UTA Center for Service Learning

Faculty/Community Partner Highlight of the Week ⚡️:
Kathleen Tice began her service learning career with fellow SL educator and Professor Larry Nelson. With a common goal in mind, the duo gathered research on service learning over the course of 10 years. It was then that she realized the importance of efficacy and how big of a help accurate data is to that effect. In addition, she also gained a better understanding of the implementation of the service learning project itself, as many different factors have to be taken into consideration for an effective project. Thus, they have compiled books, articles and journals dealing with the promises and pitfalls of service learning.
Working with greats such as Mary Lynn Crow, Tice was able to go on to create her own after school literacy program at elementary school Uplift Summit and through that, learned how to provide a comprehensive literacy program. She has also had the opportunity to present every year at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in a special interest group and also co-edits an online journal for their International Center for Service Learning.
She has also been able to help two community partners get funding for a Partner Breakfast a couple of years ago. The first one was $5,000 for a non-profit working with orphanages in Ukraine, helping those who aged out of the system pay for university dues. In addition to that, she has also been able to biome a Clinical Professor of Curriculum and Instruction for the College of Education.

Through another project, UTA students in LIST 4374 are going to meet over a period of three weeks with students in HEB ISD to read and discuss a novel, working in small groups/literary circles, akin to experiences of book clubs. The middle-school students are enrolled in courses in Hindi or Mandarin, which is part of the International Business Initiative in HEB ISD under the direction of Bhavani Parpani. Gaining global perspectives is a goal of the International Business Initiative, and the UTA students can foster students’ gaining global perspectives as they read/ have conversations about a novel set in Afghanistan and Pakistan by an award-winning author. @ The University of Texas at Arlington

Faculty/Community Partner Highlight of the Week ⚡️: David Hopman is a registered Landscape Architect and member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. He came on as part-time faculty in 2003 and accepted the position as a professor at the Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture at The University of Texas at Arlington in 2004. His service learning courses are Design studio III – Site Planning (LARC 5663) and Planting Design (LARC 5331).
David Hopman is no stranger to service learning and has been actively engaged in it prior to becoming a faculty at UTA. From building a small farm for homeless teenagers to designing for the Fort Worth Botanical gardens, David Hopman and his students have taken on multiple projects ranging from small to large-scale redesigns of various locations in the DFW metroplex

· Redesign of 2 acre therapeutic/healing gardens, parking, and courtyards for patients, families, and caregivers of Hospice House in Burleson, Texas: for Community Hospice of Texas (LARC 5663).
· Redesign of entrance and transition space, to the North portion of the Fort Worth Botanic Garden and the concert greens: for the Fort Worth Botanic Garden
· Re-design of the CAPPA courtyard for the new CAPPA Café. (LARC 5331) @ Architecture Building

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 🎉

Every week we will highlight a different community partner and the incredible work they do.

Proyecto Inmigrante ICS, Inc. is a nonprofit agency founded by Douglas D. Interiano and cofounded by a group of community leaders dedicated to ensure that injustices against the immigration population community are not committed in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

UTA professor Dr. Alicia Ruedo-Aceda incorporates service learning into her spanish translation course by having her students work with the nonprofit to translate important documents for their immigrant clientele.

We are so grateful for her impact and how her students are able to make contributions in their community through service learning. 💛