USM Centers Team Up for Community Engagement Seminar
Mon, 11/29/2021 - 12:39pm | By: Van Arnold
The Center for Community Engagement (CCE) at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM), in partnership with the Center for Faculty Development, is sponsoring a three-day condensed community-engaged seminar on Dec. 14-16 on the Hattiesburg campus.
CCE Director Christy Arrazattee notes that the overarching goal of the seminar is to provide a quick introduction to tips and best practices for engaging students with community organizations as part of class requirements. She points out that the CCE is well-connected with community organizations in the Pine Belt and is quite familiar with the needs of the community.
“We are happy to make recommendations and connections,” said Arrazattee. “It’s also important for the University to have a coordinating structure for community engagement to ensure that outreach is being conducted responsibly and so that community organizations are not overburdened with students fulfilling course or student organization service requirements. We also know that active learning and service learning are high impact teaching practices, so it’s important to have an office that can provide guidance on how to implement these practices effectively”
The intensive seminar will include three sessions that will cover the basics of community-engaged learning for faculty, who either want to enhance their current partnerships or get started implementing this high-impact practice.
Day 1 – Tuesday, Dec. 14: Partnership Principles
- Identifying Partners and Project Possibilities, facilitated by Candice Salyers
- Benchmarks for Campus/Community Partnerships, facilitated by Christy Kayser Arrazattee
Day 2 – Wednesday, Dec. 15: Scholarship of Engagement
- Processes of Conducting Community-Engaged Research, facilitated by Jennifer Lemacks and Holly Huye
- Developing Research Opportunities, facilitated by Christy Kayser Arrazattee
Day 3 – Thursday, Dec. 16: Preparing Students and Harvesting Learning
- Orientation and Monitoring of Students in Community Placements, facilitated by Christy Kayser Arrazattee
- Making Connections to Course Content and Civic Identity Panel with Jo Hawkins Jones, Ann Marie Kinnell and Rebecca Turri
“The partnership between the CCE and the CFD has allowed us to identify common themes of building community in a multitude of ways and an intentional awareness and incorporation of diversity, equity, and inclusivity into our programming,” said Dr. Kelly Lester, Director, Center for Faculty Development at USM.
Arrazattee explains that USM has a rather active body of community-engaged faculty. She notes that approximately 15 service-learning classes are confirmed for spring, 2022 with the expectation of about 20-25 classes that ultimately incorporate service learning for the spring semester.
“I work with 30-35 faculty who regularly teach service-learning classes, and there are many others too who are involved in community-engaged research or outreach activities that are not incorporated into the classroom,” said Arrazattee.
The CCE will train five new faculty during the Service-Learning Faculty Fellows Program seminar next spring who will then introduce their new service-learning classes sometime during the next two years after completing the seminar.
To register for the seminar, visit: https://forms.usm.edu/cfd/view.php?id=46635