UC Awarded $29,634 in Federal Funding to Support Learning Through Service

The University of Cincinnati was awarded $29,634 in additional federal funding to build a solid foundation to support learning through service and to build connections between faculty, students and community agencies. UC was previously awarded a $317,239, three-year grant under the Learn and Service America Great Cities Great Service Consortium Grant, administered by the Corporation for National & Community Service, Otterbein College and Ohio Campus Compact.

Service learning at UC involves reflective educational experiences blended with service activities that foster a deeper understanding of course content and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility. The majority of the new funding resulted in 20 faculty mini-grants amounting to $750 per course to incorporate service learning into course content. The awards by college and faculty are

College of Allied Health Sciences

• Carney Sotto, Success in Allied Health, spring quarter

McMicken College of Arts and Sciences

• Heidi Kloos, Research Methods in Human Learning, spring quarter
• Molly Mayer, Business Communication, winter quarter
• Lisa Meloncon, Capstone for Professional Writing, spring quarter
• Elissa Sonnenberg, Advanced Magazine Writing, winter quarter
• M.J. Woeste, Advanced Intercultural Communication, winter quarter

College of Business

• Amitabh Raturi, Social Entrepreneurship, winter quarter

College-Conservatory of Music

• Peter Depietro, Social Media for Social Purpose, spring quarter

College of Engineering & Applied Science

• Christine Lottman, Beyond IQ: Developing and Applying Emotional Intelligence Strategies, winter quarter

College of Medicine

• Joseph Kiesler, Clinical Foundations of Medical Practice, spring quarter
• Lisa Vaughn, Modes of Inquiry, winter quarter

Raymond Walters College

• Jodie Ballah, Service Learning in French, winter quarter
• Diana Becket, English Composition 102, winter quarter
• Leslie Elrod, Organizational Behavior II, winter quarter
• Edith Fisher, contemporary Social Issues, summer quarter
• Julia Gill, Radiation Science Capstone II, spring quarter
• Jane Goecke, Anesthesia, winter quarter
• Brenda Refaei, Preparatory Reading and Writing II, winter quarter
• Marilyn Simon, Service Learning in Criminal Justice, winter quarter
• Angie Woods, Service Learning in Spanish, winter quarter

The remaining funding will support faculty development and networking opportunities to strengthen UC’s service learning ties with the community. The grant was administered through UC’s Center for Community Engagement (CCE) and UC’s Office for Community-Engaged Learning.

Previous funding from the Learn & Serve grant has supported the Zoo-Mates mentoring program – a partnership involving UC’s Center for Community Engagement, Project Connect (a program administered by Cincinnati Public Schools for families experiencing homelessness) and the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. Zoo-Mates matches UC student mentors with children in Cincinnati that are experiencing homelessness. Now in its fourth year and running strong with 30 UC student mentors and 30 children, the program has grown from monthly activities with the children to weekly activities over the academic year.

The most recent statistics from Campus Compact – a national coalition of more than 1,100 colleges and universities dedicated to campus-based civic engagement – indicate that during the 2007-2008 academic year, 93 percent of its member colleges and universities offered courses emphasizing service learning, with research/comprehensive and land-grant institutions such as UC offering the greatest number of service learning courses.

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that improves lives, strengthens communities and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. The corporation administers Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America, the program that supports service-learning in schools, institutions of higher education and community-based organizations.

UC has forged a collaborative partnership spanning both academic affairs and student affairs – including co-located office space and sharing of resources and contacts – that serves to create deeper, more sustainable partnerships with our community. Under student affairs, UC’s Center for Community Engagement is dedicated to connecting the University of Cincinnati and the community through service. UC’s Office for Community-Engaged Learning under academic affairs supports students, faculty and community partners to ensure that the service- learning experience at UC is a benefit to all involved.