Outstanding Community Service from the Core
Yesterday I wrote about our Outstanding Community Service Awards. To give a flavor of both the diversity and the academic content of the projects that have won awards, here are two winners from 2003, both from the "academic core" of the university: English and Physics.
Department of English faculty Thomas Augst and Patricia Crain, and grad student Eric Daigre, won an award for The Literacy Lab. According to the program desciption,
Literary studies today suffers from a crisis of purpose, a crisis that often resolves itself into the common plaint: what ís the point of an English major anyhow? The Literacy Lab at the University of Minnesota proposes to shift the paradigm for literary studies in the academy by bringing together facets of our discipline that have traditionally been separated: not only theory and practice, but literature and basic literacy, the stories of famous authors and the stories of ordinary citizens. By connecting a variety of literacy practices in diverse public settings, students can develop their academic skills within a "real world" of community service and understand the relevance of these skills in different cultural and social contexts.
Some of the public settings include schools, tutoring programs for Somali youth, adult literacy centers, and a center for battered women.
Another OCSA was won by The Physics Force, a successful and entertaining outreach program of the Institute of Technology "developed to make science exciting and fun for students of all ages, from 5 to 105." The Force consists of high school teachers and faculty from the University of Minnesota Physics Department, led by Dan Dahlberg, Professor of Physics. Dan received the Outstanding Instructor Award in 1990 and the 1992 George Taylor IT Alumni Society Award for Teaching. He was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his research in magnetism.
The Force attracts standing-room only audiences across Minnesota. They have also performed for national and international audiences. They were featured at the national convention of the American Association of Physics Teachers, the Chemistry Educators national convention, on Newton's Apple, and for two years at Disney World's Epcot Center. They traveled twice to Europe and appeared on German television as guests of the "Knoff Hoff" show. Their website says
A trademark of their demonstration is "bigger is better." Why implode a pop can when a 55-gallon drum is available? Or shoot down a mythical monkey when the target could be a physics teacher dropping from a scaffold 20 feet high!
Each of the faculty in these two programs is enjoying a successful academic career at the University of Minnesota. Meeting the challenge of finding ways to make their scholarly expertise pertinent to the broader society has energized them, and enhanced their standing in the university community.