Dr. Michael Parker is using churches to get the word out about his research related to elder care and social work.
Though the use of churches and faith-based organizations, Parker hopes to expand the reach of his research to communities throughout the state.
"Getting churches recruited "” Protestant, Catholic, black and white is a difficult task," said Parker, who is the co-author with James M. Houston of A Vision for the Aging Church: Renewing Ministry for and by Seniors. "We spend a lot of our lives publishing information in journals and very few people read them. We operate in tribal gatherings and we rarely have the opportunity to share what we know with the people who need to hear it."
Parker believes that faith-based organizations can and should be doing more to assist in the dissemination of information, particularly where the elderly are concerned.
"We're looking at what churches do, what they don't do and what they could do," said Parker, associate professor in the School of Social Work at The University of Alabama and board member for the Center for Mental Health and Aging at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
In addition to presenting his research as the National Outreach Scholarship Conference at 3:45 p.m., Monday, Mason Room, Bryant Conference Center, Parker organizes training conferences for elders, their adult children and church leaders.
He says most people do not plan for caring for their parents; they react to their parent's needs or a medical emergency.
In addition to teaching adult children about caring for parents, he also works on helping elders retain value in the community.
"This can add life to years and years to life," Parker said. "Most academics want to make a difference, but we must translate this information so that they can act upon it," one the primary goals of engaged scholarship.
Another program Parker is working on with congregations is the Life Review Project, which helps the elderly write their own life stories in a creative way.
"This is a chance to connect with future generations and to put your own life into perspective before it's too late," Parker said.
Additionally, Parker is working with the Veterans Administration and its faith-based information outreach efforts to assist the elderly in determining if they are receiving all the benefits they are entitled to.
As engaged scholars seek out community partners, Parker says that churches and faith-based organizations should not be left out.
"We realized that veterans are a part of congregations," said Parker, who is a retired Army lieutenant colonel.
His presentation will incorporate a neurologist, gerontologist and various social workers as they discuss the various ways in which they have incorporated faith-based organizations into their social work research.
(Editor's note: NOSC 2012 at The University of Alabama will feature 234 engagement research presentations; yet many still ask "what is engaged scholarship?" Work by two engineering professors at The University of Alabama provides insights into the field, while also highlighting aspects of a sister discipline, service-learning.)
Husband and wife engineering professors Drs. Philip and Pauline Johnson concluded that their University of Alabama engineering students were naive when it came to understanding global engineering. Few had traveled outside the United States; some had not even been outside the Southeast. Those who had traveled abroad had mostly gone to tourist spots.
Members of the UA Engineers Without Borders chapter, which helped a Peruvian village with a safe drinking water and tourism ecology project, are shown here with their sponsors. Drs. Pauline (in pink shirt and visor) and Philip Johnson (just behind her in Indiana Jones hat). Their research has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, with academic and community partner colleagues.
Having visited 99 countries, many of them in the third world, they were determined to do something about their students' insularity.
"There are a lot of places in the world that are much, much, different from the United States," said Dr. Philip, who has taught in UA's civil, construction, and environmental engineering department for 23 years. "As an educator who routinely talks to students about sustainable engineering projects, I know that unless they go to a third-world country they don't fully understand what that means."
The couple are co-sponsors of UA's Engineers Without Boarders and have helped develop the International Engineering Service-Learning Program at UA. Together they create learning experiences based on modern engineering practices through partnerships with UA's Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility and Center for Community-Based Partnerships. In all, the couple has accompanied more than 50 students on international trips to Peru, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Dr. Philip is a petroleum and civil engineering specialist, while Dr. Pauline's expertise is in water and wastewater treatment.
"We started in 2005. I think we've had seven trips abroad with the students," said Dr. Pauline, who is in her 18th year on the UA faculty. "Engineers Without Borders likes for you to go back to the same community to build on what you've done and check on the systems you've already created."
In addition to partnering with UA groups and non-profits in the destination country, students collaborate with universities in the host country. In Peru they worked with students and faculty from the University of Iquitos, which provided field equipment and took part in field testing, surveys, group discussions, shopping for supplies and social outings.
These experiences build invaluable soft-skills (problem solving, communication) while introducing them to the inevitable global challenges of their career path, according to the Johnsons.
In an article they published along with Noam Shaney of Peru in the Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship (JCES) in 2008, they asserted that service-learning opportunities developo leadership, teaming, management, communication and cross-cultural skills. In addition, the students grow personally as they learn flexibility, adaptability, maturity, independence and the ability to analyze, adjust to and appreciate local culture and context. The students also gain a global perspective, an appreciation of the societal implication of their work, and the satisfaction of working with a client in taking an international community project from conception and planning to fruition.
Their purpose in traveling widely with their students, Dr. Philip said, was "to do something for the students to help them experience the world. When you work with people on projects and incorporate the locals from the community, you really get a different perspective and feel for the community."
Because these trips are in conjunction with the student organization Engineers Without Boarders, the students set the agenda and decide which country to visit and which projects to take on once they arrive.
Many of the students they get are the very best students in the College of Engineering, and are already motivated when they join Engineers Without Borders, which provides outlets for this motivation.
These trips have career implications for many students. For example, one student joined the Peace Corps after returning from a trip. Another student had her immediate sights set on medical school but instead pursued a master's at Oxford University before starting medical training, where she will focus on diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS.
Engineers Without Borders, which helped a Peruvian village with a safe drinking water and tourism ecology project, is shown here with their sponsors. Drs. Pauline (in pink shirt and visor) and Philip (just behind her in Indiana Jones hat). Their research has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, with academic and community partner colleagues.
The Johnsons say most of the students have the opportunity to travel with them on only one trip because of costs. However, Ynhi Thai is an exception. As an undergraduate, she traveled with them to Peru in 2006 and Cambodia in 2009. Born in Vietnam, Thai immigrated with her parents to the United States where they made Long Beach, Miss., their home.
"On the first trip we were basically surveying the area to see what the villagers needed," said Thai, who completed her master's degree in medical anthropology from Oxford University this month (August 2012), after earning her bachelor's in chemical engineering from UA in 2010.
During her trip to Cambodia, Thai participated in a project to build a water treatment plant for the 20,000 people in the province. "Our first job was to test the water filters to make sure they were working properly and that the people knew how to take care of them."
Although her international background gave her some idea of what to expect in the area, it was still an enlightening adventure. A developing country "is really eye-opening," she said. "The trip encouraged me to initiate a project in Cambodia."
When the group returns from a foreign project, the Johnsons encourage them to develop their own ideas, which helps them become decisive leaders, traits essential to a successful engineering career where failure to prioritize can sink a budding career.
Having discovered that in real-world Amazonian settings that expensive equipment is not the best way to go, Thai and a UA professor submitted a proposal to the Bill and Linda Gates Foundation to purchase a water treatment tester for field use. They knew there was a need for an inexpensive, portable water testing kit that didn't require power, said Thai. "It's important when testing water to be able to get good results right away." Their grant was funded for $100,000.
Not all of the Johnsons' work is international. They and their students have taken on water and recreational projects in nearby Hale and Greene counties and have helped with storm-damage repairs in several communities near the University.
But as their JCES article points out, international settings seem to create the greatest opportunities for learning. "Experience abroad forces students to deal constructively with cultural differences and situations they would not otherwise face," Dr. Philip said, adding "there is no comparison between working in an environment where getting supplies is relatively easy and in primitive environments, where a one-way trip to the hardware store is twelve hours from the village you're working in."
The Johnsons' published research concludes that overseas projects facilitate valuable across a broad learning spectrum, but especially in organizational and communication skills; learning without the aid of formal instruction; experiencing other cultures; personal growth; and expanding views of the developing world.
In addition to their article in JCES, the Johnsons have also published "Safe Water Evaluations in the Peruvian Amazon" (with Andrew Magee, Rebecca Macdonald, and Beth Todd) and "Illuminating Villages and Minds in Rural Peru" (with Hannah Betty and Todd), both in the International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering.
With the ability to work in environments and work across language and cultural barriers, the Johnsons' students gain intangible skills and knowledge about themselves as people and professionals. They develop confidence, Dr. Philip said, "because the obstacles put in front of them seemed overwhelming, but they managed to put it together pretty well "¦ [and] they return home believing they can accomplish anything."
By Kirsten J. Barnes, Center for Community-Based Partnerships
Jackie Brodsky, center, will be UA’s student representative to the Emerging Scholars Workshop at NOSC 2012. Also in the photo are, far left, Dr. Jessica Averett Taylor, former Emerging Scholar now at the University of Northern Kentucky, and Dr. Heather Pleasants, who has served as an Emerging Scholars mentor.
Before young scholars take part in the National Outreach Scholarship Conference, a select few participate in the Emerging Engagement Scholarship Workshop, a program that pairs doctoral graduate researchers or recent graduates with proven faculty members who will assist them in mapping out their research plans.
This year the workshop, held in conjunction with NOSC 2012 at The University of Alabama, is co-chaired by Dr. Lisa Townson of the University of New Hampshire and Dr. Becky Reamey of UA.
Townson has been a part of the workshop since its inception.
"It wasn't my idea, but a group of doctoral students who had been attending the conference for a few years said wouldn't it be great to have something like this geared toward emerging scholars as opposed to people who had been doing it for many years," said Townson, who at the time was a doctoral student herself.
That was more than five years ago. Now the workshop mentors 15-20 people each year, connecting them with each other and leaders in their field.
"The Emerging Engagement Scholars Program is an application process that starts in February," Reamey said, adding that applicants are required to submit a paper on their research interests. "We had over 40 people apply for the program."
The program is open to doctoral students and junior faculty members with an interest in engaged scholarship. The applicants come from all research institutions, not just NOSC member universities, and their research involves all subject areas.
"We open it up to everyone doing community engagement scholarship," Reamey said. "We recruited heavily not only from NOSC member institutions, but from outside those institutions as well."
Cheryl Morgan, Auburn University School of Architecture Urban Studio
Those selected this year are Christel Beverly of Michigan State University, researching sports psychology; Jackie Brodsky of the University of Alabama, researching age-related physiological disabilities; Lisa Brown of the University of Georgia, researching civic engagement and private colleges and universities; Robert Coffey Jr., Michigan State, researching postsecondary education; Weston Eaton, Michigan State, investigating decision-making and social movements within the bio-economy; Carie Hertzberg, Johnson and Wales University, doing research related to at-risk college students; Demetricia Hodges, Georgia State University, studying educational leadership; Shelly Hoover-Plonk, East Carolina University, studying higher education; Tanja Karp of Texas Tech University, studying electrical and computer engineering; Bethan Kingsley of the University of Alberta, researching physical activity as it relates to low-income youth; Monica Kowel of New Mexico State University, service-learning; Abigail Julia Lynch of Michigan State, researching the link between fish conservation and management and human systems; Kellie Mayfield, Michigan State, human nutrition; Carrie Menendez of the University of Chicago, urban planning and policy; Quixada Moore-Vissing of the University of New Hampshire, education; Stacey Muse of the University of Denver, researching higher education; Jennifer Purcell of the University of Georgia, engagement as related to higher education; Dana Sanchez of Oregon State University researches studies fisheries and wildlife; Marc Schure of Ohio State, public health; and Nicole Thompson, University of Memphis, elementary education.
Brodsky, who is pursuing a doctorate in Communication and Information Sciences, had already attended two NOSC conferences. Yet, she decided to apply this year because she was farther along in her research than in previous years.
"I wanted to get more information about working with community partners," said Brodsky, who is working on her dissertation proposal concerning how age-related disabilities affect people's use of information technology.
Although she has engaged scholarship experience, she does not have experience working with a community partner as the lead investigator.
"I'd like to have the benefit of working with a community agency and incorporating their goals into my work," Brodsky said. "Just hearing about the research process from someone who has been through it will be helpful. I know that whomever they put me with will have experience in engaged scholarship as the principal investigator."
During the workshop, participants will be exposed to information concerning community engaged scholarship through background literature, facilitated discussion and presentations from national leaders and community partners.
These are the things Townson and her fellow doctoral students had in mind when they discussed the idea.
"We're building a community of junior faculty and advanced doctoral students who are really interested in producing scholarly work that engages communities," Townson said, adding that this community has created scholars who have gone on to become NOSC presenters and who have remained active with community partners while conducting new research, even collaborating with other scholars and mentors for later projects. "They have built their own community of people who are interested in community engagement."
In addition they will work with mentors during the conference and afterward. Although this year's mentors have not been finalized, Dr. Heather Pleasants, director of Community Education at the Center for Community-Based Partnerships, worked as a mentor last year, advising about five Emerging Scholars.
"Across the board, the people who participated in the experience said it was the best part of the conference, hands down," Pleasants said. "The opportunity to get feedback on a work in progress was an invaluable experience."
Pleasants said not only did the mentees have the opportunity to listen to presentations by leading scholars, but they also had the chance to ask questions and talk to them on a more personal basis for an extended period of time.
Although most Emerging Scholars sessions will be on the UA campus, the opening dinner will be in Birmingham, with Cheryl Morgan of the Auburn School of Architecture's Urban Studio as guest speaker.
Editor's note: UA graduate student Elliot Knight and community partner Kristen Law will be among the more than 250 researchers presenting their findings at NOSC 2012, September 30"“October 3 at The University of Alabama. Knight will be presenting as a student, Law as a community partner.
Elliot Knight grew up in Opelika, Ala., more than 100 miles from the heart of Alabama's Black Belt, the area where he has concentrated his doctoral research. Already a budding photographer when he entered the University, he immediately began using his craft to capture campus life, envisioning ways to get others involved in this most expressive and reflective experience.
Thus, Black Belt 100 Lenses was born. All he needed was a partner. That came when the Black Belt Community Foundation joined forces with the Center for Community-Based Partnerships, where Knight was a graduate assistant.
The program reaches out to high school students who live in rural Alabama to equip them with both cameras and the knowledge to use them. Students learn to become independent community storytellers in words and pictures, and in the process they learn the skills of community leadership, leadership that will result in stronger, more equitable communities.
"This research has given me a much better understanding of the processes and contexts that lead to students feeling more creative and confident," said Knight as he nears completion of his doctorate in interdisciplinary studies, with 100 Lenses the focus of his dissertation.
Knight has seen students become more engaged in their communities and take on leadership roles in their schools and communities. With assistance from CCBP and the Black Belt Community Foundation, this program has helped hundreds of youth develop their leadership and communication abilities.
"This research allowed me to conceptualize, design and implement future programs and creative learning environments that meet students' creative, leadership and educational goals," Knight said.
The title of Knight's presentation is "100 Lenses: How Arts-Based Youth Partnerships Transform Students’ Lives. The title of Law's presentation is "Creative Philanthropy: Engaging Rural Youth Through Black Belt 100 Lenses."
Social media is a fascination for Mohamed Elmie Bin Nekmat. Therefore, conducting research related to the impact of social media on society was a natural fit for the Communication and Information Sciences doctoral student.
"I feel that more needs to be done in understanding the role of communication technologies, particularly the socialness embedded in these technologies, toward bringing social change," said Nekmat, a native of Singapore.
Using undergraduate students at The University of Alabama, his research studied how students perceived and received social media messages and what caused them to react or resend these messages.
"In order for someone to think and learn about campaign messages from others in social media, it is not enough for one to just read the messages received," Nekmat said. "He or she needs to reformulate the message and resend the messages to others."
Furthermore, his research uncovered implications on how some messages cause people to act, but not the way intended by the campaign.
"Unfortunately, I found that the messages they resend to others may not necessarily be positive," he said. "In the case of an anti-drunk driving campaign, they included sarcastic and cynical messages."
Having grown up in Alabama, W. Sim Butler was familiar with health care issues in his home state. However, while working on his doctorate in Communication and Information Sciences, Butler discovered a connection between the medical and information fields.
"The negotiation of health care, especially within rural communities, created an intersection of these interests," said Butler, a Montgomery native working on his third degree from The University of Alabama.
By focusing on rural health care and the shortage of primary care physicians and specialists, Butler was able to gain insight into the medical needs of these communities. "I recently traveled to Greensboro, Ala., an amazing small town in the western part of the state," Butler said. "There, some wonderful community leaders are struggling with unique rural health care issues. Those leaders inspired me to learn more about the training and education of rural health care providers."
Although one-fifth of America lives in rural places, only about 10 percent of physicians practice there. Because they travel greater distances to reach a medical facilitiy, rural residents are nearly twice as likely as urban citizens to die from injuries. These and other issues related to rural life and health care led Butler to pursue his research. The title of his presentation is "Doc Out of the Box: Recruiting Doctors to Rural Communities."
Richard Mocarski is interested in disenfranchised groups of society. Therefore, the opportunity to look into the efforts of the text4baby program to engage those who have limited access to healthcare providers peeked his interest.
"Our initial analysis of text4baby showed, unfortunately, major flaws in the program," Mocarski said of his findings. "While the program is noble in its endeavors and successfully circumvents some access barriers, the actual information and advice provided via text is mostly useless."
These preliminary findings regarding the free service shifted the focus of the study. Instead of studying the impact of text4babies, Mocarski and co-author Sim Butler, are focusing instead on ways to use the technology to provide better information to participants.
"We are currently working with a lead social worker at St. Anne's in Los Angeles. Her particular program is a half-way-house and counseling center for pregnant teenagers without reliable support networks or means," said Mocarski, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in Communication and Information Sciences. "Together we are developing research protocols to engage both healthcare providers and their patients to better understand effective ways to use digital means in providing effective heath information to marginalized populations."
By Kirsten J. Barnes
Center for Community-Based Partnerships
Although graduate students conduct most engaged scholarship work at The University of Alabama, undergraduate students also are getting involved in the process.
For public relations major Sam Nathews, the opportunity to assist with a campaign focusing on an undergraduate problem, created a unique opportunity to engage fellow students and gain real-world experience.
LessThanUThink was a campaign launched to raise awareness about binge drinking among college students.
While working with the Capstone Agency, UA's student-run public relations firm, Nathews worked with the Century Council, UA's Student Health Center, The National Alcohol Beverage Control Association and the Alabama Beverage Control Board to partner with six campuses to raise awareness concerning the dangers of binge drinking among students at six campuses throughout the state.
In addition to UA students, the campaign reached out to the following schools: Auburn University; the University of Alabama, Birmingham; Troy University; University of South Alabama; and Alabama State University.
As an experienced social worker and founding director of the Morgan County Child Advocacy Center, Teresa Hicks Young knows first hand how important it is to have experienced people when dealing with victims of abuse.
However, the idea to conduct research on family and victim advocates in Child Advocacy Centers came about during a conversation with an employee of the National Children's Advocacy Center in Huntsville, Ala.
"She identified the need to learn more about family victim advocates who work in children's advocacy centers," said Young, whose study focused on who the workers were and what they do. "It was this simple question that formed the initial idea for the study."
By partnering with the national organization and four regional Children's Advocacy Centers, the Hartselle, Ala., native developed a survey to determine which job-related functions had the most impact on victims.
"Our analysis revealed that family victim advocates rated critical and non-critical job duties of equal importance," said Young, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in social work. "This is an important issue for children and families in this situation and indicates the need for training to address the importance of critical job duties being given priority over non-critical job duties."
Scholars to Present Research about Bamboo Farming and Marketing
By Kirsten J. Barnes, Center for Community-Based Partnerships
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Dr. Marcy L. Koontz, associate professor in the College of Human Environmental Sciences, joined by a host of student and community partner assistants, will present “Bamboo as Catalyst for Creative, Educational, and Economic Engagement Opportunities” at NOSC 2012.
Koontz and colleagues Jamie Cicatiello, Hunter Rayfield and Roger Lewis have been at the forefront of bamboo-related research since 2010, using community-engaged scholarship principles.
"I have been involved with the bamboo initiative since it started in Alabama in the spring of 2010," said Koontz, who has worked at UA for 15 years. She believes by using a plant reproductive technique developed by Jackie Heinricher, a professor and researcher at Washington State University, bamboo can become a cash crop in Alabama.
Koontz said she enjoys the community-engaged form of scholarship, because it allows her to introduce her research into her surroundings and to be actively engaged in her community.
"I was seeking in my profession, and in all aspects of my life, a reawakening of that community aspect of my life that I had when I was growing up," said Koontz, adding that she found that familiar sense of community in Northport.
Each year the United States imports millions of dollars worth of bamboo for blinds, flooring and other wood furniture. However, it is not grown locally.
"The unique thing about bamboo is that it only flowers every 60 to 100 years," Koontz said. "It may only flower one time in a person's lifetime." This makes the availability of seeds rare and expensive for the crop to be an option for Alabama farmers.
However, Heinricher has been able to take one plant and produce up to 2,000 tissue cultures, which will develop into their own bamboo plants, making it more economical for the plant to be grown in economically disadvantaged areas like Alabama's Black Belt.
In 2010 Heinricher came to Alabama to talk to farmers about the possibility and to see if they felt it would be a good fit for their farms.
"I came out of that experience with an idea that if Alabama was going to become a leader in bamboo agroforestry, we needed to start with education," Koontz said. Thus she began introducing the concept to farmers, students, academicians and others.
"If they became engaged with bamboo in some way, it could drive this initiative and make it acceptable," she said.
To do this, Koontz came up with an idea to build a learning park made with bamboo. The Friends of Historic Northport had just been given 200 acres within the city limits, said Koontz. She asked the board to set aside five acres for the park, and in November 2010 the award was made. However, the April 27, 2011, tornado delayed the progress.
"We got the land cleared and then the tornado happened," Koontz said. "Our focus shifted to recovery and helping, but after that we regrouped and we are going full speed now. In the next couple of weeks we will be tilling the soil."
In the meantime, Koontz and her colleagues have been going to schools, events and meetings to talk about bamboo and engaging students who are making various things from bamboo, including paper and charcoal.
"One of the good things about working with a project like bamboo is you can be really creative," Koontz said. "We had a bamboo game show at Boys State. We involved them in the learning process."
Once the park is open students will be able to do interactive activities, see how the plant is grown, and use an application that works on cellular phones or tablets that tells visitors about various stations located inside the park as they walk through.
Koontz's NOSC presentation will be in the form of a poster symposium and involve more than a dozen community partners and students. The presentation is entitled "Bamboo as Catalyst for Creative, Educational, and Economic Engagement Opportunities."
