp.ua.edu/council-awards/. The deadline to apply for seed funds and other awards is Feb. 1, 2019. Travel fund applications are due Feb. 15, 2019. The annual awards program will take place Wednesday, April 17, 2019.

Dr. Holly Morgan, director of Community Education in the Center for Community-Based Partnerships (CCBP) gave an update on Vision Days 2018. The program brought 400 ninth graders to campus to learn about the majors offered at UA, as well as about admission requirements, scholarships and other funding sources. The event, which aligned with the objectives of the BOA, as well as with requests from faculty members who attended the New Faculty Community Engagement Tour this past spring, targeted students from traditionally underserved areas attending schools with whom UA already has relationships. The program brought groups of students to campus on four separate days over a period of two weeks in October. Ninth graders were chosen because of the state’s career development course, which is targeted to them. Morgan indicated that we plan to track these students over the next four years. A Vision Days 2018 video produced at CCBP was shown.

Dr. Beverly Hawk, director of Global and Community Engagement, CCBP, and Hailah Said, Fulbright alumna, reported on how UA’s Fulbright program offers qualifying students an opportunity to go out into the world and gain cultural and educational experiences while allowing those from other countries the opportunity to meet people from the U.S. and, more specifically, Alabama.

UA Fulbright recently returned from Puebla, Mexico, where the Fulbright Association held its 41^st annual conference. Said attended to represent UA and to share information with other universities that might be interested in our Global Café model and how we used it to become a Fulbright Top Producer among PhD-granting institutions. The University currently sits at 18^th in the nation, ahead of Yale University. She shared that conference attendees actively sought out UA and wanted to know what our approach and strategy was for targeting students to apply for Fulbright. They also wanted to know how we produced such a high number of awardees. Said noted that people were impressed that UA has programs in place to help our Fulbright scholars maintain relationships with their host countries. Additionally, several Fulbright advisors requested contact information, with plans to pursue the possibility of coming to Alabama to see our program in action.

Dr. Hawk invited everyone to attend the upcoming Fulbright information session on Tuesday, Nov. 13, for an evening at Global Café from 5–7 p.m. at CCBP. She also encouraged meeting attendees to share this information with any professors or students they know who might be interested in attending or finding out more about the Fulbright scholarship opportunity.

Dr. Nicole Prewitt, director of Programs and Partnerships for Community Engagement, CCBP, gave an update on the Neighborhood Partnership Committee (NPC). She shared information about FrameWork, the city of Tuscaloosa’s comprehensive plan, which will include an update to the city zoning code that was last updated in 1972. The plan will be used by the city to frame programs that occur within the city, as well as some of the city’s laws. Prewitt invited all present to be a part of the comprehensive plan by providing their feedback, which will give guidance in terms of long-term decision-making. She noted that since the last time the city plan was updated a decade ago, we have experienced a global recession, the 2011 tornado — which impacted 12 percent of the city — and tremendous population growth in Tuscaloosa.

Prewitt encouraged attendance at a community event that will take place Tuesday, Nov. 27, at 6 p.m. The event, called “Forum on the Future,” is a planned two-hour workshop that seeks input from those with an interest in the future of Tuscaloosa. This includes students. All are encouraged to register in advance at http://framework.tuscaloosa.com/youre-invited-to-forum-on-the-future/ to aid the organizers in accommodating all who wish to participate. NPC has spent the past several months planning for this event, which will take place at the Tuscaloosa River Market. For more information, contact Prewitt at nbprewitt@ua.edu.

Dr. Pruitt gave an update on national engagement scholarship, reporting that the 2018 Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC) annual conference and pre-conference took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota in late September and early October. He said that this year, the first pre-conference event for community-engagement professionals was held, with an expectation of 25 attendees. Fifty people attended, placing this event on the agenda in the future. Additionally, this conference included the first awards program, with this year’s institutional award going to the University of Wisconsin-Extension. The award in 2019 will be presented to The Ohio State University at the annual conference, which will be held in Denver, Colorado.

Additionally, ESC is planning to hold regional conferences in the future and has put out an RFP for institutions that are part of ESC and that are interested in hosting such conferences. Pruitt explained that the idea behind this is to be sensitive to the fact that not everyone can obtain funding to attend a national conference. This will also present a unique opportunity to engage more students and community partners in those areas. Additionally, this will help ESC get back to its roots when it hosted national conferences on college campuses — something that is no longer possible because of the growth of the Consortium membership. These regional conferences will help us to not lose the original tone and framework of ESC. Additionally, Pruitt would love to see an RFP to bring students together for a regional conference.

ESC will also provide seed funding to faculty members from across the country who have projects in engaged scholarship. The consortium will fund anywhere from $500 up to $5,000 per grant. That RFP will be in circulation by February 1, 2019. This model will be framed much like our Council awards program at UA.

Dr. Pruitt also shared that he recently attended a conference at The University of Tennessee, for the purpose of discussing engaged scholarship. He said one question that kept coming up was how UA came up with the idea for its Council on Community-Based Partnerships. Many institutions are interested in the Council model and how we connect our students through programs like SCOPE (Scholars for Community Outreach, Partnership and Engagement). What we are doing at The University of Alabama is being noticed nationwide.

Dr. Hlebowitsh concluded the meeting with announcements as follows, encouraging everyone to save the dates and mark their calendars.

Future Council meetings are scheduled as follows:

• Thursday, February 21, 2019, 11:30 a.m. — Bryant Conference Center, Rast Room B
• Thursday, March 21, 2019, 11:30 a.m. — Ferguson Center, Room 3104

The 13^th Annual Excellence Awards and SCOPE Showcase are scheduled for:

• Wednesday, April 17, 2019 — Ferguson Student Center

We are planning to host the 3^rd annual New Faculty Engagement Tour in May 2019. Dates will be announced.

Meeting was adjourned at 12:45 p.m.

Visit http://ccbp.ua.edu/about/council/ for future Council updates.

The Council exists to connect faculty, staff, students and community partners in research-based projects designed to solve critical problems identified collaboratively by community members and the University. All academic disciplines, as well as a number of students and community members, are represented on the Council. The Council conducts an awards program, oversees project funding, proposes methods to integrate teaching and research and seeks outside funding, all with the goal of fulfilling the Division of Community Affairs’ motto: “Engaging Communities and Changing Lives.”