February 18, 2021 | Issue 16 |
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A Message From The Vice Provost
Last year around this time, I was gathered with faculty, staff and administrators from across the university at the Charting the Future of Experiential Learning Symposium, discussing how we can expand access to and participation in experiential learning at UC Davis.
Experiential learning can take many forms and has become increasingly important for ensuring educational equity and strengthening student’s postgraduate pathways to employment or education. Collectively, we identified many opportunities already available at UC Davis. For example, applied learning through the Arboretum and Public Garden’s Learning by Leading program; course-based undergraduate research experiences like those offered by First-Year Seminars; and internships like the public policy opportunities coordinated by the UC Davis Washington Program.
Public Scholarship and Engagement and the Internship and Career Center, in partnership with Global Affairs, the Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Office of the Provost STEM Strategies, and Undergraduate Education convened that symposium last February to begin developing a university-wide approach to experiential learning. We just released a report summarizing the outcomes of the symposium and proposing next steps to address barriers to access, participation and recognition of student, staff, and faculty engagement in the broad spectrum of experiential learning activities currently in place or planned at UC Davis.
Community engagement is a very important element of experiential learning, and many of the benefits and barriers discussed by symposium participants aligned with the feedback Public Scholarship and Engagement received when developing our Implementation Framework, as well as the recommendations of the Provost’s Workgroup on Public Scholarship. For example, students develop a sense of belonging and increased capacity for civic engagement through experiential learning but are often unaware of both the opportunities and their benefits. Faculty members who facilitate these opportunities believe they are effective for student learning and improve their own research questions and methods, but sometimes experience a lack of recognition and institutional support.
We’re excited to be part of the effort to begin addressing these barriers and increasing available opportunities, and we’re committed to ensuring reciprocity and mutual benefit for the communities in which student learning takes place. Towards this goal, we are building capacity through our Community Engaged Learning Faculty Fellows program and supporting initiatives like Aggie Launch that are redefining what undergraduate student success means for every member of the UC Davis community.
As we look toward the future and expand opportunities for our students to gain experience with non-profits and community groups it’s imperative that we adequately resource these endeavors – providing coordination for faculty members, addressing equity issues by compensating students for their work, and stewarding mutually beneficial relations between our partners, students, and faculty.
In community,
Michael Rios
Vice Provost, Public Scholarship and Engagement
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Through the Public Impact Research Initiative, PSE is offering grants to support research activities with non-university partners in one of the two following categories: Seed Grants to support the development of new research collaborations; and Bridge Grants to deepen, sustain, or evaluate existing collaborative research. UC Davis Academic Senate and Academic Federation members from any UC Davis location are eligible to apply. Recipients of a Public Impact Research Initiative grant will receive up to $10,000 for proposed activities. Proposals due February 26, 2021.
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In recognition of the impacts of COVID-19 on the 20-21 academic year, we have delayed the start of this program and extended the application deadline. We are currently accepting applications for our Community Engaged Learning Faculty Fellows Program, which aims to support individuals working to fully integrate this learning approach into existing courses and new curricular experiences, including distance-learning classes.
Deadline: March 1, 2021
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Recognitions and Celebrations |
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Congratulations to Austin Brown – Executive Director of the University of California, Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy (Policy Institute) and Engaged Scholarship and Engaged Learning Collaborative member – who was recently named Senior Director for Transportation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
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Congratulations to Faculty Fellow Valerie Eviner who was announced as part of the Earth Program Leadership 2021 North American cohort of leading sustainability scientists. The fellows, who come from 11 U.S. states, Canada, and Mexico, are committed to pursuing transdisciplinary work that brings together scientific disciplines, government representatives, private sector voices, and civil society to build a more sustainable future for all.
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Public Engagement Champion |
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It's Cheryl Purifoy’s mission to give students real-world experiences that help them imagine their future, and the internships coordinated through the Washington Program do just that. These immersive learning experiences fuel students’ confidence, motivate them in their studies and provide them greater clarity about their future careers. They also position students as a conduit for building greater partnerships between the university and the public sector.
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“Ecological Justice and the Plantationocene”: A Panel Discussion
Environmental perspectives shaped by Black and Indigenous knowledge have the power to shape our theories of environmental justice. Join the UC Davis Political Ecology Lab for new conversations at the intersections of Black and Indigenous geographies and political ecology.
Event: February 22, 2021 | 12 – 1:15 p.m.
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Reproductive Injustices: Forced Cesarean Sections in 1980s America
Inequities in healthcare delivery mean that many people who most need health care have limited or no access to it. Race, socioeconomic and employment status, mental health issues, gender and sexual orientation can all impact patients’ access and experiences. Join us for a speaker series that will examine medical, legal, sociocultural and historical perspectives on this critical topic. Hosted by Professors Emily Merchant, Meaghan O’Keefe and Lindsay Poirier as a part of their Quarter at Aggie Square curriculum, speakers will include faculty from UC Davis School of Medicine and Law, and other institutions and organizations.
Event: February 23, 2021 | 1:10 – 3 p.m.
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Over the last decade, tens of thousands of community scientists and volunteer naturalists together have collected hundreds of thousands of observations of biodiversity up and down the California coast. These community-contributed observations now represent one of the largest and fastest-growing datasets of biodiversity available in real-time and throughout the California coast. Join the California Academy of Sciences to learn how your volunteer observations are now more crucial than ever to safeguard biodiversity on our beloved coast.
Event: February 25, 2021 | 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.
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The first full screening of the award-winning documentary, The Cost of Darkness, will be hosted by Sandy Holman, Director of The Culture C.O-.O.P. (and Public Engagement Champion). The film is designed to create an institutional and historical “mindshare” so that organizations, communities, and others can develop visions, roadmaps for success, and interventions that address the root causes of inequities.
Event: February 28, 2021 | 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.
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Join the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (WCAHS) for an upcoming seminar with Hernan Hernandez, Executive Director at the California Farmworker Foundation (CCF). CFF serves farmworkers by providing programs and services to better their quality of life. Mr. Hernandez will discuss CFF’s response to COVID-19 in the Central Valley and describe how the organization partnered with employers to conduct COVID-19 outreach, training, and testing for thousands of farmworkers.
Event: March 1, 2021 | 4 p.m. - 5 p.m.
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Center for Advancing Pain Relief announces virtual gathering of UC Davis experts and launch of a seed grant program. Understanding and treating pain involves integrating disparate areas of science, humanities, policy, health care and more. However, institutions for higher learning and health gravitate to silos and fragmentation. UC Davis is breaking down those silos and tapping into expertise that exists at both the Sacramento and Davis campuses to address pain.
Event: March 3, 2021 | 8 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
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CCST is seeking PhD scientists and engineers for a year of public service and government leadership training in the California State Legislature and California state agencies. The CCST Science Fellows program trains scientific thinkers to be policy-savvy while helping equip California's decision-makers with science-savvy staff.
Deadline: March 1, 2021
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Global Affairs is offering the Curriculum Enhancement through Global Learning, a faculty development opportunity that supports the university-wide Global Education for All initiative, to Academic Senate and Academic Federation faculty with full-time teaching appointments over Spring Quarter 2021.
Deadline: March 5, 2021
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Imagining America’s Leading and Learning Initiative (LLI) invites campus and community partners to apply to participate in the Stories of Change multimedia documentary project. The LLI’s Stories of Change project will provide funding and creative support to selected applicants to document their own work, to be promoted and shared widely through a national communication and advocacy campaign.
Deadline: March 10, 2021
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Sacramento Area Youth Speaks (SAYS) participant Alexandra Huynh has been named the Youth Poet Laureate Western Regional Ambassador and will advance as a finalist in the National Youth Poet Laureate competition.
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Agricultural safety experts and communicators at the University of California, Davis, have launched the COVID-19 Statewide Agriculture and Farmworker Education Program to provide workers, growers, farm labor contractors, community groups and others the training and safety information they need to reduce farmworkers’ risk of contracting COVID-19.
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Fifteen public humanities grantees will receive a total of $73,700 in funding through the Humanities for All Quick Grant program during the winter 2021 round. Awarded projects provide responsive and creative methods to deliver programming to community members when traditional in-person programming is not possible.
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A new study funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will help researchers at the University of California, Davis, and its partners improve food safety through enhanced understanding of pathogens in the environment that may cause foodborne illness outbreaks.
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Partnering for the Public Good |
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At a time when our planet and its people face unprecedented challenges, UC Davis is reimagining the vital links that connect university, community and society. Philanthropic support plays a vital role in advancing UC Davis research, education and collaborations that make the world a better place. We invite the partnership of university friends who share our vision of discovery, learning and engagement for the public good. |
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About Public Scholarship and Engagement |
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Public Scholarship and Engagement is fostering a culture of engagement at UC Davis that increases the university’s impact through mutually-beneficial relationships that have local, regional, statewide and global reach. We envision UC Davis research, teaching and learning that serves society and makes a positive difference in the world.
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