GRSC 7970S: Approaches to Community Engagement

Fall 2012: Wednesdays from 2:30-4:25 PM (this course is offered every Fall)
Call #:  03957
Instructor: Dr. Anna Karls - akarls@uga.edu

Graduate students interested in community engagement theory, methodology and ethics may take GRSC 7970S, “Approaches to Community Engagement,” offered in conjunction with the Graduate School. This interdisciplinary course gives graduate students a foundation in engagement, including understanding of the university’s land- and sea-grant missions, tenets of engaged scholarship, theory, methodology and ethics of engagement in higher education, and more.

For more details, please contact Dr. Anna Karls, akarls@uga.edu, associate professor of microbiology and 2012-13 Service-Learning Fellow.

Course Description: Community Engagement is the mutually beneficial collaboration of universities and colleges with local, state, national and global communities.  This interdisciplinary course will provide the foundation for graduate students to participate in and develop university community partnerships that expand their professional development and enrich their community, as well as their own lives.

The weekly seminars will cover: UGA’s land- and sea-grant history and mission; theoretical and practical approaches to university-community engagement; best practices for producing and publishing engaged scholarship; and preparation of a Graduate Community Engagement Portfolio.  Students in the course will participate in, and prepare a case study on, an UGA community partnership through a Public Service and Outreach unit, the Cooperative Extension, or a UGA department.  By the end of the semester, they will develop their own plan for discipline specific engaged service, engaged research, or engaged teaching.