Impact Project 2006-2008
Funds will be used for building infrastructure, increasing college access and success among underrepresented populations, and enhancing campus-community partnerships. This will be done through funding for faculty to expand their work in service-learning or community-based research. Partial funding will support a service-learning class trip to Costa Rica to analyze social practices and international relations, and stipend support for student reflection leaders. Funding will also assist in shifting the freshman symposium focus to service-learning and civic engagement and other campus-wide events.
Project Leader
Dr. Melody Bowdon, Associate Professor of English at the University of Central Florida and Director of the PhD program in Texts and Technology, is recognized as a national expert in service-learning, particularly in the fields of technical communication and composition. She has completed three funded assessment research projects related to service-learning and has published widely on the subject, including several articles in national journals and essay collections. Her co-authored text, Service-Learning in Technical and Professional Communication, is used at over 30 universities. She is a member of the editorial board of Reflections on Community-Based Writing, a journal that focuses on service-learning in composition studies, and co-edited a special issue of that journal on professional writing and service-learning in 2003. She also serves as a founding member of the editorial board for the journal Community Literacy. Since 1992, she has taught 46 service-learning courses at three universities and is the winner of several teaching and community service awards, including the 2005 Gulf South Summit Award for Outstanding Contributions to Service-Learning in Higher Education. She was a 2005 and 2006 finalist for the Thomas Ehrlich national award for service-learning faculty. At her own institution, Dr. Bowdon received the prestigious Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award in 2004. Dr. Bowdon has directed UCF's Graduate Certificate in Professional Writing, a program that includes a significant service-learning component, since 1999, and her current research focuses on service-learning and technology and professional writing in the nonprofit sector. She has also served as Interim Director of Service-Learning on her campus.
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Assessment
Presentations & Materials
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Service Learning Day 2007: "Promoting & Problematizing Community Relationships"
Press Releases
Publications
Quotes
- Students:
"Teaching fiction and poetry to the children at the Coalition for the Homeless demystified community involvement, teaching, and, quite frankly, children. It's a great opportunity for anyone flirting with service."
– Dan Lopez, Spring 2005, Coalition for the Homeless
- Community Partners:
"We always welcome partnerships with UCF Service-Learning students from the Cornerstone Program. Our working relationship with UCF is truly a partnership where every individual involved in the project gains insight into larger issues at hand."
– Greg Zyblut, CEO, Girls and Boys Town of Central Florida
- Instructor:
"I am so proud of my graduate students. One of their assignments has been to present to the class their proposed "teaching approach" to creative writing: 'How would you teach Introduction to Creative Writing?' Most of them included a Service-Learning component, though they couldn't quite figure out how to make it work in the gateway course. So this week for their reflection assignment, they're visiting compact.org and browsing the syllabi, looking at disciplines close to writing (visual arts, dance, etc.) until they come up with an idea of how to incorporate SL in their hypothetical class. I'm just so excited!"
– Dr. Terry Thaxton, Assistant Professor, English
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