Community Advancement
The Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning Fellowship Program is a year-long faculty development program that provides an opportunity for 7 faculty members to integrate Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning practices into their teaching, research, and public service.
This Fellowship Program–which includes a $5000 bursary for course development or professional educational development–aims to elevate and support Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning at Texas A&M University. It is designed to support faculty as they form and sustain collaborative local community partnerships to provide real-world transformative learning experiences for their students.
Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning approaches can help facilitate high-impact student learning in ways that support communities. Through carefully selected and maintained community partnerships–which connect students who want to make a difference in the world with opportunities to be a part of that change–students can engage in meaningful real-world academic and professional learning experiences. Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning approaches aligned with TAMU Undergraduate Learning Outcomes can have the potential of exposing students to real-world learning and experiences.
As a land-grant institution, Texas A&M University is already part of many efforts to support and enrich the lives of the people of Texas, especially in local communities. The Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning Fellows Program aims to provide seed money to support University instructors who either have designed or want to begin designing project-based learning opportunities that benefit these local communities.
Contact Dr. Nate Poling (npoling@tamu.edu) with any questions.
Community Advancement Through Reciprocal Educational Experiences Fellowship Program
More students than ever are searching for ways to positively impact the world and their communities. The Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning Fellowship Program is a year-long faculty development program that provides an opportunity for 7 faculty members to integrate Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning practices into their teaching, research, and public service. This Fellowship Program–which includes a $5000 bursary for course development or professional educational development–aims to elevate and support Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning at Texas A&M University. It is designed to support faculty as they form and sustain collaborative local community partnerships to provide real-world transformative learning experiences for their students.
Applicants must meet the following conditions:
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University instructors who have less than 3 years of experience incorporating Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning methods and approaches.
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Tenure-track and APT faculty members who are interested in involving themselves with Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning.
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Ability to identify and/or describe potential community partner(s) and potential steps for developing a sustainable relationship.
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A new or existing course that they would like to design or modify
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Ability and means to teach this course and implement what they have learned during the implementation phase of the fellowship program.
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Willingness to engage in educational research involving their course and classroom(s).
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Teaching Philosophy Statement
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Letter of Support from Department Head or Dean
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Project Proposal and Timeline (Please limit to no more than 3 typed pages, single-spaced)
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Title
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Detailed Project Description and Rationale
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Describe possible approaches to addressing these needs/issues.
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Describe Potential Community Partner(s) and Potential Steps for Developing a Sustainable Relationship
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Project Deliverables
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Impact on Student Learning and Engagement
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Connection to and Impact on Community Needs and Issues
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You can access a proposal application packet guideline document here, and view the Evaluation Rubric here. Please limit your proposal to no more than 3 typed pages, single-spaced.
General Call for Applications: October 2023
Deadline for Applications: December 8th, 2023
Acceptance Notifications by: January 2024
University instructors chosen for a Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning Fellowship will be expected to engage in the following activities over the course of the 1.5 year duration.
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Design and implement new or existing course using Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning instructional methods and approaches (e.g. meet regular project milestones/checkpoints throughout the fellowship duration)
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Measure student learning and impact on the local community using various quantitative and qualitative measures (e.g. surveys, reflections, focus groups, or interviews)
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Disseminate information and resources on Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning via multiple formats (e.g. facilitating interactive professional development sessions, engaging in individual consultations with University colleagues, sharing instructional and organizational materials, and presenting at local/national/international conferences)
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Serve as a mentor and expert for faculty interested in learning about and implementing Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning (e.g. Contribute to a Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning Faculty Panel Discussion)
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Participate in monthly Fellows meetings and individual check in meetings
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Create faculty-friendly resources and how-to guides for others who are interested in implementing Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning in their own classroom
The disbursement of funds will be upon participant completion of certain project milestones:
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Establish reciprocal relationships with community partners ($1000)
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Design/redesign course and course materials ($1500)
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Teach the course and engage in reflection ($2500)
Here at the Texas A&M University Center for Teaching Excellence, we define Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning as:
"mutually beneficial partnerships between University instructors, their students, and community stakeholders. These strategic community-oriented teaching approaches foster authentic real-world learning, civic engagement, and selfless service which are key to collaborative and impactful educational experiences."
See how another university operationalizes Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning here.
2024-2025 Recipients of the CATREE Fellowship Program
WECARE (Win-win-win Effects: Community Advancement through Reciprocal Education) We aim to redesign an undergraduate course, EHRD374 (Organization Development, OD) to make it a CETL course by developing real-world application assignments.We aim to redesign an undergraduate course, EHRD374 (Organization Development, OD) to make it a CETL course by developing real-world application assignments. Through the projects, students can interact with the community partners and learn through real-world transformative learning experiences. We expect that this relationship building process will have win-win-win effects for the students, instructors, and community partners. In particular, this strategic approach enhances student learning outcomes, civic engagement, and selfless service, which are keys to collaborative and impactful educational experiences.
Promoting Community-Engaged Worksite Health Promotion
The community-engaged teaching and learning project that Dr. Chen will lead during the fellowship will engage her students in the development, implementation, and evaluation of worksite health promotion programs for workers with disabilities in Bryan and College Station (BCS), Texas.Specifically, this project will give Texas A&M University students the opportunity to use the knowledge gained from the HLTH 410 Worksite Health Promotion course to provide critically needed assistance to BCS workers with disabilities. The students will work in groups to: (1) develop a worksite health promotion program that addresses health issues that are important to people with disabilities in BCS workplaces, and (2) evaluating existing worksite health promotion programs for people with disabilities in BCS workplaces. Local disability communities will also benefit from the products produced by students to promote better health for their members.
Dr. Lei-Shih (Lace) Chen received her Ph.D. in Health Education from Texas A&M University in 2007, joined the Department of Health and Kinesiology in 2009, was tenured and promoted to associate professor in 2014 and promoted to full professor in the Department of Health Behavior of the Texas A&M University Health Science Center School of Public Health in 2023. In her nearly 15 years of service at Texas A&M University, Dr. Chen has taught a wide range of graduate and undergraduate courses, chaired or co-chaired 39 graduate student committees (29 having graduated thus far), and mentored 10 post-doctoral associates (nine having completed training to date), and over 300 undergraduate students.
Dr. Chen’s teaching efforts have been recognized via teaching and education awards including the Department of Health and Kinesiology Teacher of the Year in Health Education Award (2015), the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching (2022), and the Education Award of the American Society of Human Genetics (2023).
Ecstatic about Engineering!
For the CARE2 Fellowship program, Dr. Cope plans to incorporate lessons on engineering mechanics into high school and middle school grade levels.The project aims to enhance educators’ curriculum for the Grade 6–12 levels on applications of engineering mechanics in appropriate grade-level math and science courses. Objectives are to (1) promote STEM literacy, (2) demonstrate practical application, and (3) involve the local school districts. The project will focus on developing lesson plans, classroom demonstrations, and interactive instructional videos on how engineering mechanics applies to many aspects of the engineering field. Dr. Cope will implement the deliverables of the project through three approaches: (1) workshops for Grade 6-12 educators, (2) summer camps for students in Grades 6-12, and (3) individual visits to local school districts showing students why we are ‘ecstatic about engineering’. Key partners include instructors, the Spark! PK-12 Outreach program, and the Engineering Studio for Advanced Instruction & Learning (eSAIL) within the College of Engineering.
TAMU Biomedical Science in Motion (TBSM)
The overall goal of this CETL project is to provide an opportunity to biology students at TAMU to interact with health-related institutions to tackle local community problems in a didactic and experiential manner.This project is, therefore, a community engaged learning project that provides a way for students to identify evidence-based tips/approaches and apply the unique scientific skill set that they have acquired during study of Anatomy and Physiology course to a local community problem with their partner community members. This will benefit both TAMU, students and the community.
Enhancing Community Partnerships and Engagement Through Data Analysis and Education
Dr. Clark’s community engagement project aims to strengthen student’s data-driven decision-making skills through community partnerships and capacity building outreach.The objectives of Dr. Clark’s project are to create real-world learning experiences by partnering with local tourism and hospitality organizations, facilitate critical thinking using real industry data, and generate positive impacts for small tourism and hospitality businesses in the Bryan-College Station area through education. The expected outcomes of this project are to address a skills gap among students, improve working conditions for tourism and hospitality employees, and promote local economic recovery.
Community-Engaged Approach to Teaching Agricultural Marketing
This project is to implement and evaluate a community-engaged project in an undergraduate agricultural marketing class.The main goals are to: (1) empower students to develop and evaluate adaptive marketing initiatives in collaboration with partners in the Brazos Valley community (hereinafter local food partners) through a real-world consumer-focused research project; and (2) increase the visibility of local food partners in the community by increasing consumers’ (or users’) interest in the partner businesses through the application of marketing strategies (e.g., social media marketing, advertising, etc.).Local food partners will include local food business owners (e.g., restaurants, wineries, etc.) and private food assistance services (e.g., food pantries).
Dr. Grace Melo
Dr. Grace Melo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on studying decision-making to inform agricultural and food policy. Her current research focuses on the role of behavioral insights in policy design using different data sources (experimental data, expenditure data, etc.). Her most recent work focused on food insufficiency, mental health, and nutrient information. Prior to coming to Texas, she was an Assistant Professor in Chile, where she conducted research on food policy. She has published her work in high-impact journals, including Lancet and Food Policy. She has taught Agricultural Marketing and Food Economics at undergraduate and graduate level.
Developing a Project-Based Service-Learning Capstone Experience for an Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) Curriculum
In this project, we plan to design and develop a project-based service-learning experience as a capstone experience for the BA-ITSV curriculum.This capstone experience will be a synthesis of all the knowledge and skills the students have accumulated throughout the ITSV curriculum, as well as a platform for students to apply their skills and knowledge to real-world small communities by identifying and addressing the real IT needs and issues of those communities. The project would allow our ITSV students to provide essential ITSM consulting services to underserved rural small communities. These services are vital for community growth and development, addressing their lack of access to IT resources and expertise.