Fall 2008 Faculty Course Development Grant Winners

CONGRATULATIONS for the Fall 2008 Faculty Course Development Grant Recipients!

Professor Jacqueline Schneider, Military Justice in which our students will have the opportunity to work in our military justice system through engagement with the local military community and the opportunity for students to see firsthand the military justice system, the course will develop and sustain the following learning outcomes: analyze tenets of the US military justice system; demonstrate a knowledge of the military justice process; identify the origins of governmental authority over the military; identify constitutional rights and responsibilities of the military in relation to its members, citizens, aliens, combatants, and non-combatants; understand the philosophy and foundations of military justice and the Uniform Code of Military Justice; analyze application of the Law of War in context of the Global War on Terrorism; explain the scope and sources of laws of armed combat; and analyze Supreme Court rulings regarding military tribunals and federal jurisdiction

Professor Melanie Riedinger-Whitmore, Environmental Issues in which each student in this exit course will do 16 hours of service with environmental non-profit or government agency. The Environmental Issues course will introduce undergraduate students to contemporary issues that have local, regional, and global impacts. The class will explore how these issues influence humans and the other organisms that inhabit our planet, and will consider how cultural, social, economic and political factors affect whether and how these issues are addressed. We will examine our own ecological footprints, individually and collectively, and explore how, as individuals and as a community, we can influence environmental policy, and reduce the impacts of these environmental problems. As part of the course requirements, students will volunteer their time in a non-profit or community group that is addressing local environmental issues. Throughout the semester, they will be asked to share with the class what they are learning from this experience, about themselves, about environmental advocacy, and about what such efforts can accomplish.

Professor Robert Dardenne, Beginning Reporting/Newswriting and Editing the grant will be used to support publishing student writing about their participation/service at community agencies Journalists, traditionally, have refrained from community involvement because of "conflict of interest" restrictions; that is, participating in the community as volunteers could be perceived as a "bias" when those journalists (or even their news organizations) reported on the community. However, since the middle 1990s, the influence of "community" or "civic" journalism has created somewhat more flexibility for reporters and community activity and some news organizations have encouraged it. Through a CCE grant, Bob Dardenne's reporting and writing class will practice journalism by engaging in an exercise of reporting on/writing about their community volunteer efforts. And, the class will publish its efforts online and in print. The Department of Journalism and Media Studies was created in the early 1990s on principles that later were incorporated into the national "civic journalism" movement and has since its inception stressed citizen-oriented reporting. This fall 08 class experiment will test some traditional journalistic boundaries at the same time it confirms some of the principles on which the program was founded.

Please check our website during the course of the semester for more information about these courses, including syllabi, photos, and more.

This brings to 13 the total number of new citizen scholar courses developed as a result of the Faculty Course Development Grant Program. Would you like to be number 14? Please note that you can now download the application for the SPRING 2009 Faculty Course Development Grant Application.

Deadline to apply is the Monday after Thanksgiving, December 1st. Winners will be notified by December 15th.

Have you been awarded Federal Work Study funds?

The Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) is recruiting Work Study students for the Fall 2008 semester. 

Work study responsibilities at the CCE include researching and writing applications to secure funds for USFSP civic engagement programs and initiatives, assisting in the compilation of data for USFSP Civic Engagement Inventory, organizing events such as the Faculty Development Workshop Series, expanding the Center’s faculty resources, and researching best practices of civic engagement programs.

The CCE will work with successful candidates to arrange a schedule that fits their needs and interests.  The CCE will work with students to ensure that this opportunity meets the Federal Work Study requirements.

If you haven’t been awarded a Federal Work Study Position, then contact the Office of Financial Aid in BAY 105 or call them at (727) 873-4128.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Center for Civic Engagement is to make USF St. Petersburg distinctive in its commitment to civic and community engagement through the development of the “Citizen Scholar” program.  The objective of the “citizen scholar” model is to combine academic instruction with implementation of concepts learned in the classroom into the local community. The “local community” is broadly defined to include business, educational, and social service agencies as well as the local “laboratories’ faculty use to further their research agendas. We envision that these types of experiential and service learning opportunities will become a feature in every academic program at USFSP.