CA Newsletter Template – Community Affairs

summer 2022 newsletter

After a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Division of Community Affairs resumed its New Faculty Community Engagement Tour, connecting University faculty, staff, graduate students and community members across various counties in the Black Belt region, Wednesday through Friday, May 11–13.

“What I discovered with these tours, with our work and just with life in general, is that most people want to do things that make life better for someone else,” said Dr. Samory Pruitt, vice president for the Division of Community Affairs. “Our purpose for these tours is part of the mission of The University of Alabama … to seek to improve the quality of life for folks in Alabama and beyond.”

Each day, faculty, staff and graduate students traveled by bus to a new area of the Black Belt and listened to panels of community leaders highlighting areas for collaboration in community-engaged scholarship. On the first day, tour attendees visited Walker, Pickens and Tuscaloosa counties. The second day included stops in Greene, Sumter and Hale counties. The tour concluded on Friday, May 13 with stops in Perry, Clarke and Dallas counties.

At each stop, panelists debated on the challenges facing rural communities in the Black Belt, such as the “brain drain” and areas for improving access to healthcare, education, and economic growth. Panelists also encouraged attendees to consider the economic impact of investing their educational skills into rural communities.

“Part of being educated is sharing that knowledge,” said Jeffrey Artis, a local business owner and one of the panelists in York. “It does no good to put a million dollars in a jar and never spend it to put back into the community. That knowledge that you’re getting at The University of Alabama is that millions of dollars. You have to take it out and invest it to get more back.”

Thinking of ways to invest their knowledge, students participating in the tour expressed their eagerness to engage in reciprocal partnerships with communities.

“I’m on this tour because I want to further my learning opportunities, my learning experiences,” said Anika Ames, a student assistant in the Crossroads Civic Engagement Center. “It doesn’t just stop for me with graduation on Saturday. It continues with experiences like these.”

“One thing I have learned from these tours and working with the CCBP (Center for Community-Based Partnerships) is that community is how far your reach goes,” said Zahkeira Brown, a CCBP graduate assistant. “It’s not just the people around you.”

Visit website here.

Swim to the Top blurb here.

Thinking of ways to invest their knowledge, students participating in the tour expressed their eagerness to engage in reciprocal partnerships with communities.

Visit website here.

STEM Camp blurb here.

Thinking of ways to invest their knowledge, students participating in the tour expressed their eagerness to engage in reciprocal partnerships with communities.

Visit website here.

BLAST Academy blurb here.

Thinking of ways to invest their knowledge, students participating in the tour expressed their eagerness to engage in reciprocal partnerships with communities.

Visit website here.

From the Division of Community Affairs

Alabama Fulbright Association Selects Dr. Beverly Hawk for Lifetime Achievement Award. Learn more.

Beverly Hawk, director of Global and Community Engagement, Hawk is the recipient of the Alabama Fulbright Association Chapter’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She is the first person to receive the award, which recognizes her many contributions and years of service to the Fulbright mission of mutual understanding through international educational exchange. She announced her retirement from the University and the Division of Community Affairs on May 13. Since she was hired in 2012, Hawk has directed Global Café and advised Fulbright applicants. Under her leadership, UA has won national recognition as a Fulbright Student Top Producer five of the last seven years. A total of 108 students have received Fulbright awards during her tenure.

UA Students Receive U.S. Fulbright Program Awards for 2022–2023. Learn more.

The Fulbright Program has selected 18 University of Alabama students for various awards for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Lane McLelland, director of the Crossroads Civic Engagement Center, is leading a collaborative research project with colleagues at C&IS and the University of Georgia to study the post-graduate impact of undergraduate participation in dialogue-based courses.

Jackson Harris, assistant director of the Crossroads Civic Engagement Center, presented political communication research and civic education strategies at the International Communication Association conference in Paris on May 26–30.
He also traveled to Perry and Walker Counties to help facilitate learning for UA students engaged in community-based learning experiences. This includes the Honors College’s University Fellows Experience and New College’s Jean O’Connor-Snyder Internship Program.

Lane McClelland and Jackson Harris presented several lines of research at the Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement conference in Minneapolis June 21–24.
Lane has been serving on the national steering committee for this conference.

Sam Robson is interning at Crossroads this summer through New College's Levitetz Summer Internship Scholarship.
He represented the Crossroads at Bama Bound sessions throughout the summer and is working on student voting resources for the 2022 election season.

Crossroads hosted summer workshops, delivering CIVshop modules to a wide range of partners including the College of Continuing Studies, Student Government Association, Bryant Conference Center staff and undergraduate research program in engineering.

up and coming

August 20 Neighborhood Partnership Committee Meeting

September 8 Council on Community-Based Partnership Meeting

September 15 United Way Campaign Kickoff

September 19–22 Engagement Scholarship Consortium

October 4 Realizing the Dream Lecture Series

October 23–25 Board of Advisors Fall Meeting

November 18 United Way Campaign Celebration