Faculty Fellowship
The Montana Campus Compact works to build better communities and more responsive academic institutions by supporting innovative teaching, research, and service projects that benefit the community, while providing students with hands-on experience in their academic classes. Through this program, which has included Faculty Fellowships, a strong network of service-learning faculty has emerged to provide support for new and potential service-learning faculty as well as for each other.
To obtain more information about the program, please contact:
Dean McGovern
The Montana Campus Compact
302 University Hall
Missoula, MT 59812-3960
(406) 243-5177
OR, click here to find out who the Service-learning contact is on your campus.
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Montana Campus Compact Service-Learning
Faculty Fellows 2002-2003
Working with the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind (MSDB), Julia Becker , the University of Great Falls, and her students will provide dance, drama, visual art and music workshops on a bi-weekly basis. These workshops will offer opportunities to disseminate information to the public about blindness and the Montana School for Deaf and Blind. They will also allow her students to implement course instruction from the Art Department.
As a Mentoring Faculty Fellow, Dale Engstrom of Salish Kootenai College , will continue to work on The Qeqs Mipnunm, project, which creates a learning environment where Native American environmental science students will be given the opportunity to apply what they have learned, to work with mentors within their field of study, to learn the correct application of techniques and standards to environmental problems, and to offer service to their community, the reservation, in meaningful projects.
Working with Senior Companions, Foster Grandparents and RSVP, Gayle Hudgins Cochran, The University of Montana , will implement a new service-learning activity into her pharmacy curriculum. Dr. Cochran, one of this year's Mentoring Faculty Fellows, has successfully been using service-learning for the past few years to enhance her course curriculum. This new service-learning course, involving the senior population, will enable entering pharmacy students to interact with an older person on a social and a community-service level.
Gwyn Daniels, The University of Montana Helena College of Technology , provides service-learning to ten to fourteen community-based organizations in Helena. Her students are required to take a Computer Technology Capstone course during their final semester and incorporate their academic knowledge into providing service to the organizations. Among other responsibilities, the students learn project management, network design, programming and web design. They are matched based on their skill levels and the needs of the organization. At the end of their course, the students give a presentation to the faculty, staff, community-based organization and community members and assemble a portfolio to be used for future employment.
Lowell Jaegar, Flathead Valley Community College , will recruit and place 36 students from the English Department in service-learning positions within the Flathead Valley. These students will work as tutors or tutoring assistants in conjunction with two nonprofit organizations, Flathead Literacy Program and America Reads. The students will provide at least 1080 hours of service and will work directly with 50 to 75 community members, including K-12 students, incarcerated youth and adult clients. The students will also have the opportunity to attend a special topics course designed to complement their continued service to the community. This course will provide pertinent training to students to further enhance their civic engagement skills.
Steve Luft, Montana Tech of The University of Montana , will incorporate service-learning into the drafting program at Montana Tech. Collaborating with Habitat for Humanity, students will integrate principles of building materials and methods into constructing homes for Habitat for Humanity. The students will research appropriate building materials, install the materials into energy-efficient homes, and work as a team to integrate their academic knowledge with building a home.
Celia Schahczenski, Montana Tech of The University of Montana, has designed a service-leaning component to her Database Management Systems course, a requirement for all computer science and engineering majors. The students enrolled in this course will develop database applications for community-based organizations. Students will participate in interviewing client agencies, designing applications presentations, writing a user's manual, onsite deployment of the applications, personnel training and reflection. Students not only have the chance to apply their database management skills but they will learn about local community-based organizations, economic issues, and social problems that the community faces.
Working cooperatively with local governments in Butte Silver Bow County and Montana Tech of The University of Montana, freshman environmental engineering students have a chance to incorporate service-learning into their curriculum. Thomas Waring , a Environmental Science Professor at Montana Tech of The University of Montana , will assign teams of students to work with the government to address environmental concerns in Butte and offer opportunities for students to experience on-the-job team project work, problem identification, data collection, data handling, and project reporting.
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Introducing the 2000-2001 class of Montana Faculty Fellows:
- Dr. Kevin Brown at Montana State University-Northern is a Mentoring Faculty Fellow this year. Dr. Brown will continue his work on an MSU-Northern Community Service Center and integrating service-learning pedagogy into his communication studies courses. In addition, he will be working with The Montana Campus Compact to develop workshops and training events that will encourage and assist faculty members throughout the state to implement service-learning into their own courses.
- Dr. Maxine Jacobson , assistant professor of Social Work at The University of Montana will collaborate with Dr. Judy Smith, founder of Women's Opportunity and Resource Development, Inc., on a project that investigates welfare rights struggles for access to post-secondary education. Students in Jacobson and Smith's course will compile information on post-secondary education and conduct panel discussions of stakeholders including welfare recipients, Health and Human Service employees, and other welfare rights activists. Students will be presenting their findings to the Montana State Legislature in 2001 as it concerns the reauthorization of welfare policy (TANF).
- Dr. Christine Kowalski and Ms. Jamyne Richardson , professors of Physical Therapy at Montana State University College of Technology-Great Falls, will work with the directors of the Great Falls City County Health Department to offer gratis physical therapy services to individuals receiving public health assistance. Through this service-based learning experience, physical therapy students will gain a personal understanding of the link between health theory and practice, the personal values that impact their work, and the larger social issues and systems which influence not only their efforts, but the lives of their patients.
- In an effort to study and learn the history of myth and its cultural significance, students in Dr. Marvin D. L. Lansverk's mythology classes at Montana State University-Bozeman will go into classrooms at Irving Elementary School to experience the power of storytelling to teach, create community and celebrate cultural values. The courses, entitled "The Wisdom of Many: Myth, Storytelling" and "The Power of the Word," will allow college students to serve and learn as they explore mythology with elementary students and encourage the youth to do some storytelling of their own.
- Dr. William Macgregor at Montana Tech of The University of Montana is a Mentoring Faculty Fellow this year. Dr. Macgregor will continue to utilize and practice service-learning in his professional writing courses. In addition, he will work toward developing practical, do-able, homegrown means of maintaining service-learning contacts & cohort-group identity within The Montana Campus Compact network and outside the network. To that end, Dr. Macgregor will focus his efforts on institutionalizing service-learning in higher education by working with administrations and the Montana Board of Regents.
- At-risk youth need opportunities to become engaged and active citizens in society. Learning business skills and lessons in global markets and economies can provide the inspiration needed to excel. Dr. Patrick Moore , professor of at the University of Great Falls, in collaboration with Ms. Jeannie Hanson at Skyline Alternative High School will work to help at-risk youth see their own business potential. Students in Moore's class will use presentations and games to tutor high school students about financial investment strategies and global economics.
- Violence in our culture has always been a problem, whether it is domestic, street, or schoolyard violence. Dr. Donna Zook's graduate and undergraduate human service students at the University of Great Falls will be instructed on violence awareness and violence risk assessment from a cultural point of view. The students will give presentations of violence risk to civic groups in Montana. They will educate the public on identifying early risk factors in order to facilitate treatment for perpetrators and victims, as well as alert citizens to the signs of violence in the home and community.
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MTCC Alumni Fellows
The Montana Campus Compact's Alumni Faculty Fellows are:
. Having concerns for the quality of service rendered by Dillon area businesses, the Beaverhead Area Chamber of Commerce sought the assistance of John W. Bailey, assistant professor of Tourism and Recreation, and his Customer Service class at the University of Montana-Western . The class made unobtrusive visits to designated businesses to assess the quality of service rendered. Data generated by the Beaverhead County Secret Shopper Program was then used by the Chamber of Commerce to identify possible service training needs in the local community.
Debra Bergeson-Graham , Adjunct Instructor of Philosophy and Religious Thought
. at Rocky Mountain College, taught a Theology of Mission class incorporating the Chaplain's program alternative spring break mission trip. During the class, students studied the Theology of Christian Mission and had the opportunity to experience and develop their own theology while doing mission in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico working with Occiaon Ministries. Students provided construction assistance and organized children's activities.
. Professor Jillian Campana 's graduate and undergraduate theatre students at The University of Montana explored and employed theatre as a pedagogical tool. The members of her course, Theatre in Education, made up the performance group, Our Issues - Our Ideas - Our Input which traveled to schools in Western Montana to "perform" original, interactive lessons that met the curricular or social needs of the specific student population. Academic subjects such as English, Science and Health, and History as well as relevant social issues such as gun safety, depression, violence and substance abuse were taught or discussed utilizing theatre as the medium for dialogue.
. Under the direction of Dale Engstrom , a partnership between Salish Kootenai College and the Flathead Reservation environmental organizations identified meaningful projects to provide student service-learning opportunities. The Qeqs Mipnunm project created a learning environment where Native American environmental science students were given the opportunity to apply what they have learned, to work with mentors within their field of study. While also learning the correct application of techniques and standards to environmental problems, and offering their hands in service to their community, the reservation, in the solution of meaningful projects.
. Serving as a mentoring fellow in 2001-2002, Kirsten Graham added a service-learning component to a new course called Developing Web Applications. As they progressed through this semester long course, computer students at the Helena College of Technology had the option of developing webpages for a live-client, a non-profit organization in the Helena area. These adult learners applied the techniques and concepts of Internet web-based programming in the real world as they simultaneously provided a needed resource to a worthwhile service organization in their local community.
. The health care needs of vulnerable, at risk adolescents will be addressed in the service component of a school based mentoring partnership among Salish Kootenai College (SKC) nursing students, Two Eagle River School (TERS) students, and Lake County Big Brothers/Big Sisters. The learning component of the project for the SKC nursing students will be in the establishment of the mentoring relationship with a focus on the experience, application and reflection of the psychosocial components of the nursing curriculum. Penny Mary Hauser , nursing faculty at Salish Kootenai College, will facilitate the project entitled Qapsin Kin'ut - Building, Improving and Sustaining a School-Based Mentoring Community Project.
. Paula Kougl, Assistant Professor of Accounting at the University of Great Falls, worked with the Cascade County Retried and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) to match Intermediate Accounting students with RSVP seniors needing assistance with their day-to-day financial concerns. This Students and Seniors Financial Alliance project introduced students to the human side of accounting-client services. Since textbooks generally address the technical side of accounting, this project helped prepare students in their non-technical skills.
. Marvin Lansverk , English Professor at Montana State University-Bozeman served as a Mentoring Fellow in 2001-2002. In addition to serving as a consultant for the Faculty Fellows, he also worked on two service learning projects of his own. Sharing Wisdom, Sharing Stories is a continuation of his 2000-2001 project The Wisdom of Many: Myth, Storytelling and the Power of the Word, where students in his upper division Mythology class performed community storytelling as they studied world mythology. In addition, Dr. Lansverk initiated a service learning project in his history of literary criticism and theory course, where students worked with a variety of public service agencies in Bozeman in the role of public scholars.
. Rural school students in southwest Montana in collaboration with Suzanne Shope and elementary education students at The University of Montana - Western investigated the history and making of public art. Serving Accreditation Needs in Enrichment and Library for Rural Schools is guided by the accreditation needs of the rural schools in library and enrichment. Students from the rural schools attend classes on campus instructed by education students and supervised by faculty as part of their practice teaching. As a culminating project, a permanent original public sculpture designed by the Western students and the rural school students will be installed in the Rural Technology Building on the campus of The University of Montana - Western.
. Dr. Clara Beier , professor of Education at Western Montana College of The University of Montana, supported the expansion of an existing after-school tutoring program in Dillon. This program linked teachers-in-training with local school children who required reading tutors.
. Dr. Curtis Bobbitt , professor in the School of History, Language, and Literature at the University of Great Falls , took service-learning to a new arena for Montana and higher education nationally. He used the pedagogy in his "Writing Strategies" class on-site at UGF and in the distance learning section of the course. Both groups of students used the writing skills they developed in the course to assist local nonprofit agencies with their individual communications needs. Additionally, Dr. Bobbitt served as The Montana Campus Compact's distinguished Senior Fellow for the 1999-2000 academic year.
. Ms. Peg Brownlee , R.Ph., Director of the Pharmacy Technology Program at The University of Montana, College of Technology brought together local elementary schools, pharmacy and pharmacy technician students, the City-County Health Department, and local pharmacists acting as mentors to the college students. The Safety Zone engaged all of the above in home safety checks, poison prevention presentations in schools, and medication counseling referrals for the public. Ms. Brownlee, a licensed pharmacist, presented a model for service-learning in pharmacy education to professional faculty nationally, as well as directed the production of two videos related to the project.
. Dr. Suzanne Christopher , Health and Human Development, Montana State University-Bozeman .
As part of an upper-division health and human development course, Dr. Christopher's students developed program plans to address both adolescent pregnancy and low childhood immunization rates in Gallatin County.
. Ms. Lori Falcon , instructor in the Blackfeet Studies Department at Blackfeet Community College , implemented a project to develop a multi-media center to develop educational materials for the local schools and community. She taught a course for college students at BCC called "Blackfeet Multi-Media Development" which included creative production of media and Blackfeet language acquisition. The partner organization was Heart Butte School, where college students worked to produce curriculum materials to teach elementary school children the native Blackfeet language.
. Ms. Cindy Garthwait , Social Work, The University of Montana-Missoula .
Professor Garthwait utilized her fellowship to teach a course on aging that involved her students researching the various factors enabling older people to thrive. Students interviewed nursing home residents in Missoula and helped develop an assessment model which assists nursing home professionals in identifying and understanding the difficulties facing these residents.
. Armed with the philosophy that teaching someone else to perform a task reinforces concepts and task mastery for the one doing the teaching, Dr. Kirsten Graham , faculty member in the Business-Computer Technology Program at Helena College of Technology of The University of Montana , created the Agency Outreach Project for her "Personal Computer Configuration" courses. Students learning to maintain and troubleshoot problems in personal computers put their knowledge and skills to work for nonprofit agencies in the Helena area. Up to 100 students provided service from her classes.
. Dr. Chris Gray , Computer Science, University of Great Falls .
Professor Gray provided his services to the Guardian Ad Litem program of Great Falls, which supplies court-appointed volunteers to advocate for children whose custody is being determined by the legal system. He upgraded their computer system, designing and managing a web page and providing training to employees and volunteers.
. Dr. Robert Golembiewski , Plant, Soil and Environmental Sciences, Montana State University-Bozeman . Dr. Golembiewski taught three horticulture classes that involved students renovating dilapidated Bozeman municipal athletic fields. The students designed landscape, irrigation and maintenance plans for the fields as well as taught local volunteers how to properly maintain the fields.
. Dr. Deborah C. Haynes , Health and Human Development, Montana State University-Bozeman .
This project involved the development of a one-credit seminar for college students interested in becoming county agents. Students received training in how to be 4-H club organization leaders. During the class, students were matched with local 4-H leaders to gain club-level experience.
. Ms. Karen Kaufman, Drama/Dance, The University of Montana-Missoula
This project involved teaching dancers to lead dance classes across Montana for people with disabilities. As part of a UM course entitled "Teaching Dance for the Disabled," students performed for a special education class for emotionally disturbed children in Missoula.
. Ms. Sandra Kuntz , professor in the Nursing Department at Salish Kootenai College , created the Quapsin Kin"uit: Two Eagle River School Youth Asset Building and Mentoring project. This project was conceived as a long-term service relationship and friendship between the nursing department at SKC and Two Eagle River School. The nursing program helped the community school address positive decision making on healthy lifestyle issues facing Native American children.
. Dr. Bill Macgregor , Professional/Technical Communications, Montana Tech of The University of Montana
Greening the Hill was a project designed to restore lost vegetation in uptown Butte by planning community gardens and greenhouse space and creating neighborhood-based greenspace coalitions. Dr. Macgregor's scientific and technical writing course students helped jump-start the process by compiling data relevant to the project and filing reports with the assistant director of planning for Butte Silver Bow city/county government.
. Dr. Julie E. Maloney, Education, Western Montana College of The University of Montana
Elementary education majors in Dr. Maloney's "Elementary Integrated Methods" course worked with rural school teachers, elementary students and faculty to research the topic of rivers and apply their knowledge to an eight-week teaching unit for K-8th grades.
. Dr. Marian McKenna , Education, The University of Montana-Missoula
This project was designed to expand Dr. McKenna's existing service-learning project, which involved her students providing literacy services in the Missoula community. As part of an upper-division course in education, students took what they had learned volunteering in the community one step further by developing a service-learning teaching unit for high school students.
. Dr. Sheila Roberts , Environmental Sciences, Western Montana College of The University of Montana
Students in Dr. Sheila Robert's "Rocks, Minerals and Resources" course constructed a rock garden in a Dillon community park using representative samples of rocks in Southwestern Montana, one from every major geologic time period. The park was very well received by the Dillon community.
. Mr. Josh Slotnick , Environmental Sciences, The University of Montana-Missoula
Josh Slotnick was a visiting instructor in the Program in Ecological Agricultural and Society (PEAS). PEAS combines traditional classroom learning with hands-on experience working on a farm that produces food for low-income people. Students from across the disciplines learned about sustainable agriculture and food systems.
. A psychologist and gerontologist, Dr. Lee Stadtlander of the Psychology Department at Montana State University-Bozeman engaged in a professional partnership with the Springmeadows Retirement and Assisted Living Community. She used her expertise in age-related changes in memory and cognition to help the Community and to complete two research papers. Her students tested volunteer residents' memory and cognitive abilities and constructed a testing kit requested by the Community's staff.
. The basis of an on-going partnership with the UM and the Women's Opportunity and Resource Development agency, the homeWORD project began in 1999. Students in Dr. Ryan Tolleson Knee's "Social Work Research Methods" course at The University of Montana-Missoula conducted a neighborhood survey to determine residents' needs for childcare, housing and transportation. It is anticipated that Social Work students in future years will also have the opportunity to be part of this large, exciting community project.
. Dr. Judy Ulrich , Fine Arts, Western Montana College of The University of Montana
Professor Ulrich taught a new course called Youth Drama Leadership. Education and liberal arts students designed and directed community-based drama activities for teenagers in a year-round workshop that focuses on real-life issues.
. Dr. Jennifer Vadeboncouer , Education, Montana State University-Bozeman
Professor Vadeboncouer's project paired teachers-in-training with students who have been labeled "at-risk" at the Bridger Alternative School in Bozeman. The education students served as mentors and tutors to the high school students while gaining valuable experience in a culturally diverse classroom.
. Dr. Vicki Watson , Environmental Sciences, The University of Montana-Missoula
Professor Watson and her students provided technical assistance to watershed protection groups around Montana. Professor Watson, along with students, faculty and community groups, developed a web page that includes a watershed protection training manual, databases of resources for citizen monitors and activists, and service opportunities for students.
About Service-Learning for Faculty
What is Service-Learning?
Service-learning is a teaching method which combines genuine community service with rigorous academic learning as it focuses on critical, reflective thinking and civic responsibility. Service-learning programs involve students in organized community service that addresses local needs while developing students' academic skills, sense of civic responsibility, and commitment to the community.
Students participating in service-learning develop:
- A reduction of negative stereotypes and an increase in tolerance for diversity
- Greater self knowledge
- Greater spiritual growth
- Increased ability to work with others
- Increased leadership skills
- Increased feelings of being connected to a community
- Increased connection to the college experience through closer ties to students and faculty
- Increased reported learning and motivation to learn
- Deeper understanding of subject matter
- Deeper understanding of the complexity of social issues
- Increased ability to apply material learned in class to real problems
(from Where's the Learning in Service-Learning by Janet Eyler and Dwight E. Giles)
For the answers to questions such as "What are the five important characteristics of service-learning?" "Why should faculty do service-learning?" and "How do faculty make service-learning work?" be sure to check out the comprehensive service learning site from the University of Colorado-Boulder
Click here to find out whom you can contact at your campus for more information about how you can incorporate service-learning into your classes. [will link to faculty affiliates list in "Members" section] And be sure to check the "Sites for faculty and others interested in service-learning" section on the MTCC Links webpage
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