Category: Funding & jobs

Council Hosts Twelfth Annual Excellence in Community Engagement Awards

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By Kirsten J. Barnes
CCBP Graduate Assistant

The Council on Community-Based Partnerships hosted its Excellence in Community Engagement Awards on April 18 at the Bryant Conference Center with more than 200 people in attendance to share in the celebration of research and service activities of The University of Alabama and its community partners. It was the 12thannual awards ceremony.

The luncheon is a culmination of the efforts of faculty and students working to fulfill the University’s teaching, research and service mission through partnerships with community groups.

Each year this program recognizes faculty, community partners and students who work to change the lives of others through their engagement research efforts by granting seed funds, graduate fellowships, undergraduate scholarships, travel grants and a variety of other activities.

Not only does this event serve to recognize and encourage social consciousness that manifests itself through active problem-solving, this year’s event recognized a person who has been an integral part of CCBP since its inception. CCBP Director of Communication and Research Dr. Edward Mullins was this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Special Achievement in Community Engagement Award.

“Every year with this program I’ve had the opportunity to present the very first award. It’s the highest award that we give and it’s to someone who has made a significant impact on the landscape of community-engaged scholarship and through their work and through their lives have made a tremendous difference in the quality of lives for others,” said Vice President of Community Affairs Dr. Samory T. Pruitt, recalling such past recipients of the award as UA Chancellor Dr. Mack Portera, former UA President Dr. Judy Bonner, and current president of Morgan State University Dr. David Wilson,. “These are all giants and the person who will receive this award today is also a giant.”

Mullins, a retired dean of UA’s College of Communication and Information Sciences, according to Pruitt, has dedicated his entire life to helping others achieve their educational potential.

“Years ago,” Pruitt recalled, “when we had this hair-brained idea of trying to do this kind of work on our campus, Ed was retiring from the College of Communication, and he said to me, ‘I’ve got a sense that I know what you’re trying to do, and if you’ll find a corner somewhere in an office with a computer I’ll help you.’ And help me he has. From our research journal to our inclusion in ESC (Engagement Scholarship Consortium), to our Carnegie Classification and countless conversations about strategy and staffing, he’s always been there.”

Pruitt gave special credit to Mullins for his role, along with that of founding editor Dr. Cassandra Simon, in the development of the Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship (JCES), now in its second decade of publication. It is published at the University and today is considered the leading journal in engaged scholarship.

Mullins came up with the original design and format for the publication and with the editorial philosophy that writing for the journal would place a priority on a style of writing that would be accessible to non-academics. As Simon put it in her original column about the journal, “We want JCES to look different, to be different, and to make a difference.” Apart from JCES publisher Pruitt, Mullins is the only member of the original staff still working for the journal.

Three awards were made in the faculty, staff and community partner Distinguished Community-Engaged Scholars category. They were Laurie Bonnici, associate professor, School of Library and Information Studies; Justin Washington, graduate student in the Culverhouse College of Business; and Jim Page, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama.

A veteran community-engaged scholar, during the past year Bonnici was a visiting scholar at the Social Media Lab at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. Washington used his UA-acquired entrepreneurial skills to assist with funding to start programs and to help existing programs such as the Tuscaloosa Boys and Girls Club.” Under Page, the chamber was cited for its work with supporting youth, former inmates and nonprofits.

Five people received the Excellence Award for Outstanding Engagement Effort. They were: Amanda Lightsey of Tuscaloosa’s One Place; Lauren Martin, an undergraduate student in Honors College; Melanie Acosta, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction; Darrin J. Griffin, assistant professor of communication studies; and Yuehan Lu, associate professor of geological sciences.

These awards come with a $2,000 stipend to help the scholars continue their work. For example, Griffin said the funds would enable his team to produce weather workshops for the deaf community preliminary to seeking larger grants in the future.

The Council awarded two seed grants. One went to Dr. Abbey Gregg, assistant professor in the Department of Community Medicine and Population Health and the Institute for Rural Health Research in the College of Community Health Sciences (CCHS), and Dr. Elwin Crawford in the state Department of Public Health’s Office of Emergency Medical Services. They received $3,520 to assess community needs related to mobile integrated healthcare intervention. The second was to Dr. Robin A. McWilliam, professor of special education and multiple abilities to support his work with Alabama’s Early Intervention System, Community Service Program of West Alabama. McWilliam was awarded $4,902 for telehealth research for families with infants and toddlers.

Graduate fellowships were awarded to Temilade Ayo Aladeokin and Kim Wang, doctoral students in social work, and for a student to be named later to work with Dr. Yuehan Lu, assistant professor in geological sciences.

The council also assists students and faculty with travel to present their research at scholarly conferences around the world. This year’s $1,000 travel grant recipients were Emily Brown, master’s student in biological sciences; Dr. Abbey Gregg, CCHS; Dr. Mary Kelley, assistant professor with the Capstone College of Nursing; Ashley Stewart, anthropology doctoral student; and Calia A. Torres, psychology doctoral student.

“I went to Tucson, Arizona to attend the American Ornithological Society annual meeting. It’s a nationwide conference on bird research,” said Brown. “I got to speak to someone who has been working with red-cockaded woodpeckers for 30 years and learning from what he’s learned from his research really helped me to frame my papers and research that I am working on.”

Another highlight of the luncheon was the presentation of the Zachary David Dodson Memorial Endowed Scholarship, named for a CCBP work-study student who died the night before he was to graduate magna cum laude with a degree in economics. This year’s recipient was Kathryn Taylor, a sophomore in communication studies who came to CCBP and immediately involved herself in its mission.

“It is the best department on campus,” said Taylor, who followed her older sister to UA from Connecticut. “I work alongside so many professional people and it’s been such a great opportunity for me to grow professionally. Working with them sets you up for a passionate future doing what you love.”

Dr Peter Hlebowitsh, dean of the College of Education and chair of the executive committee Council, brought welcome to the audience and gave a brief report on the achievements of the past year. He praised the award recipients and their partners for their “remarkable individual efforts” and “life-reaching work.”

CCBP Seed Funds 2011

TO: UA Faculty and Staff

FROM: Dr. Samory T. Pruitt

SUBJECT: CCBP Seed Funds

 

To view or print a PDF version of the Seed Funds application, click here.

To view a PDF of Dr. Pruitt’s letter, click here.

 

On behalf of the Center for Community-Based Partnerships, I am pleased

to announce our sixth call for Seed Fund projects.

 

This program has been an outstanding success, returning to the campus

more than $12 for each $1 awarded, or more than $2.5 million since 2006.

Congratulations to all of you previous winners.

 

And I also want to congratulate the Proposal Support Committee who make

the funding recommendations to me. Led by Annette Watters, this committee

has recognized the potential in work that has now been published in the

nation's finest engaged scholarship journals, including our own JCES, and

been featured at the leading engaged-scholarship conferences nationally and

internationally.

 

With this letter is a one-sheet, back and front, application form with

instructions. We have tried to keep the requirements simple and hope that

many of you will submit your proposals right away. The deadline to get your

no-more-than-six-page application to my office is Wednesday, September 21.

Next spring we will have an online form and a deadline that will allow us to

recognize the winners at our annual Awards Luncheon and you to get your

project going before fall semester begins.

 

Best of luck in 2011"“2012.

 

Job Opportunity: IUPUI Center for Service and Learning

Executive Director, IUPUI Center for Service and Learning

IUPUI, an outstanding public urban research university located in the heart of Indianapolis, seeks applicants for the Executive Director of the IUPUI Center for Service and Learning. IUPUI, serving over 30,000 students including 21,000 undergraduate students, has become a national leader in promoting civic engagement and has been nationally recognized; including three Presidential Awards for Community Service, the 2006 Carnegie Foundation Classification for Community Engagement, two Saviors of our City citations, recognition in Colleges with a Conscience, and US News and World Report recognition for service learning each year since 2002.
The Center for Service and Learning (CSL) is one of three IUPUI learning-based centers that also include the Center for Research and Learning and the Center for Teaching and Learning.  The executive directors of three centers report to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
The Executive Director (ED) provides vision and leadership to the CSL, exercises fiscal responsibility over budgets and grants, provides oversight for the operations of the Center, and its staff and programs. The ED collaborates with other campus units on teaching, research and service as it relates to civic engagement, conducts research on issues related to civic engagement in higher education, and expands campus capacity to assess and conduct scholarship on civic engagement. The ED promotes CSL's work on campus, nationally and internationally.
Because the successful candidate will assume a tenured, senior faculty appointment in an appropriate academic discipline, a Ph.D. or equivalent terminal degree is required.  At least five years of supervisory, program leadership, and/or academic administrative experience in a relevant position is expected, as are experiences in working closely with academic and support service units, appreciating and advocating for diversity, inclusion, and equal access to educational opportunity. The successful candidate will have teaching experience (including service learning courses), faculty development experience, and a strong record of scholarship including the development of significant grant proposals and success in securing external funding.
Candidates are invited to submit an electronic application that includes:
·         a letter of application ,
·         a philosophy statement that frames the candidate's views on how to advance civic engagement and transformative campus-community collaborations in higher education and as part of  IUPUI's campus culture,
·         a curriculum vitae, and
·         The names and contact information of three references.
Review of applications will begin October 1, 2011, and continue until the position is filled with an anticipated starting date on or before July 1, 2012.  IUPUI is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, M/F/D.
Applications should be sent electronically to Ms. Susan Christian, Academic Support Specialist, Office of Academic Affairs, at suechris@iupui.edu.  A detailed position description may be viewed at http://academicaffairs.iupui.edu/.  Direct any questions to Dr. Mary L. Fisher, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at mlfisher@iupui.edu, or 317-278-1846.

Call for Editor: International Journal of Research on Community Engagement

For the past decade, the Advances in Service-Learning Research volume series has served the service- learning/community engagement community as a primary publishing venue and a major source of current information on theory, issues, and findings in this rapidly-expanding research field.

The International Association for Research on Service-learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE) is pleased to announce that as of 2012, the Advances in Service-Learning series, sponsored by the IARSLCE, will become a journal, published by Information Age Publishing, Inc. The new International Journal of Research on Community Engagement will be edited by an active member of the IARSLCE. In the first three years of its publication, the journal will be published once a year. The Journal Editor will solicit manuscripts at large annually in January and will send them out for peer review, with the aim of making final decisions by April of each year.

The IARSLCE Publications Committee is seeking applications for the position of Editor of this new IARSLCE journal.  This position is an exciting opportunity to shape and contribute to emerging scholarship in the field of service-learning and community engagement. The Editor will be involved with appointment of the editorial review board (see below), supervise the review and publication process, and supervise all marketing for the journal.

Please see the attached document for full instructions, or click here to view on our website.

2011 IARSLCE Conference Awards and Graduate Student Scholarships

The Distinguished Research Award recognizes any researcher who has a distinguished record of research and scholarly contributions on service-learning and community engagement.

The Early Career Research Award recognizes outstanding early career contributions to scholarship on service-learning and community engagement.

The Dissertation Award recognizes a dissertation that advances research on service-learning and/or community engagement through rigorous and innovative inquiry.

Ten $500 Graduate Student Scholarships are provided by the Association on a competitive basis for support to attend the conference.

Deadlines

Distinguished Research and Early Career Research Awards nominations must be received by May 2, 2011. Recipients will be notified in early June.

Dissertation Award nominations are due by June 30, 2010. Recipients will be notified in early August.

The award recipients receive an invitation to make a presentation at the annual IARSLCE conference, a plaque (to be presented at the conference), and a monetary award in the form of complimentary IARSLCE conference registration and one-night hotel accommodations.

Graduate Student Scholarships are due July 30, 2011. Please indicate if you have had a paper or poster presentation accepted for the conference. Scholarship recipients will be notified by mid-August.

For nomination/application instructions for each of the categories above, please visit the Awards Page on our website.

For questions regarding nomination/application submissions, please email Stephanie O’Brien at sobrien1@tulane.edu