Classroom, Community, and Connections: Exploring Cincinnati and Global Diversity through Honors Seminars

Debbie Brawn & Jessica King University of Cincinnati Honors ProgramUC Diversity Conference 2012

Guiding Framework

“I feel that one of the most important things I learned

was though it may not seem so, everyone shares similar experiences and struggles

that can be related, especially in the same area; this is so important as these

things that connect us are what make us a community.”

University Honors Program

University Honors is committed to helping

students maximize their educational opportunities

at UC while discovering and pursuing their passions in

life and using their gifts and talents to make meaningful

contributions to society.

Vision

• Emphasis on experiential learning• Develop and link students to best practices• Focus on four thematic areas – community

engagement, global studies, leadership, and research/creative arts.• Innovation and Transformation

Current UHP Service-Learning ProgramsCourse or Program UC2019 Operational Principles

(other than Community)Objective

Alternative Break in Appalachian KY

Learning/Collaboration Students explore rural Appalachian culture through an alternative break trip to Southeastern KY, working with a non-profit to build and/or rehab homes for underserved residents.

Community Engagement Gateway: Exploring Cincinnati

Learning Provides students a forum to explore their place within our campus and city communities. UC’s urban environment provides advantages and confronts us with challenges as we seek to enhance community. Class is held at various locations on and around campus and Cincinnati.

Communication and Civic Engagement

Learning Focused on a particular civic context each term. Most recently, the civic context was the Freestore Foodbank, their core values, and the communities that they serve. Designed to integrate civic topics/issues from multiple disciplines and engage students in civic discourse.

Leaders in Action Learning/Collaboration Designed to give students a practical understanding of what makes great leaders – characteristics as well as skills – and experience in developing their own leadership skills. Students will design and carry out a community service project.

Faces of the Future: Challenges and Costs of Battered Youth

Learning/Collaboration Employs fiction, films, essays, speakers and experiential learning to examine the crisis of bettered youth and organizational attempts at intervention. Included is a weekend service trip to an Eastern Kentucky non-profit residential facility for abused young people.

Sociocultural Psychology of Immigrant Children

Learning Examines aspects of the journeys of immigrant children to the US, including development, acculturation, identity, health, family relations, culturally-responsive approaches, and the child's countries of origin.

Take the Challenge for Sustainable Development

Learning, Discovery, Sustainability Students work with virtual teams overseas to design a product/service that serves a social cause and develop a business model around that product or service. They will compete with US universities in the Acara challenge.

Social Entrepreneurship and Global Challenges

Learning, Discovery, Sustainability Introduces and promotes entrepreneurial thinking for effectively responding to key global challenges. Centers on global issues such as environment, health, poverty, education, trade, and migration/immigration. The focus is on developing a product or service responsive to a societal need while making a nominal profit.

The Achievement Gap Learning, Collaboration Inspired by the dialogue resulting from the movie, “Waiting for Superman,” this course explores the educational inequalities related to the “achievement gap”. Visits to local public schools serve as the backdrop for discussions, resources and projects related to the social structure of and path to educational opportunities.

Beyond IQ

Learning, Collaboration Research indicates that Emotional Intelligence can be measured, can be developed over our life spans, and can have a significant impact on both academic success and life success and happiness in general. Students will have the opportunity to explore the concept of emotional intelligence and teach some of the skills and competencies to Cincinnati Public School students.

Sustainable Urbanism Learning This interdisciplinary research seminar is focused on Cincinnati as a case study, introducing basic theories and methods relevant to understanding sustainable cities and communities. Students conduct field studies. Documenting and illustrating these findings is a key outcome.

Community Engagement Learning Objectives• Possesses awareness of purpose of service, including

need for reciprocity, understanding of social issues, and ability to see those issues from multiple perspectives• Recognizes how public policies and practices, and

power and privilege, have an influence on social issues. Explores ways to alter public policy and/or identify solutions• Relates, communicates, and works effectively with

others towards sustainable social change• Participates in community and understands own role

as citizen of community

Thinking About Community• What communities are we part of on a daily

basis?• Based on your experiences, what are students’

perceptions of these communities:• University of Cincinnati• City of Cincinnati • United States• Global community at-large

• What is “community” and how does our understanding of community impact our perceptions and daily interactions?

Community Engagement Gateway

Coursework and experiential learning activities provide students with a forum to explore their place within our campus and city communities.

UC’s urban environment provides many advantages and confronts us with many

challenges as we seek to enhance community. This course strives to introduce students to these elements as they relate to community

engagement.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Explore community assets, strengths, and needs• Define, analyze, and foster “community” both within

and outside of the classroom• Think critically about identity, values, and history• Begin to develop relationships with community

agencies and constituents• Acquire and demonstrate a broad, thorough

understanding of Cincinnati and its current position, culturally, socially, regionally, etc.• Question preconceived “truths” about self, community,

and the nature of social relations

Recurring Course Topics

• History of the city of Cincinnati and UC• Educational inequality• Social class, poverty, and homelessness• Race, ethnicity, and culture• Gentrification and urban renewal• Current topics/events• Tea Party Movement• Planned Parenthood

Field ExperiencesVisit locations and class session meeting spaces, often negotiated in collaboration with students, have included: • Nat’l Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Downtown)• 3CDC (Over-the-Rhine)• Elementz Hip Hop Youth Arts Center (West End)• Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati (Mason)• Regional Chamber of Commerce (Downtown)• Aiken College and Career High School (North College Hill)• Gay & Lesbian Community Center (Northside)• Cincinnati Public Library (Corryville)• Stowe House (Walnut Hills)

Elementz

“I would never have visited Elementz or the Islamic Center on my own, just

because it’s not a part of my every day community. I think there’s definitely something

to be said about being able to step out of your comfort zone

and experience something new in order to inform your

opinion or stance on an issue.”

Cincinnati Public Schools

“This class was an eye-opening experience for me

and showed me how diverse Cincinnati really is. I enjoyed interacting with my classmates, listening to

guest lecturers, and I especially enjoyed seeing how our relationship has

progressed with the Aiken High School community.”

Teaching Hope“Despite the saddening things like the

hardships the Aiken students have to live with daily, the empty Corryville library, the

heart-wrenching stories of the Freedom Writers and many others, there were lots of heart-warming moments as well. I had

fun running around with the Aiken students as we got locked out of the school in mid-tour, it was a blast being taught how to ‘dougie,’ it was eye-opening to hear the

truth about Islam from a strong and successful Muslim woman, it was

empowering to facilitate and witness history being made at the Freedom Writers event; all of these moments and more were

evidence of us ’creat[ing] a positive learning environment through a mutual

exchange of ideas and perspectives’.”

Student Projects

• Community Installation Project, DAAPworks• CenterCourt: Images from a

case study• In a Word: How do you define

community?• The Role of Hip Hop in

Restoring Urban Communities• Awareness-raising flyers

Understanding Community

“This course has made me create new and rethink some thought points I had on topics...

When looking at the trips to the Islamic Center, Aiken High School, and Elementz these are

experiences that I would never have dared to experience on my own. But with a supporting

community around you, these trips were easier to digest and experience… the purpose is to

broaden ourselves and what is really all around us as a community.”

Country UC2019 Operational Principles (other than Global)

Course Title Objective

Nicaragua Learning/Community Nicaraguan Culture and Social Service

Hone Spanish speaking skills through classes and social service

India Collaboration/Sustainability Integrated Approach to Rural Development Multidisciplinary approach to solve critical rural development issues (e.g., potable water). Collaborates with Indian NGO.

Ghana Community Women, Population and Development Study issues of population in developing countries through an emphasis on women’s health and education

Italy Learning/Collaboration The Roman Experience

Multidisciplinary approach to link art, architecture and music in Italy.

France Learning Contemporary Paris

Study of contemporary Paris with emphasis on its citizens, language, and culture

Trinidad Discovery Landscape and Environmental Change: Trinidad

Study aspects of how humans have influenced Trinidad’s landscapes and how they will continue to in the coming years; will be considered from geologic and anthropologic perspectives.

South Africa Mission-Based Health Care Public Health and Infectious Diseases: the South African Experience

Provide students with hands-on, real word exposure to public health and infectious disease research in South Africa with a focus on HIV/AIDS.

Brazil Sustainability Research in Natural Laboratories: Brazilian Amazon

Examines the sustainability of endangered tropical ecosystems and its potential impact on world climate.

Tanzania

Sustainability/Collaboration Humanitarian Design Investigates emerging field of humanitarian design. Students develop project that benefit non-profit working in impoverished communities in Tanzania.

Greece/Turkey Learning Mediterranean Roots of Western Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective

Influence of early Greek and Turkish thoughts on western civilization

France Learning Study French Language A longer study abroad experience in France for students to improve their language skills

Japan Learning Japanese Language and Culture Experience Improve Japanese language skills and cultural competence through class and home stays.

Current UHP Study Abroad Programs

Global Studies Learning Objectives

• Possess global literacy, including knowledge of geography, history, current world issues and similarities and differences among cultures.• Recognize the interdependence of world economies,

political systems and the environment.• Interact with individuals from different cultures and

express a sensitivity, appreciation and respect for the complex range of experiences of diverse peoples.• Participate in a global society and understand the role

of  a global citizen.

Integrated Approach to Rural Development: India

Nicaraguan Culture and Social Service

Humanitarian Design: Tanzania

Questions?

“This class has provided an excellent medium by which students can explore the positive potential of the city of

Cincinnati and the transformative power of a supportive, engaged community. In this way, we are able to truly create

a community that is directed towards the betterment of ourselves and the world around us.”

“The University Honors Trips to India and the Galapagos Islands have influenced my decision to apply to the Peace

Corps. If it were not for those trips I would have never considered the Peace Corps as an option. I was nominated to

work in Africa in February, 2011.”~Ed Corbett