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Faculty Fellows

Officially expanded in 2020, UNO's Service Learning Academy Faculty Fellows program has dedicated faculty members in each college to enhance service learning course offerings, research, and creative activity efforts.

This year, we have expanded our Faculty Fellows program to include all of UNO’s academic colleges as well as UNL’s College of Engineering, identifying dedicated faculty who can help answer service learning questions and provide access to support for their college or cross-college unit from the UNO SLA.

Faculty Fellows identify college-specific goals to increase service learning and community engagement teaching and research efforts within their respective colleges.

Here's a list of the faculty who were nominated and selected as Fellows through the 2021-22 academic year:

Cecilia Tocaimaza Hatch, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and Literature

COLLEGE: Arts and Sciences

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Shannon Cummins, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship

COLLEGE: Business Administration

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Andrea Weare, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Communication

COLLEGE: Communication, Fine Arts, and Media

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Mitzi Ritzman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Special Education and Communication Disorders

COLLEGE: Education, Health, and Human Sciences

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Dhundy Bastola, Ph.D.
Professor of Interdisciplinary Informatics

COLLEGE: Information, Science, and Technology

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Jodi Benenson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Public Administration

COLLEGE: Public Affairs and Community Service

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George Hunt, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Practice

COLLEGE: UNL College of Engineering

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Faculty Fellow Groups

There are two groups of Faculty Fellows working to increase the community engagement for colleges and UNO's Big Ideas.

Big Ideas Faculty Fellows

The purpose of this group is:

  • Provide support for Big Ideas community engagement initiatives
  • Serve as a peer facilitator to increase experiential learning and community engagement opportunities within the Big Ideas
  • Connect Big Ideas, stakeholders, to community engagement resources at UNO and in the community

College-Specific Faculty Fellows (listed above)

The purpose of this group is:

  • Increase bidirectional connections between colleges, SLA, and community engagement efforts
  • Serve as a peer facilitator to increase experiential learning and community engagement opportunities within each academic college
  • Recruit diverse new faculty to SL teaching 

Nominations/Selections

Faculty in this role are nominated and selected through the UNO SLA with guidance from each college's Dean. Faculty in this role will:

  • Receive a stipend for their participation ($5000 total)
  • Work collaboratively with SLA staff to strengthen and to expand service learning/community engagement connections and partnerships with specific Big Ideas and colleges
  • Serve as a liaison/resource for faculty/staff in the Big Ideas and colleges to initiate, strengthen, and/or expand service learning and community engagement instruction and scholarship
  • Serve 10 months (October-July)