CCSI Newsletter

Volunteers Provide 25,000 Hours of Service Each Year

Barry University students contribute more than 25,000 hours of voluntary service to the community each yearunder the aegis of the Center for Community Service Initiatives, President Sister Linda Bevilacqua, OP, PhD announced recently.

“Our students give life to our Core Commitments by promoting social justice through collaborative and mutually productive service,” Sister Linda said in her keynote presentation at the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Trustee Luncheon. “We are honored that dozens of community partners come back year after year asking for our students.”

Sister Linda said, “Given global realities and the diversity of our undergraduate population, we are excited about a new direction we are taking for hands-on or experiential learning throughout the curriculum that fosters personal and social responsibility, ethical and moral reasoning, community engagement and collaboration.” She affirmed that the University remains committed to meeting the needs of the South Florida business, education, technology, entrepreneurial and healthcare communities, and local non-profit social and community agencies.

Sponsored by Barry University and the South Florida Business Journal, the Chamber of Commerce Luncheon was held at JungleIsland in Miami. Several Barry representatives were in attendance.

Educational Leadership Practicum Gets “SL” Designation

EDU 697: Practicum in Educational Leadership is the most recent course to get Barry’s service-learning designation. All five sections of the course will carry the designation.

Dr. Vivian Posey, an assistant professor in the Adrian DominicanSchool of Education (ADSOE), submitted the application, which was approved by the Service-Learning Course Review Committee.

Comedy Show Raises Funds for Students Advocating Social Justice

Barry University's School of Social Work hosted a Comedy Show recently at Dave and Busters in Hollywood. The two performances attracted 130 people in total and raised nearly $700 to support social work students' participation in this year's LEAD Day in Tallahassee.

"It was a modest amount," noted Dr. Brett Engle, associate professor of social work, "but that money came out of the pockets of social work students, faculty, staff, and a few friends."

Each year, a group of Barry BSW and MSW students spend LEAD Day (formerly Lobby Day) in Tallahassee, where they learn about the legislative process and advocate social justice.

The School of Social Work Student Association and Fabio Naranjo, a social work faculty member, helped to organize the Comedy Show. The event prompted the talented performers to form the Just Cause Comedy Alliance. A video “mash-up” of the performances is available here.  

Community Partner Thanks Students

Chapman Partnership has thanked Barry photography students for their support as the agency prepares to launch marketing campaigns.

Community Outreach Manager Grace Ugalde-Wolpert sent the CCSI a thank-you card in which she wrote: “On behalf of the families and children who reside at Chapman Partnership, I would like to extend our sincerest appreciation for coordinating the students studying photography that are providing their services to our centers. We are thrilled to have the support of students as we prepare to launch marketing campaigns taken by students.”

The students are among those taking Scott Weber’s PHO 426: Documentary Photography. This Department of Fine Arts course recently received the service-learning designation.

Ms. Ugalde-Wolpert added: “We are grateful for the ongoing support from the Barry UniversityCenter for Community Service Initiatives. The student volunteers from the school are always so helpful.”

Conference Organizers Seek Session Proposals

The organizers of the Fourth Annual Eastern Regional Campus Compact Conference are seeking workshop and poster session proposals from colleges and universities. The mission of the conference is to advance institutional and community engagement for the public good.

Scheduled for October 15-17 in Jacksonville,Fla, the conference will highlight the 50th anniversary of the Civic Rights Act. The conference theme is “Moving Us Forward: Fifty Years On: From Civil Rights to Critical Engagement,” and the deadline for proposal submission is May 1.

Further information is available in a document from Florida Campus Compact.