2006-2007 ADP Civic Participation Project Mini-Grant Recipients

The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs is pleased to invite Civic Participation Project minigrant proposals that address UNO’s goals of civic engagement / civic participation. Successful proposals will be funded for projects consistent with the goals of UNO’s Civic Participation Project (an AQIP initiative) and the American Democracy Project, an initiative jointly sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). Successful awardees will receive up to $1500 per grant.

Proposals should be no more than two pages (including budget) and contain the following information:

• Purpose of project
• Potential student-learning outcomes consistent with Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) campus accreditation categories:
• 1) Helping Students Learn; 3) Understanding Students’ and Other Stakeholders’ Needs; 4) Valuing People; 5) Leading and Communicating; 7) Measuring Effectiveness; 8) Planning Continuous Improvement; and 9) Building Collaboration Relationships. For more information please see the AQUIP website
• How project advances the goals of ADP, as outlined at the ADP website
• Nature of student involvement
• Alignment with UNO Strategic Plan
• Budget outlining planned expenses

The following people have received Mini Grants this year. Let's give our faculty a round of applause for all of their great efforts.

Chris Allen, Communication - The Election in Omaha
This project will bring UNO and South High School students to create a half hour documentary of the impact of the 2006 mid-term election campaigns on youth in South Omaha. Students will be interviewing classmates, relatives and community members to determine what local, regional and national issues are particularly relevant to them. Students will be co-creating the documentary for air on the Knowledge Network.

Jonathan Benjamin-Alverado, Political Science - Promoting Student Civic Participation through Latino Voter Mobilization
Student Leaders from UNO student service organizations will be recruited to assist in door to door canvassing of voters in key precincts in South Omaha and help coordinate other “Get out the Vote” efforts. Students will be working with key community leaders to forward this community mobilization effort.

Maria Arbelaez, History - South Omaha History Project
Students involved in this project will be providing vital assistance to the Project Omaha history project at Omaha South High School. Students will be aiding in the cataloging of hundreds of videotape interviews of South Omaha citizens who represent the rich cultural traditions and historical memory of the community. The new cataloging system will make the tapes more accessible to students, community members and researchers.

Blaine Burnham, Connie Jones, and Matt Payne, Information Science and Technology - Technology Day Camp for Girls
The Nebraska University Consortium for Information Assurance (NUICA) within the College of Information Science and Technology will once again be offering their very successful collaboration with the Girl Scouts to offer a week long summer camp to girls ages 11 to 17 to explore areas of information technology developed in the first camp(offered in summer 2006) in greater depth.

Loree Bykerk, Political Science - Pizza and Politics
Throughout the spring 2007 semester students will gather together in an informal setting with faculty facilitators to share what’s on their minds about current political issues. The sessions help students identify their own beliefs and interests and engage in civil discussions with other students about current issues.

Josie Metal-Corbin, Darcy Cleveringa, Kathy Danielson, Carol Mitchell, Liz Polinski-Smith, Ricky Smith, De Anna M. Twigg, James Wolfe, Health, Physical Education and Recreation - Interdisciplinary Pedagogy: The Water Cycle
This project will involve UNO students from five classes with students from 3 Omaha schools in understanding the importance of water conservation and the preservation of natural resources from many perspectives. Teacher education candidates will be working with students in their schools and bringing them on the UNO campus to mutually discover the meaning s of stewardship of place.

Sarah Edwards, Teacher Education - Secondary Education Pilot Project
Being an effective teacher in the secondary school setting requires more than subject mastery. Understanding community, cultural diversity, and the contextual frameworks of student’s lives are vital to reaching and teaching the whole student. This project will provide UNO secondary education students the opportunity to explore and reflect upon these topics and many more through a series of structured placements with mentors in secondary schools throughout Omaha.

Vishal Gupta, Marketing and Management - Collecting and Compiling Information about Social Entrepreneurs in the Community
Who are the social entrepreneurs in Nebraska who create organizations to address emergent community needs and effect social change? This project aims to answer that question by involving students in research efforts to identify and learn from these change agents.

Jeanette Harder, Social Work - Research Partnership Enhancement
In order to remain viable social service organizations must evaluate their program offerings then, analyze and effectively report their evaluation outcomes. Graduate students enrolled in a research class will help a number of local and regional organizations achieve these goals as they develop and implement these research partnerships.

Lyn Holley, Gerontology - Working with Minority Elderly
Students involved in this project will be assisting minority elder to have a voice in the current discussion of Medicare and Medicaid programs serving the elderly population. Students will be leading focus groups intended to give this often silenced population an opportunity to have their concerns heard and advance an on-going research project addressing this issue.

Peter Madsen, Music - The Jim Widner Big Band Residency
This project will bring together UNO music students and the Metropolitan Area Youth Jazz Orchestra to work with and perform with the one of the country’s best big bands, the Jim Widner Big Band. While learning from one of the best big bands, students will also be exploring the depths of America’s truly indigenous art form: Jazz!

Kathe Oleson, American Humanics - National Youth Service Day
This collaboration between students in the UNO American Humanics program, students at Western Hills Magnet Center and Keep Omaha Beautiful will ultimately involve 500 area youth in a parks clean up project on National Youth Service Day, April 21, 2007.

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