Two significant recent announcements highlight the important role our college's faculty and students play in community service:
First, the Service-Learning Faculty Fellows program, founded by Speech Communications professor Dr. Richard Conville, has been awarded a MS Institutions of Higher Learning "Best Practices" award. The program, led by Conville, helps introduce faculty from across the university to the concept of Service Learning and helps them incorporate hands-on community service learning opportunities into their courses.
Second, two students in our American Humanics program, led by Assistant Professor of Sociology Dr. Ann Marie Kinnell, have been awarded Next Generation Nonprofit Leaders Program scholarships. These competitive awards recognize students for their prior service and help ensure that they can complete nonprofit internships and other requirements to earn certification under American Humanics.
The College dean's office has, as one of its four goals for 2007-2008, the creation of more opportunities for our students to gain valuable practical or hands-on experiences relevant to their academic or career goals. We've been pleased to offer modest financial support to American Humanics, and moral support to the Faculty Fellows program and to similar initiatives elsewhere. We are open to new ideas and new initiatives that can continue to move our college forward as a leader in experiential and service learning opportunities.