Service-Learning Student Named University College Experiential Learning Student Ambassador
Sydney Boyce, a junior majoring in English, has been named the University College’s first Experiential Learning Student Ambassador. The fellowship is sponsored by a VCU REAL Challenge Grant from the Office of the Provost. In this role, Boyce will help promote experiential learning opportunities on campus. Boyce credits service-learning experiences in Focused Inquiry courses early […]
VCU Service-Learning Releases Impact Dashboard
Data at your fingertips. In the fall of 2020, Virginia Commonwealth University Service-Learning released its data dashboard. The Service-Learning Data Dashboard (SLDD) is a robust, public-facing digital platform that provides access to university service-learning data and visually illustrates the impact of experiential learning opportunities on student success. VCU Service-Learning is housed in the VCU Center […]
UR and VCU Faculty Recognized for East End Cemetery Collaboratory’s Work to Restore Historic African American Burial Ground
By Jenny Pedraza On Oct. 15, the University of Richmond Bonner Center for Civic Engagement celebrated its third annual Engage for Change! Awards. The East End Cemetery Collaboratory was awarded the Collaboration for Change Award for excellence in authentic relationships and genuine collaboration to affect change. The Collaboratory is a learning community supported by both […]
VCU’s Lynn Pelco, a champion of civic engagement, recognized with national award
The associate vice provost for community engagement has been honored for her leadership by the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities. Lynn Pelco, Ph.D., associate vice provost for community engagement and director of the Service-Learning Office at the Virginia Commonwealth University Center for Community Engagement and Impact, received the 2020 Barbara A. Holland Scholar-Administrator Award from the Coalition of […]
Health Sciences Academy: A Longstanding Service-Learning Pipeline Program Impacts Thousands of High School and VCU Students
By Jenny Pedraza For 14 years, high school students in Richmond City and Chesterfield County have earned college credit while exploring health careers and gaining college readiness skills. The Virginia Commonwealth University Health Sciences Academy (HSA) is an innovative program that matches area high school students with VCU students for mentoring. HSA is a core […]
Center for Community Engagement and Impact Announces 2020 Excellence in Service-Learning Awardees
Faculty were recognized for their innovative teaching practices and commitment to sustained community-university partnerships. By Jenny Pedraza The Center for Community Engagement and Impact has announced the 2020 Excellence in Service-Learning awardees. David Coogan, associate professor of English; and Marcia Winter, assistant professor of psychology, both in the College of Humanities and Sciences, were recognized […]
Service-Learning Student Tucker Smith Prepares to Integrate Community Engagement with Career in Health
Smith began mentoring with the Carver Promise during his freshman year. By Jenny Pedraza Every Friday at 12:30 p.m., Tucker Smith, ’20, a Virginia Commonwealth University biology major, heads into G.W. Carver Elementary School in Richmond’s East End to meet up with his mentee, a fifth grade boy. The two eat lunch and spend time […]
Service-Learning Faculty Fellow Profile: Matthew James Vechinski
Using civic engagement as a platform to prepare students for success in college and future careers By Jenny Pedraza “I knew coming to Virginia Commonwealth University that I wanted to teach service-learning courses,” said Matthew James Vechinski, associate professor in the Department of Focused Inquiry in the University College. “I believe strongly in experiential learning. […]
The Results are in: Service-Learning Office Announces 2018-19 SLIM Report
The SLIM evaluations help service-learning staff understand the service students participate in, measure the unique learning benefits of service-learning and improve the service-learning program at VCU. By Patricia Cason The Service-Learning Office has announced the 2018-19 Service-Learning Impact Measure (SLIM) Report. Visit Service-Learning’s Impact Data page to read the complete 2018-2019 SLIM report. Each semester, […]
Interdisciplinary VCU-JMU Team Recognized Nationally for Innovative Teaching Strategy in Civic Learning
The JMU-VCU “Debate Across the Curriculum” project received an honorable mention in the 2019 American Civic Collaboration Awards (“Civvys”). By Jenny Pedraza Twelve faculty members and four administrators from Virginia Commonwealth University and James Madison University involved in a year-long, interdisciplinary faculty learning community have collaborated to combine debate pedagogy and civic learning outcomes, garnering […]