Overview: Narratives following each course name either outline the academic civic engagement component of the course or describe the entire course. For the most accurate and up-to-date course descriptions, please see the St. Olaf Academic Catalog.
Fall 2013
ENVST 137 Introduction to Environmental Studies
Paul Jackson
This interdisciplinary course uses basic concepts of environmental science to explore global environmental issues. Topics are drawn from recent texts and current periodic literature, and participants will recognize many of the themes from coverage in the media. Because most environmental problems involve issues beyond the sciences, the class examines the economic, political, and ethical dimensions of environmental questions and environmental decision-making.
MGMT 229 Arts Management
Sian Muir
Teams of students will research and write grants for various local arts organizations and present their projects at the ACE Showcase. Partners will include ArTour, Vintage Band, Salem Chamber Orchestra and A+ Art Club.
NURS 388 Community Health
Mary Beth Kuehn
Local partners including Rice County Public Health, Steele County Public Health, Steele County Human Resources and St. Lucas Health Care Center (Faribault) identified the need for a health fair for specific target populations. Students will utilize the nursing process, civic engagement skills and service-learning experience to plan, implement and evaluate a health fair. Students will draw from the American Nursing Association and course theories to reflect on their service-learning experiences.
PSCI 350 Immigration and Citizenship A&B
Kathy Tegtmeyer-Pak
Students will study policy and politics related to the topic in a range of wealthy democracies; following the academic literature, most of our attention will go to Europe, North America and a few other places. As part of these studies, we will focus for a time on the relationship between national and local level political processes in constructing and maintaining various dimensions of citizenship (e.g., participation, cultural belonging). Building on the research that argues for the significance of the local level in immigration & citizenship around the world, then, we will also pursue a collaborative community-based research project for several weeks of the term. This term the project will be geared towards planning and hosting a problem-solving conference for local officials, community leaders, and non-profit staff in 3-5 small Minnesota towns.
PSYCH 125 B Principles of Psychology
Gary Muir
Students in this course were asked to develop a presentation about psychology to teach to students in a local elementary school. Topics were selected by students from one chapter of the course textbook. Read more about the “Students Teaching Students” project on the project website.
See also: Muir, G. M., & van der Linden, G. J. (2009). Students teaching students: An experiential learning opportunity for large introductory psychology classes in collaboration with local elementary schools. Teaching of Psychology, 36(3), 169-173.
SW 254 Inclusive Practice with Individuals and Families
Susan Smalling
Each student in the class meet for nine weeks with a resident at the Northfield Retirement Center that they do not know and engaged in conversation. The student told a short personal story to engender a reciprocal story from their “partner” elder. Students participated in training sessions with a community professional and reflected on their experiences in writing and in class discussion.
INTERIM 2014
SW 120 I Want to Help People
Jennifer Manner
Students explore service to human beings as a profession, a vocation, and a volunteer commitment. Who needs help? Who helps? Where? How? What motivates people to help? Using the liberal arts as a foundation for helping people, students study vocational opportunities in areas such as health care, social services, ministry, youth work, and the arts. The class includes lectures, discussions, speakers, and field visits; additional fee. Open only to first year students.
SPRING 2014
AmCon 102 A&B Democratic Vistas, 1800-1900
Eric Fure-Slocum and Mark Allister
Beginning with the interviews developed in AmCon 101 (see above) and now working in collaboration with Art 238: “Intermediate Photography,” students will create photo/audio essays that aim to distill community participants’ civic stories. This final multi-media product will then be put to use by the League of Women Voters in their social media initiatives to encourage voter registration and informed civic participation.
AmCon 202 A&B Pur/Happiness: 1920-Pres.
Colin Wells and Judy Kutulas
Students in this course examine technology, the mass market and consumerism, and the increasingly complex relations between identity and material goods. They also explore the images, institutions, and stories of environmental, feminist, and Civil Rights activists in the context of Cold War America. Topics and texts range from Yosemite National Park and Japanese internment camps to Adrienne Rich’s poetry and prose, Freedom Summer, Las Vegas, and the Mall of America.
ART 238 Intermediate Photography
Meg Ojala
Students will create a collection of portraits to illustrate all of the many facets of the Laura Baker Services Association and install exhibitions at 5-6 sites around the community to invite Northfielders to “Take a New Look at Laura Baker.” Students will also participate in an orientation and tour with staff from Laura Baker.
ASIAN 220 Interpreting Journeys
Kathy Tegtmeyer-Pak and Ka Wong
Students will be required to present on independent research projects related to sustainability and the environment that they will undertake while in Beijing and Tokyo for the Exploring Asia [AS215] interim course. With the help of this grant, these presentations will be made public, incorporating not only other St Olaf students and faculty, but also Arcadia Charter School.
BI/ES 226 Conservation Biology
Diane Angell
For the past nine years we have hosted eight elementary classrooms a year to St. Olaf’s Natural Lands to learn about wetlands. The program takes advantage of St. Olaf’s 15 wetlands and 150 acres of restored prairie. Students in Conservation Biology will create an educational “product” that will be made available to support this effort to work with third and fifth graders on understanding our local wetlands.
CSCI 263 Ethical Issues in Software Design
Chuck Huff
Taught every spring, this course pairs student groups with on campus clients, local government agencies, school systems, various non-governmental agencies, for-profit manufacturers, and Fortune 500 companies. Students analyze ethical and social issues associated with computing systems in client’s organizations. Students work closely with clients to identify issues of interest, collect data, and present their findings to the client orally and in writing. For more information refer to the course web page.
ENGL 287 Professional and Business Writing
Rebecca Richards
English 287 is non-fiction writing course that focuses on workplace writing. Its primary goal is to give students the opportunity to develop their use of rhetorical strategies and communications technologies appropriate to workplaces. With an emphasis on written communication, students will engage in projects that require them to analyze and respond to a variety of situations. Students will plan and create a range of individual and collaborative projects including, but not limited to, employment documents, proposals, reports, brochures, newsletters, memos, letters, and other business genres. Students will partner with Rice County and the Northfield Area Family YMCA.
ES 399 Environmental Studies Seminar
Charles Umbanhower
Groups of students utilize skills and knowledge informed by environmental studies courses to conduct research and complete projects for various local organizations.
MGMT 250 Marketing
Sian Muir
Student teams develop strategic marketing plans for various local for profit and nonprofit organizations. Students will present their recommendations to the community partners at the end of the semester.
PSYCH 336 Neuroscience of Addiction
Shelly Dickinson
Students will develop educational materials on the neuroscience of addiction in partnership with the Rice County Chemical Health Coalition. Materials will be geared specifically toward the science of recovery and will be used by area agencies in September, 2011 as part of National Alcohol & Drug Addiction Recovery Month.
SCICN 217 Science Conversations: Cultural Context
Chuck Huff & David Booth
Students consider the political, cultural, ethical, and theological underpinnings of scientific issues. Students will investigate various scientific issues and present that they have learned to the campus community through a public poster session.
SOAN 260 Marriage and Family
Ryan Sheppard
Students will explore different facets of family violence in partnership with the HOPE Center and will produce educational materials that the organization can utilize with its clients.
SOAN 266 Crime and Inequality
Ted Thornhill
This course introduces students to the study of crime and the criminal justice system from a sociological perspective. Topics include types of crime; theories of crime causation; the role of the criminal justice system in social control; the racial and social class implications of the criminal law and law enforcement strategies; and drug policy.
SOAN 373 Ethnographic Research Methods A&B
Tom Williamson
Students will have the option to utilize ethnography skills and knowledge to complete community-based research in partnership with HealthFinders Collaborative and other campus and community organizations. Groups will conduct interviews and produce a final report for the partner organization. Students will learn research, political, civic engagement skills; community-based research experience; and knowledge of Northfield and Rice County.
SW 261 Inclusive Practice with Groups, Organizations, and Community
Laura McKibbin
Students will participate in a community project that advances social and economic justice through community building, community/locality development, social action/reform, and/or social planning. Students use the social work problem solving process to do some or all of the following: identify community strengths and problems, gather information about the selected problem, develop a mutually agreed upon plan for change, enact the intervention and evaluate and terminate of change effort.
SW 274 Research Methods/Social Work
Susan Smalling
Students conduct a research project in cooperation with a local non-profit or government agency.
TH 360 Theater Senior Capstone
Karen Wilson
Students will participate in community projects connecting civic engagement and the arts. Projects will vary depending on specific interests of the students and will result in public presentation of their work (web presentations, poster sessions, community summaries, etc.). The connection between the role of the arts and active citizenship will be explored throughout the class in readings, discussion and major projects.
Writing 111 Doing Democracy: The Politics of Food
Paul Jackson
First-Year Writing, taken during the first year, equips students for effective writing in the liberal arts and introduces writing as a means of learning. The course is taught in multiple sections that explore a variety of topics. In all sections, students write frequently in a variety of genres, with emphasis in writing expository essays. One or more assignments require research. As part of the writing process, students revise their writing and meet individually with course faculty to discuss their writing.