April 5, 2021

IN THIS ISSUE

• Barry Service Corps Fellows Take Top Prizes in Community Engagement Poster Competition
• Community Engagement Poster Exhibition on Campus Continues This Week
• New Civic Engagement Course Approved for Service-Learning Designation
• Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship Will Meet Next Tuesday

Barry Service Corps Fellows Take Top Prizes In Community Engagement Poster Competition

President Allen, Provost Murray Among Speakers At Annual Symposium

Undergraduates Martina Muñoz Chalan, Javier Bracho, Erica Cruz, and Luca McLeod are the top prize winners in this year’s Community Engagement Poster Competition. All are fellows in the Barry Service Corps. 

For her poster titled “Building Capacity to Support Barry University’s Partnership with Atelye Thevenet Artisan Cooperative,” Muñoz was awarded the first prize of a JBL Pulse 3 wireless (portable) Bluetooth waterproof speaker. 

“Raising Awareness of the Dangers of E-Cigarette Use in the Youth of Miami-Dade County” is the title of Bracho’s second-place poster, for which he took home an Amazon Echo Dot speaker.

The third prize, a power bank portable charger, went to Cruz for her entry, “Tackling the Lack of Affordable Housing in Miami-Dade County: Mobilizing and Maximizing Impact Through Direct Action.”

Meanwhile, McLeod secured a place in the top 4—and a Fire TV Stick 4K streaming device—with his poster, “Enhancing Financial Literacy in Traditionally Underserved Communities: Minority Members of Barry’s Student Managed Investment Fund as Financial Literacy Role Models.” 

The winning entries were announced at the seventh annual Community Engagement Symposium last Wednesday. Dr. Victor Romano, associate provost for student success and undergraduate studies, and Lizbeth James, experiential learning coordinator, congratulated the prize winners.

The posters reflected the theme of the symposium, "Engagement in Purposeful Projects: From Awareness to Action.”

In his address at the symposium, Barry University President Dr. Mike Allen referred to challenges that emerged in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. He also mentioned the “fight for racial equality and social justice,” which, although “daunting,” is one that this nation cannot afford to lose. 

Speaking specifically about community engagement, Allen pointed to the opportunity for people to engage in social responsibility and advocacy by drawing on “the benefits of the ease of virtual interaction, technology advances, and also craving a return to being together again.”

The university president told symposium attendees about two new community engagement initiatives at Barry. The first is a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, which will focus on one-to-one mentoring of underserved youth; the second is the soon-to-be-launched Institute for Immigration Studies, which will focus on the multicultural South Florida immigrant experience.

Personal and Social Responsibility

Provost Dr. John D. Murray noted that, last year, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges approved the Impact Report of Barry’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). He said: “Through the QEP, students have begun to demonstrate significant learning focused on elements of personal and social responsibility, which have been embedded in the core curriculum and in some major areas of study.  As our students increasingly become civically engaged, they are preparing themselves to lead lives of social responsibility that will help to create a better, more humane world.” 

Delivering the opening address on the theme of the symposium, Murray said: “When our faculty and our co-curricular program coordinators design projects to be purposeful, our students are often able to translate awareness of social issues into concerted action that makes a difference in the lives of residents of the communities we serve.”

Dr. Caryn McTighe Musil, a distinguished fellow and former senior director of civic learning and democracy initiatives at the Association of American Colleges and Universities, was the lead presenter at the symposium. During the opening session, she was introduced by Dr. Tamara Hamilton, an associate dean and professor of chemistry.

Musil led a 75-minute workshop on “Partnering on Purpose: How to Accelerate the Impact of Project-Based Experiential Learning.” She later made an hour-long plenary presentation titled “Acting on Purpose:  Knowledge, Collaboration, and Social Responsibility.”

Held virtually, the four-session event included concurrent session presentations by faculty, staff, and students of Barry and three other higher education institutions—Florida Atlantic University, Miami Dade College, and the University of Miami. 

Dr. Karen Callaghan, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, delivered the closing remarks at the symposium hosted by the Center for Community Service Initiatives.

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Community Engagement Poster Exhibition On Campus Continues This Week

The Community Engagement Poster Exhibition in Thompson Hall on Barry’s Miami Shores campus continues this week. The exhibition is part of the seventh annual Community Engagement Symposium.

Among the posters are entries in a competition among undergraduates. The design and content of those posters are based largely on the theme of the symposium, "Engagement in Purposeful Projects: From Awareness to Action.” 

The annual Community Engagement Symposium supports the integration of personal and social responsibility objectives into the undergraduate curriculum. Personal and social responsibility is the theme of Barry’s 2014 Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP).

The results of the Student Poster Competition were announced during the closing session of the symposium last Wednesday afternoon. Eight prizes have been awarded to competitors, and all other participants—students as well as faculty members—will receive consolation prizes. 

This year’s symposium was organized as a mostly virtual event because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Poster Exhibition on campus, which is the only onsite portion of the event, runs through April 9.

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All Set For Community Engagement Awards Ceremony This Wednesday At Noon

Barry’s eighth annual Community Engagement Awards will be held this Wednesday, commencing at noon. Awards will be presented to students, faculty and staff members, and a community partner for their participation, contributions, and achievements in various categories of community engagement. 

Dr. Andrew Seligsohn, president of Campus Compact, will be the guest speaker.  Campus Compact is a Boston-based nonprofit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education institutions by “deepening their ability to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility.” 

Other speakers during Wednesday’s 90-minute ceremony will include Barry University President Dr. Mike Allen. 

An open invitation to the virtual event has been extended to students, faculty, staff, and community partners. Registration is required.

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New Civic Engagement Course Approved For Service-Learning Designation

CES 101: Introduction to Civic Engagement—a new course in the Department of Sociology and Criminology—has been approved for the service-learning designation.

Dr. Glenn Bowen, an associate professor, has developed CES 101 as the first in a proposed three-course sequence, Civic Engagement for Social Change. 

CES 101 introduces students to the concept and practice of civic engagement. Designed to foster civic-mindedness, the one-credit course is offered as an integral introduction to a collegiate experience that prepares students to be not only productive employees but also engaged citizens.

“Students will be guided in gathering, assessing, and sharing information about a community and a local organization serving that community,” Bowen explains. “The course includes in-class experiential learning exercises and a service-learning project complemented by guided reflection.” 

CCSI Inviting Applications for Designation

The Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) invites faculty members whose courses include a community service component to apply for the service-learning designation. Service-learning courses demonstrate the value of applied learning, student engagement with the community, and critical reflection. 

Sections of courses, internships, practicum assignments, field education, capstones, community-based research, and similar community-focused or community-based work may be designated as service-learning. Additional information and the application form are available at the CCSI website.

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Faculty Learning Community For Engaged Scholarship Will Meet Next Tuesday

The Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship (FLC) will meet next Tuesday, April 13, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.

The agenda includes a journal article review, summaries of engaged scholarship projects by service-learning faculty fellows, and an FLC book project update by the co-editors.

The FLC facilitates professional development and reflective practice in community-engaged teaching, research, and service. Organized by the CCSI, the FLC is open to all faculty members.

All FLC members and prospective members are urged to attend next Tuesday’s meeting, which will be held virtually. For additional information, contact any of the facilitators—Drs. Laura Finley, Pamela Hall, and Celeste Landeros—or the CCSI.

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