The Office of Service-Learning is celebrating the nine University of Georgia faculty members accepted into its 21st Service-Learning Fellows cohort.
“We’ve got a dynamic cohort of Service-Learning Fellows this year,” said Kathy Thompson, clinical professor with the Mary Frances Early College of Education and director of the service-learning fellows program. “Each Fellow brings unique perspectives and expertise to the program, and together we’ll explore innovative ways to connect academic learning with genuine community issues. I’m excited to see how these collaborations enrich UGA student learning while making a meaningful impact in our community, both locally and beyond.”
The Service-Learning Fellows program allows faculty members from a range of disciplines to integrate academic service-learning into their professional practice. More than 180 faculty from 16 of UGA’s schools and colleges, Public Service and Outreach units, and the UGA-AU medical partnership have participated in the Service-Learning Fellows program since it was launched in 2006.
Throughout the program, faculty develop service-learning projects that pair their students with community partners and address issues such as health access, youth development, food insecurity, economic development, and literacy. The fellows meet regularly throughout the academic year and receive an award of up to $2,500 to develop or implement their proposed service-learning project.
The 2025-26 Service-Learning Fellows and their proposed courses are:
Lynn Abdouni – Associate Research Scientist
Environmental, Civil, Agricultural, and Mechanical Engineering
Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems
College of Engineering
Lynn Abdouni plans to integrate a semester-long service-learning project into her course, CVLE 4770: Urban Infrastructure Systems. The course covers topics in urban planning processes for the built environment and supporting infrastructure systems.
Collaborating with the UGA’s Archway Partnership, students will work with a Georgia county/municipality to integrate engineering with nature through participatory design approaches. This framework helps students understand community needs and develop resilient infrastructure solutions while building practical skills at the intersection of engineering and urban planning.
Kristy Archuleta – Professor
Financial Planning, Housing & Consumer Economics
College of Family & Consumer Sciences
Kristy Archuleta is adapting her online service-learning course, FHCE 7205E: Practicum in Financial Planning, for the Online Behavioral Financial Planning and Financial Therapy Certificate program. As this certificate program grows and expands, UGA online students will benefit from more opportunities where they can gain hands-on, virtual experience providing financial planning and therapy services. Through the fellows program, Archuleta hopes to develop and strengthen relationships with community partners, connect UGA students to financial planning and therapy professionals, and expand virtual financial services provided by UGA’s Love and Money Center.
Stacy Campbell – Lecturer and Director
Institute for Leadership Advancement
Terry College of Business
Stacy Campbell intends to enhance two service-learning courses led by the Institute for Leadership Advancement—ILA5010S: Service-Learning Project Management and ILAD5100S: Organizational Leadership. Students in these courses typically work with community partners on service-learning projects over two semesters, and Campbell hopes to apply more service-learning theory to further engage and connect students throughout the projects. Through the fellows program, Campbell also hopes to discover more community partners and form more mutually beneficial partnerships where UGA students develop leadership skills and serve the local community.
Christina Hanawalt – Associate Professor
Lamar Dodd School of Art
Franklin College of Arts & Sciences
Christina Hanawalt is planning on redesigning a service-learning course she has been teaching since 2022—ARED 4060S/6060S: Art Education in School, Museum, and Community, which connects UGA art education majors to students in the Clarke County School District during an after-school program at the Athenaeum on Broad Street. Taking inspiration from the Beverly Buchanan exhibition scheduled for Spring 2026 at the Athenaeum, Hanawalt intends to enhance this course to become more focused on the history and culture of communities in Athens, where Buchanan once lived. This format will help UGA students understand a range of perspectives as teachers and inspire middle school students to explore the relation of history and culture through art.
Tamika Lunn – Assistant Professor
Odum School of Ecology
Tamika Lunn is developing a new service-learning course in the Odum School of Ecology. Her course “Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Ecological Service-Learning” will connect UGA students with local environmental agencies and communities to collaborate on projects involving spatial data and the environment—for example, mapping wildlife habitats, tracking species, and analyzing ecological trends. Students will work directly with stakeholders on real-world projects, gaining career-relevant experience while supporting community conservation efforts.
Rob Pazdro – Associate Professor
Nutritional Sciences
College of Family & Consumer Sciences
Rob Pazdro intends to develop a new service-learning course in the Department of Nutritional Sciences to inspire students to study rare diseases affecting Americans. These diseases, while individually affecting fewer than 200,000 persons, combine to affect 10 percent of the U.S. population. Pazdro envisions a course where UGA students learn about these rare diseases directly from the underrepresented community through meetings and interviews. This will help form mutually beneficial partnerships with organizations focused on these diseases and provide students with insight and empathy as they progress their education and careers in medicine.
Ruoyu Sun – Assistant Professor
Advertising & Public Relations
Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication
Ruoyu Sun will work to redesign her senior-level capstone course, ADPR 5950: Public Relations Campaigns, as a service-learning course, building connections with local nonprofit organizations to connect her students to real-world clients. Many smaller nonprofit organizations rely on communications to inform, educate and engage the community, but they may not have the resources to launch and maintain longer communications campaigns. Through this course, students will work collaboratively with identified organizations to gain practical experience while developing actionable public relations campaigns that benefit both these organizations and the communities they serve.
Susan Tanner – Associate Professor
Anthropology
Franklin College of Arts & Sciences
Susan Tanner intends to apply service-learning theory to revise ANTH2275S: Introduction to Anthropology, studying anthropology with a focus on the interactions between people and animals. For this introductory course, Tanner hopes to collaborate with community and campus partners, such as the Archway Partnership or UGA Extension, to engage students in exploring the complex relationships between people and animals, using topics like animal domestication or zoonotic disease. Tanner also plans to develop a new upper-level undergraduate service-learning course on “Culture and Health,” which will connect students with professionals in the community to assist in hands-on projects and develop career-ready skills.
Sophie Waller – Limited-Term Assistant Professor
Kinesiology
Mary Frances Early College of Education
Sophie Waller plans to revamp an existing service-learning course she has taught since 2022—KINS 4750S: Service-Learning in Kinesiology. This course connects UGA students to youth at Hilsman Middle School in the Clarke County School District, where UGA students provide both academic tutoring and athletic coaching, inspiring CCSD students to excel in sports and in the classroom while teaching UGA students valuable skills for their future careers. Through the fellows program, Waller hopes to incorporate more active learning elements into the program, explore new partnerships with other schools in the district and develop strategies to maintain and strengthen the collaborative relationships between UGA and the CCSD.
