engaging leadership v1, issue 2
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Welcome to Volume 1, Issue 2 of the Engaging Leadership newsletter published through the Office of Experiential Education and Civic Engagement at Kent State University.TRANSCRIPT
Faculty & Staff
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Volume 1, Issue 2
Spring 2011
Welcome to the OEECE
We Serve
Welcome to the Engaging Leadership News-letter!
The start of our new year has brought us back to a post-fall semester topic. On October 10, 2010, The Core Implementation Task Force presented the Faculty Senate with an opportu-nity to vote on the Experiential Learning Re-quirement (ELR). The ELR would require all Kent State students to have engagement in at least one course-based or non-course-based experiential learning activity. After falling short by 2 votes, the ELR proposal was revis-ited, modified, and submitted to the Faculty Senate again on February 14, 2011 and ap-proved by a vote of 18 to 15. I extend my grati-tude to the Faculty Senate for recognizing the potential of the ELR to enhance the Kent State student learning experience.
With the concept of experiential learning being relatively new to Kent State, you may ask: What is experiential learning? In simple terms, experiential learning is a process of developing knowledge and skills through engaged experi-ences. By virtue of experiential education, fac-ulty use the community to expand course-based teaching and learning, which allows students to develop and apply their knowledge and skills in diverse environments that promote public good.
A core value of The Office of Experiential Education and Civic Engagement (OEECE) is
to promote the “scholarship of service and civic engage-ment that makes what is discovered useful beyond the academic community.” Although the traditional classroom environment can provide meaningful experi-ences, experiential learning helps to:
Develop disciplinary skills and competencies to make graduates professionally competitive
Promote psychosocial development through civic engagement and reflection
Enhance academic relevance to the real-world Encourage civic responsibility and leadership
and
Showcase students‟ skills and talents to the public and potential employers
One of OEECE‟s objectives is to validate linkages among academics, leadership, and civic responsibil-ity by developing student engagement opportunities that enhance the student learning experience. A second objective is to provide support services and resources to facilitate and encourage the creation of these opportunities.
For information to obtain support for experiential learning, visit www.kent.edu/experiential, email [email protected], or call our office at 330-672-7876.
Coordinator’s Comments
Moulton Hall 203
Kent, Ohio 44242
(330) 672-7876
www.kent.edu/experiential
Contact Us The Office of Experiential Education
and Civic Engagement
Coordinator Dr. Tina L. Kandakai
Community Students
Inside this issue:
Coordinator’s Comments 1
Community Partner Spotlight 2
The FACES of Change at KSU 2
Learning By Doing: Highlighting KSU’s English Department 3
Showcasing Faculty Excellence in Action 4
Paying it Forward: Grant Recipients at KSU 5
Stark County Hunger Task Force: Philanthropy Recipient 5
Faculty Associates 6
2011 OEECE Showcase 2010 Alternative Spring Break Oxfam Hunger Banquet 2010
Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary Inc. is a non-profit (501c3) organization that rescues, rehabilitates, and
provides an adoption program for abused, abandoned, and neglected farm animals such as horses, ponies, pot
belly pigs, farm pigs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, sheep, goats, and cattle. Happy Trails serves the entire state of
Ohio and works in cooperation with county humane societies, animal protective leagues, and local and state
law enforcement officers.
Happy Trails provides the rescued farm animals with medical care, proper nutrition, clean and safe housing,
and as much TLC as possible. The organization works in cooperation with a variety of other local and out-of-state rescue groups to network
and help find homes for the rescued farm animals. This adoption program allows for the rescued animals to be adopted as family pets only.
Once farm animals are accepted by Happy Trails, they are no longer allowed to be placed back into food production nor are they allowed to
be bred or used for exploitation in any way.
This community organization was chosen for a project by a group of students in Professor David Smeltzer‟s Corporate Video class. This
course regularly works with a variety of non-profit organizations to produce promotional video pieces. The students interviewed the staff,
conducted a needs-assessment, and created a video piece to promote and educate the public about the mission and efforts of Happy Trails.
The results of this project were positive for Happy Trails and the students who created the video. Happy Trails pres-
ently uses this video to demonstrate to the public and potential funders the merit of the organization‟s work. Profes-
sor Smeltzer‟s students were able to apply their video production skills to raise the level of appreciation for the ser-
vice this worthy organization provides to the rescued farm animals.
Happy Trails was emphatic in its praise of Kent State students Katie Dillon, Kayla Landolph,
and Marcus Garrett: “Thank-you -- not only to the Kent State students who worked so dili-
gently to convey the message that each organization had to share, but also to the creative and innovative university
staff and faculty for designing such an incredible program. I think everyone, including the non-profit representa-
tives, learned from this experience. The videos the students produced will impact countless other lives.” To view the
video, follow this link: http://happytrailsfarm.org/video_listing.php.
Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary, Inc., 5623 New Milford Rd., Ravenna, Ohio 44266. Phone: (330) 296-5914
Page 2
Community Partner Spotlight: Happy Trails
EN GA GIN G L EA D E RS HIP www.kent.edu/experiential
The Office of Experiential Education and Civic Engagement (OEECE) was selected to host a
Midwest Campus Compact Citizen Scholar Fellows (M3C) Program called Future Advocates of
Civic Engagement (FACE) Fellowship Program. At the end of Fall 2010 semester, OEECE re-
cruited and interviewed excellent candidates who applied to serve KSU as 2011 FACE Fellows.
The strong applicants and limited openings made the FACE Fellowship Program a competitive
program.
The OEECE is proud to announce seven Kent State students have been selected to serve our cam-
pus and community. The 2011 Kent State University FACE Fellows are Sarah Keister, Allison
Lotter, Bree‟Ana Melick, Nick Novisky, Jamie Rom, Nichele Scott, and Erin Sherrets. Two of
our FACE Fellows, Nichele Scott and Erin Sherrets are serving as FACE peer mentors. Both
Nichele and Erin will provide leadership to further develop the FACE Fellowship program while
supporting their team of FACE Fellows.
The FACE program creates a close-knit cohort of peer students whose participation in engaged
service and learning activities positively impacts local communities and subsequently demon-
strates the importance of experiential education and civic engagement to KSU students. FACE
Fellows have decided to address community needs through course-based civic engagement as
more than half of the FACE Fellows have connected their service with a course they are taking
this spring through the Plus-1 Experiential Learning Credit option. Sarah Keister, a FACE Fel-
low who applied her service through the Plus-1 Credit hour, says, “experiential learning is when
students take an aspect of a class that interests them and make it come to life by volunteering
their time in the community or doing their own research.” The FACE Fellowship Program directly impacts the relationship between Kent
State University and the community by creating an innovative and sustainable approach to serve the community while educating other KSU
faculty and students about the significance of the learning experience. “It is important for KSU students because it really helps develop us
by becoming more professional, but also gives more of a purpose to what we are learning in the classroom” says Keister.
KSU FACE Fellows will serve as AmeriCorps members and will be required to complete their term of service (300 hours) within one calen-
dar year. Upon the completion and certification of 300 hours of community service, each FACE Fellow will receive a $1,000 education
award from the Corporation of National and Community Service Trust Fund.
Pictured above (L-R): Nichele Scott and Erin Sherrets
(Picture Above L-R): Jamie Rom, Erin Sherrets,
Bree‟Ana Melick, Nichelle Shuck (Ohio Campus
Compact VISTA), Sarah Keister, Nick Novisky, and
Allison Lotter. Not Pictured: Nichele Scott
The FACES of Change at Kent State University
Learning By Doing: Highlighting KSU’s English Department
Page 3 203 Moulton Hall 330.672.7876
The Office of Experiential Education and
Civic Engagement (OEECE) would like
to recognize three individuals on the Kent
campus who are applying experiential
education in their English Department
classes.
Jeanne Smith is an
English professor at
Kent State University
and a strong advocate
of service-learning.
She recognizes that
faculty members want
their students to not
only be in the classroom but interested and
attracted to the material being taught.
“Students need something relative to their
lives, something useful,” Smith said, “and
something that goes beyond textbooks.
They want and need something more.” For
Smith, service-learning fills that need.
After receiving grants for course redesigns,
Smith created two courses to involve stu-
dents in tutoring, reading, and helping other
students through the use of feedback. The
first course is a one-credit hour entry level
course that is focused entirely on feedback
while the other is a three-credit hour senior
level course that is more in-depth. After
these two courses, the students become lead
tutors and go to outreach workshops with
the possibility of publication at the end of
the course. So far, her students have worked
outside the classroom by helping with GED
programs, organizations such as Upward
Bound and Project Learn, and working at
the International Institute of Akron helping
refugees who don‟t know English. “These
service-learning projects are good for the
university and the community,” Smith said.
“It‟s a win-win situation.” Literacy learning
is Smith‟s expertise, and she has always
wanted to manage a program like this. She
is passionate about training students when it
comes to writing, and her plan is to eventu-
ally offer the three-credit hour course every
Spring.
The three-credit hour course is also being
used to create tutoring centers for local high
schools. Smith and one of her students
worked with a substitute teacher who gradu-
ated from Kent State to establish the Writ-
ing Center at Roosevelt High School. “The
principal of Roosevelt was excited and fully
supportive.” Smith was challenged by this
service-learning project and worked hard to
raise awareness of and build upon the origi-
nal writing center project. “Not only do we
have the Writing Center at Roosevelt, but
we‟ve created a class for ninth through
twelfth grade students where we will have
writing workshops, and over twenty stu-
dents are currently enrolled.” Smith men-
tioned that the establishment of the Writing
Center at Roosevelt has piqued the interest
of other schools. “Streetsboro High School
called me and expressed interest in starting
a Writing Center there too. That was very
exciting.”
Smith feels that service-learning is very
important for students who want to gain real
world experience. She feels, “A professor
can provide information and shuffle content,
but what‟s important is what students do
with that information - how they personally
apply it to the real world. That‟s what learn-
ing should be.”
Nikki Caswell is a doctoral candidate who
teaches for the Writing Program at Kent
State University. She is the Assistant Writ-
ing Program Coordinator and teaches Col-
lege Writing I and II. She is new to the
world of experiential education and is work-
ing with the Ohio Benefit Bank as her com-
munity partner. Her students are exploring
how to establish an OBB site on the Kent
campus. The bank will be open to students
and faculty as well as to citizens not affili-
ated with the university.
This semester her students are focusing on
the research while her students in the Fall
will hopefully be setting up an OBB site.
The Ohio Benefit Bank is an Internet-based
organization that assists low and moderate-
income families with tax credits and work
supports. Caswell is excited to have her
students research a possible launch of the
site on campus. “Research shows that there
was $1.6 million available to Ohioans that
is not being claimed; the fact that this
much money is not used when there is so
much need in the state set the foundation
for how I would use service-learning in my
class,” she said. “This will definitely be a
great learning experience for students be-
cause they will get real world knowledge
and see a purpose for their research. Also,
it will be an important experience when it
comes to who will benefit from their work.
They‟re not writing for just a teacher. Peo-
ple outside the classroom setting will read
and benefit from their work.” Her hope is
that if more people use OBB‟s services,
this money will be distributed to those who
qualify for it.
Caswell admitted that her first day as a
service-learning teacher was overwhelm-
ing. “It‟s difficult trying to „sell‟ something
like this to the students because it‟s so
different from what they‟re used to in col-
lege. But I definitely think it will be a suc-
cess.”
Will McSuley tutored in Jeanne Smith‟s
three-credit hour course at the new Roose-
velt High School Writing Center. He is a
junior integrated language arts major.
McSuley was surprised by the experience
of helping others with their writing. “It was
a huge eye-opener because I want to be an
English teacher, and I learned that you
can‟t help everyone with everything. There
are some students you won‟t be able to
help, and that‟s hard, but you need to move
on and keep helping those you can.”
He noted that he made a connection with
one student in particular. “That made eve-
rything worth it,” he said, “just to help one
student with his writing.” This demon-
strates how learning outside the classroom
can bring results that lecturing and text-
books can‟t provide.
McSuley had a very positive result from
his service-learning experience. “You defi-
nitely need people skills and communica-
tion skills for a successful experience,” he
said. “It‟s a lot of work, and it‟s challeng-
ing. It takes commitment and confidence.
Don‟t expect a class where you just show
up and get an A without putting everything
you have into it. If you can do that, the
V O LU M E 1 IS S U E 2
Kent State Writing Commons, 4th floor library
SMITH
Page 4 EN GA GIN G L EA D E RS HIP www.kent.edu/experiential
OEECE SERVICES
ALTERNATIVE SPRING BREAK 2011
March 20-25 Trips to:
Buffalo, New York Columbiana County, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Washington, D.C. Chicago, Illinois
To learn more, visit
http://explore.kent.edu/ksunited/index.html
or direct questions to Tina L. Kandakai or Ann
Gosky at [email protected] or [email protected].
OEECE Announcements
CHECK OUT
OEECE!
Get more information and sign up for
these and other events on our website.
www.kent.edu/experiential
Plus-1 Credit applications now available
for Summer and Fall 2011
riential learning courses and programs that
promote global learning, campus-
community collaboration, high impact aca-
demic initiatives, and faculty research and
scholarship. Faculty, students, staff, and
guests visited the Moulton Hall atrium to
engage in casual conversations and share
insights on experiential learning strategies,
courses, and programs utilized by Kent
State faculty and staff. Showcasing Excel-
lence in Action preceded the Decoding the
Disciplines presentation that provided in-
sights on the identification and use of
threshold concepts to shift student under-
standing of course content to deeper levels.
The two events were timely and comple-
mentary given the recent approval of the
experiential education requirement, which
would allow for similar teaching and learn-
ing strategies that may increase the effec-
tiveness of the threshold approach.
If you would like to read more about the
presenters and other exemplary course-
based experiential learning efforts, access
the OEECE Showcasing Excellence in Ac-
tion booklet on our website at
www.kent.edu/experiential.
For assistance in exploring personal inter-
ests, click on the faculty or student tabs to
complete and submit an online interest
form. A staff member from the OEECE
will contact you.
Five members of the Kent State faculty
displayed core elements of their experien-
tial learning courses during the OEECE
Showcase of Excellence in Action that took
place February 17, 2011. Mary Ferranto,
College of Nursing-Salem Campus; David
Smeltzer, Communication and Marketing;
Beverly Neiderman and Jeanne Smith,
both from the Department of English; and
Janice Kroeger, College of Education,
Health & Human Services presented expe-
Showcasing Faculty Excellence in Action
Pictured left to right: Batchelor, Mengell, Smeltzer, Kroeger, Smith,
Neiderman, Harrison, Kandakai
Photos from OEECE
Showcase of Excel-
lence in Action,
February 17, 2011
For Faculty
Training, workshops, and presenta-
tions
One-on-one consultations and referrals
Grant opportunities
Collaboration for research and course
development
For Students
Future Advocates of Civic Engagement
(FACE)
Plus-1 Credit Option
Connection with community agencies
For Community Partners
Collaborations with faculty, staff, and
students
Support to further the agency’s
mission and goals
Grant opportunities
for the class.” His students liked the idea of
not only being able to serve the partner but
also being able to award them with much-
needed resources to complete their tasks.
Thacker also used experiential education in
another class, Advertising and Promotion,
where his students and he developed rela-
tionships with outside community partners.
He believes a lot of organizations have
marketing needs, and experiential learning
can help them. “What we provide our stu-
dents is not only real world education that
they can engage in, but they can see what
things work and what things don‟t work as
well as provide that community partner
insight that they never would have had
before. Students operate a very honest,
introspective view of what‟s going on in
those businesses and non-profits.”
Thacker feels that experiential learning
works best when professors prepare well
for the process. This challenges the in-
structors to create projects where the stu-
dents learn something that is applied in the
classroom whether they‟re bringing it into
the classroom and taking it outside or learn-
The Pay-It-Forward Grant addresses criti-
cal economic needs in local communities
through student-led grant making and civic
engagement. The purpose of this initiative
is to develop a new generation of philan-
thropists through a course-based service-
learning environment that engages college
students in hands-on philanthropy and
service while providing community non-
profits with much needed assistance in the
current deflated economic environment.
The Office of Experiential Education and
Civic Engagement (OEECE) would like to
recognize Don Thacker, a faculty member
who has been awarded the Pay-It-Forward
Grant.
Don Thacker is a
Spring 2010 recipient of
the Pay-It-Forward
Grant and has utilized it
for students in his Prin-
ciples of Marketing
class. “The scope of the
Pay-It-Forward Grant
was to take federal aid grant funds and find
a community partner who was in particular
need,” Thacker said, “and I customized it
ing something
outside and
bringing it back
into the class-
room. He con-
tinues,
“Experiential
learning is an
added dimension
to the college experience. It is one thing to
become knowledgeable about a subject,
but a different aspect of learning is
achieved when students understand how to
apply that information to a real world or-
ganization. The key is to develop future
decision-makers based on the ability to
analyze and gather information about the
situation. It is through experience that a
student learns completely.”
To find out more about the Pay-It-Forward
Initiative, please visit the Ohio Campus
Compact at:
www.ohiocampuscompact.org, contact the
Office of Experiential Education and Civic
Engagement at [email protected], or
by phone at 330-672-7876.
Paying It Forward: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
V O LU M E 1, IS S UE 2 Page 5 203 Moulton Hall 330.672.7876
Eric Smer is the
Program Director of
Stark County Hun-
ger Taskforce, Inc.
and was a commu-
nity partner with
Don Thacker‟s stu-
dents for the Princi-
ples of Marketing
class. “This class was, by far, the greatest
individual service-learning project we
have ever had the opportunity to work
with,” Smer said. “The students sought
out to find our organization‟s real chal-
lenges and needs. They presented not only
a strategy but also the means to a solution.
Their efforts will not be soon forgotten as
we begin to implement many of the items
they suggested and/or provided funding
for. As a two-person organization, which
has always operated on a shoe-string
budget, we are simply amazed by how
engaged and involved the students became
in our mission and in our fight against
hunger.”
Smer expressed that the students made the
project personal to them and that many of
them to this day keep in contact with the
office to assist with fundraising and vol-
unteerism efforts. “They made a change in
Stark County and in themselves,” he said.
“We thank Kent State University Stark
Campus, Kent State University, the Office
of Experiential Education and Civic En-
gagement, and Ohio Campus Compact for
this opportunity .
Stark County Hunger Task Force: Philanthropy Recipient
In particular, I‟d like to thank Don
Thacker, the lecturer of this course, for
being a continual advocate for our organi-
zation and mission. Without his dedicated
efforts, our organization would not have
been able to serve so many in Stark
County.”
The Stark County Hunger Task Force
is located at 408 9th Street SW, Canton,
Ohio. They can be contacted by calling
(330) 455-6667.
“This class was, by far, the greatest
individual service-learning
project we have ever had the
opportunity to work with.”
-Eric Smer
Food pantry - Stark County Hunger Task Force
Canton, OH
THACKER
SMER
Page 6 EN GA GIN G L EA D E RS HIP www.kent.edu/experiential
Faculty Associates in the OEECE are uni-
versity faculty who have an expressed in-
terest in advancing and institutionalizing
experiential education and civic engage-
ment through deliberate strategic leader-
ship in teaching, learning, assessment, and
scholarship activities sponsored through
the OEECE. Faculty Associates advise the
OEECE staff on relevant activities and
interests in their respective departments,
programs, the university as a whole, and
assist in developing strategies for facilitat-
ing these interests. Faculty Associates have
become an integral part of advancing the
KSU students‟ academic curriculum. Bev
Neiderman and Dr. Willie Oglesby are
Faculty Associates in the OEECE who
have shared their roles and views on expe-
riential learning.
Bev Neiderman - Faculty
Associate in Teaching
and Engaged Leadership
NTT Instructor in
Department of English
Becoming a Faculty Associate has been an
opportunity to learn more about experien-
tial education and its place in the college
curriculum, especially since it‟s such an
important tool for engaging students in
their learning. My work in the office has
given me new insight to share with faculty
interested in infusing experiential educa-
tion into their coursework and allowed me
to promote it through presentations, con-
sultations, grant-writing, office documents,
etc.
My background with experiential educa-
tion in the classroom is with service-
learning in two writing courses. Success-
ful service-learning projects in Writing in
the Public Sphere partnered students with
community organizations such as King
Kennedy Center, Kent Parks and Rec Edu-
cation Program, and Access, Inc. Emer-
gency Shelter for homeless women and
children. As one of the first Service-
Scholar recipients, I then included service-
learning in College Writing II, partnering
with King Kennedy, Retired Senior Volun-
teer Program, Native American Indian
Veterans Center, and the Ohio Benefit
Bank. The variety of community partners I
have worked with shows the depth of ex-
periences my students have been exposed
to as well as the cultural diversity in these
projects. Students have been receptive to
these course experiences, and their reflec-
tions note the new insight they have gained
from collaborating in their community.
Because service-learning incorporates
course goals/objectives into the service
project, it fits nicely into text and visual
compositions assigned and offers unique
writing assignments based on the commu-
nity partner‟s needs. Currently, I am in-
cluding service-learning in totally online
writing courses.
Experiential education is important be-
cause it engages the student. Too often
students are passive learners in the class-
room and their education. With experien-
tial learning, they are given the opportunity
to move outside the classroom and become
active participants in their learning. Ser-
vice-learning projects allow students to use
their skills outside the class and provide
opportunities to help others with their
work. These writing projects may not
change the world, but they do help the
community organizations continue to help
others.
My advice to faculty would be to keep
teaching strategies new and fresh by en-
gaging students in connection with a com-
munity partner so they can be engaged
themselves. Provide opportunities for stu-
dents to participate in their learning
through the assignments you create.
By creating research and writing projects
that can be used by the community partner,
students feel a personal connection to their
research and writing and the results they
have on others. These projects allow stu-
dents to help others as well as find mean-
ing in their course projects as they serve
their community.
Faculty Associates of the OEECE
“With experiential learning,
they are given the opportunity
to move outside the classroom
and become active participants
in their learning.”
Bev Neiderman
Dr. Willie H. Oglesby -
Faculty Associate for
Community-Engaged
Scholarship
Assistant Professor of Health
Policy & Management in the
College of Public Health
I wanted to work with the OEECE to help
strengthen the community engagement
capacity at KSU and to develop a more
standardized mechanism for recognizing
such scholarship in tenure and promotion,
university advancement initiatives, com-
munity relations, effective teaching and
research, and others. My primary responsi-
bilities are to work with administration
and academic colleges on how to incorpo-
rate meaningful community engagement
into the university's teaching, research, and
service activities. One of the outcomes of
this work will be the pursuit of an institu-
tional designation in community engage-
ment from the Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching. I led this uni-
versity-wide effort at the University of
South Carolina where we successfully
received the Foundation's highest designa-
tion in community engagement. Given the
tremendous assets I have already seen here
at Kent State, I anticipate that we will also
receive the Foundation's highest designa-
tion in community engagement.
At Kent State University
Experiential Education
is an umbrella term
describing teaching methods
which utilize deliberate
and purposeful engagement
to influence student
knowledge, skills, values,
and promote
the public good.
NEIDERMAN
OGLESBY