Who can apply?
The award is designed to support and recognize a faculty member and a Student Affairs staff member who work together to promote the integration of teaching with activities within the Division to achieve student learning outcomes consistent with the mission of the Student Affairs Division and Western’s teaching and learning mission. The Student Affairs Division supports the student learning goals of the Liberal Studies program (see below).

How much is the award?
One award of $2,000 will be presented to the selected applicant(s). Funds are available for the fiscal year beginning July 1 after the award is announced.

How may the funds be used?
Applicants may propose a variety of uses for the funds, as long as expenditures support faculty-Student Affairs Division initiatives directed toward achieving jointly identified student learning outcomes.

How do I apply?
Write a concise description of your planned integrative activity with Student Affairs, including the student learning outcomes you hope to achieve. Identify the initial goals of the project. Include names of faculty members and Student Affairs professionals to be involved in the activities and explain their respective roles. Indicate the activities that are to be offered to students and explain how those experiences contribute to the attainment of specific learning outcomes. Explain in detail how you will assess the project. The award selection will be made by the Committee on Student Learning – a University-wide committee consisting of students, faculty, and student affairs administrators. Submit the application to: Committee on Student Learning, Scott Hall East.

When is the deadline?
The deadline is Friday, March 14, 2008.

What if I want more information?
For more information, contact Chris Cooper ccooper@email.wcu.edu or Jeff Hughes hughes@email.wcu.edu.

Who are the previous winners of this award?
2007: Dr. Philip (Ted) Coyle (Anthropology) and Karrie Joseph (Health Services) – “Understanding and Activating Student Wellness at WCU.”

2006: Dr. Kathleen Brennan (Sociology), Michael Despeaux (Career Services), Dr. Scott Philyaw (History/Mountain Heritage Center), and Josh Whitmore (Base Camp Cullowhee) – “Adventure Sports in the Mountains.”

2005: Dr. Elizabeth McRae (History) and Tanisha Jenkins (Multicultural Affairs) – “The Retrospective of the Civil Rights Movement and its Continued Reverberations.”

Abstracts

Understanding and Activating Student Wellness at WCU
This experiential-learning project connected student researchers with the WCU Wellness Council and completed a series of linked ethnographic research projects concerning chief health issues among WCU students. Concerns such as alcohol misuse, obesity, and depression factor into the college experience, affecting academic achievement, retention, and overall well-being. Understanding that these issues occur and that students have the resources to change them formed the basis for this project. Students documented and analyzed day-to-day college life, and developed written and audio projects as the result. Now, these students have the opportunity to turn their research into action by partnering with the Wellness Council.

Adventure Sports in the Mountains
This proposal was developed in partnership by the directors of the Mountain Heritage Center and Base Camp Cullowhee, a career counselor, and two faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences. Built around a three-course earning community our integration of learning plan will enable students to thoroughly explore adventure sports that underpin the outdoor culture pervasive at Western, promote wellness, provide opportunities for involvement in the campus and local communities, and fuel much of the regional economy through participation and tourism. Adventure Sports in the Mountains will examine the development and practice of strong regional activities such as whitewater kayaking, road and off-road bicycling, rock climbing, trail running, and hiking. In SOC 102, taught by Dr. Kathleen Brennan students will learn about how subcultures have evolved around these sports and understand how participants may share common goals, unique language, rituals, and symbols. In USI 130, taught by Mike Despeaux, they will investigate options and each “join” an adventure sport subculture by participating, competing, or volunteering. In ENG 191, taught by Dr. Jubal Tiner, students will write stories describing their own experience in the context of a chosen sport in the first person or from the perspective of their characters. Articles, excerpts from original books, and stories may be provided in a special course-pack.

The Retrospective of the Civil Rights Movement and its Continued Reverberations
We would like to engage a group of 18-20 students (5 graduate students and 15-18 undergraduates) in an on-site research project involving a retrospective of the civil rights movement and its continued reverberations. On the road for 9 days, this traveling research project would take students to 9 of the major civil rights sites in the southeast during summer term. From walking through the 16th Street Baptist Church and the Lorraine Hotel to conversations with local and national activists, this trip would bring history alive. This hand-on approach to history would also create unique research opportunities: photojournalism, documentary-making, oral history, analyzing affects, of the civil rights movement on communities and individuals, tracing the trajectory of social justice in the South from the 1960s until today, and creating a public history exhibit for western North Carolina communities. Ultimately, it would provide our students with an educational experience that simply could not be recreated in the classroom, expanding their minds, their travels, and their understanding of social justice, civil rights, and American democracy. It would also provide WCU with a newsworthy event that would highlight the university’s commitment to student research and its willingness to expand the classroom, redefining “educational experience.” This trip should also demonstrate WCU’s commitment to multiculturalism, to the history of
all its students and to building new communities that breakdown racial class, geographic and ethnic barriers.

Mission of the Student Affairs Division
In support of the mission of the University, the Division of Student Affairs is committed to the personal, social, and intellectual development of students as they live and learn within a diverse community. Programs, services, outreach activities, and facilities enhance the ability of current and prospective students to apply learning outcomes as they develop independent thought, take advantage of community involvement, and understand global responsibility.

Liberal Studies Learning Outcomes
The Student Affairs Division supports the student learning goals of the Liberal Studies program, which include the ability to:
1. locate, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information
2. interpret and use numerical, written, oral and visual data
3. read with comprehension, and to write and speak clearly, coherently, and effectively as well as to adapt modes of communication appropriate to an audience
4. critically analyze arguments
5. recognize behaviors and define choices that affect lifelong well-being
6. understand:
• past human experiences and ability to relate them to the present
• different contemporary cultures and their interrelationships
• issues involving social institutions, interpersonal and group dynamics, human development and behavior, and cultural diversity
• scientific concepts and methods as well as contemporary issues in science and technology
• cultural heritage through its expressions of wisdom, literature and art and their roles in the process of self and social understanding
7. develop excitement for and love of learning

Integration of Learning Award Review Criteria
• Is the purpose well defined?
• Is the faculty member’s involvement in the proposal development evident?
• Is the role that the faculty member will play in the program implementation clearly defined?
• Are learning outcomes consistent with the mission of Student Affairs and with WCU’s teaching and learning mission?
• Is the budget reasonable and are expenditures essential to meet the learning outcomes?
• Is there an effective plan for assessing learning outcomes?