John Wallace of University of Minnesota Named 2000 Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning Winner

Recipients

John Wallace, Ph.D. Professor of Philosophy University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN Dr. John Wallace attributes his commitment to service-learning to a “need to bear responsibility for the entire world.” He further explains, “While a cynic might say that this is a need that few people feel, and even fewer act on, my work with students, faculty, staff, and community members over the past dozen years or so has convinced me that it is a human need and that it is very widespread. Sometimes it is latent, hiding, underground. Always, to flourish, it needs a community of like-minded others.” Dr. Wallace became involved in service-learning (although he hadn’t initially heard that term) in 1983 when he was serving in a new administrative position at the University of Minnesota dealing with, among other things, university outreach. He believed that getting students out into the Twin Cities to work, and then linking that work to academic study would be a “powerful way to improve both undergraduate education and the university’s contributions to the wider community.” What he would later come to call service-learning was a top priority in his agenda. As one of four co-founders of the Jane Addams School for Democracy, a community-based center for learning and community action located in St. Paul’s West Side neighborhood, Dr. Wallace helped establish a community agency with strong ties to the university. Since then, faculty, students, and individuals from the community have explored a variety of disciplines while learning, serving, and teaching one another. Dr. Wallace’s interest in learning circles has also been a very important focus of his career. In fact, a colleague, Dr. David Droge, notes that “the most important legacy John initiated . . . is the incorporation of learning circles into service-learning pedagogy.” Learning circles, an approach to teaching and learning in which all members of a group are both teachers and learners, is now used in many settings. Among these are the Jane Addams School for Democracy and the Invisible College, the creation of which was spearheaded by Dr. Wallace. Since the early 1980s, Dr. Wallace has contributed a great deal to the field of service-learning, through his teaching, writing, and speaking. He has also initiated a number of structures to foster service-learning at the University of Minnesota. Forthcoming publications include a contribution to the AAHE monograph on service-learning in philosophy and an article for a special issue of American Behavioral Scientist.

Finalists

Ralph L. Corrigan, Ph.D. Professor of English, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT Dr. Corrigan was the first professor at Sacred Heart to integrate service-learning into his classes. He was also a founding member of the Service Learning Steering Committee in 1994, two years after a trip to El Salvador inspired him to bring the “spirit of hope” he saw there into the local Bridgeport community. His many teaching awards and long list of publications are evidence of a long and successful academic career, but Dr. Corrigan’s dedication is better illustrated by the words of his colleagues. The president of Sacred Heart, Anthony J. Cernera, describes Dr. Corrigan as a “pioneer” and praises his commitment, saying, “His motivation and energy are consistently renewed by his witnessing the transformation of his students in their social consciousness, in their academic motivation, and in their maturity. Edward J. Coyle, Ph.D. and Leah H. Jamieson, Ph.D. Professors of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN Drs. Coyle and Jamieson are co-founders of Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS), a service-learning program created to provide a service-learning structure that enables undergraduate students and community agencies to work together on long-term projects that are mutually beneficial. The program is the first and only project of its kind in engineering. “This is notable,” they say, “because engineering has been far behind other disciplines in embracing service-learning.” The program and its co-founders have received much recognition, and the program has been emulated by at least four other institutions. Drs. Coyle and Jamieson have co-authored articles and chapters on service-learning in engineering and continue to serve as two of EPICS’ three co-directors. Margaret Dewar, Ph.D. Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Dr. Dewar has taught courses that incorporate service-learning for over twenty years. She has a strong interest in campus/community partnerships. Her work has been influential within her department, moving the focus of scholarship, field work, and placement from commercial planning toward community development, particularly underserved, urban communities. She has been a recipient of the Michigan Campus Compact Faculty Award for Community Service Learning and the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs Outstanding Teacher Award. Sandra L. Enos, Ph.D. Professor of Sociology, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI Dr. Enos has almost twenty years of experience in service-learning scholarship and activity. She has pursued this work in a variety of settings, from academic to administrative positions in the public and non profit sectors. Dr. Enos is particularly interested in “how ideas spread throughout communities and how communities are created by virtue of these ideas.” This interest has informed her research, writing, teaching, and the work she has done at the national level to advance service-learning. She is also engaged in examining how service-learning can be integrated with other higher education movements. Dr. Enos is a co-editor of the AAHE monograph on service-learning in sociology. Sam Marullo, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Sociology and Director, Volunteer and Public Service Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC Jill C. Miels, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Elementary Education, Ball State University ’“ Muncie, IN Dr. Miels is keenly aware of the influence she carries in her role as an educator of future teachers: “Each teaching major that I work with will in turn multiply that influence with many children and their families.” The elementary education curriculum she has developed places 530 students in service roles in the local community. The curriculum, in the words of Ball State University President John E. Worthen, “has proven to be successful in the development of community partnerships to encourage our students to be active citizens.” Dr. Miels’ professional experiences, as an elementary school teacher and as a faculty member, provide a strong foundation for her extensive scholarship in the areas of elementary education and service-learning. P. Elizabeth Pate, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Elementary Education, University of Georgia, Athens, GA As a member of the faculty at the University of Georgia since 1989, Dr. Pate has demonstrated her commitment to the practice and institutionalization of service-learning in many ways. She served as a representative on the Task Force of the College of Education’s Service-Learning Initiative, successfully petitioning the Faculty Senate to formally endorse service-learning activities in the college. Dr. Pate has collaborated with other departments to integrate and advance service-learning and been involved in several projects that bring service-learning into the local secondary school curriculum. She has published extensively and been the recipient of numerous teaching awards. Kathleen L. Rice, Ph.D. Coordinator of Service Learning Instruction and Lecturer California State University ’“ Monterey Bay, Seaside, CA According to CSU ’“ Monterey Bay President Peter Smith, “Dr. Rice is an inspiring service learning instructor, a scholar committed to the integration of service learning and multiculturalism, and a leader and mentor to students and faculty alike.” She led the development of the required service-learning component at CSU ’“ Monterey Bay, a course focused on the connection between individual identity and engagement in the community. In addition, Dr. Rice has pioneered campus-wide initiatives in the areas of faculty development and student leadership development. Her extensive experience and scholarship extend Dr. Rice’s influence beyond the perimeter of the Monterey Bay campus. Linda J. Simmons, M.S. Associate Professor of History, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale, VA Northern Virginia Community College president Belle S. Wheelan says Professor Simmons “wants more than hours of service; she wants students to realize that engagement in the political world is the means of solving problems in a democratic society.” In fact, her frustration over her students’ disengagement from public life is what led her to service-learning. When she read an American Association of Community Colleges brochure on how service could lead to citizenship, she knew she “had found [her] academic home in service-learning.” She has since been an outspoken advocate for service-learning, received numerous grants and awards, and published and presented extensively on the topic. Mary L. Tucker, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Management, Ohio University, Athens, OH Dr. Tucker has been a leader in advancing service-learning, both in her current position at Ohio University and in her prior position at Colorado State University. Ohio University president Robert Glidden says Dr. Tucker’s “involvement in service-learning combines effective teaching with an engaged scholarship that benefits students, colleagues, university, and community.” Her scholarship has been published extensively in journals such as the Journal of Management Education and Business Communication Quarterly. Dr. Tucker says of her students, “It is always easy to be proud of university students; but to experience their unselfish willingness to give that something extra brings indescribable admiration."