April 26, 2004

Community service on display

Student and faculty engagement in the community will be honored with a pair of events on Tuesday, May 4 in the University Union Redwood Room.

The first, the Service Learning Expo, will feature displays about community service projects by various students and classes. The second will be the presentation of the University’s first Outstanding Community Service Awards and the first Lifetime Achievement Award for Community Service.

The Service Learning Expo, presented by the community collaboration office, begins at noon and continues to 3 p.m.

It will feature poster displays by 14 professors who have used service learning in their teaching. They’ll show how student service activities enhance classroom learning.

There will be information on how faculty can develop service learning projects and how to find community partners, as well as details about upcoming service learning workshops.

The community collaboration office currently works with about 40 faculty each year from six different Colleges. Some 1,700 students are involved in projects with about 70 community organizations. Projects range from helping nonprofit groups with computer applications to a regional quality of life survey to mentoring and tutoring.

From 3 to 5 p.m., the service learning displays will serve as a backdrop for an event honoring faculty for involvement in the community.

The new Outstanding Community Service Awards may be given each year to one faculty member from each of the seven Colleges, and to one non-instructional faculty member. It recognizes outstanding community service during the prior five years.

The new Lifetime Achievement Award for Community Service will be given to one faculty member each year in recognition of long-term, significant and enduring contributions to the community over a decade or more.

Terrance Thomas, the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Community Service, is the longtime director of the Academic Talent Search program, which offers challenging and fun classes on campus to about 1,800 middle school students each year.

Those to be honored with Outstanding Community Service Awards are:

• Donald Kendrick, music
• Dennis Tootelian, business administration
• Noreen Kellough, teacher education
• Scott Modell, kinesiology and health science
• Ronald Coleman, biological sciences
• David Covin, government

For more information, contact the Faculty Senate office at 278-6593 or the community collaboration office at 278-4610.

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