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List of SMU Service-Learning Courses


Name: Barbara Morganfield Phone: 214-768-2351 Email: bmorganf@mail.smu.edu
Course: EDU 2355 School: Education Term: Fall, Spring
Course Title: Literacy and Society
Description: The primary function of this course is to serve as a structured service learning opportunity that fosters academic growth, citizenship, leadership, and civic responsibility. All requirements will be related to conducting specific services related to the acquisition of literacy skills. Students will be required to provide regular tutoring to local elementary school students, as well as complete related assignments.
Services Offered: Course activities are designed to provide you with opportunities to develop appropriate attitudes and skills related to service learning. The practical experience is designed to enhance learning in in this class and other coursework, increase your ability to accommodate diversity, and enhance general professional development. The purpose of the tutoring project is to provide evidence of your learning/process/progress as a service provider.
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Name: Carol Clyde Phone: 214-768-4403 Email: cclyde@smu.edu
Course: CCPA 5301/EDU 5343 School: Meadows, Education Term: Spring
Course Title: Leadership Theories & Practices
Description: An examination of the theories and skills necessary for the development of effective leadership with an emphasis on leadership, its theory and practice. The course includes opportunities for evaluating leaders and leadership behavior in a variety of contexts. This is an academically based service-learning course in which students examine various styles of leadership, both theoretically and through observation and interaction. The course will be grounded in both theory and practice utilizing experiential and discussion-based learning. Service-learning links the academic content of the course with practical application through intentional readings, discussion, and reflection on the service experience. Basic concepts of leadership theory will be discussed followed by an in-depth study of modern and historical conceptualizations of leadership and examination of the application of various leadership skills and approaches.
Services Offered: Students will be expected to complete a total of twenty (20) hours of service at the community agency that is the focus of their group assignment, with no more than five hours completed during any one date. Service-Learning hours are required for successful completion of the course.
Comments: This course is co-listed in the Simmons School of Education and Human Development

Name: Carol Clyde Phone: 214-768-4403 Email: cclyde@smu.edu
Course: EDU 2310 School: Education Term: Fall
Course Title: Leadership Dynamics: Theory, Practice and Innovation
Description: This course provides an introduction to the multi-faceted concept of leadership studies by presenting the student with the vocabulary, concepts, theories, and research that are fundamental to the study of leadership. Students will examine the theories and skills necessary for the development of effective leadership, developing an understanding of both historical concepts of leadership and more contemporary theories and conceptualizations. This course employs a number of learning and teaching techniques designed to facilitate comprehension of the assigned curriculum. Students will be challenged to think critically about leadership through a mix of lectures, class discussions, hands-on exercises, and group work. Students will be actively involved with the course material through a high level of classroom participation, group projects, and reading and writing assignments.
Services Offered: Students will be expected to complete a total of ten (10) hours of service at a community site that is related to the community needs area their small group will focus on (hours need not be completed at the same location for all group members). The placement site must be approved in advance by the instructor.
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Name: Carol Clyde Phone: 214-768-4403 Email: cclyde@smu.edu
Course: EDU 5310 School: Education Term: Spring
Course Title: Civic Leadership and Community Transformation
Description: Civic Leadership and Community Transformation is an academically based service-learning course in which students examine various styles of leadership, both theoretically and through observation and interview. The course will be grounded in both theory and practice utilizing experiential and discussion-based learning. Service-learning links the academic content of the course with experience in the community through intentional readings, discussion, and reflection on the service experience. This course will study the process of individual and community transformation. Basic concepts of leadership theory will be established followed by the study of citizenship and the impact of leadership on community. Topics will be addressed through exploration of the concepts of leadership, community, social change, and civil society; identification of the various means to enact civic leadership; and identification of the skills necessary to be an effective citizen and adaptive community leader.
Services Offered: Students will select a community agency where they will perform 30 hours of community service over the course of the semester, outside of class time. Completing the service component of this course is required, as it provides the context for the course content and is the subject of weekly reflection sessions.
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Name: Julie Adkins Phone: 214-768-2929 Email: jadkins@smu.edu
Course: ANTH 3346 School: Dedman Term: Spring
Course Title: Culture and Diversity in the U.S.
Description: By the end of the semester, students should be able to: - Describe diversity in the United States across such topics as ethnicity, class, gender, region, work, sexual orientation, immigration status, national origin, language - Describe and analyze the tension in American life between celebrating diversity and insisting on assimilation (the “melting pot” vs. the “tossed salad”) - Understand something of the history of the arrival of peoples of different cultures, and the relationships that have developed among Americans different from one another - Describe diversity and difference within cultures as well as differences between cultures - View and analyze their own culture through the eyes of an outsider This course fulfills the cocurricular requirement for Diversity.
Services Offered: This assignment is to be carried out individually through the SMU Office of Leadership and Community Involvement and in consultation with the instructor. Based on 12-15 hours personal involvement, you will write and submit a 3-4 page (double-spaced) report documenting your experience and reflecting on what you have learned through it about culture and diversity in American life.
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Name: J. Michael Cruz Phone: 214-768-4852 Email: jmcruz@smu.edu
Course: SOCI 4399 School: Dedman Term: Spring
Course Title: Sociology of Aging
Description: This course is an introduction to the sociological process of aging. Here we will address not only the “population explosion” (i.e. the demography of aging), but we will also examine our US culture and the aging process within that milieu. The objectives of this course are: - to help students hone their sociological imaginations as they relate to the aging process; - to introduce aging related sociological concepts and theories and illustrate their practical applications to daily life; - to engage in a dialogue about the social construction of age; - to enable students to think critically and utilize their writing skills with various written assignments; - to engage students in civic/volunteer participation; - to have students practice their data collection/data analysis skills; - to get students to recognize the power of the socialization process as it relates to aging in our particular society; - to introduce students to research related aging articles/data.
Services Offered: Students will be required to do 10 hours of civic participation in an assisted living facility and I have contacted Juliette Fowler Homes for this opportunity. The facility website is here: http://www.fowlerhomes.org/ This assignment consists of three parts. Part 1 is to be at the facility for 10 hours. Part 2 is to gather data and turn in field notes. Part 3 is a final report where you document your experiences (what you did, what you observed, what you liked/didn’t like, final thoughts/comments) within the framework of your 4 books. (So the overarching question to be answered here might be, What did your experience teach you about the Sociology of Aging?) The objectives of this assignment are for students to engage in community service and to put one’s sociological imagination into practice; for students to gain a practical appreciation for the aging process that is not rooted in your personal experience or text information; to apply classroom learning in the field; for students to engage in data collection; to identify trends and patterns in data collection; for students to engage in data analysis; and to enable students to write an understandable and cohesive research report- making use of raw data.
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Name: Debra Branch Phone: 214-768-4011 Email: debranch@smu.edu
Course: SOCI 4373 School: Dedman Term: Fall
Course Title: Class, Race, and Gender Inequalities
Description: This course is an upper-division undergraduate Sociology course designed to examine class, race, and as beses for structured inequality in U.S. society and to answer the questions of who gets what, how, and why? As such, one of the primary objectives of this course is to give students a foundation in sociological ways of thinking about stratification in their everyday lives. At the end of this course, students should be able to critically think about and apply what they have learned to the world around them, including their own lives and the lives of others.
Services Offered: Students will complete 10 hours of service with an approved community agency. The service placement will be coordinated by the student.
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Name: Kathy Windrow Galloway Phone: 214-768-4721 Email: kathyw@smu.edu
Course: CF 3358 School: Dedman Term: Other
Course Title: Culture of Oaxaca: A Sense of Place
Description: SMU in Oaxaca 3 credit hours and satisfies the Human Diversity requirement This course is required for all students. Because this is a short term, classes meet both morning and afternoon on most days and include some evening field trips to special events. Learning adventure in Oaxaca: exploration of multilayered cultural history through field trips to artists’ workshops, museums, archaeological sites, and religious fiestas. Focus on art, art history, folklore, and religion. Slide lectures, readings, discussion, essays, interviews and photographs of artists for student projects, and numerous field trips provide a broad exposure to Oaxacan culture. Field trips provide the context for most learning on this program. These include galleries, museums, churches and festivals in the city of Oaxaca; the caves of Teotitlán on New Year’s Eve; the archaeological sites of Monte Albán, Yagul, and Mitla; and visits to the villages of Santo Tomás Jalieza, San Martín Tilcajete, Ocotlán, San Bartólo Coyotepec, Teotitlán, Tlacochahuaya, Santa María del Tule, Cuilápan, Arázola, Zaachila, Yanhuitlán, San Agustín Etla, and to coastal Afro-Mexican communities.
Services Offered: On January 6th (Day of the Three Kings—the 12th day of Christmas), our group will distribute clothing and toys to children in poverty stricken families.
Comments: Course is offered during the Winter term in SMU-in-Oaxaca.

Name: James K. Hopkins Phone: 214-768-2977 Email: hopkins@mail.smu.edu
Course: CH/HIST 3401 School: Dedman Term: Spring
Course Title:  
Description: CF/Hist 3401 is a four hour course that meets on Wednesdays from 2-4:50. It will satisfy either American or European departmental requirements. An overview: The course will extend chronologically from the revolutions of 1848 to contemporary societal issues and problems. Its focus will be on the historical construction of the concept of the "good society" in western culture. Although the term did not enter our literature until Graham Wallas published The Good Society in 1915, we can clearly distinguish its origins in the religious, political, and intellectual traditions of Europe and the United States. In the seventeenth century, the French philosopher René Descartes, reflecting the optimism of the Scientific Revolution, declared that it was humankind's destiny to become "masters and possessor of the universe." The industrial and technological revolutions of modernity seemed capable of creating a society of abundance for all. Our growing inter-dependence as a people appeared to provide both the practical and moral incentives necessary to eradicate poverty, insure social justice, and to create the kind of society of which Plato and St. Augustine had only dreamed. The American pundit, Walter Lippman, wrote that "the vista was opened at the end of which men could see the possibility of the Good Society on this earth." Consequently, "the ancient schism between the world and the spirit between self-interest and disinterestedness, was potentially closed, and a wholly new orientation of the human race became theoretically conceivable and, in fact, necessary." Our task will be to look at both the dream and its realities. The course will develop themes on class, power, and cultural identity that arise from the weekly readings and discussions. There will be an additional dimension of community service.
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Name: Mary K. Jackman Phone: 214-768-2962 Email: mjackman@smu.edu
Course: ENGL 1302 School: Dedman Term: Spring
Course Title:  
Description: ENGL 1302 – RHETORIC II – Youth and Age In this seminar we will explore the concepts of “youth” and “age.” What do these terms mean in our culture; what stereotypes do they imply? How do we both shape and become shaped by them as human beings? How do these terms shift and change along a continuum? How do they evolve within the material conditions of our culture? Students in the seminar are required to volunteer twenty hours during the semester in an area nursing home for the elderly and/or at the regional Veterans Administration Hospital in Oak Cliff. Their experiences at the nursing home and/or at the VA hospital should enhance and inform their reading, writing, and discussion in the seminar. We will read a variety of genres dealing with the young and the old, watch a few films, and write in class and out of class. We will learn researching skills on-line, in the library, and in the field. This seminar will meet in a computer lab and will use WebCT as its on-line course management system.
Services Offered: Visiting with elderly residents of the nursing home, and with elderly and young residents of the VA Hospital.
Comments: All three agencies can be reached by public transportation. Students are encouraged to apply for their SMU DART Transit Pass and to visit the agencies in pairs or small groups.

Name: Elizabeth Russ Phone: (214) 768-2224 Email: eruss@smu.edu
Course: SPAN 5375 School: Dedman Term: Fall
Course Title:  
Description: We will read a variety of 20th century texts by Latin American women, including novels, short stories, films and essays. Divided into thematic rather than chronological units, the course will examine important recurrent themes of 20th century Latin American literature, including history and memory, the construction of national identity, the traumas of dictatorship, and the representation of the cultural and linguistic “other.”
Services Offered: Students will have an opportunity to work with individuals and families from various regions of Spanish-speaking Latin America through the International Rescue Committee.
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Name: Glenn Linden Phone: 214-8212037 Email: glinden@smmu.edu
Course: history 2311 School: Dedman Term: Fall
Course Title:  
Description: US history till 1865
Services Offered: Tutoring students .
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Name: Cathey Soutter Phone: 8.4795 Email: csoutter@smu.edu
Course: Psyc 3350 School: Dedman Term: Fall
Course Title:  
Description: This course offers both men and women students a deeper understanding of women as individuals. It investigates personality theorites as they relate particularly to women. Against this theoretical backdrop, the course examines modern women's options and conflicts, motives and values, and perceptions of their individualilty in the face of rapid social change.
Services Offered: A number of agencies such as Heart House, Girl's Inc. Nexus, Attitudes and Attire, as well as various battered women's shelters.
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Name: Bruce Levy Phone: 214 768 2505 Email: blevy@mail.smu.edu
Course: CF 3403 School: Dedman Term: Fall
Course Title:  
Description: Imagined Communites looks at questions of contemporay American life through the persepctive of race, place, gender, and class
Services Offered: Working at the ICE House and/or with the Dallas Interfaith Coalition for the Homeless
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Name: Mary K. Jackman Phone: 214-768-2962 Email: mjackman@smu.edu
Course: ENGL 1302 School: Dedman Term: Spring
Course Title:  
Description: ENGL 1302 - "Youth and Age" - This seminar is an exploration of the concepts of "youth"and "age": what they mean; what stereotypes they imply in our culture; how we both shape and are shaped by them as human beings; how the terms shift and change along a continuum; what material conditions might accompany the terms.
Services Offered: Volunteering at Walnut Place Nursing Home or Pearl Norden Care Center of Juliette Fowler Homes.
Comments: Students are required to spend twenty hours during the semester volunteering their time in either or both nursing homes. They will write of their experiences in a Volunteer Log. Their interaction with elderly residents and their caregivers should enhance and inform students' reading, writing and discussion in the seminar.

Name: Mary K. Jackman Phone: 214-768-2962 Email: mjackman@smu.edu
Course: ENGL 1301 School: Dedman Term: Fall
Course Title:  
Description: English 1301 prepares students to read, write, think, and speak competently, analytically,and critically at the college level. Students draft and revise thesis-directed essays that encourage them to explore their ideas in writing and to develop analytical and argumentative skills in writing and discussing what they and others have written and read. In ENGL 1301 subtitled "Community Matters," we read and write about what matters in various communities. Readings vary from semester to semester.
Services Offered: Volunteering at one or two local nursing homes for the elderly: Walnut Place Nursing Home or Pearl Norden Care Center of Juliette Fowler Homes.
Comments: volunteering is optional for extre course credit.

Name: Dick Barr Phone: (214) 768-1772 Email: barr@engr.smu.edu
Course: EMIS 4395 School: SEAS Term: Spring
Course Title:  
Description: Senior design project course for Management Science majors.
Services Offered: Consulting projects are performed for local organizations --- commercial, not-for-profit, and governmental.
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Name: Cathey Soutter Phone: 214.768.4795 Email: csoutter@smu.edu
Course: Psyc 3350 School: Dedman Term: Fall
Course Title:  
Description:  
Services Offered: Attitudes and Attire Girls Inc Genesis Women's Shelter Family Place Victims Outreach Various tutoring opportunities Any placement that fits the course description
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Name: Renee McDonald Phone: (214) 768-1128 Email: rmcdonal@smu.edu
Course: PSYC 5333 School: Dedman Term: Fall
Course Title:  
Description: This course provides an overview of how domestic violence influences children's adjustment. In addition to classroom activities, the course includes a field component. The field component has two parts. The first involves activities in a women's shelter working directly with children of women who are victims of domestic violence. The second involves assisting in a research project examining children's responses to domestic violence.
Services Offered: The applied component of the course involves working with other students in the class to staff an after-school program at a local women's shelter. The program is run completely by the students in the course!
Comments: Students benefit most from this class if their schedules are moderately flexible. Prerequisites: Junior Standing, Completion of or concurrent enrollment in Experimental Psych.

Name: Suzanne Bost Phone: (214)768-2297 Email: sbost@smu.edu
Course: ENGL 4373 School: Dedman Term: Other
Course Title:  
Description: American Women Writers and the Idea of Home: This course analyzes women’s relationship to the idea of “home” in a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary context, reading novels by American women writers through the lenses of race, class, culture, and migration to explore the different meanings of home, house, housework, and homeland that emerge from these texts.
Services Offered: Students have the option of conducting research for their final papers through service learning, working with the homeless or with domestic violence shelters to study the dynamics of "home" presented there.
Comments: This course is currently being offered as a special topics but will be proposed as a permanent course.

Name: Rick Halperin Phone: 214-768-3284 Email: rhalperi@mail.smu.edu
Course: CF 3317 / HIST 3301 School: Dedman Term: Fall, Spring
Course Title:  
Description: The study of human rights requires intellectual history and moral courage, for no nation or society in human history has been totally innocent of human rights abuses. This course will examine certain violations of human rights within their historical context. Attention will also be given to the evolution of both civil and human rights as entities within global political thought and practice. There will be specific focus of human rights law and moral pressures concerning the relief, remedy, and prevention of injustices to women. Students will be encouraged to rely on reasonable evidence and critical thinking when studying these historical controversies, rather than on biased accounts or emotional arguments. From torture to terrorism and from slavery to genocide, students will discuss the current status of human rights in the world today. There will be short papers assigned on topics under consideration, a community service/term paper, and a final examination.
Services Offered: Students will be able to perform 20 hours of community service with the International Rescue Committee, or the Center For Survivors of Torture, or other Dallas area human rights organizations. They will work and interact with persons who have experienced and fled from human rights violations from around the world, and will ultimately be required to write an analytical and reflective paper about their experiences.
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