Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
"We Are ... Working to Make a Difference: Crafting Community-University Collaborations To Address Significant Problems
Session Abstract or Summary
In 2005, the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future established the Talloires Network, an organization dedicated to the belief “that higher education institutions exist to serve and strengthen the society of which they are part.”
Those who share those goals conceptualize and conduct that work differently. For the purposes of this presentation, our focus is on collaborative university outreach, which we loosely define as community-university collaborations that rise in response to pressing contemporary problems, and which explicitly seek to positively affect those problems. The particular problems discussed in this panel revolve around some of our region’s most pressing issues: addiction, poverty, and illness. In this panel, faculty, staff, and students from one of Appalachia’s mid-sized public institutions explore some of the outreach and research collaborations in which we are engaged, and which we hope might strengthen the society of which we are all a part.
Presentation #1 Title
"We Are ... Working to Make a Difference: Crafting Community-University Collaborations To Address Significant Problems
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
In 2005, the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future established the Talloires Network, an organization dedicated to the belief “that higher education institutions exist to serve and strengthen the society of which they are part.”
Those who share those goals conceptualize and conduct that work differently. For the purposes of this presentation, our focus is on collaborative university outreach, which we loosely define as community-university collaborations that rise in response to pressing contemporary problems, and which explicitly seek to positively affect those problems. The particular problems discussed in this panel revolve around some of our region’s most pressing issues: addiction, poverty, and mental illness. In this panel, faculty, staff, and students from one of Appalachia’s mid-sized public institutions explore some of the outreach and research collaborations in which we are engaged, and which we hope might strengthen the society of which we are all a part.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Elizabeth Campbell is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of Marshall's EdD in Curriculum and Instruction. Her research interests include community-university partnerships, collaborative writing, and social justice.
Presentation #2 Title
“Pragmatic Ways of Being: Social Work Pedagogy and Community Built Solutions”
Presentation #2 Abstract or Summary
Appalachians, particularly those from West Virginia, have long been underserved in their access to quality mental and behavioral healthcare. This is attributable to a number of economic and environmental factors, one of the most intractable being a dearth of qualified mental and behavioral health providers. Faculty in the Marshall University Social Work Department master’s program are taking steps to meet these needs by developing a clinic on the University’s campus that will have the dual purpose of training master’s level social workers while providing much needed community-based mental and behavioral health services.
This presentation demonstrates how theories of pragmatism are informing this university outreach project. John Dewey applied pragmatism to curriculum theory as a student-centered approach to generating knowledge that required action, asserting “knowledge is generated in the space between action and consequence, rendering knowledge intimately and necessarily connected with action.” Dewey’s friend and colleague, Jane Addams, the mother of social work, demonstrated the usefulness of pragmatism as a social reform strategy to address the pressing needs of eastern and southern European immigrants newly arrived to inner-city Chicago’s 19th ward.
Theories of pragmatism provide master’s level social workers with ways of being that can generate community recovery strategies and community-built solutions to the very complex problems of our region.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Kim White, West Virginia’s 2016 Social Worker of the Year, is an assistant professor in Marshall University’s Social Work Department and a student in the university’s EdD in Curriculum and Instruction.
Presentation #3 Title
Collaborating Across Disciplines: Campus-Community Coalitions for Prevention and Public Health
Presentation #3 Abstract or Summary
In this presentation, Amy Saunders shares an overview on the campus-community coalition concept in prevention and public health fields. She discusses the importance of fostering collaboration, not only between higher education and communities, but also on the importance of collaborating across disciplines to address problems in a systemic manner. Ms. Saunders reviews Marshall’s current SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) program, a comprehensive, integrated, public health approach that delivers early intervention and referral to treatment services for individuals with substance use and mental health disorders, as well as those who are at risk of developing these disorders. Marshall’s program implemented SBIRT in the curriculum across 7 different departments and two professional schools. To date, the program has trained over 2,500 students, faculty, and community members on the important model to intervene in the current substance use epidemic in the state of West Virginia. Champions of the program are working to add the program in campus health centers and counseling centers, primary care facilities, hospitals, health departments and schools. SBIRT provide opportunities for early intervention for individuals at risk before more severe health consequences occur.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Amy Saunders is Director of Marshall University's Wellness Center, Principal Investigator of the MUSBIRT Grant, and a student in the university's EdD in Leadership Studies.
Presentation #4 Title
Downtown Meets Dietetics: Integrating the Department into the Community”
Presentation #4 Abstract or Summary
Browse any business magazine and it is clear that downtown corporate relocation is a new trend. Likewise, universities across the country are following suit by moving to urban locations. Marshall University embraced this change when the Department of Dietetics moved to downtown Huntington recently. When the University increased its urban footprint, students and the city benefited. Huntington felt a sense of revitalization and students were connected with real-world challenges.
The move resulted in many positive outcomes. The downtown space allowed for the development of a new, distance dietetic internship and a coordinated, online graduate program. This better met the needs of our regional students, as well as incorporated our Appalachian heritage into our diverse distance dietetic students, fostering Appalachian culture across the US. Through collaboration with our community outreach kitchen, Huntington’s Kitchen, students and faculty have engaged community members with healthy lifestyle education. This collaboration also led to the integration of community outreach into the full Dietetics curriculum; the preparation and delivery of healthy meals to local businesses; the development of a new food pantry to reduce hunger in the community; and service learning experiences for students. Having a downtown presence has encouraged the public to choose Registered Dietitians as the go to expert in nutrition, with the ultimate goal of reducing the regions’ sky rocketing obesity rates.
Students, faculty, and University administrators alike have realized many benefits from the move. We look forward to new opportunities and partnerships on the horizon.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Amy Gannon is an Assistant Professor of Dietetics, Director of the Undergraduate Dietetics Program, and a student in Marshall University’s EdD in Curriculum and Instruction.
Presentation #5 Title
Downtown Meets Dietetics: Integrating the Department into the Community
Presentation #5 Abstract or Summary
(SEE PRESENTER 4 -- GANNON & MOUNT WILL CO-PRESENT)
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #5
Mallory Mount is an Assistant Professor of Dietetics, Dietician for Camp Kno-Koma (the diabetes camp of West Virginia), and a student in Marshall University’s EdD in Curriculum and Instruction.
Conference Subthemes
Education
"We Are ... Working to Make a Difference: Crafting Community-University Collaborations To Address Significant Problems
In 2005, the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future established the Talloires Network, an organization dedicated to the belief “that higher education institutions exist to serve and strengthen the society of which they are part.”
Those who share those goals conceptualize and conduct that work differently. For the purposes of this presentation, our focus is on collaborative university outreach, which we loosely define as community-university collaborations that rise in response to pressing contemporary problems, and which explicitly seek to positively affect those problems. The particular problems discussed in this panel revolve around some of our region’s most pressing issues: addiction, poverty, and mental illness. In this panel, faculty, staff, and students from one of Appalachia’s mid-sized public institutions explore some of the outreach and research collaborations in which we are engaged, and which we hope might strengthen the society of which we are all a part.
