ENGAGING LEADERSHIPoffice of experiential education and civic engagement

contentsDirector’s Comments ........................1

Reflections of the KSU-Oxfam Social Issues Banquet ..............2

Social Issues Banquet Community Partners ............................2

Upcoming Events .................................3

Plus-1 Credit ..................4

Course-Based Experiential Learning ...........................5

A Letter from our partner ..............................6

KSU AlternativeSpring Break Trips 2012 ..........................7

January / February 2012

Director’s Comments:Experiential Learning Gains Momentum!

On January 26, 2012 the 10th Annual Martin Luther King celebration “Empowering the Individual, Strengthening the Community,” served as a perfect segue to recap the OEECE fall 2011 activities as well as upcoming spring 2012 events. Fall 2011 brought about exciting momentum as the ideology of experiential learning and civic involvement resonated throughout the institution. For instance, the KSU-Oxfam Social Issues Banquet brought pillars of the community, administrators, faculty, and students together to explore the impact of social ills on our society and the varying approaches employed to address these ills. The Banquet also served to jump-start experiential learning by exposing guests to various civic engagement opportunities available through participating community agencies. In addition Dr. George Kuh was Keynote at the November 29th, 2011 Presidential Symposium. Among the salient themes of his presentation was facilitating student success and retention through high-impact practices such as experiential learning, FYE activities, and living and learning communities. Also, the University Requirements and Curriculum Committee (URCC) evaluated approximately two hundred ELR course proposals which resulted in 186 courses receiving approval for ELR designation beginning Fall 2012. The URCC approved courses will be reviewed by the Educational Policy Council (EPC) prior to final approval by the Faculty Senate. To put icing on the cake, the OEECE received an excellent review from the Higher Learning Commission Action Project Directory. Reviewers stated that “Kent State University has done an outstanding job of setting some targets….. and is making excellent progress toward accomplishing your goal. This project should be a good example to include in your portfolio not only in Category 1 – Helping Students Learn, but perhaps in other categories like Category 2 – Accomplishing Other Distinctive Objectives, Category 4 – Valuing People and, Category 9 – Building Collaborative Relationships. The lessons learned here should be templates for future Action Project teams to use as well.”

As we forge into the Spring 2012 semester, we want the Kent State community to promote, showcase, and help us become better informed of experiential learning opportunities on our campus. As such, faculty are asked to profile experiential learning infused courses on the OEECE website. Faculty and students are encouraged to explore opportunities and pilot experiential learning through the Plus-1 Credit option. Interested students must receive support from faculty in order to enroll. The deadline for student applications is the fourth week of the semester. Students should consider this option as they register for fall courses. Finally, the OEECE, in collaboration with the Faculty Professional Development Center, is sponsoring a Spring 2012 Experiential Learning Faculty Development Workshop series. The series will help faculty modify or build curriculum that not only engages students, but provides the tools needed to better link learning activities with reflection,

Dr. Tina L. Kandakai

outcomes, and assessment. Please join us!I am proud of the impact that OEECE has made on the lives of our community, faculty and students. I look forward to reaching even more of you through sponsored programs, activities, or course presentations. If you have ideas that you would like to share or are looking to modify existing experiential learning approaches, feel free to stop by 203 Moulton Hall, visit us at www.kent.edu/experiential, email experiential@kent.edu, or call our office at 330-672-7876.

Have a Wonderful Semester!

Tina L. Kandakai, PhDDirector OEECE

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Reflections of the KSU-Oxfam Social Issues Banquet

“I was intrigued by the economic class meal discussion – cool idea even though I only got rice!” —Community Partner

The annual KSU-Oxfam Social Issues Banquet was successfully held on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 in the Moulton Hall Ballroom. Guest speakers for the event included Senior Associate Provost Dr. Timothy Chandler, Dr. George Garrison, Mrs. Roxia Boykin, and Reverend Ronald Fowler, all of whom contributed insight and heartfelt remarks on the social issues at hand. Participants had the opportunity to engage in a hunger simulation and share conversations about the ways poverty and other social issues impact community outcomes. A panel discussion following the hunger simulation served to highlight the multitude of ways that faculty, businesses, and community organizations are reaching out to support local communities.

“I knew that poverty is a large issue, but I wasn’t aware of the specific statistics. This was very informative.” —Student

The OEECE thanks the College of Communication and Information and Teleproductions for making live web-streaming possible. Feedback from those who attended was positive as guests expressed their improved awareness of local poverty and hunger issues as well as having gained a better understanding of how community agencies are addressing social issues. The OEECE appreciates the work of community partners and will continue with our efforts to support them through experiential learning and civic engagement.

Exciting Opportunities To Engage Learning Beyond Our Campus

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KSU-Oxfam Social Issues Banquet 2011

Community Partners

African American Lifestyles Magazine

Akron Canton Regional Food Bank

Antioch Development Corporation

Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. - Northern Ohio Chapter

Community Corps

Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care

Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary

Hattie Larlham Foundation

Haven of Rest Ministries

Kent Social Services

Miller Community House

Kent State University Campus Kitchen Project

Kent State University College of Education

Kent State University Department of Pan African Studies

Peace Corps

Project GRAD

Project Team

Summa’s Palliative Care & Hospice

Thanks to community partners, departments, deans, faculty,

students, and guests for making this event a success.

To view the OxFam video or read more comments, follow the links below by clicking on the icons.

Super Service Saturday Program

Spring 2012 Semester Dates:

Feb. 4, Feb. 18, March 3, March 31, April 14, April 28

Click here for more information!

Spring 2012 Experiential Learning Faculty Development Workshop Series:

GuidingStudentReflectionsforLearning

• Monday, Jan. 30, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm in 317 Moulton Hall

• Thursday, Feb. 2, 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm in 317 Moulton Hall

In case you missed these events, follow this link for resources.

Assessing Experiential Learning

• Monday, Feb. 13, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm in 114 Moulton Hall

• Thursday, Feb. 16, 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm in 317 Moulton Hall

Improving the Culture of Teaching & Learning through Scholarship

Friday, Feb. 17, 11:00 am

306 Kent Student Center

Presenter: Kathleen McKinney

Click here to register now!

Click here for more upcoming FPDC events!

Women and the New American Dream

March 9-10

Partnerships for Health 15th Anniversary Conference

April 18-20

Houston, TX

National Society for Experiential Education Conference

October 3-5

Milwaukee, WI

OEECEUpcoming Events

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TheExperientialLearningPlus-1Creditbenefitsstudents,faculty,andthe community. For students, the Plus-1 Credit offers an amazing opportunity to develop and apply knowledge and skills beyond the classroom to community environments that will shape their lives for years to come. Consider the Plus-1 Credit option as you register for fall courses! Contact the Office of Experiential Education and Civic Engagement (OEECE) at 330-672-7876 or experiential@kent.edu for further information. There is an easy path to get there, just follow the road map!

The deadline to sign up for Plus-1 Credit is the fourth week of every semester.

Do you want to learn about more opportunities offered by the OEECE? Click here to join our listserv!

Exciting Opportunities To Engage Learning Beyond Our Campus

Limited Time to Sign up for the Experiential Learning Plus-1 Credit

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Students from the East Liverpool Campus involved with CHOW.

Dr. Lydia Rose’s Intro to Sociology

class last semester at East Liverpool

did a class project called Moving

Youth2Youth a Semester of Service

Learning. The students in Introduc-

tion to Sociology spent the semester

working in the local communities

teaching and inspiring students and

parents to think about healthy eat-

ing habits and ways to exercise in

an effort to contribute to the national

program of fighting childhood obesity.

The class celebrated the completion

of their service projects with a CHOW

Rally (Community Health Options and

Wellness Rally) on December 3 that

was open to the community. Over

eighty people from the greater East

Liverpool area participated in the

CHOW Rally.

Lydia Rose, PhD Assistant Professor in Sociology

Some of the students from the Construction Management Student Organization started attending Habitat for Humanity in Waynesburg, OH on September 10 and we started on the subfloor. Every weekend we carpooled down to Waynesburg and worked on the house for about seven hours. We completed up to the dry wall on November 19. This was such a wonderful opportunity to get hands on experience and to have the opportunity to work with people you have never met before. Being able to work on this house helped demonstrate the things that we learn in the classroom and helps students better understand the process of building a house. I attended every Saturday and I had a blast. It’s such a great experience and I learned so many valuable things from just volunteering. I encourage every student who wants to go into the construction business to attend Habitat for Humanity. I can’t wait to start going again next fall.

Jason OhlssonMember of Construction Management Student OrganizationDecember 2011

Course-Based Experiential Learning

Some of the students from the Construction Management Student Organization started attending Habitat for Humanity in Waynesburg, OH on September 10

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Exciting Opportunities To Engage Learning Beyond Our Campus

A Letter from our partnerDr. Kandakai,

It was a pleasure meeting with you.

I have to tell you the Oxfam Social Issues Banquet brought what I do to the heart of the matter. At Portage

Learning Centers we serve the youngest of those who suffer from hunger. Each day we see children coming into

our centers hungry because they did not get dinner. We know that we need to feed these children more before

and after a weekend, knowing they may not be getting the nutrition that they require for their growing bodies.

These children do not know that there is another way of life, this is all they have known. They do not know there

are people who do not go to bed hungry, who eat 3 meals a day with a bounty of food at their tables.

Portage Learning Centers had 2 representatives attend the Oxfam Social Issues Banquet, each of us pulled

different tickets one of us getting the poverty ticket and one of use getting the upper class ticket. Speaking from

the experience that I encountered with the Poverty ticket, it struck home that people really do eat this way. I was

an eye opening experience sitting on the floor in my business attire trying to figure out how to gracefully eat fluffy

rice without silverware. The first thought was I am supposed to eat with my hands, but I have not washed my

hands. However the thought went through my mind was that some families are just happy to have food to eat,

their thought isn’t my hands are dirty. Their thought is I’m hungry and I have food to eat.

As I looked around most of the business people were looking as baffled as I was trying to figure out how to eat.

This is not our normal way of approaching a meal. Throughout my process of eating with the poverty ticket and

getting only rice and water to drink, I was fully aware what some families go through each day, often wondering

what others were eating and being envious of them. I found myself looking to the other representative from our

agency wondering what she was eating at the upper class table, envious that she had silverware, and a table to

sit at, while I was sitting on the floor with no silverware. It was a very eye opening experience, even though I talk

about poverty every day, this opportunity gave me an experience to make what I talk about even more real.

Thank you for the experience, and I hope to be invited back again next year.

Valerie FialaPortage Learning CentersHead Start Outreach Coordinator

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KSU Alternative Spring Break Trips 2012A week that lasts a lifetime...

 

 

 

 

 

Buffalo, New York This trip will provide an opportunity for students to engage in a cross-cultural exchange with our Native American neighbors living in the Buffalo area. We are planning to participate in a week-long, hands-on project with a team from Habitat for Humanity, as well as immerse ourselves in the Native American culture. Transportation, lodging, and most meals are included in the $250 registration fee. Travel dates: Sunday (March 18) - Saturday (March 24)

Washington, D.C.Students will stay and work in the country’s largest homeless shelter located in the shadow of the Capitol building. Volunteer work throughout the week will be done at a women’s shelter, homeless shelter, HIV/AIDS program, and more. Students will also have the opportunity to visit Capitol Hill and other sites. $250 includes transportation, lodging and most meals. Travel dates: Saturday (March 17) - Friday (March 23)

Columbiana County, Ohio Stay close to home and make an impact! Students will stay at the East Liverpool campus of KSU and provide direct service to area residents and local agencies. We will work with a variety of social service agencies and learn more about the Appalachian culture. $80 includes transportation, lodging and food. Travel dates: Sunday (March 18) - Friday (March 23) // A three-day $60 option is also being offered.

Chicago, Illinois Calling all Change Agents! Students will work with a variety of community organizations, from youth empowerment programs to homeless outreach initiatives. Students will meet with community leaders to acquire a grassroots understanding of social issues and social change. Students will also be immersed in diverse Chicago cultural communities. $315 includes transportation, lodging and most meals. Travel dates: Saturday (March 17) - Friday (March 23)

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland rocks! Volunteers will be spend the week on Cleveland’s near West Side and have the opportunity to do direct service, talk to those impacted by poverty and discuss issues with local social service agencies. $100 includes food, transportation and lodging. Travel dates: Sunday (March 18) - Thursday (March 22)Office of Quality Initiatives and Curriculum | Moulton 204 | http://www.kent.edu/emsa/service/volunteer/trips.cfmQuestions? Contact Ann Gosky agosky@kent.edu or Elizabeth Bosworth eboswort@kent.edu

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