The Council on Community-Based Partnerships is a helping group. It is moved by a social consciousness borne not of political commitments but of a simple and powerful sense of trying to bring improvements to the lives of Alabamians. Drawing from elements across the University and the wider community, the Council represents a promise to bring resources and insights to a variety of challenges facing the public. It is hard work,
and the individuals at the center of it often go unrecognized.
The annual awards luncheon aims to bring deserved attention to the remarkable individual efforts that embody the endeavors of the Council on Community-Based Partnerships. It is simultaneously a celebration and a serious acknowledgment of the innovative and life-changing work being conducted by and through this body. It is also an opportunity to celebrate our wonderful partners.
And with each successive year, even as we acknowledge our accomplishments, we hope and understand that the best work is yet to come.
Susan Carvalho, PhD
Executive Committee Chair,
Council on Community-Based Partnerships
Dean, Graduate School
The University of Alabama
Tanisia Tucker is the 2024 recipient of the Zachary David Dodson Memorial Endowed Scholarship. As a graduate of Ramsay High School in Birmingham, Tanisia holds a commitment to community engagement within the state of Alabama. She is a junior majoring in public health at UA, whose efforts to make a positive impact are evident in all her endeavors. She has demonstrated exceptional commitment and leadership in the Center for
Community-Based Partnerships’ Community Education programs, as
one who is dependable and willing to help wherever needed. Tanisia has been instrumental in supporting various initiatives within the Division of Community Affairs, including her roles as a counselor for the STEM Entrepreneurship Academy and as a STEM Showcase mentor for the past two years. Additionally, she has worked the BLAST Academy as a group leader, supported the Parent Teacher Leadership Academy, and is a member of the SCOPE leadership team.
At the time of his death in 2012, Zachary Dodson was scheduled to graduate in economics. The scholarship named in his honor is intended for a person with the qualities of excellence and faithfulness he exhibited as a work-study student in the Center for Community-Based Partnerships. Zach was known as someone you could always count on to get his work done and then offer to help others with theirs. In 2012, he was named the campus-wide Student Employee of the Year.
Dr. Carol Donovan is a professor of Literacy Education and director of the Belser Parton Literacy Center at The University of Alabama. She received her Ph.D. in multicultural teacher and child education with an emphasis in reading and writing from the University of New Mexico. Her 27–year career at UA has been a primer in how to merge teaching, research and service at an exceptional level. Throughout her time at UA, service has been the foundation of her teaching and scholarly efforts. She has been tireless in finding ways to engage her students, both undergraduate and graduate, in initiatives that support literacy learning for students in Alabama. In addition to teaching literacy methods courses in the Multiple Abilities Program, she teaches graduate literacy courses for the Reading Specialist Program, an online master’s degree and certification, and provides professional development for teachers.
Her research interests include children’s and teachers’ selections and uses of books for science, children’s genre knowledge development, and children’s writing development in different genres. She also leads a reading clinic on campus that provides after-school tutoring for local students and
has organized a summer program to prepare educators to teach students with dyslexia. She has published in leading research journals including Reading Research Quarterly, Research in the Teaching of English, The Reading Teacher, Elementary School Journal, and Language Arts. Donovan is also active within the Council on Community-Based Partnerships as chair of the Council’s Seed Funding Committee.
Judge Lillie Jones Osborne has dedicated her career to engaging communities and addressing quality-of-life issues in Greene County. A graduate of The University of Alabama School of Law, she was appointed to the position of District Judge in Greene County in 1999, making history as the first Black woman to serve as probate judge in Greene County. She continues to serve Greene County today as district judge and also serves as president of the Greene County Children’s Policy Council, whose mission is to mobilize stakeholders in working collaboratively to develop and implement a community plan that addresses the needs of the children of Greene County. The Council operates an after-school tutorial program for students that has engaged in a project to collect the stories of residents who participated in the civil rights movement in Greene County. This program began paying tribute to selected Greene County trailblazers in 2011. Initiated by Judge Osborne, the program was originally
supported by a grant from the Black Belt Community Foundation. Through the program, students have acquired valuable information on their community and their own families.
Ruchie Pathak is a doctoral student in the Department of Geography. As a graduate research assistant, she collaborated on research focused on building climate change resilience, environmental sustainability, and social justice among Alabama’s small-scale farmers, including two National Science Foundation-funded projects. Pathak has sought out numerous opportunities to develop her skills as a community-engaged scholar, including her participation in the UA Emerging Community Engagement Scholars program. Her efforts in community-engaged scholarship have had a lasting and tangible impact on the communities with which she works. During her three years at UA, she has attended 17 community events all over the state of Alabama including farmer conferences, meetings, training events, and demonstration workshops. This consistent and sustained engagement has been essential for building trust and collaborative relationships between researchers, farmers and farmer organizations. Ruchie’s consistent engagement contributed to formal partnerships with two community organizations — the Deep South Food Alliance and Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network — that have been critical to conducting research and mobilizing community support. In addition to collaborating on grant-funded research, she has contributed to publications that investigated the diverse barriers faced by farmers to adopt irrigation as a climate change adaptation. Her dissertation will tell the story of small-scale, limited-resource, and socially disadvantaged farmers in the Black Belt region.
Women’s Civic Engagement
Dr. Elle Shaaban-Magana
Executive Director, Women and Gender Resource Center (WGRC)
Dr. Jaclyn Northrup
Assistant Director, Women and Gender Resource Center
The WGRC specifically collaborates with campus and community partners to empower women, not only to be leaders in the campus community, but to see themselves as civic leaders. For example, in spring 2018, with support from the American Association of University Women, the WGRC launched IDEAL: the Intentionally Diversifying Engagement and Leadership series. When organizing their IDEAL program, the WGRC worked with the Crossroads Civic Engagement Center to set up joint speaker and dialogue opportunities for UA students. The WGRC also collaborates with Crossroads and other UA departments to offer sessions for their Ready To Run program. Led by The Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University, Ready to Run® is a national network of non-partisan campaign training programs committed to electing more women to public office. In celebration of Women’s Equality Day, the WGRC hosted a “Weeks of Welcome” event to draw attention to the importance of voting as a civic action. More recently, the WGRC organized a trip to Montgomery to participate in the Capitol Heels program, hosted by the Women’s Foundation of Alabama.
UPWARD Initiative
Dr. Irem Sengul Orgut
Associate Professor, Culverhouse College of Business
As an assistant director at the Institute of Data and Analytics in the Culverhouse College of Business, Dr. Irem Sengul Orgut leads the UPWARD (Underrepresented Populations Workgroup for Research and Development) initiative. As part of the UPWARD initiative, she leads interdisciplinary collaborations to work on problems that humanitarian organizations face and develop theoretically sound solutions that are also interpretable and applicable by practitioners. Sengul Orgut’s research focuses on food bank operations. She has formed close partnerships with several food banks in Alabama and North Carolina, helping them optimize their operations and better manage their supply chains. Sengul Orgut is the co-PI of a $2 million National Science Foundation grant in collaboration with the West Alabama Food Bank in Tuscaloosa, the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, and the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest N.C., and other community partners, including the UA food pantry. The researchers and community partners are co-developing a community-based, socially intelligent nonprofit food rescue and distribution platform to use community resources to better serve food-insecure households equitably by continually learning their preferences and sharing this information with elements of the upstream supply chain.
Emily Adcock
Undergraduate, Legal History and English
Rolland Grady
Undergraduate, Political Science
Rolland Grady is a junior majoring in political science and chairperson of the Blackburn Institute and the president of UA Vote Everywhere (UAVE). Emily Adcock is a sophomore majoring in Legal History and English, a Blackburn Institute student and an ambassador for UAVE. Together, they have worked to increase campus civic engagement through multiple initiatives with UAVE and with their work as interns in the Civic Learning Lab. Housed
in UA’s Crossroads Civic Engagement Center, the Civic Learning Lab is a collaborative, project-based learning environment where team members develop both theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the field of civic learning and democratic engagement. As lab interns, Grady and Adcock have been able to further their civic knowledge through innovative projects. As the lab’s content and strategy consultant, Adcock assisted with designing the processes for how the lab and lab internships operate. Grady helped develop the Carl Elliott Civic Leadership Campus Tour, a walking tour of campus as told through the legacy of former U.S. Rep. Carl Elliott. Additionally, Grady received the 2024 William P. and Estan J. Bloom Award for her dedication to increasing voting education for UA student groups.
COMMUNITY PARTNER New Heights Community Resource Center
Tuscaloosa City Schools repurposed unused classroom space at the old Stillman Heights Elementary, which currently houses STARS Academy, Tuscaloosa’s alternative school program, to create the New Heights Community Center. New Heights Community Center opened on Jan. 18, 2023, as a resource center for families and students. The Center is based on the following five pillars: education, homeless and homelessness prevention, youth prevention services, mental health services, and healthcare. Resources are provided in partnership with local agencies, many of which
are housed in the Center. Community partner agencies include Schoolyard Roots, Boys & Girls Club of West Alabama, Disability Rights and Resources, Habitat for Humanity of West Alabama, the Literacy Council of West Alabama, Disability Rights and Resources, Five Horizons Health, PRIDE of Tuscaloosa, the Kristen Amerson Youth Foundation, Parents as Teachers, Tuscaloosa Reads and Fuerza Multicultural. Additionally, New Heights features a free community store called The Lift, which is stocked with new donated items, such as clothes, toiletries, food, cleaning products and household products. Individuals can receive items from The Lift when a school social worker identifies a need.
FACULTY Dr. Janet Brown
Assistant Professor, Capstone College of Nursing
FACULTY Dr. Leigh Ann Bray Dayton
Assistant Professor, Capstone College of Nursing
Dr. Janet Brown and Dr. Leigh Ann Bray Dayton are assistant professors in the Capstone College of Nursing. After becoming part of the Emerging Community Engagement Scholars program and participating in the New Faculty Community Engagement Tour, they formed partnerships with Matthews Elementary and Piggly Wiggly to provide innovative, interactive health education for elementary students. This program became known as “On Track to Wellness” and allowed UA nursing students to experience an innovative, immersive, community education event. During this event, nursing students were able to teach elementary students information related to nutrition, physical activity, stress and accidental poisoning prevention. Dr. Bray Dayton received a five-year grant through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) program to sustain and expand the initial partnerships with Matthews Elementary, Piggly Wiggly, and the Tuscaloosa Public Library to include the Alabama Department of Public Health and a Family Healthy Weight Program.
FACULTY Dr. Despina Stavrinos
Professor and Director, Institute for Social Science Research
Established in 2017 through a partnership with the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham, the Translational Research for Injury Prevention Laboratory, under the leadership of Dr. Despina Stavrinos, conducts interactive driving simulator demonstrations through the Community Outreach Program for Teen Drivers. This program reaches students K–12 and beyond, providing direct driving safety training, focusing on distracted driving, to approximately 2,000 students annually in Alabama. By partnering with the Alabama State Department of Education, Transportation Division, access to drivers’ education classrooms across the state has been provided, ensuring widespread reach and engagement with students. The program provides a hands-on experience with the driving simulator by creating a safe way for youth to experience and witness the dangers of distracted driving and other risky driving behaviors. Through partnerships with sponsors and stakeholders, it has implemented a comprehensive outreach program that directly engages students and promotes safe driving practices.
FACULTY Dr. Yuanzhen Shao
Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics
During the past three years, Dr. Yuanzhen Shao has served as the chapter co-coordinator for MATHCOUNTS-Tuscaloosa. MATHCOUNTS-Tuscaloosa is a volunteer-based organization led by the faculty in the College of Engineering and the Department of Mathematics at The University of Alabama. It is supported by the Center for Community-Based Partnerships. MATHCOUNTS is a nationwide middle school mathematics competition with thousands of middle school student participants each year. The goal of MATHCOUNTS-Tuscaloosa is to promote math and STEM education in Tuscaloosa and local areas. For the 2024 competition, he served as the primary chapter coordinator, taking responsibility for school registration, competition preparation, competition organization, and coordination with coaches and parents. Shao has devoted numerous hours to promoting MATHCOUNTS-Tuscaloosa and the related STEM outreach.
STUDENT Jennifer Baggett
Graduate Studies, Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics
As a member of the Public Engagement Learning Community and Emerging Community-Engagement Scholars programs, Jennifer created a program that introduces, explains and enhances understanding of technology for senior adults. The opportunity to examine the use of technology for communication and daily tasks is an instrumental component of creating an environment of connection and simplicity for many senior adults who may not have family members nearby. The program allows for ongoing in-person training on the uses and benefits of technologies and resources in a setting to allow for hands-on information and questions. The program has taught skills including online bill paying, how to use video-based communications, and online security. In addition to working with senior adults, she often works with K–12 students to develop and inspire interests in STEM fields with project-based learning. She also partners with local community centers, senior centers, and elementary schools.
STUDENT Gemma Hodgkiss
Undergraduate, Honors College
Gemma Hodgkiss is a pre-med student in the Honors College who is passionate about providing more opportunities for pre-med students to learn about rural health care. She first began working on this project as a student in UH 205 and has since taken the initiative to continue working on the project upon completion of the class. The current section of UH 205 is continuing to develop this project and is partnering with Cahaba Health Care. Gemma is serving as a peer mentor for the group and ensuring community engagement principles remain at the core of the project. This project enhances pre-med student outcomes by providing more opportunities for thoughtfully designed community-engaged learning. With this established partnership, pre-med students learn firsthand about the communities they are volunteering in through community engagement best practices and also learn the skills needed for medical school while volunteering. Gemma, the working group, and Cahaba partners hope to have a formal class developed for Spring 2025, with plans for a volunteer pilot group in place for Fall 2024.
STUDENT Kenneth Kelly
Undergraduate, News Media
Kenneth Kelly is a junior from Metro Atlanta majoring in news media on the Creative Path to the MBA. He is a member of Capstone Men and Women and currently serves as president of The University of Alabama Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). Along with members of the NABJ chapter, Kelly began working during the Fall 2022 semester as a mentor with the students at The Oakdale News. In 2022–2023, through the mentoring at Oakdale, students produced two editions of the publication. They followed with another edition in Fall 2023, largely through the leadership of Kelly, who stepped up to coordinate the work of a half-dozen mentors who meet at least twice per week at the school. Outside of his work with Capstone Men and Women and NABJ, he is an active member of the Kappa Alpha chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
STUDENT Carly Titus
Undergraduate, International Studies
Carly Titus is a senior undergraduate student on the STEM Path to MBA majoring in international studies and minoring in Spanish. Titus serves as president of the student organization, Education Abroad Alumni Association, and helped initiate the first-ever UA World Games. The UA World Games were held on March 29, 2024, at the Student Recreation Center. The idea of the UA World Games came from the World Games held in Birmingham, Ala., in July 2022, which featured approximately 3,600 athletes representing more than 100 countries, offering U.S. residents the opportunity to experience international sports they may have not been familiar with. The UA World Games featured six international sports from the 2022 World Games that were held in Birmingham: squash, boules, flying disc, tug of war, fistball, and floorball. The event engaged with multicultural and international groups across campus to foster relationships between international and domestic students.
Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of English
Dr. Serena Blount has worked tirelessly to develop, nurture, and sustain new community learning engagements between numerous community partners and students in the Department of English. She developed a new course, Introduction to Grant Writing Course (with practicum), that will be offered in fall 2024. In developing this course, she facilitated multiple community partnerships for the practicum element. Part of her preparation included taking the Division of Community Affairs’ Winning Grants and Sustaining Communities seminars in partnership with community organizations. As a faculty member, she expanded the English department’s internship program to pair community partners with student interns. She has worked to create and bolster a three-pronged program to model the versatility and applicability of the English degree (legal, publishing, non-profit). She has worked to incorporate best practices by participating in the Community-Engaged Learning Fellows (CELF) program this year. As a CEL fellow, she introduced critical reflection components into the internship class to ensure academic rigor and help students
assess their experiences.
Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Dr. Steven Weinman has been educating the surrounding community about converting waste plastic materials into valuable secondary products. Weinman has continually grown his program from its initial inception in 2021, and he has acquired substantial external financial resources to ensure that the program is a high-quality and impactful experience. During the first year of the program, he led a two-week summer research experience for four students from Stillman College. Participants worked on areas of research projects to understand the activities of an academic research lab and instill a sense of personal investment in helping to eliminate end-of-life plastics from polluting the environment. In summer 2023, he expanded the program to six weeks with five students from Stillman College and Shelton State Community College and three high school teachers from Paul W. Bryant and Central High Schools. As part of the program, several participants traveled to Washington, D.C., to talk about the impact of their experience at the Emerging Researchers National Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
Dr. Luciana Giorgio
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Partners
Nancy de la Torre
Fuerza Multicultural
Amount Funded $4,965
The purpose of this project is to engage community-based participatory research using photovoice methodology to examine the factors impacting mental health among Latina women living in Tuscaloosa. This project builds on a community survey conducted by Fuerza Multicultural, a nonprofit organization based in Tuscaloosa, which provides resources for the Latino and Spanish-speaking community. The community survey conducted in 2021 highlighted the need to address mental health among the Latino community given that many of those interviewed expressed elevated exposure to stress. Fuerza Multicultural will be involved throughout the research process, assisting with the data collection and data analysis by co-facilitating Photovoice sessions and coding transcripts. The goal of this research is to elevate Latina women’s voices and identify the factors affecting their mental health to inform the development of linguistically and culturally sensitive programs and resources in Tuscaloosa that meet these women’s needs. Funding will be used to purchase study materials, as well as to execute a planned photo exhibition and mental health community event.
Dr. Kristina McDonald, Associate Professor, Psychology
Partner Tuscaloosa City Schools
Amount Funded $5,000
This project uses a youth- and community-involved program design to leverage teens’ prosocial values with the goal of supporting teens’ efforts to contribute to the well-being of others and garner respect from educators and their communities. Funding will be used to support a program that will build on the expertise of youth and community partners to create a high school program that empowers youth with respect to their personal goals and communities. The program will be designed in collaboration with teachers, adolescents and other adults invested in adolescent adjustment, assuring the inclusion of community priorities and diverse viewpoints to translate theory and innovative research into practice. Teachers will receive training aimed at reducing discipline disparities and promoting teacher support for students. A curriculum co-led by teachers will bolster their understanding of their pupils’ prosocial values and actions while promoting students’ valued relationship skills. Teens will also develop their peer co-mentoring skills, preparing them to become important school and community resources.
Dr. Sara Sanders, Assistant Research Professor, Special Education and Multiple Abilities
Attending Kent State University International Summit on Learning and Behavioral Health, June 7–16, 2024 in Florence, Italy
Amount Funded $1,000
Dr. Sanders will present research related to improving the educational protective factors of youth served in restrictive educational settings (e.g., juvenile justice facilities) by providing youth with literacy instruction and support in developing self-determination skills. Developing writing and self-determination skills are critical in supporting the successful transition of youth back to their schools and communities and can have a positive impact on overall outcomes and well-being as writing is a method of communication and can empower youth to advocate for themselves. The presenter will report on a completed study with a local partner. Results from the research indicated that there were positive writing improvements of adjudicated adolescent girls who received the self-regulated strategy development writing intervention with embedded choice-making support.
Master’s Student, Anthropology
Project Adiposity in Alabama’s adolescent athletes: Is it something in the water?
Principal Investigator
Dr. Courtney Helfrecht
Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Partners
Dr. Steven Weinman
Assistant Professor, College of Engineering
Dr. Jessica Wallace
Assistant Professor, College of Human Environmental Sciences
Tuscaloosa City Schools, Selma City Schools, and Fairfield City Schools
In Alabama, nearly a third of teenagers struggle with excess weight, putting them at increased risk for future health problems like diabetes and stroke. While diet plays a part, concerning evidence suggests environmental factors like Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, or “forever” chemicals) might also be involved. These chemicals have been linked to obesity and high blood pressure in adults. This study investigates the potential link between PFAS exposure and overweight/obesity and high blood pressure in Black male football players attending Title 1 high schools in central and southern Alabama. However, testing for PFAS in Alabama is limited. To address this gap, the research team will investigate PFAS levels in drinking water from participants’ households across the counties involved in the study. Additionally, the project will explore the effects of diet on weight status among children with different BMIs. By addressing knowledge gaps about PFAS contamination and its health effects, the researchers aim to spark dialogue and awareness within communities. As a graduate fellow, Samuel will facilitate participant involvement and oversee accurate data collection.
Doctoral Student, Psychology
Project Leveraging adolescent and community values and strengths to promote healthy relationships and adolescent well-being
Principal Investigator
Dr. Kristina McDonald
Associate Professor, Psychology
Partners
Dr. Sebrena Jackson
Associate Dean of Educational Programs and Student Services, School of Social Work
Tuscaloosa City Schools
This project will use a youth- and community-involved program design to leverage teens’ prosocial values with the goal of supporting teens’ efforts to contribute to the well-being of others and garner respect from educators and their communities. The goals of this project are to collaborate with adult and adolescent community advisory boards (CAB) to assess current needs, priorities and values, and to design a novel culturally informed high school program that addresses social and behavioral threats to adolescent health and bolsters empathy of teachers and school officials. The researchers hypothesize that the program will reduce depression and anxiety, increase teacher empathy, youth-perceived teacher support, and youth relationship skills. As the graduate fellow, Korina Odom will help organize CAB recruitment, CAB meetings, and help to facilitate meetings. She will also help to transcribe CAB meetings for qualitative analyses and will gather survey and questionnaire feedback from CAB members. She will work with Dr. McDonald to co-develop intervention materials based on these results. In the spring, Korina will co-lead in-school intervention sessions with the classroom teacher.
Doctoral Student, College of Human Environmental Sciences
Project Using a multifaceted approach to understand concussion and improve brain health trajectories in adolescent football athletes in Alabama
Principal Investigator
Dr. Jessica Wallace
Assistant Professor, College of Human Environmental Sciences
Partners
Dr. Courtney Helfrecht
Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Dr. Sharlene Newman
Executive Director, Alabama Life Research Institute
John McKenzie
Paul W. Bryant High School
Latrell Jenkins
Paul W. Bryant High School
Stoney Pritchett
Bessemer City High School
The Merging Athletic Training, Community, Health Equity, and Diversity (MATCHED) Lab is embarking on year four of an ongoing longitudinal study examining concussion injuries and holistic brain health among high school football athletes. In its four years, 10 high schools across 6 counties, including Tuscaloosa, Pickens, Greene, Hale, Jefferson, and Dallas, have benefited from the initiatives related to holistic brain health. The lab works directly with football programs and athletic departments across the state with an intentional focus on schools where there is limited access to acute health care from athletic trainers, or a prevalence of community health inequities. Taia MacEachern is the current lab liaison for Paul W. Bryant High School. She has assisted with off-season brain health projects and maintains her relationships with the school partners. This fellowship will allow MacEachern to become a lab liaison to 1–2 additional schools. As a graduate fellow, MacEachern will engage with community partners and serve as a mentor to undergraduate research assistants.
Jennifer Baggett
Doctoral Student, Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics/Emerging Community Engagement Scholars Program
Research Partners
Dr. Drew Pearl
Director of Community Engagement, Research and
Publications, Center for Community-Based Partnerships
Community Partner
Gardendale Senior Center
Technology has advanced extremely quickly over the last 20–30 years. Many younger generations and especially young children now have grown up with advanced technology. Many senior adults did not have this same experience. This project, in partnership with the Gardendale Senior Center and community members, aims to create a way of helping senior adults learn technology and provide opportunities for engagement. The project has extended and evolved to include more methods of instruction and new skills for the groups. Throughout the project it was found that many senior adults wanted to learn new technology but, in some cases, felt intimidated to ask for help or were overwhelmed by the options.
Dr. Janet Brown
Assistant Professor, Capstone College of Nursing
Dr. Leigh Ann Bray Dayton
Assistant Professor, Capstone College of Nursing
Community Partner
Matthews Elementary School
The purpose of the On Track to Wellness learning event was to incorporate a service-learning approach to provide an opportunity for Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) students to initiate assessments and therapeutic communication with pediatric patients. This event was a partnership between Capstone College of Nursing faculty and students and a local elementary school. During the program, 48 BSN students enrolled in their pediatric course provided education to elementary school children on the topics of nutrition, fitness, stress management and the prevention of accidental poisoning utilizing gamification. Each topic area included a game to reinforce the content. BSN students facilitated Fresh is Best twister games at the nutrition station, jumping rope and fidget toys at the Stop Stress station, parachute games at the Fitness is Fun station, and an Always Ask game at the accidental poisoning prevention station. Throughout the two-day event, the BSN students also performed health screenings including height, weight, and blood pressure of each elementary student. A post-participation survey of BSN students showed that 71.4% of students strongly agreed and 28.6% agreed that they feel better prepared to care for pediatric patients in the clinical setting, the learning activity improved their pediatric assessment skill of visual inspection, and the experience was effective in developing their ability to communicate with a pediatric patient and family.
Dr. Janet Brown
Assistant Professor, Capstone College of Nursing
Dr. Leigh Ann Bray Dayton
Assistant Professor, Capstone College of Nursing
Community Partners
Matthews Elementary School
Piggly Wiggly
The purpose of On Track to Wellness was to implement an innovative service-learning program utilizing a gamification approach to provide an opportunity for Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) students to provide pediatric education and health assessment in the community setting. The principal of Matthews Elementary, Dr. Kimberly Lavender, collaborated in the design and implementation of the program. Piggly Wiggly provided a healthy snack. The school’s physical education coaches were active participants and not only helped facilitate but also provided evaluation feedback. UA provided a backpack to the elementary students containing items to sustain their learning and change behaviors. Items in each backpack included a jump rope, a healthy snack, Alabama Regional Poison Control Center phone number stickers, and fidget toys via the Alabama Life Research Institute and Saxon Summer Seed Grant funding. Positive survey findings and verbal feedback from the BSN students indicate On Track to Wellness was an effective experiential learning mechanism that incorporated community engagement activities into the curriculum.
Savannah Frickey
Master’s Student, Department of Consumer Sciences
Community Partners
Habitat for Humanity, Tuscaloosa
The Tuscaloosa Housing Authority
The Housing Authority of Greene County
An initiative of the Division of Community Affairs’ Center for Community-Based Partnerships (CCBP), HomeFirst provides financial coaching, individualized support and program referrals to community members in Tuscaloosa, Hale and Greene Counties. In 2022, HomeFirst developed a partnership with UA’s College of Human Environmental Sciences’ Department of Consumer Sciences (CHES DCS). CCBP is providing an opportunity to place graduate teaching assistants or students needing an internship as coaches/researchers/data managers within the HomeFirst program. In turn, CHES DCS is providing all reasonable assistance to CCBP in designating a percentage of time for available graduate teaching assistants or students needing an internship. In addition, CHES faculty affiliated with Family Financial Planning and Counseling also provide biannual financial counseling/coaching seminars to coaches or participants, including education for HomeFirst volunteers (e.g. credit and tax topics) to the extent that such faculty are available. Students are trained and actively work with community members in one-on-one financial coaching sessions. In Fall 2023, HomeFirst had 15 student HomeFirst financial coaches and three community member coaches. These coaches worked with 37 community members, completing 98 modules over a total of 127 financial coaching sessions.
Edwin Lee
PhD Student, College of Communication and Information Sciences
Research Partners
Dr. George Daniels
Associate Professor, College of Communication
and Information Sciences
Dr. Scott Bridges
Retired Faculty, School of Music
Dr. Joan Barth
Senior Research Scientist, Department of Psychology
Community Partners
Tuscaloosa Civil Rights History &
Reconciliation Foundation
First African Baptist Church
This project gathers critical information regarding the Tuscaloosa community’s perception of Tuscaloosa Civil Rights history and builds on what was found in previous Civil Rights research. A survey conducted by the Tuscaloosa Civil Rights History and Reconciliation Foundation (TCRHRF) reveals that the majority of the 500+ surveyed citizens were unaware their city was a place where slavery, Confederate States of America, lynching, Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan thrived. Resolving problems with racial inequities that still exist in Tuscaloosa requires the local population in Tuscaloosa to confront its Civil Rights history and openly acknowledge the truth. To meet this goal, researchers examined how Tuscaloosans witnessed and understood civil unrest during desegregation, and how these experiences shaped their engagement with racial issues today. This work is informed from a proposed formula (D x M x P = C) by Peter F. Drucker. Researchers collected data through surveys, focus groups, and personal interviews in collaboration with TCRHRF and First African Baptist Church.
Ella Marie Maggio
Master’s Student, Kinesiology, Sport Pedagogy
Jacob T. Peterson
Assistant Director, Division of Community Affairs
Research Partners
UA College of Education
Community Partners
YMCA Barnes Branch
Tuscaloosa Parks and Recreation Association (PARA)
This study examines the experiences of four junior swim instructors, chosen specifically for their swimming skills and leadership qualities within the UA Center for Community-Based Partnerships’ Swim to the Top program. Over the course of the research, data was collected through daily reflections, focus group interviews and field notes. The findings highlight a significant positive shift in the junior swim instructors’ swimming knowledge and self-perception. Throughout the program, participants exhibited improvements in communication skills and developed a heightened efficacy in conveying both swim instruction and water safety guidelines. Additionally, their knowledge about swim techniques and safety protocols significantly expanded, showcasing growth in their expertise. Importantly, the study underscores the impact on the junior swim instructors’ self-esteem. As they navigated through the challenges and responsibilities of teaching, their confidence levels increased. This newfound confidence not only influenced their instructional effectiveness but also contributed to a more enriching learning environment for the students. This research sheds light on the holistic development of junior swim instructors, demonstrating the multifaceted benefits derived from experiential learning.
Dr. Elisabetta Zengaro
Communications Specialist, Division of Community Affairs
Dr. Todd Davis
Professor and Director of Outdoor Recreation Education, Delta State University
Community Partners
UA Office of Veteran and Military Affairs
While many veterans struggle with a variety of mental health issues when transitioning to civilian life, research has indicated that participation in outdoor recreation may mitigate these struggles. The purpose of this ethnography was to examine how veterans construct a sense of identity, engagement and well-being through participating in an outdoor recreation excursion. Results developed from discussions with participating veterans and the authors on ways to positively engage and support the veteran community, especially for those struggling with their civilian identity after returning from active duty. Participants were recruited for a whitewater rafting trip exclusively for veterans in summer 2023. Data were collected and analyzed based on field note observations, research reflections, and conversations and interviews with the participants. The authors used an emergent thematic method of data analysis and open-coded interviews and narratives for themes from which the following themes emerged: on the edge, camaraderie, and adapt and survive. Results indicate that participation in outdoor recreation encourages social support and engagement among veterans and counteracts some effects of stigma toward mental health communication in the veteran community. The results lend new insights on how communities can positively support veterans’ well-being.
