Austin Peay State University spotlights student community service at High Impact Practices Showcase

Clarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University Center for Service-Learning and Community Engagement, in association with the departments of Career Services and International Education and the Office of Undergraduate Research, held a High Impact Practices (H.I.P.) Showcase on November 30th, highlighting the work of University students and professors in applying learning to real-world scenarios over the past year.

Over 150 people attended the event, which saw 30 students present their experiences in high impact practices.

Students who participated in an high impact practice (i.e., service learning, internship, study abroad or undergraduate research experience) presented their experiences through poster displays, videos, and/or oral presentations.

Nine service learning courses were represented in the poster presentations to highlight their class’ efforts in the community

In addition, students from nine University service learning courses provided poster presentations on their class’ efforts in the community.

Senior political science major Faith Merriweather was among the presenters, representing her campaign strategy and management service learning course at the showcase. Merriweather joined her classmates in conducting exit polls and collecting voter information in order to advise a city council candidate in the run up to November’s election.

“I really enjoyed the opportunity to show my peers what we had been working on all semester long,” Merriweather, who has been an active member of Austin Peay’s Student Government Association since 2014, said. “It was very rewarding having conversations about how we gathered the data and seeing the overall interest in the election process displayed.”

Three Austin Peay faculty members were also honored with the Excellence in High Impact Practices Award, including the Department of Art and Design’s Ken Shipley (service-learning and study abroad), history’s Kevin Tanner (service-learning) and health and human performance’s Lisa Lewis (service-learning).

All three were recognized for their exceptional work in providing service-learning opportunities for students. To be considered, faculty must have been nominated by their department chair or dean and must have taught a H.I.P. course in 2016.

Following the event, the Department of Communication hosted a service-learning showcase specifically for their fall 2016 courses. Coordinated by associate graduate faculty member Tracy Nichols, students from the department’s five service-learning courses were given the opportunity to share their experiences in front of a full Mabry Concert Hall audience.

To find out more about high impact practices at Austin Peay, visit www.apsu.edu/learning-opportunities-center

For more information about Austin Peay’s Center for Service-Learning & Community Engagement, visit www.apsu.edu/volunteer