OACS Update
Redefine
The Redefine student cohort met for their second seminar last Tuesday, February 9th. OACS and ISSS staff are excited to lead these 13 students through the immersive service-learning curriculum in partnership with the Nashville Food Project as we engage with issues of social justice, community service, and cross-cultural relationship building. Read more on the website.
Center for Latin American Studies
On February 10th OACS collaborated with the Center for Latin American Studies, Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health, and Global Support Services to provide a special educational overview for students traveling for service projects to Central America over spring or summer breaks, in particular Alpha Epsilon Delta, AMIGOS, Global Brigades, Alternative Spring Break, Manna Project International, and Volunteers Around the World. The presentation covered a general overview of the peoples, history, and politics of Central America; challenges in access to health care, education, and development; and food and travel safety recommendations. Special thanks to Avery Dickins-Giron, Ted Fischer, and Doug Morgan for contributing to this learning opportunity for students!
Nichols Humanitarian Fund
38 students have been selected to receive the Nichols Humanitarian Fund to pursue projects during the summer of 2016. The award will enable students to work with communities on humanitarian efforts including human rights, public health, immigrant rights, early childhood education, and environmental sustainability. The average GPA of the student recipients is 3.75, and the countries where they will serve include Denmark, Ecuador, England, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Morocco, Peru, Russia and South Africa.
Past recipients of the Nichols Humanitarian Fund have shared how the award enabled them to pursue life-changing service and global immersion opportunities. 2015 recipient Daria Burstell wrote, “I learned the incredibly important lesson that we are all people, no matter how cultural differences may divide us. I also got a small taste of how large the world outside the United States is, compelling me to explore and to reach even further outside of my comfort zone, something that would not have been possible without the Nichols fund.”
Congratulations to the outstanding 2016 recipients of the Nichols Humanitarian Fund awards!
MHS 3890
Students in MHS 3890, a partnership with Medicine, Health and Society and OACS and co-taught by Dr. JuLeigh Petty, Erika Larson and Dr. Clive Mentzel, are beginning their immersive service experience with five local community partners. CRIT (Center for Refugees + Immigrants of Tennessee), NICE (Nashville International Center for Empowerment), Let’s Play, Catholic Charities and World Relief are hosting one to four students for six hours per week until April. Preparatory work for the immersive component saw students being guided through lectures from community partners, discussions with a refugee panel, and a cultural sensitivity training. They have also been reading about the many obstacles that recently resettled individuals and families face. Each student will reflect on their experience through writing pieces and a final gap analysis to be presented to the broader Vanderbilt community.
President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll
The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll is a nationally renowned program that recognizes a select number of post-secondary institutions that embody the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities. For the past five years, Vanderbilt has been honored to be a part of this prestigious list of post-secondary institutions. This year, however, our goal is to be presented the President’s Award, which is granted to the top five universities on the Honor Roll. The distinction between the Honor Roll and the President’s Award is based primarily on the quality of detailed data collected from faculty and staff. A successful application must reflect effective partnerships and articulate the roles played by non-profit partners, students, faculty, staff, and other interested community members in supporting community service efforts, both qualitatively and statistically.
The Office of Active Citizenship and Service will guide this effort at both the undergraduate and graduate levels by collecting data and narratives from academic and co-curricular departments regarding programs, classes, and organizations that engage in community service, service-learning, and service immersions. In doing so, we hope to highlight more fully the University’s strong commitment to community service in all areas of its work.
Participation in our data collection endeavor is truly appreciated and is essential to giving Vanderbilt a competitive edge by highlighting the University’s efforts in the community. We look forward to uniting on behalf of the University’s service initiatives, and hope to celebrate our campus-wide community engagement activity by winning the President’s Award.