February 15, 2021

IN THIS ISSUE

• Barry University Takes Final Step Toward Becoming a Designated ‘Voter Friendly Campus’
• Barry Student Leader and Faculty Member Among Presenters Slated for National Conferences
• Students, Faculty, and Administrators Have Won Many External Awards for Community Engagement
• Faculty Invited to Apply for Next Academic Year’s Service-Learning Fellowships by March 1
• Prizes Aplenty for Community Engagement Symposium Poster Competition Winners
• Two ‘Friendship Benches’ Added to Barry Urban Garden on Miami Shores Campus

Barry University Takes Final Step Toward Becoming A Designated ‘Voter Friendly Campus’

Campus Report Submitted To National Organization

Barry is poised to become a “Voter Friendly Campus” this year, thanks to the success of the university’s Campus Democracy Project (CDP).

Throughout calendar year 2020, the CDP was aligned with a national program through which the university implemented an institutionalized strategy to support students in voter registration, civic learning, and political engagement.

The CDP Committee, in association with the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI), has submitted the Campus Report to the administrators of the Voter Friendly Campus designation—NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education and Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project. 

The submission of the Campus Report is the final requirement in the process of seeking the designation. The required Democratic Engagement Action Plan, submitted last May, was evaluated as “established,” which means it was placed in the top category of such plans.

As the university worked toward the Voter Friendly Campus designation for 2021–2022, the CDP promoted participation in the democratic process through voter registration, education, and mobilization involving the creative use of online platforms and social media.

A National Voter Registration Day presentation, Florida Ballot Forum, Vote Art Contest, and Walk to the Polls were the year’s highlights. In addition, the CDP coalition was expanded and strengthened for year-round work, and the CDP engaged new voters as voter advocates.

The list of colleges and universities selected for the Voter Friendly Campus designation will be published next month, and the designation will be valid until December 2022.

Back to top

Barry Student Leader And Faculty Member Among Presenters Slated For National Conferences

A Barry student leader and a faculty member will be among the presenters at national conferences this semester. Joseph Minani will present at the IMPACT National Conference and Dr. Laura Finley at the National Service-Learning Conference.

The IMPACT National Conference will be held virtually (and free of charge) on March 4–6. Minani’s one-hour workshop presentation, “Storytelling for Social Change,” is scheduled for March 6.

A Barry Service Corps Fellow, Minani is the author of The Mindset of a Refugee: Understanding the Human Potential for Current and Former Refugees to Change Our Planet (New Degree Press, 2020).

The 32nd Annual National Service-Learning Conference—organized around the theme “Engage. Evolve. Energize!”—will be an online event on April 14–15. Finley will present a short, prerecorded workshop session titled “Engaging Men and Boys in ‘Women’s’ Service for Social Justice.”

Finley is a professor of sociology and criminology. She also is a co-facilitator of the Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship.

Back to top

Students, Faculty, And Administrators Have Won Many External Awards For Community Engagement

Barry University students, faculty, and administrators have won many external awards and received recognition for community engagement over the years since 2010. The university as a whole has been the recipient of various awards for community engagement as well.

Among the students whose names are listed on a webpage are those recognized with Campus Compact’s Newman Civic Fellowship—from social work graduate student Lucy Virgo in 2013 to finance and international business undergraduate Martina Muñoz Chalan last year.

Campus Compact is a national coalition of colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. Florida Campus Compact, its state affiliate, presented several awards to the university, including the Engaged Campus of the Year Award.

Barry Service Corps Fellow Quayneshia Smith was a winner of Florida Campus Compact’s Student Excellence in Service Award in 2016. Three years earlier, then University President Sister Linda Bevilacqua, O.P., Ph.D., was presented with the organization’s Founders Award.

Two Barry faculty members have received the Spirit of Service-Learning Award from Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of South Florida, Inc. Dr. Mitchell Rosenwald (Social Work) was a winner in 2015, and Dr. Pamela Hall (Psychology) took home the award in 2018.

Dr. Phyllis Scott, dean of the School of Social Work, received the Community Pillar Award from Miami-Dade County Black Affairs Advisory Board’s Heritage Planning Committee in 2018.

Barry is a Carnegie-classified community-engaged university, and the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) is its community engagement clearinghouse.

The complete list of winners of 2010–2020 community engagement awards and recognition by external entities is posted at the CCSI website.

Back to top

Faculty Invited To Apply For Next Academic Year’s Service-Learning Fellowships By March 1

Faculty members are invited to apply for service-learning fellowships for the 2021–2022 academic year. The application deadline is March 1.

The Service-Learning Faculty Fellows Program is designed primarily to enhance the quality of service-learning courses and to promote the scholarship of teaching and learning based on the pedagogy. Service-learning fellows attend professional development seminars and participate in the Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship.

Eligible faculty members are those who are employed fulltime and who teach undergraduate or graduate courses.

For further information on the Faculty Fellows Program, contact Dr. Glenn Bowen in the CCSI at gbowen@barry.edu.

Back to top

Prizes Aplenty For Community Engagement Symposium Poster Competition Winners

Many prizes are awaiting undergraduates who will participate in the poster competition at Barry’s seventh annual Community Engagement Symposium next month.

Eight prize winners will be selected, the organizers say, and all other entrants will receive consolation items.

The first prize will be a JBL Pulse 3 wireless (portable) Bluetooth waterproof speaker. Seven runners-up will receive prizes—from an Amazon Echo Dot speaker to a five-pack assortment of multicolored face masks.

Although any student—as well as faculty and staff members—may submit a poster for the symposium, the competition is open to undergraduates only.

The 2021 symposium will take place on March 31. Poster session entries, including entries for the competition, must be submitted by March 15.

For further information, contact Dr. Heather Johnson Desiral, the poster session coordinator, at qep@barry.edu.

Back to top

Two ‘Friendship Benches’ Added To Barry Urban Garden On Miami Shores Campus

Back to top