2014 CCBP ENGAGEMENT AWARDS PRESENTED APRIL 18

• April 25th, 2014
• in Spotlight

Dr. Jeffrey Parker, associate professor of psychology, chaired the Excellence in Engagement Awards Committee.

Excellence in Engagement by Faculty or Staff
Dr. Jennifer Campbell-Meier, assistant professor in Library and Information Studies is the principal investigator of STAPLE (Sustaining Training for Alabama Public Library Employees). Her research will enable managers without library degrees to be more successful. A three-year grant will enable Campbell-Meier and her colleagues Dr. Jaimee Naidoo and Dr. Jeff Weddle and their team to meet the training needs of Alabama’s public library managers.

Dr. Marcy Koontz, associate professor in the Department of Clothing, Textile and Interior is this university’s biggest promoter of awareness and uses of bamboo. Her project, Black Belt Bamboost, is building a public bamboo park with its partner, the Friends of Historic Northport. The park is designed to become an important community destination by offering a place of serenity, beauty, and culture by drawing residents and visitors. Other plans include an organic garden and best-practices exhibits for bamboo farming on a one-acre planting of timber bamboo.

Dr. John Higginbotham, Dr. Kim Bissell, and Ms. Felecia Jones are co-investigators in a three-year $800,000 grant to improve health and quality of life in the Alabama Black Belt. Their research team will focus on reducing obesity and create a training program to provide education and training to build community-based participatory research capacity among Black Belt residents.

Excellence in Engagement by Students
Brian McWilliams, an undergraduate in Biology, leads a team collecting medical supplies to go to third-world countries. Brian’s team connects local hospitals and health care facilities with groups working in underserved areas. As co-president of Advocates for World Health, Brian will organize the shipment of these supplies to nations such as Haiti and the Dominican Republic. On of his goals is to give back to the University that has given him so many opportunities, experiences and friendships.

Oliver K. Stoutner is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Management and Marketing. His research interest is in employee risk taking, both in general and within the the workplace. His research seeks to understand and prevent accidents, injuries and other losses in the workplace. He is seeking to develop interventions that will modify risk-taking behaviors and risk propensity for the benefit of employees, organizations, and stakeholders. He plans to submit a manuscript about his research to the Journal of Applied Psychology.

Student Engineers in Action (SEA), under the leadership of engineering faculty members Drs. Pauline and Philip Johnson, partnered with 57 Miles, an initiative created by the Honors College, to work with partners in Perry County to obtain a public gathering and performance space and secure greatly needed textbooks. Through partnering with teachers, making announcements to classes, and through mass emails, SEA was able to collect a classroom set of engineering textbooks for Francis Marion High School. Not only has the partnership with 57 Miles been successful in addressing needs of the entire community, but it is also successful in that students are walking away with a deepened understanding of the real world and real-life problems that can’t be learned in a textbook. SEA is working on plans to ensure the success of both the textbook drive and the Amphitheater Project, and other potential land-use projects.

Excellence in Engagement by Community Partners
Dr. John Dorsey, executive director of Project Horseshoe Farm, and Michael Lynch, the managing director, head a non-profit community organization in Greensboro whose mission is to serve communities by developing leadership of programs for children, seniors and adults with mental illness. Partnerships with UA, AU and UAB are part of this work. These leaders are demonstrating that by working together and sharing responsibility to help the vulnerable makes communities stronger..

Dr. Robert Halli and Dr. Jacqueline Morgan are teaching the values of service, leadership and intellectual growth as part of the 57 Miles project in Perry County. The title comes from the distance from Tuscaloosa to the Black Belt town of Marion in Perry County. Since 2009, the program has touched many aspects of life in the rural community, including parks, tourism, and economic development. Project 57 accomplishes its goals by inviting students to join with community leaders to discover each other’s true potential. Partners include Judy Martin, John Martin, Cathy Trimble, Francis Ford, and Chris Joiner.

Distinguished Achievement in Engagement Scholarship–Faculty
When she came to the University of Alabama, Dr. Karina E. Vasquez, assistant professor of Spanish, Modern Languages and Classics, brought with her instincts for helping the homeless and working in soup kitchens. At UA, she has incorporated community-based service-learning in her classes with the goal of helping Hispanic children appreciate the heritage and beauty of their native language. Her students are engaging in educational activities at the University’s Museum of Natural History such as conducting guided tours in Spanish. The museum staff has been so pleased with these tours they are planning to provide an internship so the tours can be conducted in Spanish year round.

Distinguished Achievement in Engagement Scholarship–Community Partner
Cindy Dixon is not just the graduation coach at Holt High School; she is also the school’s Beta Club sponsor and is a leader in several Holt community projects, including the highly regarded Holt Community Festival. At NOSC 2012 on the campus, Cindy conducted a pre-conference workshop on community partnerships for young scholars. Her commitment to getting youth involved in the community means working late hours and on weekends. She represents the best in community-university partnerships. Cindy Dixon, please come forward to accept your award for Distinguished Achievement in Engagement Scholarship by a community partner.

Distinguished Achievement in Engagement Scholarship–Student
Anna-Margaret Yarbrough, this year’s winner of the Distinguished Achievement in Engagement Scholarship by a UA student, will be a tough act to follow for future hopefuls for this award. Just being the graduate assistant for Al’s Pals mentoring program would be enough for some students, but Anna-Margaret has also made presentations at the two most recent annual engagement scholarship conferences, first here and then in Lubbock, Texas. The recipient of two UA Seed Grants for research, she published an article in JCES on how students can become involved in engagement scholarship.

2014 CCBP Awards Program Poster Presentations

• April 25th, 2014
• in Spotlight

(Dr. Angelia Paschal, associate professor of Health Science, was chair of the poster committee. Tommie Syx, CCBP, assisted.)

PRESENTERS
Carol Agomo, Community Affairs, with Antonio Gardner, graduate student, Community Affairs. Title: Saving Lives.

Emily Broman, Honors College. Title: Art to Life: Preservation of Personhood.

Jackie Brodsky, graduate student, Communication and Information Sciences. Title: Partnering with Community Agencies to Improve Information Access.

Douglas Craddock, graduate student, with Dr. Samory Pruitt, Carol Agomo, and Ms. Tommie Syx, all Community Affairs. Title: STEM Entrepreneurship Academy.

Christine Hackman, graduate student, and Hannah Priest, graduate student, Department of Health Science. Title: Holt Community Festival: Establishing a Community Partnership and Engaging an Underserved Community in Health Promotion Activities for Children.

Meaghan James, graduate student, with Dr. Angelia Paschal, Department of Health Science. Title: Partnering with Community Agencies to Address Health Literacy Issues among Parents of Children with Epilepsy.

Dr. Bronwen Lichtenstein, Department of Criminal Justice. Title: Ajani Groups: A Community-Based Project to Reduce HIV Stigma.

Dr. Sara McDaniel, College of Education. Title: TEAMS+ (Tuscaloosa Encouraging Adolescents through Mentoring and Support).

Dr. Melanie Miller, Center for Community-Based Partnerships. Title: SCOPE.

Dr. Michele Montgomery and Dr. Paige Johnson, Capstone College of Nursing. Title: Community-Engaged Scholarship: Meeting Nursing Clinical Requirements while Improving Community Health.

Dr. Heather Pleasants, Center for Community-Based Partnerships. Title: Parent Leadership Academy.

Adriane Sheffield, Educational Psychology. Title: West Side Scholars Academy: Building Rapport and Relationships with Community Members.

Tina Sheikhzeinoddin and Owen Killeen, Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. Title: Better Bamboo Bikes.

Tommie Syx, Center for Community-Based Partnerships, with Christopher Spencer, Center for Community-Based Partnerships. Title: AlabamaREAL (Real Entrepreneurship through Active Learning).

Calia A. Torres, graduate student supervised by Dr. Beverly Thorn, Department of Psychology. Title: A Community-University Partnership Investigates the Pain Experience of Hispanics Patients with Chronic Pain.

Fan Yang, graduate student, School of Social Work/Center for Community-Based Partnerships. Title: Heart Touch Program.

CCBP AWARDS LUNCHEON RESEARCH POSTERS

• April 25th, 2014
• in Spotlight

Dr. Angelia Paschal, associate professor of Health Science in the College of Human Environmental Sciences, was chair of this year’s Engagement Scholarship Poster Presentation Committee. She was assisted by Tommie Syx, Center for Community-Based Partnerships. The following 16 posters were displayed in Sellers Auditorium of the Bryant Conference Center on Friday, April 18, 2014.

Carol Agomo, Community Affairs, with Antonio Gardner, Graduate Student, Community Affairs.
Title – Saving Lives.

Emily Broman, Honors College. Title – Art to Life: Preservation of Personhood.

Jackie Brodsky, graduate student, Communication and Information Sciences.
Title – Partnering with Community Agencies to Improve Information Access.

Douglas Craddock, graduate student, with Dr. Samory Pruitt, Vice President of Community Affairs, Carol Agomo, Community Affairs, and Tommie Syx, Center for Community-Based Partnerships.
Title – STEM Entrepreneurship Academy.

Christine Hackman and Hannah Priest, graduate students, Department of Health Science.
Title – Holt Community Festival: Establishing a Community Partnership and Engaging an Underserved Community in Health Promotion Activities for Children.

Meaghan James, graduate student, with Dr. Angelia Paschal, Department of Health Science.
Title – Partnering with Community Agencies to Address Health Literacy Issues Among Parents of Children with Epilepsy.

Dr. Browen Lichtenstein, Department of Criminal Justice.
Title – Ajani Groups: A Community-Based Project to Reduce HIV Stigma.

Dr. Sara McDaniel, College of Education. Title – TEAMS+ (Tuscaloosa Encouraging Adolescents through Mentoring and Support).

Dr. Melanie Miller, Center for Community-Based Partnerships. Title – SCOPE.

Drs. Michele Montgomery and Paige Johnson, Capstone College of Nursing. Title – Community-Engaged Scholarship: Meeting Nursing Clinical Requirements While Improving Community Health.

Dr. Heather Pleasants, Center for Community-Based Partnerships. Title – Parent Leadership Academy.

Adriane Sheffield, Educational Psychology. Title – West Side Scholars Academy: Building Rapport and Relationships with Community Members.

Tina Sheikhzeinoddin, graduate student, and Owen Killeen, undergraduate student, Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. Title – Better Bamboo Bikes.

Tommie Syx and Christopher Spencer, Center for Community-Based Partnerships.
Title – AlabamaREAL (Real Entrepreneurship through Active Learning).

Calia A. Torres, graduate student supervised by Dr. Beverly Thorn. Title – A Community-University Partnership Investigates the Pain Experience of Hispanics Patients with Chronic Pain.

Fan Yang, graduate student, School of Social Work/Center for Community-Based Partnerships.
Title – Heart Touch Program.

Community Engagement Awards Luncheon Will Be Friday, April 18

• April 14th, 2014
• in News

By Kirsten J. Barnes
CCBP Graduate Assistant

The Division of Community Affairs will hold its Eighth Annual Center for Community-Based Partnerships Excellence in Community Engagement Awards Luncheon Friday, April 18, in Sellers Auditorium of the Bryant Conference Center. The luncheon will begin at 11:30 a.m., with the Fifth Annual Engaged Research Poster Presentation beginning at 10 a.m.

This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Katy Campbell, dean of the Faculty of Extension at the University of Alberta, Canada. Campbell, an active engaged scholar and member of the board of directors of the Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC), is an expert in learning and instructional design and faculty transformation. The University of Alberta will host ESC’s annual conference this year on Oct. 7–8 in Edmonton, Canada. UA hosted the ESC conference in 2012.

“We welcome Dr. Campbell to The University of Alabama,” said Dr. Samory T. Pruitt, Community Affairs vice president. “She will be this year’s host of our international Engagement Scholarship Consortium conference. We look forward to having our engaged scholars meet her and to learn from her university’s exceptional accomplishments in this field.”

Faculty/staff, students, and community partners will receive awards for projects that reflect excellence in community engagement. Individual faculty/staff, students and community partners will be recognized for distinguished work in this field.

“The projects and individuals we will honor on April 18 are at the heart of the mission of the Division of Community Affairs,” Pruitt said. “As we reapply for the five-year Carnegie Foundation’s Engaged Institution Classification, these initiatives will comprise a large part of our application.” UA received the Carnegie Engaged Institution recognition in 2008 and now must reapply.

The Community Affairs Division at UA was formed 10 years ago, and has been under Pruitt’s leadership since its inception. He also holds the position of vice president of the Board of Directors of the Engagement Scholarship Consortium and will assume the role of president in 2016.

One of the highlights of Friday’s luncheon will be the announcement of seed funds for research projects. The accepted applicants will receive amounts ranging from $2,000 to $5,000.

More than $200,000 in seed funding has been awarded since the program began in 2007, and scholars have turned those initial funds into research grants totaling nearly $3 million.

Research posters will reflect outstanding community-engaged scholarship. The emphasis of the poster will be on community-university partnerships and successful civic engagement practices.

Although the program is free and open to the public, attendees must preregister by calling or emailing the Division of Community Affairs at 205-348-8376 or community.affairs@ua.edu, respectively.

Expanded Elementary School Leadership Academy Announces Graduation Ceremony

• April 14th, 2014
• in News

By Kirsten J. Barnes
CCBP Graduate Assistant

The Parent Teacher Leadership Academy will host its graduation ceremony 6-8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 17 at the Hotel Capstone Ballroom, located at 320 Bryant Drive in Tuscaloosa.

Having launched the award-winning Parent Leadership Academy in 2007, The University of Alabama Division of Community Affairs built upon that success by creating a new program similar in nature but which incorporates another component of the school community – teachers. The PTLA expansion also includes the addition of parents from Alabaster, Lamar County, and Bessemer City School districts.

Dr. B. Joyce Stallworth, associate provost and professor of education at UA, is executive director of PTLA. She said the Teacher Leadership Academy (TLA), an offspring of the Parent Leadership Academy, came about after conversations with local school administrators, principals, teachers, past PLA participants. The inaugural class of the TLA included 24 teachers representing nine Tuscaloosa City and County elementary schools. Dr. Polly Moore, a retired school administrator who worked in both the Tuscaloosa City and County Schools, serves as the facilitator for the TLA.

“Our teacher academy was hugely successful,” said Stallworth. “The participating teachers worked diligently to design research-based family engagement practices specifically for their schools, and we are excited to celebrate their successes at the graduation ceremony. We started talking about what we could do to help parents be more engaged.” She added that becoming involved is not just the responsibility of parents, but schools also must create opportunities for involvement.

“It’s been an honor to work with each one of these teachers,” Moore said. “This ceremony is a really important way to acknowledge and celebrate all that teachers and parents continue to do to build strong family-school partnerships in their communities.”

Searching for existing parent-school partnership strategies, the group concluded that the most effective model is the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS), founded at Johns Hopkins University in 1996.

As a member of the network, the PTLA will use the NNPS framework, a research-based approach for organizing and sustaining excellent programs of family and community involvement with the goal of increasing student success. NNPS has accumulated three decades of research on parental engagement, family engagement and community partnerships, and that will be the model the TLA will follow, Stallworth said.

Implementation of the program locally means more teachers joining more parents to be trained to be school leaders and equipped with the skills necessary to improve public education.

UA’s program will help teachers involved improve skills to increase parent and family involvement; improve communication between teachers and parents; increase support for schools through community networks, partnerships, and grants; and ultimately increase opportunities for students to succeed.

Dr. Heather Pleasants, director of the original program when it was known as the Parent Leadership Academy and current facilitator of the PLA, said, “It’s especially exciting to see how the PTLA model has encouraged dialogue and action not only within each school, but across the five districts we currently serve. The PTLA lays the groundwork for a community of practice that parents and teachers can draw on as they implement activities designed to support students.”

The PTLA is a joint initiative of the Tuscaloosa City and County School Systems, UA’s Center for Community-Based Partnerships and UA faculty in the Colleges of Education and Human Environmental Sciences. The organization utilizes research–based practices to provide professional development to parent and teacher leaders who use their knowledge to support student achievement through strong family-school partnerships.
Parent Leadership Academy graduates are as follows:

• Tuscaloosa City Schools — Alaca Averette, Anthony Bolden, Nancy Boyd, Amy Duncan, Bridgette Eatman, Matthew Eatman, Corletta Hamlett, Angela Hunter, Erika Jones, Holly McCullum, Blair Plott, LaToya Shannon, Jennifer Underwood and Dianna William-Shaw.

• Tuscaloosa County Schools — Evonda Collins, Krista Collins, Cassie Davis, Donna Davis, Tesney Davis, Angela Dickey, Mandy Dockery, Kim Easterwood, Rachel Fairchild, Kristi Garcia, Tamara Gibson, Jamee Houston, Jill Hunt, Shana Milligan, Janice Smith, Larry Williams Jr. and Jeff Wyatt.

• Alabaster County Schools — Stephanie Caldarello and Karen South.

• Bessemer City Schools — Demeria Evans and Tenika Reaser.

• Lamar County Schools — Jason Burks and Kurt Hankins.

Teacher Leadership Academy graduates are as follows: Jennifer Ayers, Laura Bechtel, Mike Bissell, Amber Boozer, Janice Calvert, Joy Collins, Lauren Craddock, Natresa Crawford, Cindy Fisk, Ginger Goodwin, Celeste Hankins, Irene Harrell, Beth Hester, Lisa Hill, Kim Lark, Tracie Latham, Janie Missouri, Madeleine Pearce, Laurie Presley, Beth Ramey, Shalonda Reed, Jean Rykaczewski, Katie Todd and Mary Williams.

PLA graduate speakers will be Flatwoods Elementary School parents Cassie Davis and Jeff Wyatt. TLA graduate speakers will be Laura Bechtel, a Tuscaloosa Magnet Elementary School parent, and Madeleine Pearce, a Myrtlewood Elementary School parent.

For more information contact the Office of Community Affairs at community.affairs@ua.ed or 205-348-8376.

Holt Community Festival Scheduled for Saturday, April 12

• April 3rd, 2014
• in News

Dr. Jonathan Holloway of Yale University Is the 2014 Realizing the Dream Distinguished Lecturer

• March 13th, 2014
• in News, Uncategorized

By Kirsten Barnes
Center for Community-Based Partnerships

TUSCALOOSA — Stillman College will host Yale University professor of history and African American studies Dr. Jonathan Holloway as the 2014 Martin Luther King Jr. Realizing the Dream Distinguished Lecturer, a project jointly sponsored by the Tuscaloosa Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Shelton State Community College, Stillman College, and The University of Alabama.

The lecture is the climax of a series of activities held on each campus throughout the day. The title of his lecture is The Right Kind of Family: Addressing the Silences in a Civil Rights Memory and will be held Tuesday, March 18, 7-8:30 p.m. in the College of Education Building on the Stillman College campus.

Holloway is professor of history, American studies and African-American studies, chair of African American studies, and master, Calhoun College at Yale University.

Holloway is author of Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America since 1940. He will address the audience about national racial issues and his own family’s experience. Holloway, who is in his 15th year at Yale, said his discussion will be based on part of his book, that evolved from a personal historical search of his own family and their Southern roots in North Carolina and Virginia.

“It’s part of a personal family story,” said Holloway, who was raised in Maryland, but lived in Montgomery, Ala., while his father studied at Maxwell Air Force Base when he was 5 and 6 years old. “That’s really where my memory begins. I don’t remember much at all before that time.”

In his book, Holloway discusses how African Americans struggle with remembering the past; therefore, many worthwhile stories, which are critical parts of their history, have been lost.

“The book deals with how African-Americans have told stories about their past; and in writing these stories I discovered my own family’s personal stories and I will weave some of those in the talk,” said Holloway, who published his first book, Confronting the Veil: Abram Harris, Jr., E. Franklin Frazier, and Ralph Bunche 1919-1941 in 2002.

Holloway’s lecture will be followed by questions from the audience and is open to the public.
The Realizing the Dream program began in 1990 at a time when many communities were just beginning to celebrate King’s legacy. Today, the program includes a concert, a legacy banquet and the lecture series.

“The Distinguished Lecture Series represents a critical component of our efforts to raise consciousness about injustice and to promote human equality, peace and social justice by creating educational and cultural opportunities for growth, empowerment and social change to enable every person to experience the bounty of life’s abundant possibilities,” said Dr. Linda R. Beito of Stillman College, chair of the Distinguished Lecture series.

In addition to Holloway’s presentation, there will be additional events on both campuses for students and faculty. For more information, contact UA’s Office of Community Affairs at 205-348-8376 or visit www.communityaffairs.ua.edu.

Call for Annual Awards Nominations and RFPs for Poster Presentations and Seed Funds

• February 21st, 2014
• in News

By Kirsten J. Barnes
Center for Community-Based Partnerships

The Division of Community Affairs has announced the schedule and deadlines for its annual awards program, awards nominations, seed funds proposals and poster presentation proposals.

For the eighth consecutive year, the Division of Community Affairs will host the Center for Community-Based Partnerships Excellence in Community Engagement Awards Luncheon. The date is Friday, April 18, beginning with poster presentations at 10 a.m., followed by the luncheon from 11:30 till 1 p.m.

This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Katy Campbell, dean of the Faculty of Extension at the University of Alberta, Canada. Campbell, an active engaged scholar who is a member of the board of directors of the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, is an expert in learning and instructional design and faculty transformation.

The Faculty of Extension at the University of Alberta has a mission “to provide leadership for social and individual betterment through community-university collaborations in learning, discovery and citizenship.”

There is no charge but attendees must RSVP to community.affairs@ua.edu or call 205-348-8376 by 5 p.m., Friday, April 11.

During the luncheon awards are given for individuals who have contributed to engagement scholarship in various ways. Nominations are currently being sought for the following categories:

• Excellence in Community Engagement, Faculty or Staff
• Excellence in Community Engagement, Student
• Excellence in Community Engagement, Community Partner
• Distinguished Community-Engaged Scholar, Faculty or Staff
• Distinguished Community-Engaged Scholar, Student
• Distinguished Community-Engaged Scholar, Community Partner

To nominate an individual for an award, to propose a seed funds project, to propose a poster presentation, or to register for the luncheon, go to http://communityaffairs.ua.edu/awards/. The deadline to submit a nomination or submit a proposal is 5 p.m., Monday, March 31.

One of the highlights of the luncheon will be announcement of seed funds awarded for research projects. Applications are being sought for awards varying in amounts from $2,000 to $5,000. More than $200,000 in seed funding has been awarded since the program began in 2007, and scholars have turned those initial funds into research grants totaling nearly $3 million.

“The programs that we celebrate on April 18 are at the heart of the mission of the Division of Community Affairs,” said Dr. Samory Pruitt, Community Affairs vice president. “As we reapply for the five-year Carnegie Foundation’s Engaged Institution Classification, these initiatives will comprise a large part of our application.” UA received the Carnegie Engaged Institution recognition in 2008.

Before the luncheon, CCBP will host the fifth annual Engaged Scholarship Poster Presentation at 10 a.m. in the Bryant Conference Center Lobby, as a precursor to the luncheon at 11:30 a.m.

Poster proposals are sought that reflect outstanding community-engaged scholarship. The emphasis of the poster should be on community-university partnership and successful civic engagement practices.

If you have questions about your nomination or proposal, contact the chairs of the various selection committees: Excellence in Community Engagement, Dr. Jeffrey Parker, associate professor of psychology, j.g.parker@ua.edu; Seed Funds, Dr. Laurie Bonnici, associate professor of library and information studies, lbonnici@slis.ua.edu; and Poster Presentations, Dr. Angelia Paschal, associate professor of health science, apaschal@ches.ua.edu.

As a member of the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, the University of Alberta will host ESC’s annual convention this year. UA was host of the same conference in 2012.

“When you come to this conference you are going to meet colleagues that see university community engagements in some different ways,” Campbell said of the conference to be held Oct. 7-8, 2014. “An international conference like this enriches you beyond what you can imagine.”

She said Edmonton, Canada, is the perfect place to host an international conference of this kind.

“We have the most parkland green space per capita in North America and it runs right along the river,” Campbell said. “We also have an incredible cultural scene in Edmonton. We have every kind of music that you can imagine… We’re very strong in ethnic food; practically every ethnicity that you can imagine is represented.”

Engaged Research Featured Prominently in 2014 Issue of Research

• February 20th, 2014
• in News

Becky Robinson
CCBP Graduate Assistant

The latest issue of The University of Alabama’s Research magazine contains many examples of engaged scholarship research, including many by CCBP Council members. Research is UA’s annual summary of cutting-edge research by University personnel and students.

Dr. Laurie Bonnici, associate professor of library and information studies and chair of the Community Affairs Seed Funds Committee, and Dr. Stephanie Maatta of Wayne State University collaborated on a project that gives researchers and students the ability to experience technology from the perspective of a person with disabilities.

“Users experience first-hand the barriers modern information technology devices pose for access,” Bonnici told Research.

The project is in its third year of funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and Bonnici hoped the project would soon be available in school library media centers.

Dr. John C. Higginbotham, Dr. Kim Bissell and Felecia Jones have partnered in an attempt to reduce obesity in the Black Belt region with an $80,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health. Higginbotham and Jones are members of the CCBP Council. Bissell is associate dean for research in the College of Communication and Information Sciences. Her research includes teens and body image perception and how media portray obese children. Higginbotham, a veteran translational science researcher with emphasis on rural health issues, is associate dean for Research and Health Policy for the College of Community Health Sciences and director of the College’s Institute of Rural Health Research. Jones is executive director of the Black Belt Community Foundation,

University of Alabama physicians Dr. Daniel M. Avery Jr. and Dr. John T. McDonald Jr. are concerned about the declining number of family practitioners who offer maternity care in rural Alabama. As of 2012, they found that only about 10 percent of doctors were practicing obstetrics. “Half of the counties in the United States have no OB provider,” Avery told Research. “That leaves some ten million women in the reproductive stage with no local access to OB services.”

According to Avery, there are many reasons for the lack of obstetric care in rural areas, including OB/GYN-related law suits, the stress of adding OB/GYN to an already heavy patient load, and the financial strain on small hospitals.

But it is in the best interests for all hospitals and rural practitioners to offer OB/GYN services, Avery said, “because having family medicine physicians do obstetrics is the only answer for addressing the obstetrics need in rural Alabama.”

CCBP Reviews Carnegie Reaffirmation and SACS Renewal Steps; Sets Plans for Excellence in Engaged Scholarship Awards Program

• February 20th, 2014
• in News

By Kirsten J. Barnes
CCBP Graduate Assistant

On February 12, the Council for the Center for Community-Based Partnerships discussed several upcoming events and deadlines, including the Carnegie reclassification application and updates on the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) renewal process and 2014 Entrepreneurship Week events.

The Council also heard details of the upcoming Excellence in Engaged Scholarship Awards nominations, seed funding applications and poster presentation proposals.

The eighth annual Awards Luncheon will be held at 11:30 a.m., Friday, April 18 in Sellers Auditorium of the Bryant Conference Center, following Research Poster Presentations in the lobby that begins at 10 a.m.

The Center for Community-Based Partnerships will accept award nominations, poster presentation proposals and seed fund application until 5 p.m. Monday, March 31, 2014. The deadline to register to attend the awards luncheon is Friday, April 11. (For more details and to participate in these events, click on http://communityaffairs.ua.edu/awards/)

Dr. Jeffrey Parker, associate professor of psychology and research social scientist at the Institute for Social Science Research, is chair of the awards committee. Dr. Angela Paschal, associate professor in the College of Human Environmental Sciences, chairs the poster presentation committee. Dr. Laurie Bonnici, associate professor in the School of Library and Information Studies, serves as chair of the seed funds committee.

“Dr. Bonnici got one of our earlier seed funds awards, and has actually turned it into external funding support,” said Dr. Samory T. Pruitt, vice president of Community Affairs, about selecting her to serve as chair of the seed funds committee. “That’s really what we want.”

Pruitt said this year the committees are pressed for time because of the weather delays. “With the snow and the holidays, it’s a tight deadline,” Pruitt said. “But we’re going to do all we can to get the information out. We want award nominations; we want poster presentations; we want applications for this year’s seed funding. We can’t give it away if we don’t have any applicants.”

Dr. Katy Campbell, dean of the Faculty of Extension at the University of Alberta, Canada, will be the keynote speaker. The University of Alberta will host ESC this year in Canada. “The awards program is early, but it’s probably going to fill up quickly. If you want to make sure you have a seat at the banquet, go ahead and RSVP,” Pruitt said. Those wanting to attend should RSVP by 5 p.m. April 11 at community.affairs@ua.edu or call 205-348-8376.

During the November Council meeting, the group had discussed UA’s Carnegie reclassification application and some of last year’s recipients of the C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Award and the Most Visible Progress National Degree Completion Awards.

“In November, one of the things that we talked about was the University possibly moving forward and applying for awards in the upcoming year,” Pruitt said. “One of the awards is given to people who work in the area of economic development and innovation. So, Dr. Carl Pinkert, our new vice president of research, is chairing a team that will submit an application.”

Last year, Community Affairs submitted its Parent Leadership Academy for its Magrath application. Pruitt said the committee might resubmit the program because during the past 12 months, UA has expanded the program to include parents and teachers.

“We have more of a research framework. So, we may revisit that,” Pruitt said. “We do have a Magrath application that we will send.”

This year the PLA program has partnered with Johns Hopkins University and Pruitt believes that collaboration, as well as a new research model, will make the new application for the Magrath award stronger.

The Magrath Award is given by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. Last year, APLU presented a new award, the Most Visible Progress National Degree Completion Award. “It is given to institutions which have done an outstanding job of recruiting and retaining underrepresented students,” Pruitt said. The award last year went to Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Dr. Elva Bradley, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, will put together an application for the MVP Award, Pruitt said. All of the award applications are up for discussion, he said, and he was bringing these ideas to the council so that its members could provide suggestions on programs and projects, which would make good applications.

Pruitt also gave details on Community Affairs’ application for the Carnegie classification. The reaffirmation will require updates as well as the university’s explanation of what it has done that is new and different since the first application, how it has grown, and how has the culture of engaged scholarship has grown at UA, Pruitt said.

Pruitt cited the work of Dr. Ed Mullins, director of research and communication at CCBP, and Dr. David Francko, dean of the Graduate School, that identified various engaged scholarship projects conducted by faculty at UA since 2007. Their work clearly shows an increase in these types of research initiatives.

“Sixty-one tenure team track faculty have been involved in engaged scholarship activities since 2007,” Pruitt said, quoting from the findings by Mullins and Francko. “That includes publications, presentations, grants and awards. Over that same time period six out of our thirteen deans have been actively involved in engagement scholarship.”

A preliminary survey by Mullins entitled “Engagement Scholarship at The University of Alabama: A Summary” shows that since 2007 42 UA disciplines and organizations have conducted engagement scholarship projects. In all, the survey turned up more than 150 examples of engaged scholarship. The organizations/disciplines with the largest number of projects were Community Affairs, Communication, Education, Engineering, New College, and Social Work, all with 10 or more instances of published research, conference presentations, or grants received.

Mullins said he would ask for updates of his finding soon, as some scholars did not respond to his request for their work. Pruitt asked the group to review the list and to send any additional information concerning other projects to Mullins at emullins@bama.ua.edu.

Additional presentations were heard concerning UA’s SACS reaffirmation project and the 2014 Entrepreneurship Week events. “We have a good team putting together the SACS information and we expect to have a strong reaffirmation application,” Pruitt said.

This is the eighth year that UA will celebrate Entrepreneurship Week, said Tommie Syx, who works with UA’s Alabama REAL (Real Entrepreneurship through Active Learning). This years week, will feature four events, two of which will be held at The Edge, UA’s small business incubator.

On February 25, there will be a Lunch & Learn: Crowd Funding Workshop from 12-1 p.m. at The Edge, followed by a Start-Up Talks event from 5-7 p.m. at Black Warrior Brewing. On February 26 there will be Entrepreneur Speakers from 5-6:30 p.m. at the Ferguson Center Theater. Speakers will be Michael Rosato, of Finn Apparel, Brian Adams, of BA Interests, and Edward K. Aldag Jr. of Medical Properties Trust.

In addition to these presentations, Dr. George Daniels, associate professor and assistant dean in the College of Communication and Information Sciences, reviewed progress in the Oakdale Elementary School journalism project, which led to two articles, one of them by the elementary school students, in a recent issue of the Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship. Daniels, who, with the assistance of other UA faculty and students, as well as some from Stillman College, helped the students produce the newspaper, said the paper is now self-sustaining and no longer relies on outside assistance.