July 12, 2010

Student success in science, technology, engineering and math – the STEM disciplines – as well as Service Learning classes in those fields will get a boost as the result of a grant CSU Monterey Bay was recently awarded.

The university will receive $25,000 per year for three years to give students the opportunity to do in-depth community service in a STEM field.

CSUMB is one of five CSU campuses to share in the Learn and Serve America grant awarded by the Corporation for National and Community Service, an independent federal agency created to connect Americans with opportunities to give back to their communities. The other campuses are Chico, Fresno, San Marcos and Sonoma.

The grant will bring together community agencies, students and faculty members from the STEM disciplines in a "learning community." The resulting partnerships will lead to community-based projects that students can work on for their "capstone" graduation requirement instead of the typical laboratory- or field-based projects.

These projects will benefit "town and gown," as well as have significant impacts on students.

Classes in the College of Science will be involved, including:

• Environmental Justice Service Learning, taught by Dr. Daniel Shapiro. He is interested in food security issues and anticipates working on projects with the staff of the Agricultural and Land Based Training Association (ALBA) and with Everyone's Harvest, which organizes local farmers' markets.

• Math in the Community, taught by Dr. Joanne Lieberman and Dr. Hongde Hu. Students will work with local high school math teachers to improve teaching practicing in partner classrooms.

• Interpretation of Monterey Bay Natural History Service Learning, taught by Dr. Suzanne Worcester. Students have worked with the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District and the Monterey Regional Waste Management District. Dr. Worcester hopes to find opportunities for students to create interpretive panels and environmental educational lessons plans for the partners.

Laura Lee Lienk, coordinator with the Service Learning Institute, and Dr. Seth Pollack, SLI director, will coordinate the project sat CSUMB.

To learn more about the Service Learning Institute at CSUMB, click here.