Whitburn Center
Faculty Funding Opportunities
2024-25 Community-Engaged Research Fellowship Recipients
Enhancing Communication Between Patients with Low English Proficiency and Healthcare Providers Through Community Partnership
Community Partner: Reach Counseling, Neenah, WI
Description: The main goal of this project is to fill the existing gap in the literature concerning inadequate cross-cultural communication between healthcare providers and Limited English Proficiency (LEP) patients in the Fox Valley region of Wisconsin. The data collected will support the development of new academic programs at UWO and facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration between the educational programs involved in the project. Furthermore, this project expands existing collaborations with our community partner, an organization with more than 20 years of experience working with the Hispanic community in the Fox Valley. Ultimately, the findings of this project will also expand our ability to develop policy recommendations for educational and health-related institutions in Wisconsin.
Data collected will further our understanding of the following questions. 1. How are existing standards of practice in medical interpretation meeting the expectations and needs of LEP patients in the Fox Valley region? 2. What guidelines, if any, are followed by current workforce development programs to ensure high-quality standards of medical interpretation? 3. What opportunities exist to develop new policies to strengthen professionals’ and community members’ access to quality certification to expand interpretation services in rural areas of the state?
Juan García Oyervides, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Director of Chicana/o & Latinx Studies
Maria Graf, Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing
Marhaba: Supporting Refugee Families and Community Engagement through a University-Mosque Partnership
Community Partner: Oshkosh Mosque
Description: This research examines the impact of a partnership between the university and the Oshkosh Mosque to offer accessible English classes to adult refugees and immigrants in Oshkosh. Key questions guiding this research are: How does a university-mosque partnership to offer summer English classes 1) impact pre-service teacher perspectives on diverse learners and communities 2) impact adult refugee and immigrant learners in their English language development as well as their views on the university and the larger community and 3) support UW Oshkosh in its efforts to engage and develop relationships with diverse members of the larger community?
This research project aims to analyze data generated through the development and teaching of a new 8-week summer English course offered at the Oshkosh Mosque by two teacher interns from UW Oshkosh and collect data through surveys, reflective writing, participant observation notes and select interviews with participants in the course. This will result in the writing of a research manuscript and proposals for conference presentations. Most importantly, this project furthers the Whitburn Center’s objective of increasing university-community partnerships that promote social responsibility and broader understanding.
Hassan Elannani, Assistant Professor of Leadership, Literacy, and Social Foundations
Donald Hones, Professor of Teaching & Learning
2024-25 Community-Engaged Course Development Stipend Recipients
Durmus Alper Camlibel, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice
Community Partner: Multiple
Course: Major Criminal Justice Issues
Description: Students will engage in service-learning activities by implementing the community-based learning (CBL) model through a capstone project. Students are required to write a capstone paper in collaboration with community partners (police departments, courts, corrections, victims, homeless or women’s shelters, local businesses, etc.) to address a real community issue.
Christine Davidson, Instructional Academic Staff in the College of Nursing
Community Partner: Calumet County Health Department – Chilton, WI
Course: Family and Community Nursing
Description: The nursing students will be working with Calumet County public health to provide Narcan training along with Narcan kits to individuals and organizations within the community. Substance misuse and overdose have been identified as a community need. The nursing students will engage in this course as a mutually beneficial student learning opportunity and county health improvement intervention.
Douglas Haynes, Professor of English
Community Partner: Paine Art Center and Gardens – nonprofit in Oshkosh, WI
Course: Public Humanities: Connecting Place, Art, and Communities
Description: Collaborative activities and assignments with The Paine staff and facilities include site walks, place writing exercises, project brainstorming, project research (including interviewing), and project presentations. The course’s culminating experience is developing an original public humanities project to be used at The Paine in collaboration with staff. These projects will be developed to meet outreach and educational needs of The Paine while immersing students in research and writing for a public audience.
Li-Hsuan Hsu, Associate Professor of Art Education
Community Partner: Paine Art Center and Gardens – nonprofit in Oshkosh, WI
Course: Arts and Sustainability
Description: Students explore conceptual and technical methods artists and arts educators use to sustain cultures, quality of life, social justice, traditions, beliefs. The partnership with The Paine is an integral part of this course as students are conducting research projects as teams to discover the impact and public perception of The Paine Art Center and Gardens in our local community in Oshkosh.
Nadejda Kaltcheva, Professor of Physics
Community Partner: Perry A. Tipler Middle School and Vel Phillips Middle School, Oshkosh, WI
Course: Astronomy for Everyone
Description: This course examines key astronomical phenomena from the point of view of ancient cultures and of modern astronomy to address how this knowledge has been integrated into communities from historical, scientific, and educational perspectives. One of the objectives of this course is to learn how to disseminate this understanding to people of all ages, especially to middle and high-school students. Each UWO student will engage in community outreach working with the middle schools to introduce them to one or more astronomy-related topics, the development of the knowledge on this topic across cultures, and possible citizen-science research on this topic.
Amber Lusvardi, Assistant Professor of Political Science
Community Partner: Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, Appleton, WI
Course: Sex, Power, Policy
Description: Students are paired with Planned Parenthood and work on activities to educate the public, particularly college-aged students, on reproductive justice issues, access to health care, and engaging with elected officials. Students volunteer to lead advocacy events centered on education. They write three process letters connecting this action to policy. At the end of the semester, they create an action-oriented ‘Zine in which they imagine something in their community they would like to change.
Stephanie May de Montigny, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Community Partner: Miravida Living and the Aging and Disability Resource Center, Oshkosh, WI
Course: Quest III Global Landscapes of Aging
Description: Students will be partnered with elder mentors at Miravida or the ADRC. They visiting their mentors and attend events sponsored by their partner organization. Students will gather stories from their mentors to analyze in a final interview analysis and to include in a booklet for distribution to the mentors. Through class discussions and assignments, students will synthesize course content on experiences of aging around the world with their experiences with their elder mentors.
Lindsay Morgan, Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing
Community Partner: Prevent Blindness Wisconsin – nonprofit in Milwaukee, WI
Course: Accelerated Family and Community Nursing
Description: Students will obtain vision screening certification for both children and adults. The students will attend a live training session and become certified on the same day. This is a new certification for students in the accelerated BSN program. Once the students become registered nurses, they will begin screening patients’ vision and preventing vision loss and eye injuries regardless of where the nurse is hired.
Jason Woldt, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management
Community Partner: The Reshoring Initiative – nonprofit
Course: Global Procurement and Strategic Sourcing
Description: Multiple activities include engaging in case studies developed in collaboration with our nonprofit partner, providing students with insights into real-world challenges in manufacturing and reshoring. Teams of students also work directly with the nonprofit partner or its client companies to address specific challenges. This could involve analyzing manufacturing processes, assessing reshoring feasibility, or developing strategies for cost reduction and operational efficiency.