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Institute for Service Learning
UW Milwaukee
Holton Hall G26
2442 East Hartford Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53211
414-229-2348
islinfo@uwm.edu

News

New AmeriCorps*VISTA Volunteer Joins ISL

The Institute for Service Learning welcomes Sarah Warran who recently joined the staff as a VISTA volunteer. She will be with ISL on a year-long grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service through the Wisconsin Campus Compact.

Sarah will be working with ISL and several non-profit organizations to help facilitate mutually beneficial relationships between students, faculty, community partners and Milwaukee residents. She will promote service learning as a means of fostering civic responsibility and participation in the community, with an emphasis on the alleviation of poverty.

Sarah Warran

Sarah graduated from Beloit College in 2007, where she majored in East Asian Languages and Cultures with a focus on Anthropology. She also studied abroad in Osaka, Japan for a semester and was very active in Beloit's music department as a member of both the Chamber Singers and the vocal jazz ensemble "SPAM" (Students Performing A capella Music).

Sarah previously worked on developing her portfolio of what she calls "weird writer jobs" with a wide variety of life experience-building positions. They ranged from costuming for professional theater to telemarketing, for which she apologizes from the bottom of her heart.

As for her motivation to become a VISTA volunteer, Sarah has always been drawn to helping those in need, but feels it is more important to help others to help themselves. She views the ISL VISTA position as an opportunity to make a positive difference in people's lives.

Twins Team Up for a Look at Service Learning

When twins Kelsey and Alex Boyle start their senior year this fall at Homestead High School, they'll be savvier than many of their peers about work, careers and community service.

The twins recently served a busy two week internship in UWM's Institute for Service Learning (ISL), as part of a UWM College for Teens program called "The Apprentice - Working in the Real World." That program aims to help high school students gain some employment skills and see the connections between work, career and education through on-campus experiences.

Alex and Kelsey Boyle

The twins not only look alike, but they think alike too. Both agree their internship experiences with the Institute for Service Learning helped them understand the role of nonprofit organizations in the community and the broad range of work they do. Both said they would choose to take service learning courses and seek out volunteer opportunities when they attend college. Alex hopes to enroll at UWM; Kelsey at UW-LaCrosse.

"The internship was a great experience for both of us," Alex said. "It was very comfortable. We learned more than we expected. We're leaving knowing a lot about how service learning works."

2008-09 UWM Service Learners Honored

UWM's third group of distinguished service learners were named recently for their outstanding work in the classroom and the community. Students were nominated by faculty and/or community partners and were honored at the Institute for Service Learning's recognition event at UWM's Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts.

Drew LaBelle, 2008 Distinguished
Service Learner

Susan Winans, Volunteer Coordinator,
Urban Ecology Center, with a look at
the history of Milwaukee's Riverside
Park

Our congratulations to:

Francine Archie, Wendy Arendt, Megan Helt-Baldwin, Darcell Bishop, Tiffany Blackmon, Kayla Brereton, Abby Buechel, Michelle Bufton, Brittany Campbell, Melanie Darby, Avery Edenfield, Alex Engel, Emily Rose Espinoza, Nooruddin Farooqui, Megan Flock, Lindsay Frost, Ulrike Galasinski, Jared Gozdowiak, Andrea Gratton, Maricella Rodriguez Gutierrez, Megan Helt-Baldwin, Jennifer Herkowski, Amanda Houle, Joseph M. Ilk, Nathan Jansky, Lindsay Jaszewski, Daniel Kelly, Katy Klessig, Robert Labott, Andrea Ledesma, Rachel Lee, Nicole Maher-Palus, James McCormack, Tara Niesen, Garrett Nodell, Manda Orlandini, Luke Perenboom, Erica Lisette Ramirez, Kelly Renner, Gloria Roschke, Courtney Schmidt, Zachary Sell, Suzette Simpson Alex Sokol, Flannery Steffens, Heidi Vanderbusch, Tricia Vanderkin, Katie Visser, Jerald Ward, Krystel Wilburn.

We'd like to thank our nominating faculty and community partners:

Faculty: Vicki Callahan, Ryan Holifield, Sally Stanton, Gregory Jay, Tracy Heatherington, and Mai Phillips.

Community Partners: Alliance for the Great Lakes, Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, Community High School, Hope House of Milwaukee, Johnsons Park Neighborhood Association, Journey House, Milwaukee County Parks, Milwaukee River Keeper, Milwaukee Therapeutic Recreation Program, Neighborhood House of Milwaukee, People's Book Cooperative, Peace Action Milwaukee, Our Next Generation, Reach Out and Read Milwaukee, River Revitalization Foundation, SDC Family Support Center, Urban Ecology Center, UWM Greenhouse, Walnut Way Conservation Corporation, WELS Model English Language Outreach Program, Wisconsin BE SMART Coalition.

UWM Institute for Service Learning Names Scholarship of Engagement Faculty Fellows

Three UWM faculty members were recently awarded the First Annual Scholarship of Engagement Faculty Research Fellowships by the Institute for Service Learning. The fellowships support research and collaborative work with community partners leading to real-world problem solving and capacity building. Projects are recognized for their potential for innovative accomplishment and publication on topics that contribute to civic engagement, social and economic justice and multicultural education.

Faculty fellows and community partners work together to identify problems, compile data, define assets and develop tools for addressing problems, Through this approach, community members are encouraged to research solutions and take action, while faculty move forward in their disciplinary-based knowledge.

Scholarship of Engagement Faculty Research Fellowships for 2008-09 have been awarded to:

Rachel Buff, UWM Associate Professor, History, Scholarship Reconsidered: Immigrant rights and the Scholarship of Engagement

Buff's collaboration with Voces de la Frontera, a Milwaukee immigrant rights and advocacy group, will contribute to the creation of a statewide writer's bureau to disseminate information on immigration issues and a writing course to train UWM students in the techniques of advocacy journalism. Buff is also developing research capability at Voces de La Frontera to help publicize immigrant rights perspectives on key issues including immigration raids and their impact on families, changes in Social Security policy and collaboration between law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security.

Elizabeth Drame, UWM Assistant Professor, Exceptional Education: Community Engagement Process for a High Quality Public Education System in New Orleans

Drame's project supports the work of New Orleans-based nonprofit organizations to build an informed and cohesive voice for high quality education in that city. Working with Policy Link, a national research and action institute committed to equitable redevelopment in Louisiana, as well as urban community partners, Dr. Drame's research will help form a model for community engagement and serve as vehicle for a community defined vision of public education in New Orleans.

David Pate, UWM Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work: Reexamining Perspectives on Poverty and Resiliency: a Gathering of Black Men.

Working with the Milwaukee Fatherhood Collective, this project focuses on defining poverty and resiliency among Black men by documenting their voices and images through oral histories, photographs and film across generations. The fellowship will build on support Pate has already received for the project which is now in its second year. It aims to enhance the scholarship of engagement at UWM with the inclusion of undergraduate research assistants.

ISL Welcomes AmeriCorps*VISTA Volunteers

The Institute for Service Learning welcomes two new AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers to its staff. Marcia J. Roundtree and Jill Schumacher are working with the Institute and several community partners to promote civic engagement and facilitate service opportunities for UWM students. Partnering with Milwaukee's Social Development Commission, Family Bridges, and United Community Center, Marcia and Jill are focusing on anti-poverty activities.

Marcia graduated from UWM in 2007 with a major in communication. She is a former member of UWM's Women's Track and Field Team and recently served as assistant coach for the Rufus King Girls Track and Field Team. Other experience includes work as medical support assistant at the Zablocki VA Medical Center as a recreation leader for the Milwaukee Public Schools and as a member of the event staff for UWM's athletic department.

"My social interest has always been to reach out to others in need," she says of why she chose to become an AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer. "Even as a young child I had a heart to help people. I have learned that the world in which we live has people of all ages and backgrounds that need assistance."

Jill, who is a fine arts graduate of UWM, recently earned her Masters Degree in Therapeutic Recreation from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She served her therapeutic recreation internship at an adult day center in Denver, Colorado. She has also had extensive experience working with Girl Scouting in Milwaukee and previously served as a VISTA involved in Girl Scout activities in Laramie, Wyoming.

Describing her motivation to serve, she says, "I participate in the community because other people are important. My mission is to improve, maintain and enhance life satisfaction and to improve life quality for individuals in need."

Jill and Marcia come to UWM from Wisconsin Campus Compact, which places VISTA volunteers at Wisconsin colleges, universities and community based organizations. The UWM Institute for Service Learning has hosted Americorps*VISTA members for the past five years.

Winter 2009 E-newsletter (opens new window or tab)