2007-2008 Annual Report of Service - Shippensburg University

Institute for Public Service 9
teers, and also serve on the planning committee
and personnel committee.
Dr. Carey has also spoken on several occasions
to community groups regarding her
research. A national parents’ organization
called Voice of the Retarded invited her to be
their keynote speaker for their 25th anniversary
celebration, an event which took place
in Washington, D.C., in May 2008. More
locally, she spoke to the Shippensburg Lions
Club in February 2008 on the topic, “From
Institutions to Inclusion: Intellectual Disability
in America.” These opportunities expose the
public to sociology, disability studies, and issues
concerning intellectual disability.
A new initiative for Dr. Carey has been
working with a group of parents of adults
with developmental disabilities living in
Shippensburg. They would like to see students
at Shippensburg University provide an on-going
activity (perhaps weekly) that incorporates
adults with disabilities, like weekly sessions in
which students help these adults learn to use
money, advance their reading skills, or engage
in a sports activity. She is working with Cheryl
Zaccagnini in the Education and Leadership
program and a student in the Honors program
to assess the feasibility of such a project and if
there is a student group that would like to take
responsibility for it.
Dr. Barbara Denison spoke in April 2007
at Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School’s
annual Diversity Day, leading the workshop on
sexual orientation with four different groups
of students. She has also helped the Diversity
Club, Sponsor of the Day, with several fundraisers
during the year. Additional fund-raising
commitment in the community include
being named to the steering committee of
the Wildcat Foundation (Mechanicsburg)
Capital Campaign, and coordinating opening
day fund raising for the Mechanicsburg Girls
Softball Association. She continues being active
with the Mechanicsburg Soccer Booster
Club. Other service activities include presenting
a faculty development workshop at
Central Pennsylvania College (Summerdale)
on “Student Focused Organizational Strategies
for Leading the Millennial Generation” and
speaking to the Harrisburg College Club
about her research on direct sales, “God-
Given Talents, Family Values and Selling the
Pampered Chef Message.”
Dr. Chad Kimmel continues to take an
active interest in his community. He is chair of
the Planning Committee and sits on the board
of directors of the United Way of Carlisle and
Cumberland County, a position he has held for
four years. As a representative of the board, he
volunteered for the United Way’s U-Turn and
helped collect donated items from Dickinson
College students for a community yard sale
with proceeds going to the United Way. This
past year they collected over $11,000 by selling
donated items. Also he continues to chair an
ad-hoc committee on student involvement for
the United Way, collecting applications and
reviewing applicants for three student board
positions.
Dr. Debra Cornelius is active in many
ways. With Dr. Sara Grove, Professor Sean
Cornell, Dr. Claire Jantz, and Ms. Nicolette
Yevich, she took thirty students on a fiveday
alternative fall break service trip to
Chesapeake Bay for environmental volunteerism
with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service. She also volunteered with the following
community organizations: Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation, Cumberland
County Therapeutic Riding Association,
Carlisle Theater, and the Cumberland County
Democratic Committee.
Dr. Joel Schoening writes and edits for
Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO.org),
a non-profit cooperative working to facilitate
the creation of local democratic economic
organizations. He also has been active with
Hope Station, a non-profit community economic
development organization that offers
job training, computer access, financial planning
services, after school programming, and
health care assistance to underserved community
members in Carlisle.
Women’s Studies
Students in Women’s Studies 100
(Introduction to Women’s Studies) and
Women’s Studies 300 (Seminar in Women’s
Studies) all participate in semester-long service
learning projects as part of their course
requirements. In Fall 2007, several Women’s
Studies minors participated in the “Alternative
Fall Break,” traveling with other students, faculty,
and staff from across the university to participate
in an environmental clean-up project
at Wallops Island. Students in the Women’s
Studies seminar designed and implemented
a variety of local, national, and international
service projects: small groups of students from
the class worked collaboratively to raise money
to purchase personal hygiene products for a local
women’s shelter; they helped out at a local
food bank; they created a video and PowerPoint
presentation on domestic violence which was
distributed to students at other universities;
they presented information on campus about
breast cancer awareness; and they created an
information and fund-raising campaign about
international human sex trafficking.
In Spring 2008, students in WST 100
and Honors Introduction to Women’s Studies
focused specifically on creating and implementing
service projects that contributed to
the well-being of women on campus and in
our community. Some of their projects included
organizing and sponsoring a self-defense
class; rewriting and upgrading the women’s
studies website; researching and proposing a
“Safe Ride” program on campus; working to
improve the availability of reproductive health
services on campus; creating Women’s History
Month displays; and raising money for various
agencies locally that benefit women and
children.
In addition, students in the women’s
studies minor at Shippensburg are involved
in a wide variety of campus service initiatives,
including the Organization for Women’s
Advancement (an SU student group); REACT
(Rape Educators and Contacts); The Vagina
Monologues (which regularly raises $3,000+
annually for local rape crisis centers); Take
Back the Night; Equal Pay Day; National
Young Women’s Day of Action; Breast Cancer
Awareness Month; and many other community
and campus outreach programs.