Symposium to Showcase Social Responsibility Outcomes of Quality Enhancement Plan

“Demonstrating Social Responsibility through Experiential Learning.” That’s the theme of the Fifth Annual Community Engagement Symposium.

Scheduled for March 28, the symposium is expected to showcase the community-focused experiential learning activities of Barry’s undergraduates and the social responsibility outcomes of the Quality Enhancement Plan. Most of the student presentations will be posters and samples of the work they have done as part of curricular and co-curricular requirements.

A Quality Enhancement Plan, or QEP, is an initiative developed by the university to improve student learning while accomplishing the institutional mission. An acceptable QEP is one of the core requirements of the reaffirmation of accreditation process administered by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The SACS Commission on Colleges is the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states.

Barry’s QEP is titled “Fostering Personal and Social Responsibility through Experiential Learning.” Key elements of social responsibility are identified as follows: “Becoming aware of the importance of contributing to the greater good; gaining civic knowledge and skills; and taking action with others to address issues affecting local, national, and/or global communities.”

Forms of experiential learning include service-learning, community-based research, fieldwork, study abroad, capstones, and internships.

Faculty, staff, and community partners will join students in making presentations during a concurrent session of the symposium. As in previous years, the program will feature a seminar and a workshop by a nationally recognized community engagement scholar-practitioner.

The Center for Community Service Initiatives, or CCSI, coordinates the Community Engagement Symposium with support from a committee of faculty, staff, and students.

QEP Implementation Committee Has a New Member

The QEP Implementation Committee has a new member. Dr. Paige V. Banaji, a faculty member in the Department of English and Foreign Languages, will serve on the committee as of this month. Banaji is an assistant professor of English and director of the First-Year Writing Program in the College of Arts and Sciences. She has a background in composition pedagogy, rhetorical history and theory, and women’s rhetoric. In addition to composition, she also teaches courses on rhetoric and literature.

Provost Dr. John Murray appointed Banaji to the committee, which is charged with coordinating the implementation of Barry’s Quality Enhancement Plan.

Dr. Victor Romano, formerly a faculty member in the Department of Sociology and Criminology, will serve ex officio on the QEP Implementation Committee in his new role as associate vice provost for student success and undergraduate studies. He has been a member of the Implementation Committee since 2014 and previously served on the QEP Development Committee.

Dr. Karen Callaghan, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, is chair of the 15-member QEP Implementation Committee.

The QEP administration thanks Dr. Joanne Whelley, associate professor of social work, and Dr. Tony Wallner, associate dean for undergraduate programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, for their service on both the Development Committee and the Implementation Committee.

Whelley has retired from the university; Wallner is the new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Deliberative Dialogue Series Set for New Academic Year

Four forums comprise this academic year’s Deliberative Dialogue Series. The series will begin on September 26 with a forum focused on the opioid epidemic.

Titled “Florida’s Opioid Epidemic: A Serious Public Health Issue,” the 90-minute forum will be held in one of the Andreas conference rooms, beginning at 4 p.m.

Deliberative Dialogue is one of nine co-curricular events that the QEP Implementation Committee has designated as “PSR.” It is a series of facilitated forums eliciting “voices and views from campus and community.” Students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community partners take part in the forums, working toward a shared understanding of specific social issues and practical solutions to those issues.

Co-curricular programs, projects, and events that carry the “PSR” are geared to achieve at least one of the six personal and social responsibility outcomes of the QEP. The outcomes are categorized as (1) Ethical and Moral Reasoning, (2) Engaging Diverse Perspectives, and (3) Community Engagement and Collaboration. Each category contains two specific student learning outcomes.

Deliberative Dialogue forums fulfill three student learning outcomes — two in the “Engaging Diverse Perspective” category and the third in “Community Engagement and Collaboration.”

For additional information, contact Courtney Berrien, coordinator of the Deliberative Dialogue Series, in the Center for Community Service Initiatives at cberrien@barry.edu or 305-899-4017.

New Resources Available at QEP Website

Additional resources have been made available at the QEP website. They include a summary of selected experiential learning publications.

The QEP resources are categorized as Articles, Books, Various Publications, Forms, Fact Sheets, and “PSR” Information.

Barry’s QEP focuses on personal and social responsibility (PSR) pursued through experiential learning in the classroom, laboratories, and elsewhere on campus as well as in the greater community.

For further information on the Quality Enhancement Plan and its PSR focus, contact Dr. Glenn Bowen, the QEP director, at qep@barry.edu.