FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, February 13, 2007
CONTACT: Elizabeth Fischtziur - (425) 352-3636 - efischtziur@uwb.edu
BOTHELL, Wash. - The University of Washington Bothell has been named to the President's Higher Education Community Service 2007 Honor Roll for its leadership in a variety of community-based service learning projects.
Launched in 2006, the Community Service Honor Roll is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement. Honorees for the award were chosen based on a series of selection factors including scope and innovativeness of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service, and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.
"There is no question that the universities and colleges who have made an effort to participate and win the Honor Roll award are themselves being rewarded," said American Council on Education President David Ward. "Earning this distinction is not easy. But now each of these schools will be able to wear this award like a badge of honor."
The Honor Roll was created to recognize students, faculty, and staff for helping to build a culture of service and civic engagement in the nation. It is jointly sponsored by the Corporation, through its Learn and Serve America program, and the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps, and the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. In total, 391 schools were recognized and a full list is available at www.nationalservice.gov.
Community-based service learning and scholarship is a hallmark of the UW Bothell experience as it provides high-quality service learning experiences for students that integrate in-class knowledge and meaningful engagement within community institutions. This year UW Bothell received the Honor Roll award for its service in a number of projects, including:
Space Huskies
Space Huskies provides hands-on learning experiences for fifth and sixth graders based on a joint NASA and National Endowment for the Arts curriculum. UW Bothell students serve as team leaders for groups of elementary school students during scheduled weekend workshops or in weekly classroom sessions, creating imaginative elements of a Mars community, based on real science. The program, directed by Becky Reed Rosenberg and Kam Yee, through the UW Bothell Teaching and Learning Center, teaches writing, researching, problem-solving, communication, and teamwork. Recent community partners include Woodinville Elementary and 826 Seattle.
Restoration Ecology Network
The UW Restoration Ecology Network (UW-REN) offers a 9-month Senior Capstone for UW Bothell students. In this capstone, students of different academic backgrounds from across the tri-campus UW system work together to complete a local restoration project. Teams of students, working with Associate Professor Warren G. Gold, learn how to plan, design, install, and monitor a restoration project while working with a real client in the surrounding community. Recent community partners include Tacoma Community College, the City of Shoreline, and the recently-established Snoqualmie Tribe.
Northshore Family Center
The programs of the Northshore Family Center are grounded in family support principles and focus on early learning, school readiness and success, after school opportunities for children and youth, parent support and skill-building, and community networks and capacity-building. Elizabeth Thomas, an assistant professor at UW Bothell, serves on the center's leadership board and as the UW Bothell liaison to the project. Many of her courses have an integrated service learning component, and many of her students have worked with the NFC over the years-donating 20 hours over one quarter to the center as part of their coursework. Most recently, Dr. Thomas's Fall 2006 Senior Seminar engaged in participatory research to develop program evaluation tools and techniques beneficial in supporting and sustaining three key projects at the NFC: Service Learning Youth, a youth leadership program; the Indoor Play Park; and After School Programs for School-Aged Youth.
Tent City 4
Building on ongoing collaboration between UW Bothell and Tent City 4 (TC4), a semi-permanent homeless encampment in the Seattle suburbs run through democratic self-governance, a group of UW undergraduates-mentored by UW Bothell faculty member Ron Krabill-undertook a community collaborative research project as part of UW's annual Summer Institute in the Arts and Humanities. Students worked closely with residents of TC4 and other stakeholders (including opponents of TC4) to construct both an art installation and a documentary film that resist typical depictions of people experiencing homelessness while exploring the multiple, contradictory meanings of community, home and neighbor. The installation and film will be displayed at the annual fundraising dinner that generates the bulk of the funds for operating TC4. More importantly, both items will be used to provide education for communities in which TC4 is about to be located.
Juanita Elementary Literacy Project
For the past two years, the UW Bothell Education Program's teacher certification core literacy courses have been taught on-site at Juanita Elementary in Kirkland, which has provided a laboratory for UW Bothell teacher candidates to put into immediate practice theoretical constructs discussed in the courses.
This arrangement, led by Associate Professor Nancy Place, has provided benefits for UW Bothell teacher candidates, as well as Juanita Elementary School students and teachers, allowing UW Bothell teacher candidates to develop a deep and complex understanding of instructional issues and by providing Juanita Elementary teachers with meaningful classroom assistance.
Approximately 60 UW Bothell teacher candidates, 7 Juanita teachers and approximately 150 Juanita students have been a part of the program each year since the inception of the program.
For more information about community-based learning and scholarship at UW Bothell and to view a more extensive list of service projects, visit www.uwb.edu/cbls.
The University of Washington Bothell was founded in 1990 to serve King and Snohomish counties and north Puget Sound area students seeking bachelor's and master's degrees. UW Bothell offers degree programs in applied computing, business, nursing, education, computing and software systems, interdisciplinary arts and sciences, cultural studies, and policy studies.
