Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to chart developments in a community engagement scheme run by two Universities in the North East, offering students academic credit in return for work within the local community. The particular focus is on how learning has been assessed from this work experience, within the requirements of higher education…

The fall 2009 campaign to vaccinate high-risk U.S. residents against the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus presented three key challenges that had significant impact on the effectiveness of campaigns conducted by local health departments (LHDs), schools, and other community partners. These issues included those of communication and trust, both between…

This paper critically analyzes a community collaborative approach for implementing Health and Physical Education (HPE) lessons within Gippsland primary schools (Victoria, Australia). The rural community collaborations reflected upon are embedded within the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) "School…

School science laboratory classes and hands-on public engagement activities share many common aims and objectives in terms of science learning and literacy. This article describes the development and evaluation of a microbiology public engagement activity, "The Good, the Bad and the Algae", from a school laboratory activity. The school…

In central Texas and regions across the country, community leaders are calling for university-community engagement, including development of structures for community-based research and service learning. Including the community in decision making regarding continuing professional education serves as a link between universities such as Texas A&M…

Background: Public health professionals must monitor the effectiveness of school policies and programs to prevent youth initiation, promote quitting, and eliminate secondhand smoke. This analysis of school tobacco policies was preliminary to release of a state tobacco prevention and control plan for 2010-2015. Methods: University health educators…

Patient centered medicine is a paradigm of health care that seeks to treat the whole person, rather than only the illness. The physician must understand the patient as a whole by considering the patient's individual needs, social structure, socioeconomic status, and educational background. Medical education includes ways to train students in this…

In an effort to teach students the basic knowledge of research methods and the realities of conducting research in the context of agencies in the community, faculty developed and implemented a service learning model for teaching research and program evaluation to foundation-year MSW students. A year-long foundation course was designed in which one…

To stem the tide of students dropping out, many schools and districts are turning to early warning systems (EWS) that signal whether a student is at risk of not graduating from high school. While some research exists about establishing these systems, there is little information about the actual implementation strategies that are being used across…

This article reports that for the opening of a huge new life-sciences building on its campus, Syracuse University wanted to capture the sense of expansiveness shared by architecture and science. It commissioned the composer Robert Ward to write a musical composition, "In Praise of Science," which was performed at the building's dedication late…

The empowerment of early childhood educators as teacher leaders can translate into effective instructional practices that promote children's development. This paper aims to broaden the discussion about the relationship between early childhood educators and their traditional K-12 counterparts. We seek to present a wider exploration of what it takes…

In this article we take a closer look at a developing university-community engagement project being undertaken between California State University, Fresno, and the City of Fresno. A history of the project is provided, along with a review of the relevant literature and a summary of what pieces of the puzzle we feel should be in place for a…

Large scale natural disasters pose serious risks to mental health and simultaneously wreak havoc on the very systems called upon to ameliorate those risks. School-based mental health services have been identified as a potential mechanism through which gaps in service delivery systems can be addressed in post-disaster environments. We believe that…

In December 2009, a rapid-growth school district on the Texas Gulf Coast shifted its paradigm of rezoning. Even though half of the Katy Independent School District (Katy ISD) was affected, it achieved a genuine ownership for boundary changes that would affect more than 11,500 students at five schools. Katy ISD accomplished this by seeking…

The benefits of community-based research (CBR) in the sociology classroom go beyond those associated with traditional service learning. Here, students use their sociological skills to examine and propose solutions to local social problems addressed by community organizations. Through analyzing students' course reflection journals and the results…