Mere weeks after the University received the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, a handful of enthusiastic professors and administrators met to discuss the expansion of service-learning courses.The University’s curriculum of service-learning classes has grown from four courses to 146 courses with 2,700 students enrolled across 35 departments — growth that will continue if the Office of Equity, Diversity & Community Outreach has their way. Service-learning courses have a component that is done to benefit the outside community, courses like COMD 4382 (Language Disorders of Children) and DSM 2010 (Fundamentals of Emergency Management).Professors and administrators including Jinx Broussard, Russ Carson, S. Kim MacGregor and Jan Shoemaker met Thursday afternoon to discuss the benefits, implementation and response to service-learning courses.The workshop, “The Power of Service-Learning in Teaching Social Justice,” was the first in a three-part Spring Faculty Enrichment Series hosted by the Office of Equity, Diversity & Community Outreach. This is the third year of the series, something Katrice Albert said faculty members appreciate.Albert, vice provost of the Office of Equity, Diversity & Community Outreach, said the forum gave about 20 curious members of the campus community the opportunity to ask their questions about service-learning courses.Broussard, mass communication professor, said the service-learning component of her upper-level course enabled her to witness changes in many of her students.
“By the end of the semester, they have grown so much,” Broussard said. “They come back at the end of the semester hugging the client, hugging me [and] crying.”Carson, kinesiology professor, said the service-learning component of his course helps future teachers to become more comfortable with diversity in the classroom.”I want my students to feel like they are culturally competent,” Carson said. “Our school populations are getting more and more diverse everyday.”The second workshop, entitled “Stopping the Tenure Clock: Balancing Academy and Family,” will be March 16 at 3 p.m., and the final workshop, entitled “Preparing Diverse Scholars for Diverse Experiences: Mentoring Doctoral Students,” will be April 20 at 3 p.m.—-Contact Lindsey Meaux at [email protected]