Syracuse University to recognize commitment to Scholarship in Action during the Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement and Scholarship ceremony

Syracuse University to recognize commitment to Scholarship in Action during the Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement and Scholarship ceremonyMarch 26, 2008Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Syracuse University will honor students, faculty, staff and community partners who exemplify SU’s commitment to engagement with the community and Scholarship in Action with the 2008 Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement and Scholarship at a March 31 celebration dinner in the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center’s Goldstein Auditorium.

SU students, faculty and staff continue to engage in tens of thousands of hours of community-based work in partnership with the Syracuse community, the region and the world. This public scholarship is done through the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service (CPCS), as well as the many other SU/Community partnerships and programs.

“Every year the nominations for the Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement and Scholarship continue to inspire us with the new and exciting academic programs, partnerships and initiatives they describe,” says Pamela K. Heintz, director of CPCS. “We are also impressed by the increasing number of sustained commitments made by both the University and the communities with which we partner.”

This year’s honorees include:

Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement and Scholarship

Residence Hall Awards

• DAYmocracy, the student-run community council of Day Hall, for a number of service-oriented activities including fundraising campaigns for AIDS, youth and breast cancer research; American Red Cross blood drives; a Halloween program for refugee youth; and a basketball tournament to benefit youth infected with and affected by AIDS.

• Citizenship Education Floor of Brewster-Boland Hall, 22 first-year students who engaged in the clean-up of Fireman’s Park in downtown Syracuse, tutored at Tech Central High School, participated in the Tech Central service day and organized an on-campus food drive for the Salvation Army.

Student Organization Awards

• Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., organized Books for Justice, a book drive for the inmates of the Onondaga County Justice Center; participated in the Lights on After School program at the Dunbar Center; and established Delta Academy and Delta GEMS, programs that help girls in grades 2-12 with personal and professional development.

• OrangeSeeds First-Year Leadership Empowerment Program, in which participants took part in various civic engagement projects including volunteering with seniors, Comstock KidFest, Hoops for Peace and cleaning and re-organizing rooms at the First Lutheran Church. OrangeSeeds students organize The Big Event, a day of service in the community. In 2007, 300 students were engaged in work at 19 agencies throughout the community.

Student Group Award

• Nutrition Educators at Diabetes Camp, 14 nutrition students in the College of Human Ecology who served as nutrition educators at the Baldwinsville Lions Club’s Camp Hickory, a summer day camp for youth with Type 1 diabetes. They provided nutrition education to increase the awareness and consumption of healthy foods for the improvement of health through optimal nutrition.

Special Awards — Civic Engagement

• Protestant Campus Ministry, for its ongoing involvement in the rebuilding of New Orleans following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

• SRC Engineering Tutoring Program, a program sponsored by the Syracuse Research Corp. through which students in the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science serve as mentors and tutors for sixth- and seventh-grade students at Blodgett Middle School.

Academic Service Learning Awards

• CMD 352/282 and MUS 604 design and museum studies courses in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Students worked with the Cayuga Nature Center to create an innovative and informative exhibition space in two wings of the main building.

• LAW 776: Cold Case Justice Initiative, a course offered by College of Law professors Paula Johnson and Janis McDonald. Students worked to investigate and reopen unsolved civil rights murders and provide resources for federal agents and victims’ families.

• HNR 220: Refugee Communities in Syracuse, an Honors seminar course that enabled students to develop a basic understanding of United States immigration and refugee policies and how they affect those resettling in Central New York. Many students went on to volunteer at the Center for New Americans.

• HTW 302: Influencing Health Behavior, a course in which students implemented a series of health projects on nutrition, hydration, exercise and cultural enrichment for at-risk, seventh-grade students at Bellevue Middle School in Syracuse.

• The M-LAB Team: SCU500.3: Social Sculpture, a collaborative effort of students in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the School of Architecture to transform a 1984 recreational vehicle into a Mobile Literacy Arts Bus (M-LAB) for use by the Syracuse City School District and the greater Syracuse community.

• EDU 204/607: SCSD AVID Tutoring Program, students in two courses in teacher preparation programs in the School of Education collaborate with the AVID Tutoring Program.

• HNR 260: Improving Undergraduate Education, Professor William Coplin and his policy studies students offered their class time for the presentation of a program in which three American soldiers spoke about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Academic Service Learning — Individual Awards

• Kerri I. Aronson, a senior majoring in biology and policy studies in The College of Arts and Sciences and a student in the Renee Crown University Honors Program. As part of her honors thesis, Aronson has worked with SUNY Upstate Medical University in assessing and evaluating the community involvement of medical students. The results will be used by Upstate to enhance its community service and service-learning involvements. Aronson also serves as a tutor at H.W. Smith Elementary School, volunteers at the Rescue Mission and is the community service chair of her sorority, Alpha Xi Delta.

• Darby Benedict, a senior majoring in policy studies in The College of Arts and Sciences. Benedict began working with students from Central Tech High School in the summer of 2007, when she took 12 incoming high school students through a six-week leadership program. Under her guidance, students created their own student government organization, a website and a student handbook. Benedict organized the first service day for Central Tech faculty, staff and students.

Community Service Leadership Awards: Group and Academic Service Learning

Group

The following groups/organizations and academic projects are recognized for their sustained commitment to community engagement and public scholarship. Some of the work they have done in the past year includes tutoring, mentoring, home building/restoration, working with organizations providing food assistance, tax preparation and financial literacy assistance, refugee and immigrant populations, housing and services for elderly.

• Association for Student Elderly Connection
• Beta Alpha Psi
• `Cuse Cares Community Outreach
• Defense Comptrollership Program 2008
• Habitat for Humanity Student Organization
• Honors Student Association (Hughes Elementary Afterschool Program, Nottingham High School AP World History Tutoring Program and The Breakfast Club)
• La Lucha Student Organization
• Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity, Inc.
• Office of Community Engagement and Integrative Learning (International Young Scholars Program and Libba’s Place)
• ORL Civic Engagement Committee
• South Campus Organization for Programming Excellence (SCOPE)
• Sport Management Club
• SU Army ROTC-Department of Military Science
• SU Volunteer Organization

Academic Service Learning Awards

• Balancing the Books, collaboration between the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service, Huntington Middle School, Bellevue Academy Middle School and Henninger High School.

• Genesis Health Project, a community-designed, faith-based initiative within the College of Human Ecology.

• Healthy You Newsmagazine, a biannual health newsmagazine produced by the College of Human Ecology in collaboration with SU’s Divisions of Undergraduate Studies and Student Affairs.

• HTW 307: Culturally Competent Healthcare, a course in the College of Human Ecology exploring healthcare, including its delivery, access and health outcomes.

• HTW 311/600: Health Literacy, a course in the College of Human Ecology designed to explore the multi-layered links between health literacy, health outcomes and health care disparities.

• Students of the Community Benchmarks Program, a public affairs course in The College of Arts and Sciences that uses comparative measures to help clients improve their performance and accountability.

Individual Resident Advisory Leadership Award

• Elizabeth Beemer, a junior retail management and consumer studies major in the Whitman School of Management. Beemer, a resident advisor in Flint Hall, served as the spring break coordinator for Habitat for Humanity, placing more than 100 students at service sites around the United States in March. She is also a member of Alpha Phi Omega, a member of the executive board of the White Ribbon Campaign and a mentor through the OrangeSeeds program.

Individual Chancellor’s Citations

• Asha Best, a graduate student in Pan-African studies in The College of Arts and Sciences. Best developed Project: R.E.D., a weeklong series of events in commemoration of World AIDS Day 2007 that included art exhibits, a remembrance vigil, film screenings and onsite HIV testing. Best enlisted the help of the Department of African American Studies, student organizations and various community resources.

• Angela Cho, a senior in the Whitman School of Management and first youth representative on the Onondaga-Oswego Chapter of the American Red Cross, formed the first Campus Red Cross Club at Syracuse University, wrote the club’s constitution, developed the executive board and recruited members. The SU Chapter now offers Lay Responders (First Aid/CPR) instructor’s training course to club members, who will then offer the training in community classes.

• Benjamin Croner, a senior majoring in policy studies and geography in The College of Arts and Sciences, became a volunteer at Hughes Magnet School through his Writing 105 class. He has served as program coordinator for tutoring at Hughes and has volunteered with the Levy Breakfast Club, Skills for Success Program and Operation Reach. He has also been involved with AmeriCorps as a teacher and counselor for students affected by Hurricane Katrina.

• Helen Liang, a sophomore majoring in communications and rhetorical studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, and in advertising in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, created a community service model for high school students. She also volunteers with the International Young Scholars program and the Roots and Wings program, both in Hendricks Chapel’s Office of Community Engagement and Integrative Learning.

• Dana Roberts, a senior majoring in communication sciences and disorders and Spanish in The College of Arts and Sciences, spearheaded the Youth Resources Mapping Project, a comprehensive identification and mapping of resources and programs to benefit Syracuse’s at-risk youth. Roberts also established the Intergenerational Discussion Circles at The Nottingham, to bring students into discussions about policies and issues facing the aging population, and served as coordinator of the Hughes Mentoring Program.