The Opportunity of Now: 2020-21 Highlights
“Our goal is to create a beloved community, and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
It has been a year like no other. A global pandemic, followed by a wave of social protests, offered an opportunity and responsibility to interrogate the systemic inequities in our country, ourselves, and our work. In 2020-21, Duke Service-Learning turned its lens both inward and outward – on our own unexamined internal assumptions, as well as the inequities embedded in community-university partnerships. Our annual theme, the Opportunity of Now, offered strategies for developing solidarity-based collaborations that honor difference and non-hierarchical perspectives. We offered programming around anti-racist principles and pedagogies, social justice service-learning, decolonizing service-learning, transformative learning experiences, and student-centered conversations led by Deans Ashby, Blackshear, and Smith.
In the 2020-21 academic year, we supported 79 service-learning and community-engaged (SLCE) courses, impacting 1495 Duke students. Our efforts involved 60 faculty, 102 course sections, and 35 academic departments. These SLCE courses incorporated significant hours of community engagement experiences almost entirely remote. Yet, even virtually, students and faculty found ways to prioritize racial justice, language access, education, isolation, and social innovation. Many had opportunities to build connections and solidarity across difference, recognize shared humanity, create communities of care, and work towards a more just future.
To learn more about these collaborations, please read the stories below.
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The Opportunity of Now: Community Engagement in Plural Pandemics with Dr. Tania Mitchell
As part of the Opportunity of Now event series, Dr. Tania Mitchell discussed how Covid-19, health and economic disparities among Black, Latinx, and Native Americans, followed by the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin, have unveiled “plural pandemics.” Mitchell examined these intersections both as an internationally recognized scholar in service-learning and community engagement and as a member of the South Minneapolis neighborhood where George Floyd was murdered, just three blocks from her home. Read the article.
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Anti-racist Education: Principles, Pedagogies, and Community-Engagement with Dr. Ronda Bullock
As part of the Opportunity of Now event series, Duke Service-Learning hosted Dr. Ronda Bullock for a conversation on anti-racist education and how we can integrate these principles into our classrooms and courses. By recognizing how racism works within our larger systems and its general pervasiveness, we can actively teach against it. “It’s inadequate to just say, ‘Well I teach my kids to treat everyone equally, and, I teach them to be kind people.’ That is insufficient parenting and teaching,” Bullock says. “It has to be explicit. We have to explicitly teach against race and racism. From the very youngest to the very oldest.” Read the article.
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Can we decolonize critical service-learning? Dr. Aurora Santiago-Ortiz
Who ultimately stands to benefit from service-learning programs and projects? Is it enough to acknowledge the unequal power dynamics surrounding universities and communities? How do we dismantle the hierarchical approach so often associated with service-learning? As part of the Opportunity of Now event series, Dr. Aurora Santiago-Ortiz outlined three pathways that interrupt hierarchical relationships in community-university partnerships and in the classroom. Read the article.
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Dr. Debby Gold created "Death and Dying (SOCIOL 264)" in 2001 after identifying America as the most “death-phobic” society in the world.
It's since become a student favorite. The class pairs students with elderly citizens who are in the process of dying. The service hours would typically pass in bedside visits or communal living areas, but this past fall, students met with their partners over Zoom or FaceTime. When weather permitted, students ditched their computers to speak with their partner through a window. Read the article.
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Transformative Learning: Perspectives on Critical Engagement: A presentation by Dr. Richard Kiely
What is transformative learning? How do we develop the necessary critical lens to engage in transformative learning? How can Duke build a culture that supports disrupting norms that are problematic? The Transformative Learning Intellectual Community and Duke Service-Learning convened in Fall 2020 for a discussion with Dr. Richard Kiely, Senior Fellow, Office of Engagement Initiatives at Cornell University, to explore these topics. Watch the presentation.
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Service-Learning hosts discussion on ‘our shared humanity’ with Dean Valerie Ashby
What is the role of a university in creating equitable and inclusive communities? How do you engage with individuals who don’t share your worldview or principles? What is the right balance between managing urgent issues with addressing root causes? Duke Service-Learning hosted a community-building event with Dean Valerie Ashby focusing on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s goal of creating a “beloved community.” The event drew more than 120 attendees including students, faculty, and staff. Read the article.
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Duke alumna and 2018 Betsy Alden service-learning award winner Michaela Stith published a book addressing climate change, systemic racism, and institutionalized inequity.
“Welp: Climate Change & Arctic Identities” is a travel memoir about navigating social life in Tromsø, Norway (Romssa, Sápmi) as a Black, mixed-race girl from Alaska. Michaela Stith was a Civic Engagement Research Assistant with Duke Service-Learning and graduated with distinction from the Nicholas School of the Environment Environmental Science & Policy Program. Read the story.
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Service-learning alumna Autumn Blamoville (Duke '21) discusses the benefits of community collaboration with Duke Arts
Autumn Blamoville (Duke '21), service-learning assistant (SLA) for "Performance: Interdisciplinary – TimeSlips Community Engagement (DANCE 462)" taught by Sarah Wilbur, was recently featured in Duke Arts. The article is entitled "Artists as Researchers: Dancing Through STEAM." In Fall 2021, Blamoville plans to pursue a master’s degree in medical humanities so that she can continue her research into the collaborative benefits of arts and health, with the goal of providing better patient-centered interventions. Read the story.
Congratulations to the 2021 Betsy Alden Outstanding Service-Learning Award Winners!
Congratulations to Elizabeth Shapiro-Garza, Associate Professor of the Practice of Environmental Policy and Management, Reagan Sanders (Duke ‘21) a Public Policy major, and GANO, Gente Aprendiendo Para Nuevas Oportunidades, for receiving the 2021 Betsy Alden Outstanding Service-Learning Award. Read the story.
Deans Blackshear and Smith Talk Anti-racism, Finding Purpose, and Life's Unexpected Paths
Deans Blackshear and Smith encouraged students to engage with others and to be open to new perspectives. More than 100 faculty, staff, and students paused amid the relentless pace of the fall semester to gather and reflect on finding purpose, the Duke academic experience, and the challenge of systemic racism at “The Fierce Urgency of Now,” student-centered conversation, part of our Opportunity of Now series. Read the story.
Service-Learning published an article on student perceptions of community engagement
Joan Clifford, Dane Emmerling, Evan Widney, Nina Hamilton, & David Malone have published "Seeing Community Engagement as We Are: Student Perceptions of Service-Learning and Social Entrepreneurship Education" in the International Journal of Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement / Vol. 8, Issue 1, 2020. Read the article.
NCCU grad students presented “A Virtual Tour Through Historic Black Durham”
First-year NCCU graduate students Kyrie Mason and Geoffrey Gadsden presented “A Tour Through Historic Black Durham," part of the virtual event “Getting to Know Your New Hometown: Durham Then and Now” hosted by Duke Service-Learning. The virtual tour included sites in Durham, including the Hayti community, Black Wall Street, and the Snowhill and Stagville plantations. Read the story.
The Transformative Learning Intellectual Community explored transformative learning in undergraduate education in the members’ disciplines and across units
Cori Crane, Deb Reisinger, Joan Clifford, Jennifer Ahern-Dodson, Alessandra Dinin, Jennifer Hill, David Malone, Liliana Paredes, and Melissa Simmermeyer met monthly to discuss selected readings, including Patricia Cranton’s book “Understanding and Promoting Transformative Learning: A Guide to Theory and Practice.” Learn more here.
Students from “Artists in Healthcare: Collaborations and Complexities (DANCE 371)” created ‘Communities of Care’ during the pandemic
During the best of times, it can be difficult for individuals with dementia to find welcoming communities where they can socialize without the fear of judgment, but a global pandemic has made engagement for this population especially challenging. Students from "Artists in Healthcare: Collaborations and Complexities (DANCE 371)" taught by Sarah Wilbur, designed creative programming to battle loneliness and isolation and collaborated on a citywide initiative with Dementia Inclusive Durham to create Communities of Care while learning about the historical context, economic conditions, and wide range of approaches to project design that underlie the growing subfield of arts in health. Read the story.
Neuroscience Service-Learning featured in Duke Today
Students from “Neuroscience Service Learning: Brain Connections (NEUROSCIENCE 444s)” taught by Minna Ng, collaborated with the Durham Children's Initiative and the Downtown Durham YMCA to design educational activities about neuroscience. The service-learning project helped students understand the cognitive-developmental stages of learning when targeting specific ages and grade levels. Students explored communities, collected information on needs and requests, and collaborated with partners to design the curriculum. Read the story.
Duke University NC LiteracyCorps offers student opportunities to build community and campus-based education programs
Kathy Sikes, Senior Fellow for Civic Engagement at Duke Service-Learning, led the effort to launch Duke University North Carolina LiteracyCorps, a statewide consortium of AmeriCorps members working to build the capacity and impact of community and campus-based education programs. Duke’s AmeriCorps members provide direct service and/or capacity-building support to local education nonprofits and schools in Durham, Wake, Orange, Mecklenburg, and Craven Counties. Read the story.
Amy Anderson and Yolanda Dunston co-lead a Bass Connections project that examines university-public school partnerships
Amy Anderson, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Education at Duke, and Yolanda Dunston, Professor of Education at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), led "#InThisTogether: Strengthening Partnerships between Durham Public Schools and Local Universities," a Bass Connections research project that examined how Duke and NCCU can collaborate to meet the self-determined needs of Durham Public Schools. “Watching the NCCU and Duke students collaborate on data collection and analysis has been incredible,” says Dunston,. “Moreover, it was very clear that they learned a lot about each other’s lived experiences and developed lasting friendships and connections.” Read the story.
Deb Reisinger and Joan Clifford presented "Fostering Transformative Learning in Community-Engaged Courses" at AAC&U's Annual Meeting
How can educators create spaces for transformative learning, particularly when these courses are conducted in a second language? Joan Clifford and Deb Reisinger shared results from a research study about transformative learning in world language service-learning and community-engaged courses. The presentation was part of the Books for a Better World series, part of AAC&U's Annual Meeting. Read the story.
Hindi language classes created bonds with Indian culture and community
Professor Kusum Knapczyk's goal for her community-engaged Hindi courses is to provide students with fun and interactive activities to engage in the Hindi language and its culture. In Fall 2020, she offered students a virtual dance class with Rohini Thakkar from the Duke India Initiative. Read the story.
Duke students partnered with DPS to deepen language access during COVID-19
When DPS found themselves struggling to keep up with the pace of translation services during the pandemic, students from three different language areas at Duke (Chinese-Mandarin, French and Arabic) partnered with DPS to build capacity and extend the center’s reach. Professors Yan Liu (Duke Asian & Middle Eastern Studies) and Karine Provot (Duke Romance Studies) helped guide students enrolled in their language courses in this project. Read the story.
Students from “Digital Documentary Photography: Education, Childhood, and Growth (DOCST 209S)” document life during a pandemic
"At the Center for Documentary Studies we have been committed to making art that reflects this unusual time in our collective history. This semester was not the norm, and these students rose to the challenge! They turned their cameras to the issues of this moment, ranging from responses to coronavirus to Black Lives Matter and even the effort to find identity or normalcy in this moment. Our class was held remotely, and students attended from as far away as southern California or Maine and from as close as campus. Throughout the semester, each student documented their project in an effort to be AWAKE to this moment in history," says Professor Susie Post-Rust, professor of "Digital Documentary Photography: Education, Childhood, and Growth (DOCST 209S / FS)." Read the story.
Students from "Health, Culture, and the Latinx Community (Spanish 306)," partnered with Root Causes to provide food access during the pandemic
Students from "Health, Culture, and the Latinx Community (Spanish 306)," taught by Joan Clifford, partnered with Root Causes and assisted with Spanish translation services related to providing food access during the pandemic. Root Causes is a Duke medical student organization dedicated to providing food access and partners with Farmer Foodshare and the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina to deliver locally-sourced produce. Patients are referred from the Duke Outpatient Clinic, Duke Healthy Lifestyles Clinic (Duke’s child obesity clinic), and Lincoln Community Health Center. See recipe translations here.
In a time of social distance, student leaders from GANO partnered with Spanish service-learning courses to take language classes online
Students in several service-learning courses—such as Spanish 205: Advanced Intermediate Spanish, Spanish 306: Health, Culture, and the Latinx Community, and Spanish 308: Latinx Voices in Duke, Durham and Beyond, partnered with GANO to develop virtual spaces for language tutoring. Read the story.
Students collaborated with Durham Public Schools Foundation (DPSF) to address equity-related outcomes for Durham Public Schools
Disparities in American public schools have come more sharply into focus under the lens of a global pandemic. 74% of DPS students are Black or Hispanic/Latinx and are more vulnerable to being underserved. Middle-class Black families are leaving DPS at the highest rate of all demographics. Students from "Understanding Impact and Improving Effectiveness: Evaluation Design and Implementation (PUBPOL 890)," taught by Jessica Sperling, collaborated with Durham Public Schools Foundation (DPSF) to develop evaluation designs aimed to address essential student, community, and equity-related outcomes for Durham Public Schools.