MSU Community-Engaged Learning Fellows create new opportunities through collaborative program

Caroline Kobia Terri Hernandez

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Ten ��Ƶ employees from across the university are completing a program to help them incorporate community-engaged learning into courses in their respective departments.

The Community-Engaged Learning Fellows have spent three weeks redesigning courses and preparing to integrate this type of learning into their teaching, research and public service work. The program aims to integrate the philosophy, pedagogy and process of community-engaged learning into the MSU academic environment and develop faculty leaders who can encourage and mentor their peers.

Stephanie Lemley David Lang

Supported by the MSU’s Center for Community-Engaged Learning, Center for Teaching and Learning, Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President and the Division of Student Affairs, the program is open to all faculty and other non-formal teaching staff. Participants learn from the experiences of others in the cohort and receive individual assistance to design or revise a course syllabus, as well as tools and resources needed to successfully implement a community-engaged course.

These fellows then are connected to community partners and others in a university-wide academic, community-engaged network. They receive a $1,000 stipend upon the program’s completion to support course development and research.

Milena Melo Tamara Dimitrijevska Markoski

Meggan Franks, MSU interim director for student leadership and community engagement, said community involvement is an institutional priority that also can make the difference in ordinary learning and developing a lifelong passion for learning that impacts both students and society.

“This fellowship is just one of many opportunities that MSU has created to reward and recognize faculty for their community-engagement initiatives. Community engagement and engaged scholarship benefit our institution as a whole and our communities, as well as the faculty and students involved in these courses and related projects,” Franks said.

Mary Love Tagert Amanda Stone

The 2019 Community-Engaged Learning Fellows include:

—Terri Hernandez, assistant professor, Department of Communication, College of Arts and Sciences;

—Caroline Kobia, assistant professor, School of Human Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences;

—David Lang, professor, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences;

—Stephanie Lemley, assistant professor, Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Special Education, College of Education;

Danielle Young Kathleen Thomas

—Tamara Dimitrijevska Markoski, assistant professor, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, College of Arts and Sciences;

—Milena Melo, assistant professor, Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, College of Arts and Sciences;

—Amanda Stone, assistant professor, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences;

—Mary Love Tagert, assistant extension professor, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Bagley College of Engineering;

—Kathleen Thomas, professor and head, Department of Finance and Economics, College of Business;

—Danielle Young, lecturer, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences.

For more about the Community-Engaged Learning Fellows and other university community-engagement initiatives, visit or .

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at .

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