PRESIDENT’S EXCELLENCE IN ENGAGED SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS

Awards Category: Excellence in Engaged Teaching

Project: “Teaching Social Work: A Collaborative Commitment with Lubbock Impact and TTUHSC"

Since 2012, the Texas Tech Bachelor of Social Work (BASW) program has been actively involved with the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Free Medical Clinic in a partnership with Lubbock Impact.  Lubbock Impact is a community non-profit agency whose mission is to empower the working poor by providing enrichment programs and resources to meet the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those seeking assistance.  The program serves as a vital real-world learning experience for students while also benefiting the Lubbock community.  Students apply their theoretical knowledge in patient care including interviewing, assessment, intervention, and evaluation to real-world human conditions, thereby empowering individuals and making tangible differences in their lives.  Since 2020, Master of Social Work students have involved in conducting critical needs assessments to help Lubbock Impact’s strategic planning and service delivery, ensuring that programs align with community needs. 

Faculty:

Dr. Debra Lavender-Bratcher, Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, College of Arts and Sciences 

Community Partners: 

Lubbock Impact

Other Partners: 

TTUHSC Medical School

 

Awards Category: Excellence in Engaged Research

Project: “Promoting Healthy Eating in Families with Young Children”  

This university-community partnership consists of several collaborations with childcare centers to promote healthy eating in families with young children. The need for healthy eating projects was expressed by parents who wished to serve healthy meals, but who are stymied by a lack of history, experience, knowledge or time to prepare and serve vegetables as well as by challenging mealtime behaviors in their toddlers. Faculty and students from three colleges and five departments, including 10 graduate students and one undergraduate community engaged learning class, have been involved in the project. Childcare center staff have advised and guided the initiatives while parents have provided information about needs, preferences, and barriers that have informed the interventions.

Faculty:

Dr. Stephanie Shine, Dept. of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Health and Human Sciences

Dr. Conrad Lyford, Dept. of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

Dr. Oak-Hee Park, Dept. of Interdisciplinary Human Sciences, CHHS

Dr. Zijian Harrison Gong, Dept. of Advertising, College of Media and Communication

Dr. Syed Badruddoza, Dept. of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

Community Partners: 

YWCA Early Head Start, Early Learning Centers of Lubbock, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, South Plains Foodbank. 

Other Partners:

TTU Center for Early Head Start

 

Awards Category: Excellence in Engaged Teaching and Research

Project: “The Texas Tech Therapeutic Riding and Therapy Center (TTRC)”

There is a tremendous need to serve individuals with disabilities in the U.S. In 2022, it was estimated that 12.9 percent of the U.S. noninstitutionalized population had a disability. Studies have shown the benefits of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy using the movement of the horse as part of a treatment strategy (hippotherapy), which can greatly benefit individuals with disabilities. For more than 26 years, ANSC 3309 - Principles of Hippotherapy, has provided a unique engaged scholarship experience for a total of 778 undergraduate students at Texas Tech. These students learn first-hand about the disabilities covered in the classroom and are an essential part of the equine therapy team in hippotherapy and therapeutic riding sessions. There are many impacts of the class and the TTRC on the community.  Research has shown that just one semester (12 sessions) of hippotherapy sessions can significantly reduce motor delay in children under the age of five who have developmental delays.

Faculty:

Dr. Heidi Brady, Dept. of Animal and Food Sciences, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

Community Partners:

Lubbock Independent School District - Lubbock Early Childhood Development Program, UMC Pediatric Therapy, local therapists and physicians.  

Other Partners:

TTHSC School of Allied Health

 

PRESIDENT’S EMERGING ENGAGED SCHOLARSHIP AWARD

Project: “Growing GRUB: Empowering Youth and Program Leaders through Research, Communication, and Advocacy”

GRUB is an urban agricultural education program in Lubbock managed by the South Plains Food Bank (SPFB), focusing on youth development. The program's mission is to provide at-risk youth, ages 12 to 17, the opportunity to learn technical agricultural and leadership skills through managing a 5.5-acre farm. In the Spring of 2024 Dr. Velez-Gomez, Dr. Seltzer, and Dr. Dodd met with the SPFB leadership team to identify GRUB program needs and ways in which they could collaboratively address these needs while supporting opportunities for engaged research and teaching. Three primary program needs were identified: (1) offer youth additional educational and enrichment opportunities not currently offered in the program, (2) develop a plan to evaluate participants' outcomes resulting from program participation formally, and (3) “rebrand” the program to raise awareness and dispel misperceptions of the program in the community. To address these needs, in the fall of 2024, the team started an engaged scholarship project grounded in participatory approaches to research, specifically, Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). 

Faculty:

Dr. Paulina Velez Gomez, Dept. of Interdisciplinary Human Sciences, College of Health and Human Sciences

Dr. Sara Dodd, Dept. of Interdisciplinary Human Sciences, College of Health and Human Sciences.

Dr. Trent Seltzer, Dept. of Public Relations & Strategic Communication Management, College of Media and Communication.

Community Partner:

 South Plains Food Bank

PRESIDENT’S EMERGING ENGAGED SCHOLARSHIP AWARD

Project: “Professional Development for Agricultural and STEM Educators Centered Around Turfgrass Sciences”

Turfgrass is a common plant system across the US that requires agronomic management practices (mowing, fertilization, irrigation, and pesticides) comparable to cultivated cropping systems. However, the professional turfgrass industry has a significant supply issue that does not fill the demand for new employment.  Additionally, turfgrass science educational programs have shrunk drastically or disappeared at the university and 2-year college levels since the mid-2000's.  This project has been designed to build confidence in high school agriculture science teachers to teach turfgrass management in their classroom.  Drs. Young and Ritz developed TEKS aligned curriculum for a 1/2 credit Turfgrass Management course and shared it with over 150 teachers who have attended in-person professional development workshops.  The teachers guided the development of the workshops and the curriculum.  The project will enable science teachers across Texas to provide a unique education and career path to their students. 

Faculty:

Dr. Joey Young, Dept. of Plant and Soil Sciences, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

Dr. Rudy Ritz, Dept. of Agriculture Education and Communication, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

Mrs. Clarissa Darby, Agriculture Education and Communication, Davis College (PhD student)

Community Partners:

High School Agriculture Science Teachers and General Science Teachers across Texas, Lubbock ISD AgriSTEM