Past Funded Projects: 1999-2004
The Service-Learning Initiative funds development of service-learning courses and collaborative university/community projects that address community goals. Check the RFP page for information on the next funding cycle.
For information about all Outreach and Engagement Grants, see outreachgrants.osu.edu.
Projects from 2001-2004 were funded through a grant from Learn and Serve America with the support of the Corporation for National and Community Service.
2004 Interdisciplinary University/Community Service-Learning Grants
Three projects were funded (up to $8,000).
1. Columbus Literacy Council/OSU Literacy Partnership
Mindy Wright, Coordinator, Writing Workshop, English; H. Lewis Ulman, Assistant Dean, College of Humanities; Scott DeWitt, Director, Digital Media Project, English; Nancy Hill McClary, Assistant Director, Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing; Terrell Morgan, Associate Professor, Spanish Linguistics. Community Partners: Mary Passaglia, Executive Director, Columbus Literacy Council; Leroy Boikai, Columbus Literacy Council
Courses: English 367, English 567C, Spanish 367
The Columbus Literacy Council (CLC) and OSU Literacy Partners sought to develop a new learning model that blends reading, writing, and electronic pedagogies. The immediate goal was to investigate how and whether use of computer-assisted software could allow CLC to reach more adults who come there to learn how to read and write in English. Students in English 367 provided a consistent supply of tutors for CLC and deepened their learning about the multifaceted cultures that comprise the “American experience.” The students worked with adult ESL students, providing encouragement and offering assistance with English and with the operation of the computers. OSU students kept a written progress report of CLC students to help keep them on track. They chose a question about literacy to investigate and a genre in which to present their findings. They worked with one of their literacy partners at CLC to produce a project that would be of use to the CLC student. These projects included scrapbooks of English words with the CLC student’s home language translations, applications for jobs or college admission, letters to friends or family, and a description of one CLC student’s art.
2. Faith, Service, and Youth Wellness: The Columbus Congregations for Healthy Youth (CoCHY) Service-Learning Initiative
Townsand Price-Spratlen, Associate Professor, Sociology; Randi Love, Clinical Associate Professor, Health Behavior and Health Promotion; Kenneth Steinman, Assistant Professor, Health Behavior and Health Promotion. Community Partners: Pastor Glenn Schwerdtfeger, Maynard Avenue United Methodist Church; Ron Ryles, Columbus Health Department Office of Minority Health
Courses: Public Health 850, Sociology 391
Teams from 10 local congregations were matched with graduate students who assisted them in developing health promotion activities for youth. Undergraduate students helped implement these projects, including a health fair for youth, programs on child sexual abuse and youth mental health issues, an abstinence program, a physical activity program, and a sexuality workshop for teens led by clergy and staff from the Columbus Health Department. Working with the congregations was an eye-opening experience for the students. In their reflections, graduate students often expressed surprise that the community partners were unfamiliar with the need to specify realistic outcomes or provide a rationale for why their proposed program should work. The project achieved several goals:
- Congregations became more aware of university resources available to help them create and sustain more effective wellness programming.
- Students became aware of the potential and limitations of working with community partners.
- Teaming created new relationships across the congregations and enabled the university to develop relationships with groups they had not worked with before.
3. Developing Youth Capacity in the University District
Susan R. Jones, Assistant Professor, Higher Education; Mindy Wright, Coordinator, Writing Workshop, English; Anna Gasiorski and Davida Haywood, Graduate Students/Instructors, Education Policy and Leadership. Community Partners: Cheryl Carter, Executive Director, Neighborhood Services, Inc.; Pastor Glenn Schwerdtfeger, Maynard Avenue United Methodist Church
Courses: Education P&L 271 and 271J, English 567C
The shared vision of university-community partners in The Neighborhood Services, Inc. Youth Program Initiative was to develop an after-school program at Maynard Avenue United Methodist Church for middle school youth in the University District. The original plan called for students to provide tutoring/mentoring and grant writing support for the program. The best partnerships, however, are responsive to changing community needs. Discovering that there were already a large number of underused programs in the area, the project leaders shifted the focus to facilitating the use of existing after-school programs. Students conducted research on community capacity that resulted in creation of an easy-to-read flyer describing after-school programs, so that families could locate the best program for their children. More than 5,000 flyers were distributed at a summer camp, the Neighborhood Services Food Pantry, and area churches.
2003 Course Enhancement Grants
1. Community Development in Urban African-American Districts: Field Research and Seminar
Georgina Dodge, director, African American and African Studies Community Extension Center; Paulette Pierce, associate professor, African American and African Studies
Course: AAAS 599
2. Internship/Traineeship Seminar: Urban Planning Through Service-Learning
Hazel Morrow-Jones, City and Regional Planning, Knowlton School of Architecture; Parnters: African American and African Studies Community Extension Center, Columbus Urban League
Course: City and Regional Planning 793
An existing course was revamped to create a service-learning section in which students interned with community agencies in the context of community building and learned about work in nonprofit and local government agencies.
3. Elementary Education: Science
Terri Teal Bucci, Teaching and Learning, Ohio State Mansfield; Partner: Mansfield City Schools
Course: ED T&L 511
In small groups, students who were science education majors wrote, revised, and taught in K-8 classrooms science teaching modules that demonstrated hands-on instruction and constructivist pedagogy.
4. Family Financial Management II
John Brady, Family Resource Management, Ohio State Lima; Partner: Lima/Allen Council on Community Affairs
Course: FRM 360
Students assisted individuals enrolled in a downpayment assistance program for first-time home buyers with family budgeting, cash management, and management of major purchases.
5. Topics in Public Affairs Reporting
Sharon West, Journalism and Communication, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences; Partner: Weinland Park Community Collaborative
Course: J-COM 621
Journalism students investigated and wrote stories about issues i the University District for a special issue of the student newspaper, The Lantern, devoted to coverage of the Weinland Park community.
6. Development of Human Resources
Raymond Noe, Human Resources, Fisher College of Business; Maria Hruby Moore, Center on Education and Training for Employment, College of Education; Partner: Godman Guild
Course: MHR 855: Training and Development
Student teams revised units of the Job Success Training Program used by the Godman Guild to prepare community clients for the work force.
7. Special Topics in Rural Healthcare
Cari Brackett and Katherine Kelley, College of Pharmacy; Partners: Hocking County Department of Health, Young's Family Pharmacy, Housecall Doctor, Inc.
Course: Pharmacy 799
Pharmacy doctoral students designed and implemented medication provision plans for patients in a rural Appalachian community who cannot travel to a physician or pharmacy because of illness or lack of transportation.
2002 Course Development Grants
1. Art & Curriculum Concepts for Teachers
Chris Andersen, Education, Ohio State Newark; Partner: The Works (Ohio Center for History, Art, and Technology)
Course: ART ED 600 (Art for Elementary Teachers)
Master of education students applied methods of art education learned in class to their work with children in a art summer camp conducted by The Works.
2. Art Education as a Community Act
Vesta A.H. Daniel, Art Education, College of the Arts; Partners: Columbus YWCA, Columbus Museum of Art
Course: ART ED 795
Graduate studnets took ethnically diverse 11th-grade girls in the YWCA Bright Futures program to a museum exhibit on artist Aminah Robinson and careated materials and strategies to help the girls connect their own life experiences with concepts expressed in the art works.
3. Architecture Design Studio
Kay Bea Jones, Knowlton School of Architecture; Partners: OSU Child Care Center, Office of Minority Affairs ACCESS Collaborative Program
Course: ARCH 343/443
Students worked with child care and collaborative staff, as well as parents and children, to design and fabricate interior spaces, furniture, and landscapes for the child care center. Read more >
4. Senior Seminar in Agricultural Education
Jamie Cano, Neil Knobloch, James Connors, Human and Community Resource Development, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; Partnesr: Columbus Public Schools, Columbus School for Girls, London City Schools, Worthington Christian School, Worthington City Schools, Shaker Heights City schools, Westerville City Schools, Circleville City Schools, Upper Arlington City Schools
Course: AG ED 600
Agricultural education students teamed with elementary school teachers to plan lessons preparing the children for a field trip to Ohio State's Scarlet and Gray Ag Day. They interacted with their teacher partner and students during and after the visit and helped the teacher incorporate the SGAD learning kit into the curriculum.
5. Urban Project and Policy Planning
Jennifer Evans-Cowley, City and Regional Planning, Knowlton School of Architecture; Partners: University District Organization, University District Code Enforcement Task Force
Course: City and Regional Planning 852
Students studied code enforcement in the neighborhoods surrounding Ohio State. Focus group meetings were held to determine the most pressing code enforcement problems. Following the focus groups, student teams documented the extent of the problems in the University District. They then studied the current city code, other cities codes, and made recommendations for improving code enforcement in the District. The result is the University District Code Enforcement: An Assessment and Recommendations for Improvement: website >
6. Ecological Engineering and Science
Jay Martin, Food, Ag, and Bio Eng, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; Timothy Granata, Civil Engineering, College of Engineering; William Mitsch and Virginie Bouchard, School of Environment and Natural Resources
Course: Civil Engineering/Food, Ag., and Bio. Eng./Natural Resources 618 (Ecological Engineering)
Four upper division classes in Engineering, Natural Resources, and Landscape Architecture collaboratively presented ideas for restoring the lower Olentangy River to improve access, aesthetics, and water quality, based on needs expressed by the University District community.
7. Planting Design
Deborah Yale Georg, Reid Coffman, Dennis Karem, Knowlton School of Architecture, College of Engineering
Course: Landscape Architecture 633
Four upper division classes in Engineering, Natural Resources, and Landscape Architecture collaboratively presented ideas for restoring the lower Olentangy River to improve access, aesthetics, and water quality, based on needs expressed by the University District community.
8. Community Education: Environmental Issues
Joe Heimlich, School of Environment and Natural Resources, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
Course: Natural Resources 715 (Community Education and the Environment)
Four upper division classes in Engineering, Natural Resources, and Landscape Architecture collaboratively presented ideas for restoring the lower Olentangy River to improve access, aesthetics, and water quality, based on needs expressed by the University District community.
9. Ecosystem Management Policy
Tomas Koontz, School of Environment and Natural Resources, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
Course: Natural Resources 835
Four upper division classes in Engineering, Natural Resources, and Landscape Architecture collaboratively presented ideas for restoring the lower Olentangy River to improve access, aesthetics, and water quality, based on needs expressed by the University District community.
10. Elementary Education: Child Guidance
Chris Andersen, Teaching and Learning, Newark Campus
Course: ED T&L 460
11. Learning to Teach Reading through Service-Learning
Ian Wilkinson, Patricia Scharer, Jerry Zutell, Teaching and Learning, College of Education; Partners: Second Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Hubbard, and Medary elementary schools
Course: ED T&L 668: Reading Foundations
Preservice reading teachers worked with children in one-to-one, small group, and whole class settings in activities to foster literacy development. They also worked with children in a local church's summer youth program.
12. Foodservice Management
H.G. Parsa, Consumer & Textile Sciences, College of Human Ecology
Course: HOSP MGT 661
13. Dad to Dad Parenting Program
Lisa Murray-Johnson, School of Journalism and Communication, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; Partner: Elizabeth Blackwell Center, Riverside Methodist Hospital
Course: J-COM 636 (Interpersonal Health Communication
Health communication students developed content for a peer-mentoring parenting class for fathers. They interviewed clients and their families to construct a family health genealogy tree.
14. Interprofessional Practicum: Collaboration in Urban Communities
R. Michael Casto, Physical Activity and Educational Services, College of Education; Partner: Medary Elementary School
Courses: ED PAES 700.04, Allied Med 700.04, Pharmacy 693, Social Work 793
Students from education, allied medicine, pharmacy, and social work tutored in the elementary school's HOSTS (Helping One Student To Succeed) program and tutored and supervised activities in the Boys and Girls Club after-school program. They learned about the challenges of urban education and the importance of interprofessional collaboration to address the issues.
15. The Law of Disability Discrimination
Ruth Colker, Moritz College of Law; Partner: Office for Exceptional Children, Ohio Department of Education
Course: LAW 636
Law students served as advocates for families of children with special needs, assisting with their communications during a complaint process available through the state Office for Exceptional Children.
16. Leadership in Community Service
Bruce Tuckman, Educational Policy and Leadership, College of Education; Partner: East High School Freshmen Success Academy
Course: ED P&L 271T
Students provided weekly mentoring to East High freshmen, working on study skills and raising awareness about college.
17. Education Outreach and the Community
Lynn Sametz, Teaching and Learning, Ohio State Lima; Partners: Big Brothers Big Sisters, Allen County Juvenile Court
Course: ED T&L 294.10
The course examined concepts of community service and partnerships and the teacher as leader. Education majors engaged in community-based service-learning experiences at Heritage Elementary School and the juvenile court day treatment program and reflected on the place of service-learning in their future careers as teachers.
18. Intermediate Pharmacy Practice Experience
Christine Murphy, Clinical Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy; Partners: Riverside Methodist Hospital Church Partnership Program, Mt. Carmel Medical Center Church Partnership Program, Seton Square Independent Living, Rx for Care
Course: Pharmacy 784
This course exposed students to new pharmacy practice settings. They had one-on-one interactions with clients through the Medication Education and Advocacy Program, helping clients over 60 obtain medications they could not afford.
19. Program Planning and Implementation
Sharla Willis, College of Medicine and Public Health; Partners: Ohio Hispanic Coalition, Planned Parenthood, Columbus AIDS Task Force, Knox County Health Department
Course: PH 794
In this required course in health behavior and health education, students worked with community partners to develop a program plan for a health promotion issue identified by the partner. Partners felt that students provided fresh ideas and received practice in responding to real-life situations.
2001 Course Development Grants
1. Medical Communication with Latinos
Raquel Diaz-Sprague, School of Allied Medical Professions; Sandra Cornett, College of Medicine; Partner: La Clinica Latina
Course: ALLI MED 641
In a course that blended language and cultural instruction, health professions students with Spanish proficiency served in bilingual healthcare facilities, communicating with patients and families and translating health forms and patient materials.
2. Universal Design: Teaching the Benefits
Susan Zavotka, Consumer & Textile Sciences, College of Human Ecology; Margaret Teaford, School of Allied Medical Professions; Partners: OSU Extension, Lowe's Home Improvement Stores
Course: ALLI MED 721/FMRESM 694A
Students in consumer and textile sciences, occupational therapy, and physical therapy participated in Universal Design workshops and conducted home assessments in Franklin and Licking counties. See related OSU CARES and Outreach and Engagement grants for additional impacts. Universal Design website >
3. Geriatric Dentistry and Public Health
Abdel Mohammad, College of Dentistry; Partner: Columbus Neighborhood Health Center, Inc.
Course: Dent 522 (Geriatric Dentistry)
Students in this clinical practice course delivered oral health promotion, tobacco cessation, oral cancer screening, and dental services in community settings.
4. Media and Technology in Education
Rick Voithofer, Educational Policy and Leadership, College of Education; Partner: Columbus City Schools
Course: ED P&L 791
In a technology course for preservice teachers, students were matched with working teachers who were learning the same skills. Students created projects, such as website evaluation, lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, for their partners.
5. Intensive Reading and Writing
Anne Bower, Jacquelyn Spangler, English, Ohio State Marion; Partner: Marion City Schools
Course: ENGLISH 109.01/109.02
In a two-course sequence, students tutored fourth-graders in an after-school program and used their writing skills to prepare grant proposals to obtain teaching materials for an elementary school.
6. The U.S. Folk Experience: Recording and Understanding the Voices of the Mt. Vernon Avenue Community
Martha Sims, English, College of Humanities; Partners: Columbus Urban League, Bethany Presbyterian Church
Course: ENGLISH 367.05
Students worked through the Community Extension Center to record interviews with neighborhood senior citizens to elicit oral histories. The transcripts were presented to the center for its community archives.
7. Community Nutrition
Mary C. Mitchell and Gail Kaye, Human Nutrition, College of Human Ecology; Partner: Susan Colbert, OSU Extension, University District
Course: Human Nutrition 704
Dietetics studetns taught nutrition and food safety to adults and children in the Univesity District near Oho State. They also assisted with a community needs assessment.
8. Small Animal Surgery: Solving Pet Overpopulation
Larry Hill, College of Veterinary Medicine; Partner: Franklin County Animal Shelter
Course: VET COLL 700.03
Veterinary students provided spay/neuter services at an animal shelter. The course helped raised awareness among students and the community about the problems of pet overpopulation.
1999 Service-Learning Scholars Roundtable Grants
These were mini-grants of $250.
1. Comparative Studies 367.02: Values, Science, and Technology in American Culture
H. Lewis Ulman, English, College of Humanities
Students explored how written communication contributes to the construction and resolution of environmental issues. Then visited a local watershed and undertook writing projects for a park or an environmental advocacy group.
2. Ed P&L 411: Body/Mind Goes to School
Seymour Kleinman, Educational Policy and Leadership, College of Education
Students developed and taught somatic approaches to learning to children in a local school.
3. English 567: Rhetoric and Community Service
Anne Bower, English, Ohio State Marion
The course combined classroom activities with internships in nonprofit organizations that involved writing projects.
4. FM RES 511, Housing Practicum
Susan Zavotka, Consumer and Textile Sciences, College of Education and Human Ecology
5. HNFM 314 (Principles of Food), 350 (Principles of Food Management), 480 (Cases in Hospitality Marketing)
H.G. Parsa, Human Nutrition and Food Management, College of Education and Human Ecology
Students in these courses served at community soup kitchens and undertook research projects to help small business entrepreneurs in rural communities.
6. Human Nutrition 704: Nutrition Programs and Services in the Community
Alma Saddam, Human Nutrition and Food Management, College of Education and Human Ecology
Students examined community, state, and national food and nutrition programs and services. Working with community agencies, they assessed nutrition needs and analyzed food, nutrition, and health problems.
7. PAES 542: Lifespan Motor Development
Jacqueline Goodway, Physical Activity & Educational Services, College of Education
Students applied classroom-based knowledge of motor development and motor behavior to their insturction in early childhood programs and senior adult recreation settings. They observed and evaluated clients' motor development.
8. General Social Sciences T261: Personal Development and Service-Learning
D. Elder Stewart, Agricultural Technical Institute
After-school tutoring with elementary and middle school children and an adopt-a-class project with fifth-grade classrooms were the service activities that helped students develop social consciousness.
9. Spanish 609: HOLA (Hispanic Outreach and Language Assistance)
Donna Long, Spanish and Portuguese, College of Humanities; Partners: South-Western City Schools, Mount Carmel Health Systems
Advanced Spanish students assisted Spanish-speaking indiviudals in educational and health care settings, serving as readers, tutors, interpreters, and translators.
10. Theater 694: Performance Studies in Educational Theatre
Lesley Ferris, Theater, College of the Arts
Theatre students developed a play addressing social issues such as alcohol abuse and performed it in local schools.
