PICTURED ABOVE: Students from Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education (EDUC 101) , taught by Professor Amy Anderson, ventured into Durham on the Bull City Connector for a scavenger hunt that included stops to the Pauli Murray Mural, Black Wall Street, the Civil Rights History mural at DAC, the vault at 21c Museum Hotel, and of course, Major, the bull!
What is a service-learning course?
Service-learning and community-based learning courses build a strong academic foundation by incorporating collaborations with local community partners and translating theory into real-world experience. By exploring the rich diversity of our local and global communities, courses provide students with opportunities to engage effectively with communities on issues such as the environment, socioeconomic inequities, public policy, health, immigration, education, and more. The following multimedia slide show highlights just a few of the over 65 service-learning and community-engaged courses that Duke Service-Learning has supported this 2018-19 academic year.
Students from "Farmworkers in North Carolina: Roots of Poverty, Roots of Change" (DOCST 332S), taught by Professor Charlie Thompson, worked with Durham artist Cornelio Campus to create a mural honoring farmworkers' past, present, and future.
"We know Duke did not just magically appear. Agriculture, and most prominently tobacco, helped make Duke, and this is still a part of who we are. The mural is a tribute to the history, what preceded us, as well as what continues to be part of agriculture. Viewers will see negative aspects of agriculture, but the mural also reminds us of things that are very positive that we sometimes forget. We painted the phrase “Todos somos familia,” as a message of inclusion and as a message of the need for people to stand up for these issues that affect us all," says Thompson. **Note: this quote was excerpted from a DukeArts article by Ilona Stanback.
"In this course, we focused on the histories of the human beings who have fed us for centuries. We were encouraged to think beyond what we read in academic writing and to put our feet on the ground." -Sujeiry Jimenez, Public Policy Major, Global Health Minor, and Human Rights Certificate
Photo Caption: Students pose with Durham artist Cornelio Campus and other community partners at the mural launch at The Rubenstein Arts Center. The mural will eventually be moved to the Duke Campus Farm. Photo Credit: Robert Zimmerman.
Students from "Global Displacement: Voix Francophones" (FRENCH 325S), taught by Professor Deb Reisinger, partnered with refugee families in Durham to produce Duke Hello, a multimedia website designed to help newcomers with linguistic and culturally challenging scenarios.
“The class has changed my views to see how nuanced language barriers can be,” says Nefer Batsuli, a junior. “I hadn’t considered how some situations we often consider as common sense would become ten times harder with a language barrier.” Note: this quote was excerpted from an article by Duke Global Health Institute.
“We can sit in a class for three hours each week and learn about the issues displaced people face through readings, news articles or discussions among ourselves. But we cannot truly understand the needs of others until we sit down with them, lay aside our accumulated knowledge and assumptions, and just listen to their stories.” - Student testimonial, excerpted from an article by Duke Global Health Institute
Students from "Digital Documentary Photography: Education, Childhood, and Growth" (DOCST 209S), taught by Professor Susie Post-Rust, worked with students from Hillside High School to produce Hillside in Focus, a multimedia storytelling website that speaks to the heart of the school, the teachers, the students, and the community.
VIDEO: Watch "I Believe: The Hillside IB Story", a student project by Andy Ju.
Students from "Duke Chemistry Outreach: Sharing Chemistry with the Community" (CHEM 180), taught by Professor Ken Lyle, joined forces with Trinity College, local schools, the Lemur Center, NC Museum of Natural Sciences, and the Nasher Museum of Art to produce a signature community event entitled "Science Under the Stars".
VIDEO: Highlights from the Science Under the Stars event.
"It's so great to see kids getting excited about science. The kids think it’s so cool that these Duke students are talking to them and relating with them. All day, they have adults talking to them about science and social studies and math and whatever else they’re studying, but when they have people that are closer to their age and they can see themselves as a college student--that’s a really good way to relate to them and it’s been really beneficial." - Community partner testimonial
Students from "Performing Sexual Health" (DANCE 215S), taught by Professor Keval Khalsa, learned to use humor, personal narratives, and non-judgmental/sex-positive approaches to open dialogues about sexual health by and for diverse communities.
Photo Credit: Talise Redmond
Students from "Bridging Cultures: Latino Lives & Experiences in North Carolina" (SPANISH 313), taught by Professor Bethzaida Fernández, explored key issues surrounding Latinx communities in Durham and beyond, focusing on issues of culture and immigration, health, education, and the economy. Projects emphasized bidirectional learning, cultural understanding, and opportunities for building bridges to local communities.
"Visiting the farmworker camps was one of the most impactful experiences for all of us. Walking around the trailers where they lived in large numbers, seeing the difficult and poor conditions shocked many of us especially given the proximity to which this exists from Duke. It was challenging to take any of it in without being highly self aware of one’s own privilege but still needing to engage in order to learn from them how to help." Axel Herrera-Ramos, SLA (Service-Learning Assistant)
Photo Credit: Axel Herrera-Ramos
Students from "Theory and Practice of Sustainability" (ENVIRON 245), taught by Professor Charlotte Clark, used Duke campus as a case study to examine institutional practices including building design and operations, consumption, waste production and recycling, carbon offsets design, transportation, sustainability education, and behavior change.
STUDENT PROJECT (above): Henry Kohn, Esmeralda Figueras, Julia Kemper, Sam Ditesheim and Raines Shamburger partnered with Duke Dining and Duke Farm to produce a video for Theory & Practice of Sustainability (ENVIRON 245). The video combines humor with facts and resources to educate viewers about composting at Duke.
Students from "Critical Pedagogy of Hip Hop" (EDUC 290S), taught by Professor Kisha Daniels, collaborated with community partners from the Boys and Girls Club of Durham and Orange County, and utilized hip hop to develop engaging and empowering learning environments. The course explores the historical and socio-cultural aspects of education initiatives, teaching and learning strategies, and educational policy issues that contribute to marginalization.
STUDENT PROJECT (above): Children from the Boys and Girls Club of Durham and Orange County gather at the Mary Lou Williams Center For Black Culture to watch the final presentations for EDUC 290S. This video, "Never Let Us Fail," is just one of the hip-hop videos the children collaborated on with the Duke students. Lyrics below.
"Fighters, NEVER FORGET, only ten years old when it clicked in my head (that) knowledge is power, education is key. To break the cycle, that’s my destiny. Finessing school, ima get my degree. Ignored the hate, they kept playing on me. TILL I GOT TO DUKE LIKE THE SCHOLAR I AM. On a full ride, I GOT IT FOR FREE (So) Stop playing w me, Ima break the cycle. Grinding hard, Ima earn the title. Knock me down, I’m back up, revival. Never give up is my word yeah my bible.” - Lyrics from "Never Let Us Fail," by Surafel Adere, Talise Redmond, and Andre Mego
PHOTO (on right): Students at the B&G Club practice being a ‘Cipher.’ A hip-hop cipher is an improvised freestyle session that is focused on the positive, unlike the rap battle where you insult your opponent. The students have been learning about the roots of hip-hop and how it can be used to positively impact communication such as speaking, listening and writing.
Photo Credit: Sierra Cleveland
Students from "Social Inequalities and Low-Wage Work" (ECON 337S), taught by Professor Genna Miller, gained new insights into the local conditions of social inequalities and low-wage work by documenting the stories of low-income, first generation Duke students, as well as lower income members of the Duke and Durham communities.
STUDENT PROJECT: The Humans of Durham Facebook page tells the stories of low-income, first generation Duke students and members of the Duke and Durham community.
"During the panic over Hurricane Florence this past semester, many of my classmates left campus to spend their “hurrication” in South America and Europe. As they posted pictures from Paris bistros and Mexican night clubs, I waited for a call from my relatives, who were trapped without power along the coast. The first floor of our family home was flooded. The kids at Duke meanwhile posted instagrams of expensive cocktails. I found it really difficult to not feel resentful of my wealthier classmates after seeing the devastation that took place in my hometown. I had never even left the country and they were using a natural disaster to spend a few days in Paris. At the same time, I felt guilty about the privilege I was exposed to here on campus. My family didn’t have access to power for over a week. A woman two streets over from me was killed by a falling tree. And I was just here at Duke, with access to a backup generator and a crepe bar." - excerpted from the Humans of Durham Facebook page
Students from "Health, Culture, and the Latinx Community" (SPANISH 306), taught by Professor Joan Clifford, worked with the Durham County Public Health Department and the local Latinx community to gather data for the SugarSmart Durham campaign; a campaign that aims to decrease the consumption of sugary drinks, commonly marketed to Latinx and African-American communities.
“Listening is the core of what we want to do with this campaign,” says Denver Jameson, an epidemiologist at the Durham County Public Health Department. “We're trying to get away from the idea that as public institutions or organizations, we have answers for people that will make their lives better, and come more from a place of understanding. And in order to do that, we think that you have to ask questions and ask questions to listen,” she adds.
VIDEO: Faculty, students, and community partners discuss the course objectives of "Health, Culture, and the Latinx Community" (SPANISH 306).
PHOTO (on right): Students learned to facilitate story circles as a method of gathering data for the Durham County Public Health Department. Story circles rely heavily on deep listening to the communities being served in order to gain a more effective perspective. “No graph or data can tell you what an actual person can tell you through a story," says Alex Bajana (T’21), a computer science/biology major who took the course in Fall 2018.
Photo Credit: Joan Clifford
Students from “Medical Ethics, Aging, and End-of-Life Care in the U.S." (EDUC 112FS), taught by Professor Jehanne Gheith, assisted Durham artist Bryant Holsenbeck in creating an art installation for Camden High School.
"There are very few opportunities in our society for younger people and older people to work together. This project gave the students the opportunity to spend real time with someone who is over 60 and explore the relationship among creativity, care, and aging." - Professor Jehanne Gheith
Photo: Students pose with Durham artist Bryant Holsenbeck and the project they created for Camden High School.
Students from "Evaluating Health Innovation" (EHD 290S), taught by Jessica Sperling, collaborated with the Duke Cancer Institute and the Duke Institute for Health Innovation to examine how to better facilitate the integration of electronic patient reported outcomes (ePROs) into clinician workflow.
Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) help providers proactively assess patients’ symptoms through validated questionnaires. Yet despite the known benefits of using ePRO (Electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes), there has been limited adoption due to technological and workflow barriers. This project is part of the community-engaged, Social Science Research Lab course and engages students in project-based learning in social science research principles and their real-world application.
PHOTO (on right): Sean Bissell, Zoe King, Sahil Sandhu, and Michelle Wong display their research at Duke's Visible Thinking event.
Students from "Delivering Software: From Concept to Client" (COMPSCI 408), taught by Professor Robert Duvall, partnered with Duke OIT to develop a mobile app utilizing Apple’s AR kit. The students focused on a design based on the Duke Blue Devil.
"This course gives students a chance to really pull together everything that they’ve learned in their computer science career and also put it into a real-world context where they get to make decisions and advise clients on what they think the best technology is to use to solve their problems," says Duvall.
VIDEO: Professor Duvall, students, and Duke OIT discuss the service-learning project they collaborated on.
"My primary role in the project was designing the Blue Devil. I created a generic human model and then I imported that into the design software Blender which gave me the freedom to be able to virtually sculpt the models features into something that actually resembles the Blue Devil. It was really rewarding to be able to see the generic human that I started out with turn into the iconic figure that we all love." - Angela Tawfik
Students from “Understanding China and the U.S.” (CHINESE 450S), taught by Professor Yan Liu, partnered with students from Durham Academy to create research projects on various issues like Trade War, Technology Competition between China and the U.S., Chinese Dream and American Dream, "One Country, Two Systems” in Hong Kong, and Education Inequality in China and the U.S.
PHOTO: Students present their final projects at an end-of-the-semester poster session in Spring 2019.
Photo Credit: Joan Clifford
Students from "Translating Spanish-English and English-Spanish" (SPANISH 310), taught by Professors Melissa Simmermeyer and Joan Munné, gained insights on the importance of translation by shadowing interpreters at Duke Hospital and learning from experts in the field.
I’ve been putting a lot of effort into showcasing the importance of translation and interpretation, and the need to provide access to information in all languages. For example, why does a prestigious institution such as Duke not offer more resources translated into other languages? We would not have access to other cultures’ texts if it weren’t for translation. How do we create awareness around the vital role that translation plays in a globalized world?" - Professor Joan Munné, excerpted from an article by Duke Today.
PHOTO (on right): Interpreter Yasmin Metivier gives an energizing talk on the challenges and rewards inherent in courtroom and conference interpreting, and the difference that interpreters make in the community.
Photo Credit: Kimmie Garner
Students from “Nonprofit Cultural Institutions” (THEATRST 310S), taught by Professor Dan Ellison, worked with Durham non-profit Arts Access, NC to develop art audio tours for community members with visual impairments. The mission of Arts Access is to enable North Carolinians with disabilities to have full access to arts programs and facilities, and to encourage them to participate fully in the rich cultural and artistic life throughout the state.
PHOTO (on right): Students participate in a training to prepare them to develop verbal descriptions of artwork for a recorded audio tour. Students were challenged to consider how to best describe paintings, drawings, and sculpture for patrons of the Nasher Museum that could not see the works. Several visually impaired consultants from the community provided critiques to the students ranging from how students referenced colors to cautioning on how to describe the appropriate spatial relationships.
Photo Credit: Joan Clifford
Students from "Small Town USA: Local Collaborations" (DOCST 230S), taught by Professor Susie Post-Rust, collaborated with individuals and groups in Hillsborough, NC to hone their documentary photography skills.
STUDENT PROJECT (above): Watch Art & Artist: A Love Story by Reagan Sanders.
Photo Credit: Reagan Sanders
Graduate students from "Community-Based Environmental Management" (ENVIRON 795), taught by Professors Liz Shapiro-Garza and Calvin Allen, collaborated with organizations throughout North Carolina to analyze and implement plans to manage their own environment in economically viable, socially just and environmentally sustainable ways.
"There’s absolutely no way we could teach this course without our co-instructors, who are our community partners," says Professor Liz Shapiro-Garza
PHOTO: Students pose for a photo with their community partners at an end-of-the-semester potluck celebration in Spring 2019.