Call to Service Grants

Call to Service grants supports SF State faculty and staff in providing service-learning, community, and civic engagement opportunities to students and in disseminating service-learning knowledge, research, or findings.

Civic engagement, which is part of ICCE's mission and statement of shared values, focuses on the opportunity to make a personal connection to complex social problems in our communities.

Community Service Learning (CSL), in particular, is recognized as one of the high-impact practices for student success, which also aligns with the University’s strategic plan. CSL also creates or enhances campus-community partnerships, uses civic involvement to meet specific learning objectives of an academic course, engages students and invigorates teaching, and creates research and publishing opportunities for faculty.   

Faculty Review, Tenure and Promotion (RTP): These opportunities include the pillars of Teaching, Service, and Research through the scholarship of engagement.  An ICCE grant award can support outcomes and results of faculty/staff, and student experiences that generate, transmit, apply, and preserve knowledge for the direct benefit of varied audiences in ways that are consistent with SF State and department RTP objectives across disciplines.  The culture of service-learning and community-engaged scholarship can enhance faculty RTP in ways that are both rigorous and impactful.

The vision of this grant program is to cultivate and sustain strong, collaborative partnerships designed to model excellence in University and community engagement. Our office serves as a bridge between SF State and the surrounding San Francisco communities, emphasizing partnerships that value and respect the assets and diversity of both. We are grateful for continued annual funding provided through the CSU Chancellor's Office Call to Service Initiative.

Announcements

AY 2022-23

At this time ICCE's Call to Service grant program is undergoing review to ensure the goal of the program is in alignment with the university and ICCE's strategic planning. ICCE is currently undergoing a strategic planning process and will provide updates when available regarding a future call for proposals.

Past Grant Categories

Purpose: This grant funds faculty members' efforts to modify the curriculum of an established course or create a new course to include a service-learning component.[1]  Community Service Learning (CSL) is a high impact practice that allows students an alternative mode for exploring course topics by providing a minimum of 20 hours of service, during that one semester, meeting an identified community need. Efforts are combined with reflective exercises to connect the service and need to the course learning objectives.      

Eligibility: Awards are open to all part-time/lecturers and full-time faculty members of all ranks (faculty members on early retirement [FERP] are not eligible). All, or any portion, of the funds may be used to compensate the faculty member who develops and implements the grant-funded activity.

Grant proposals will be reviewed according to the following criteria:

  • Quality: Extent to which service and reflection are integrated into course curricula, and not as extra credit or a side project in the class.

  1. Describe the types of service activities students will engage in by including: brief description of potential service assignment(s), examples of expected work products, and explanation of how students will prepare for their service placement.

  2. How will the service-related opportunities promote student understanding of community engagement in relation to course topics and concepts?

  3. What is the total number of hours of service to be required and why? (20 hrs. is minimum).  How many students will be able to participate, given this requirement?

  4. Explain the reflection techniques used in the course as part of student assessment.

  • Community Needs/Engagement: Degree to which the service component addresses community-identified needs, issues, and/or the organizational goals.

  • Sustainability:  Level at which the class can be used as a model for successful service learning class integration in the course-specific discipline. Additionally, explain if expansion of the CSL initiative across campus is also part of the goals, explain components.

  • Evaluation: Describe sample ways the impact and outcome of service learning will be an effective pedagogy. Note: Indicate if you are willing to use any of the new interdisciplinary service learning outcomes (encouraged but not required).
    See page 8 of the ICCE 2.0 Strategic Plan. A student survey has been created via Qualtrics for this purpose and was first launched in fall 2019.

  • Preference will be given to applicants who address one or all of the following:

           a) offer service-learning opportunities to lower-division students; and/or

           b) development of CSL remote/virtual experiences; and/or

           c) increase CSL opportunities with Black-led organizations or organizations that serve the Black community.

Note: An “officially designated CSL course” is defined as a course that has been reviewed leading to an approved CSL designation on file with the University Curriculum office; the class is then stated in the SF State Bulletin as “[CSL may be an option]”. For more information, please visit: CSL Course Designation

[1] Service learning offers students the chance to link academic study and course credit with community involvement and critical reflection. Students enrolled in a course offering a community service learning opportunity split their time between classroom instruction, service in the community, and reflection upon the service experience. Service learning is an instructional method that combines formal coursework with thoughtfully organized community service experiences and utilizes the service experience as a course “text” for both academic learning and civic learning. Service-learning courses address community-identified needs while helping students meet academic, social and civic learning goals.

 

Funding to strengthen and deepen relationships with community partners

Purpose: These grants will provide financial support to SF State faculty and staff members, in collaboration with community organizations, who are initiating or deepening relationships to support high-quality service-learning courses. Must result in an implemented project with an anticipated completion date included in the proposal. Two types of funding categories are available:  1) New Partnership Funding OR 2) Established Partnership Funding.

Eligibility: Faculty who are currently teaching, have taught, or will be teaching an official SF State community service-learning (CSL) course. Already designated courses are eligible. The grants are also available to staff members involved in the administration of CSL courses, service-learning-related course components, or service learning initiatives.

  • Note:  Applicants should focus on one category or the other but cannot submit for both.

  • New Partnership Funding is available to CSL instructors who have a specific plan for working with organizations to co-develop a new service-learning project, or to expand an existing CSL class to include a new service site or service project. Funds can be used for community partner honorarium (funds will be paid directly to the organization, not the individual).

  • Established Partnership Funding is available to CSL instructors who have already established a service-learning partnership and would like to expand or deepen their relationship to include scholarship or other high-level collaborative activities. Funds may be used for community partner honorarium.

Grant proposals will be reviewed according to the following criteria:

  • Merit and feasibility of the proposed project to establish or deepen a sustained service-learning partnership with one organization or agency in the community.

  • Evidence of mutual benefit and mutual contributions between the service-learning instructor and community partner. One letter of support from partner organization confirming both the need for the project/service activity and their interest in collaborating with the SF State applicant is required.

  • Description of the specific deliverables that will result from the project as well as the anticipated impact on stakeholders.

  • Clarity and adequacy of the budget.

  • Preference will be given to applicants who address one or all of the following:

             a.  offer service-learning opportunities to lower-division students; and/or

             b.  development of CSL remote experiences; and/or

             c.  increase CSL opportunities with Black-led organizations or organizations that serve the Black community. 

Assistance to support the implementation of high-quality CSL opportunities

Purpose: Whether faculty are managing an ongoing CSL course/service-learning component, or developing a new CSL course/service-learning course component, it is often helpful to have assistance with some of the unique aspects of service learning. The funds are targeted toward the part-time wage of a Service Learning Assistant (SLA). The SLA must be a current undergraduate or graduate student at SF State and can assist for up to 20 hours per week for one term (maximum of 16 weeks). (Note: Standard pay range is $16.50-$18.00 per hour and the rate for student hire through this grant can be decided by the faculty members but cannot be less than $16.50 per hour).

The SLA will assist in the development and growth of community partnerships, the development of service-learning support materials, and the facilitation of service-learning opportunities. Examples of student responsibilities may include, but are not limited to:

  • Delivering presentations to communicate the purpose, logistics, and context of service learning
  • Leading in-class and on-site orientations with the community partner
  • Assist with coordination of student placements
  • Ongoing problem-solving, mentoring, and logistical support for student peers
  • Collection and documentation of relevant service-learning course documents (acknowledgment forms, completion of hours, risk management, etc.). ICCE staff are available to answer questions.
  • Assist with planning and facilitating reflection activities
  • Analysis of community partner, student, and faculty mid and end-of-semester evaluations
  • If SL experience is remote/virtual, assist with monitoring and tracking successes and challenges.

Service Learning Assistants are not:

  • Teaching Assistants
  • Allowed to grade papers or reflection assignments
  • Expected to enroll in the service-learning course (but optional)
  • Allowed to approve new partners or activities without instructor consent and ICCE risk management & liability processes completed
  • Permitted to help develop special projects outside of the scope of normal course coordination

Eligibility:  Faculty of all ranks who are currently teaching, have taught, or will be teaching an officially designated SF State CSL course are eligible to apply. The grants are also available to staff members involved in the administration of CSL courses, service-learning-related course components, or service-learning initiatives.

  • SLAs hired must be currently enrolled at SF State.
  • Applicants must indicate in the budget proposal the desired hourly pay and number of hours to justify the requested award amount.
  • Funds will be transferred to the applicant’s department/program/school

Grant proposals will be reviewed according to the following criteria:

  • The SLA role focuses on supporting a service-learning component, and developing career-related employability skills (e.g., effective oral and written communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and critical thinking).
  • Clarity of activities the faculty/staff member has planned for the SLA.
  • Outline the potential benefits and learning outcomes of proposed experiences for the SLA, including descriptions of the mentoring and supervision that the faculty/staff member will provide the SLA.
  • Evidence the SLA support will aid the faculty/staff member to improve the quality of, or build capacity to, expand existing service learning activities/components for the course. 

Purpose: To support programs/centers in their capacity building (e.g., planning, organizational development) leading to the implementation of a service-related project with the goal of increasing civic-minded individuals, or a specific civic engagement project, and/or related civic learning effort.

Eligibility: Individual programs/centers within ASI/Student Affairs and student organizations fiscally sponsored, or supervised by a department/college working for justice in any way
(e.g., social, economic, political, environmental) may apply for this grant.

Note: Please contact ICCE before proposal submission to ensure that funds can be transferred to the applying program/center, and/or department/college.

  • Funds will be transferred to the applying program/center/department/college.

Grant proposals will be reviewed according to the following criteria:

  • Outline and give examples of how your project/initiative serves to strengthen capacity building, develop civic-minded individuals, and elevate student leadership opportunities.

  • Explain how funds will be used to express thoughtful, or mindful, democratic discourse leading to potential action.

  • Describe how the intended efforts will become sustainable over time and lead to institutionalizing civic engagement into your program/center.

  • Preference will be given to programs that show indication of off-campus, student involvement in community-based efforts/initiatives.

  • Community Needs/Issue: Proposed projects must have a public purpose or result in a benefit to a specific community.  State how the service component addresses community-identified needs, issues, and/or goals.

  • Preference will be given to applicants who address one or all of the following:

           a. development of CE/CSL remote/virtual experiences; and/or

           b. increase partnerships and CE/CL opportunities with Black-led organizations and organizations that serve the Black community.

In honor of Dr. Jerry Eisman, the recipient should apply the best practices of SF State as an engaged institution and demonstrate inspiration to the building—or enhancing—community or campus relationships through advancing their scholarship and contributing to the body of knowledge in their field of study.

Jerry Eisman
 Eisman Award for Engaged Scholarship Announcement

Purpose:

This award provides university-wide recognition of highly engaged community-based scholarship collaborations that positively impact both the community and research/creative works endeavors.  Priority will be given to T/TT faculty who exhibit a commitment to civic engagement and/or community service learning as part of their professional achievement and growth. This award will recognize the exemplary engaged scholarship with a community partner or across units at SF State (on-campus collaboration or “campus community”).

Eligibility:

  • Academic appointment of T/TT faculty or lecturer/adjunct that includes research or creative scholarship as part of essential assigned duties is required (Note: individuals with designations of emeritus, visiting, or clinical are not eligible).
  • Faculty/lecturers could be either seasoned professionals or early career faculty displaying potential.
  • The recipient should embody the ideals, vision, and success of community-campus partnerships and show experience or promise as a researcher in one’s discipline.

Award Amount: $5,000   

  • Funds will be transferred to the recipient’s department or unit for disbursement.

Grant proposals will be reviewed according to the following criteria:

  • Either all or a major portion, of the engaged scholarship, will be/have been accomplished while the nominee serves as faculty/lecturer here at SF State University.
  • Proposal content must explicitly illustrate either a new project or one that is ongoing
  • Award Focus: Collaboration! Recipients may conduct research that is not specific to an identifiable community partner but projects must be community-based. In this case, the content of the nomination must be explicit regarding the impact on a specific community of interest regarding benefits, values, contributions to change, progress, etc. (direct or indirect).
  • Collaborations with longer track records of (at least 2 years) are preferred over those of shorter duration.
  • The budget should support research/creative work endeavors. Funds may be used to compensate the faculty member who develops and implements the proposal. 

Grant funds may be used to support the following expenses (varies by grant category).

All disbursements must comply with established campus policies for purchasing, procurement, reimbursement, travel authorization and claims, and tax reporting/withholding. Upon notification of an award, both grant recipients and their department budget officer will have an opportunity to meet with ICCE to review disbursement procedures, as needed or requested

Faculty Compensation

Funds may be used to compensate the faculty member who develops and implements the grant-funded activity. Compensation is subject to taxation and tax withholding.

Partner Services

Funds may be used to compensate the community partner that works with faculty to develop and implement the grant-funded activity. Grant applications containing funding requests for partner services will not be approved until the Partner Agency has filed a Vendor Data Record, provided a brief scope of work (including estimated costs) and provisional approval from SF State Procurement has been obtained by ICCE. Faculty must ensure that the community partner completes these details and any subsequent disbursement requirements in conjunction with ICCE. Funds will be transferred to the applicant’s department/program.

Supplies & Materials

Funds will be transferred to the applicant’s department/program for supplies and services necessary for the implementation of the CSL course and/or civic engagement-related activities.

Hospitality

Reimbursement expenses for hospitality are allowed, if official guests are present, which includes employees visiting from another work location, students, and community members. Funds will be transferred to the applicant’s department/program. Note: Due to COVID-19 and social distancing and safety measures, we encourage faculty to consider alternatives to in-person gatherings.

Student Assistant(s) 

  • Service Learning Course: Funds can be used to hire a student assistant(s) to facilitate partnerships with service-learning placement sites and support faculty and students enrolled in the course in completing the service-learning assignment. Student Assistants must be currently enrolled at SF State and must be directly supervised by the faculty member. Funds will be transferred to the applicant’s department/program and the administrative staff will set up payroll accordingly.

  • Civic Engagement/Civic Learning: Funds can be used to hire student assistant(s) to support the capacity building (e.g., planning, organizational development) leading to the implementation of the proposed service-related project. Funds will be transferred to the applicant’s department/program and the administrative staff will set up payroll accordingly.

Travel (relating to civic engagement and/or service learning)

As of June 1, 2021, CSU pandemic-related travel restrictions have ended. Authority and responsibility for SF State travel are now at the campus level. The travel ban has been lifted. Reasonable and necessary travel may resume according to the CSU Travel Policy including the timely submission of travel requests via Concur before making any travel arrangements. Travelers are responsible for complying with SF Department of Public Health orders and the health orders for their destinations. Travelers should adhere to the latest travel guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For more information please visit: SF State Travel Policy and FAQs for COVID-19.

Non-allowable costs for all grants:

  • Faculty course release time 

  • Alcohol, receptions, entertainment costs (e.g., tickets to recreational events, gift cards, ball games, etc.), and/or banquets

  • Scholarships, gifts, or other prize monies, raffles

  • Paying participants to complete a service experience

  • Travel insurance

  • Lease of facilities

  • Campaigning or political mailings

  • Equipment (e.g., printers, laptops, monitors, cell phones)

  • Tuition of any kind

Current & Past Grantees

CURRENT GRANT RECIPIENTS

It is with great pleasure that ICCE announce the awardees of the 2022 Call to Service Initiative grants. Below are the awardees, listed by category.  Congratulations to all recipients!

Add Service Learning to a Course

College of Liberal & Creative Arts

Dan Curtis-Cummins, Lecturer Faculty, Department of English Language & Literature | ENG 104/105: First-Year Composition

Funding will support the redesign of English 104/105, First-Year Composition "Stretch," to offer a community service learning option starting in Fall 2022. "Stretch'' English 104/105 is a year-long General Education course serving the same cohort of students over the academic year. As such, the 'Stretch' Writing Course is ideally suited for this first ever pilot, particularly for building meaningful and invested community service learning experiences for students over an extended period. In this course, students will identify an issue related to literacy (Early Childhood, Digital, Visual, Code-Meshed and Academic Literacies) and choose an organization to work with, one that expands their understanding of the issue through first-hand experience with community members. Students will address the needs the partners have already identified. 

Jolie Goorjian, Lecturer Faculty, Department of English Language & Literature | ENG 216: Explore Your World, Your Identity and Your Future

English 216 is a basic GE course foundation course for first-year students and is an Area E Lifelong Learning and Self-Development course. Framed in an academic context with discussions, readings, research, and writing about a CSL opportunity and partner, this course section will offer students the opportunity to create a collaborative community to work with a CSL partner online, face-to-face or both. In doing so, students will learn the benefits of CSL, cultivate an understanding and partnership with their CSL partner and conduct research to learn about the organization's mission, goals, and social justice issue.

Amy Latham, Lecturer Faculty, Department of English Language & Literature | ENG 216: Cultivating Curiosity Through Research and Community-Engaged Writing

Funding will support the incorporation of the CSL option into this English 216 course section. Students will focus on a semester-long research topic exploring education and literacy (including digital and information literacy) in the surrounding communities.

College of Science and Engineering

Jingyi Wang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Computer Science | CSC 699 Learning by Teaching

Funding will support the development of a Teaching Assistant service-learning session to assist middle and/or high school San Francisco Unified School District Computer Science (CS) teachers from CS supplementary authorization programs and students in their CS classrooms. 

Civic Engagement/Civic Learning

College of Liberal & Creative Arts

School of Cinema│Greta Snider, Professor, Faculty Advisor, The Archive Project│Archives and Activism Series

The San Francisco State University School of Cinema collects a treasury of classic features, documentaries, animation, experimental, and student short films. The Archive Project is a group of faculty, students, staff and alumni who work to make this collection discoverable, accessible, and exemplary. These films originate from numerous countries and span decades of style and technology– including student films dating back fifty years. The Archive Project follows the School’s commitment to fostering diverse voices, preserving cinematic history, and encouraging exploration by all students. Funding will support the implementation of a series of webinars and workshops that highlight the work of community archivists and activists. The Archive Project will partner with Queer Cinema Project, Black Film Club at SFSU, and Feminist Filmmakers Fellowship to provide event leadership opportunities and to center student perspectives in these events. Students, staff, and faculty will be on stage with our guests. The Archives and Activism Series connects students to community-based archiving projects and invites student and community members to explore The Archive in the School of Cinema as well. There will be four events for Spring and Fall 2022 and each of these events will include a student group partner and a community partner.

Eisman Award for Engaged Scholarship 

College of Science and Engineering

Jae Paik, Ph.D., Professor, Dept. of Psychology | Bridging Service-Learning and Community-Based Research: Impact of Community-Based Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) During COVID-19 Pandemic

Working collaboratively with members of the local and international school communities, Dr. Paik has developed social-emotional learning (SEL) programs (typically for PreK to Grade 2) that can be implemented in school settings. For the last 4 years, Dr. Paik  been actively directing both local and international community-based research and service-learning projects. SEL Programming and SEL Research is more important than ever. Holistic approaches to education promote success in school, work, and life (Zins & Elias, 2007). SEL programming has been deemed to support holistic approaches to education and has grown in popularity over the past 20 years (Weissberg et al., 2015). The unfortunate event of the COVID-19 pandemic has further accentuated the dire need to build non-academic skills such as adaptability, emotion regulation, empathy, compassion, and resilience in order to successfully navigate through life. Locally, Dr, Paik and students have been going into the classrooms in the Bay Area to provide SEL programs to young students, engage in professional development and parent workshops, and run community events that brings SF State students, faculty, children and families together. Last Spring 2021, for the very first time, Dr. Paik taught an online psychology service-learning course where trained undergraduates (children call them “SEL Coaches”) offered a remote SEL program via zoom breakout room sessions. More than 200 local elementary students received weekly online SEL lessons for 12 weeks, filled with activities that were designed to foster social and emotional skills specifically identified by the school leaders and teachers. 

 

Funding will support Dr. Paik's work with local schools/centers by implementing SEL programs and conducting much needed efficacy testing (e.g., collecting pre- and post-program data from teachers, children, and parents). With community-based research findings, Dr. Paik will be partnering with one of the school districts and will submit a 2022 NoVo Foundation grant with the goal of expanding and adopting the SEL program at the district level. This will allow Dr. Paik to conduct community-based research and serve children more widely and extensively.

College of Liberal & Creative Arts

Piryaei Shabnam, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts | BECA 580 Media in Community Service

Every day, thousands of asylum seekers recount their trauma to border agents, hoping for the opportunity to forge a new in the US. In an effort to draw attention to these stories, Dr. Shabnam has been working with Professor Dario Valles in the Chicano and Latino Studies Department at CSU Long Beach, and the Amplifying Sanctuary Voices project in Berkeley, CA to produce the documentary NO SEPARATE SURVIVAL. This feature-length film, which is still in production, is unique in that migrants co-author and co-produced the film with donated equipment and training. Specifically, Dr. Shabham has developed a curriculum for, and facilitated, free media art workshops with community partners for migrants to produce videos that tell their stories from their own perspectives. Some of these videos will be integrated into the documentary film. The art therapy workshops for current and former asylum seekers have allowed Dr. Shabnam to build community relationships as well as CSU-wide campus relationships. While the project has long been rooted in a partnership with Amplifying Sanctuary Voices through the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, Dr. Shabnam also collaborates with the Public Defender Immigration Representation Project at The Office of the Alameda County Public Defender, Youth UnMuted, and other immigrant-serving organizations to identify and build trust and relationships with participants and ensure a firm grounding in the historical, cultural, political, and economic context of recent migration to the US.

 

Funding will support Dr. Shabnam to build a unique curriculum to facilitate two additional media art workshops through a BECA 580 Media in Community Service course. This way students will have the opportunity to work directly with migrants and community partners in a hands-on learning environment. In the course, students blend theory and practice, through video production as well as critical thinking papers. This blended curriculum will advance students’ creative portfolios while also contributing to the body of knowledge in their field of study. Through videos the asylum seekers produce themselves, this project elucidates the nuanced interiority of all refugees as they grapple with their past, present, and future. Dr. Shabnam's research explores comparative media—specifically, applying interdisciplinary critical analysis and collaborative research across a variety of media arts, forms, and practices. Dr. Shabnam considers how media influences the way we communicate, exchange information, offer representations, chronicle and resist violence, and produce and exhibit art. Dr. Shabnam's work also considers how media can variously catalog, map, and elaborate strategies that challenge hegemonic representations of individuals and historical narratives.

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Current Grantees: Submit Final Report

PAST GRANTEES

It is with great pleasure that ICCE announces the awardees of the 2021 Call to Service Initiative grants. Below are the awardees, listed by category.  Congratulations to all recipients!

Add Service Learning to a Course

College of Health and Social Sciences

Paige P. Viren , Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Dept. of Park, Recreation, and Tourism | RPT 205: Adventure Travel 

Dr. Viren will be adding a service learning component to RPT 205 and set to be implemented fall 2021 to 1) develop a Diversity in Adventure Travel Speaker Series to include a diversity in current adventure travel curriculum; 2) develop remote/virtual assignments that focuses on community-based sustainable development that will build on existing assignments and expand adventure community partnerships. Currently the course includes an Adventure Speaker Series which allows students to learn from people with different backgrounds and experiences, including scholars, entrepreneurs, and practitioners working in adventure tourism. Dr. Viren is currently establishing partnerships with adventure community partners. RPT 205 students will serve their hours by collaborating with these site/s. Funds will also be used to support a community service learning student assistant to support the implementation.

College of Science and Engineering

Jae Paik, Ph.D., Professor, Dept. of Psychology | PSY 300 Current Issues In Psychology Remote Service-Learning: Providing Social-Emotional Programs to Young Leaders

Due to COVID-19 young children’s social, emotional and academic experiences have been impacted immensely and broadly. In response to the pandemic and subsequent school closures, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education has launched “Advance SEL in California” initiative to elevate Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) practices and to address the social and emotional needs of students over the long haul (California Office of Governor, 2020). To achieve this goal, partnerships among the community organizations and members are paramount. Dr. Paik has been working collaboratively with Millbrae School District (MSD) in creating SEL program that could be offered remotely for their students. Dr. Paik will be adding a service learning component to PSY 300 that involves organizing, training, and supervising PSY 300 undergraduate students who will deliver SEL program remotely in form of live zoom classes.

Lam Family College of Business

Leyla Ozsen, Ph.D., Associate Professor,  | BUS 895 Research Project in Business

Funding will support the re-envisioning of BUS 895 to include service learning with an emphasis in advancing community identified needs and supporting the mission and strategic initiatives around inclusivity, diversity, sustainability and innovation. BUS 895 is a required culminating experience project course for the MS in Business Analytics Program. The students in this course have been and will be given the option to select from a wide variety of project topics in partnership with primarily organizations, whose mission is centered around solving environmental and societal issues and/or which are founded and led by people of color and/or women. 

Partnerships in Service Learning

College of Liberal & Creative Arts

Abigail Lapin Dardashti, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Art History | Community Partner: Galería de la Raza 

The new collaboration between SF State’s Art History department and the grassroots activist Latino/a/x art gallery Galería de la Raza engages with San Francisco’s muralism practice both historically and in the present. It focuses on social and racial justice issues related to access to space, Latina/o/x representation, and resistance. Since 1970, Galería has created a space to foster Latino/a/x creativity and activism as well as securing public places for mural practice. Through the course ARTH 516 Mexican Muralism and its Legacy in the Americas in Fall 2021, students will learn about the art history of modernist muralism and large-scale painting, with a focus on Latino/a/x and Latin American art. They will also work with Galería to catalogue and conduct research in the archive, contributing to making this essential repository available to the broader public and publicizing its essential historical value through research. This partnership will support Galería's efforts and introduce students to archival research and cataloguing, preparing them for graduate school and careers in the art world.

Civic Engagement/Civic Learning

College of Health and Social Sciences

School of Public Affairs & Civic Engagement│Jennifer Shea, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Master of Public Administration Program│Co-Director, Willie L. Brown, Jr. Fellowship Program

Funds will  support the development of a robust mentoring program in the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Fellowship (WBF) Program, which includes undergraduate and graduate student components. Established in 2008 and housed in the School of Public Affairs & Civic Engagement (PACE), the WBF Program places students who have faced barriers to pursuing higher education in high-level internships in the City & County of San Francisco (the City) agencies, with the goal of instilling a commitment to public service and providing students with corresponding professional development. The fellows come from under-represented communities, bringing diversity across many intersectional identities to the public sector. The WBF Program is built on a long-term partnership with the City and aims to support the City's racial equity goals in the short and long-terms in compliance with the citywide Racial Equity Framework (Ordinance No. 188-19). 

College of Liberal & Creative Arts

School of Cinema│Celine Parreñas Shimizu, Ph.D., Professor  Director, School of Cinema

The School of Cinema at San Francisco State University, in partnership with the Division of Equity & Community Inclusion, Black Unity Center, Asian American and Pacific Islander Retention and Education, and Latino Center, will implement a series of webinars throughout the spring semester of 2021 that will highlight the work of women of color in Hollywood as part of a year-long series focused on Race, Rebellion and Resistance. The Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity of Stanford University will also be co-sponsor to the events. They will also be working with the following student organizations affiliated with the School of Cinema: Animation Society, Black Film Club, Cinema Collective, Feminist Filmmaker Fellowship, Delta Kappa Alpha, and Graduate Student Association in order to center student perspectives during these webinars. School of Cinema, along with their partners, are all committed to diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry. UCLA’s 2020 Diversity Report showed that film executives and directors are still overwhelmingly white men. The hope is to demystify who gets to work in Hollywood by inviting women of color from different sectors of the entertainment industry to speak and share their paths. Funding will support the efforts and aspiration to create thoughtful discourse that will lead to the development of civic-minded cinema students and to the elevation of student leadership in cinema-focused student collectives.

Service Learning Student Assistant(s)

College of Ethnic Studies

Michael De Anda Muniz,Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Latina/Latino Studies Department | LTNS 680: Latina/o Community Organizing

Funds will support a service learning student assistant (SLA) for LTNS 680 to provide high quality community service learning (CSL) experiences during remote learning and offer the SLA a unique opportunity to build a strong mentorship relationship and gain valuable remote project management experience. In Latino/Latina Community Organizing, students collectively examine the history of Latina/x/o community organizing in the United States; the social, economic, and political structures that impact Latina/x/o community organizing; and contemporary Latina/x/o community organizing efforts. In addition to learning from readings, videos, podcasts, and guest speakers, students have the opportunity to participate in a CSL project that advances a local community-based organization’s immediate and long-term goals. In fall 2020, students worked remotely with local and national organizations that address issues including farmworkers’ rights; racial, social, environmental, and economic justice for Bay Area communities of color; voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds in San Francisco; and a sense of community among SF State students during remote learning. Partner organizations included the Alliance for Fair Food, Black Organizing Project, Communities for a Better Environment, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and Yes On Prop G Campaign. 

College of Liberal & Creative Arts

Bridget Gelms, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, English Language & Literature | ENG 618 Individual and Team Writing

Funds will support a service learning student assistant (SLA) for ENG 618 to provide more support for the student teams as they embark on their community partnership. In this course, Professional Writing & Rhetoric majors work in teams to provide community partners with professional writing services they need to sustain their mission. For example, a past partnership with the Pacifica Beach Coalition enabled students to craft social media content, a press kit, and promotional flyers for the Coalition’s Earth Day events and yearly educational programs with local high schools. ENG 618, then, gives students practical experience with community-based writing projects while they learn about effective modes of collaboration and teamwork. 

Eisman Award for Engaged Scholarship 

Lam Family College of Business

Anoshua Chaudhuri, Ph.D., Professor, Dept. of Economics

Dr. Chaudhuri has been awarded the Eisman Award for Engaged Scholarship for her work and continued efforts with the SF Small Business Commission through a community-based participatory research project about COVID-19's impact on small business in San Francisco. San Francisco being one of the high cost of living areas has seen an exodus of residents and big businesses (mostly tech companies). Small businesses that supported this population have seen a drop-in clientele. Apart from social distancing rules, pandemic related closures, there have been demand-driven reasons for the hugely negative impacts on small businesses. Through this collaboration a survey instrument was designed and implemented to capture these reasons in order to inform pertinent policy-making and that would adequately capture local struggles, barriers and opportunities. Currently, in the second phase of implementation, funds will be used to analyze the data and help disseminate the research results, as well as continue the collaborative partnership with SF Small Business Commission to allow on-going and future placement of SF State students in community service learning projects with this partner. 

Below are the awardees, listed by category.  Congratulations to all recipients!

Add Service Learning to a Course

College Ethnic Studies

Yessica Garcia Hernandez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Latina/Latino Studies | LTNS 400 Latina Girlhoods

Dr. Garcia Hernandez will be adding service learning to a new course that she is developing and will be taught for the first time fall 2020. The learning outcomes of this practicum-based course are threefold: 1) teach an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of girl studies, which is defined as the study of girlhood and girls cultures; 2) teach students community-based participatory action research and art-based methodologies to work with girls of color; and 3) teach students how to write fieldnotes and autoethnographic entries. This course will be linked with the Rebel Quinceañera Collective (RQC), a participatory action research project currently under development here at SF State. Dr. Garcia Hernandez is currently establishing partnerships with the Chavez Branch Library in Oakland and the Mission Branch Library in SF to provide new programming for already existing programs for young adults. Her LTNS 400 students will serve their hours by collaborating with these sites to provide additional programming. 

College of Science and Engineering

Jae Paik, Ph.D., Professor, Dept. of Psychology | PSY 455 Cross-Cultural Psychology

PSY 455 is tied to a Psychology Faculty-Led Study Abroad program, which involves an international fieldwork component in Sichuan Province, China that engages students in various educational and psychological field services for local children, family and teachers. For the upcoming 2020 summer program, Dr. Paik will  revamp PSY455 Cross-Cultural Psychology and offer the course as a registered SL course. This would be the first time PSY455 will be offered as a registered SL course. Students will collaborate with the local universities and community centers to facilitiate events and activities that will best serve the needs of the community (e.g., cultural lessions, family events, sports events).

Partnerships in Service Learning

College of Health and Social Sciences

Casey Nesbit,  PT, DPT, DSc, PCS, Assistant Professor, Physical Therapy | PT 899

Dr. Nesbit will use funds to deepen relationships with St. Gabriel’s Hospital in Malawi for a project in a high-quality service-learning course, Malawi Service Learning for Doctor of Physical Therapy students (PT 899). This service-learning course includes developing and implementing a rehabilitation training program for Home-Based Palliative Care Community Health Workers who care for patients with disabilities and chronic illness in the villages. 

Civic Engagement/Civic Learning

College of Business

Katie M. Hetherington, J.D., LL.M., Assistant Professor, Dept. of Accounting

Funds will be used to pay for an SF State graduate student Site Coordinator of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. VITA is a national program sponsored by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). VITA provides free tax return preparation services to low-income, elderly, limited English proficiency and disabled individuals.  The SF State VITA program has averaged well over 1,000 returns prepared each year.

Service Learning Student Assistant(s)

College of Health & Social Sciences

Jennifer Shea, Associate Professor, Public Adminstration, School of Public Affairs and Civic Engagement | PA 746 Organizational Learning and Nonprofit Management

Dr. Shea will use funds to support her community-service learning designated course, PA 746 in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program. As a client-based course, PA 746 positions student teams as external resources for community-based nonprofit organization partners. The graduate student assistant will assist in the development of course-specific service-learning support materials, including updating content for the logic model workshop and the list of nonprofit management resources available to student teams.

Eisman Award for Engaged Scholarship 

College of Health & Social Sciences

Pavlina Latkova, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of Park, Recreation, and Tourism | RPT 470: Travel with Purpose

Dr. Latkova has been awarded the Eisman Award for Engaged Scholarship for her work and continued efforts to further enhance community-based collaboration between the RPT and HH Department and Altruvistas, through RPT 470 service-learning curriculum assessment.

It is with great pleasure that the Institute for Civic and Community Engagement announce the awardees of the 2019 Call to Service Initiative grants. Below are the awardees, listed by category.  Congratulations to all recipients!

Add Service Learning to a Course Grant

College Liberal & Creative Arts

Sarah Crabtree, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of History, HIST 405: Martime History

Dr. Crabtree will increase the scope of prospective project(s), grow the number of students involved, make community partnerships sustainable moving forward, and use the data gathered from course assessment metrics to implement a department-wide program for history majors.

Oscar Guerra, Ph.D., Dept. of Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts, BECA 360

Dr. Guerra will expand upon BECA 360 Virtual Reality: 360 Video Production with Community Service. This production course will provide the students with an advanced experience in VR:360 production with the opportunity to produce immersive experiences with a strong focus on community service. In collaboration with participating community partners, students will produce 36 immersive experiences, in their efforts to promote their mission.

College of Science and Engineering

Jae Paik, Ph.D., Professor, Dept. of Psychology, PSY 558 Field Service Seminar / PSY 559 Psychological Field Service

PSY 558/9 is tied to a Psychology Faculty-Led Study Abroad program, which involves an international fieldwork component in Sichuan Province, China that engages students in various educational and psychological field services for local children, family and teachers. Dr. Paik will revamp PSY 558/9 Field Services Seminar/Psychological Field Service and offer the course as a registered service learning course.

College of Health & Social Sciences

Aritree Samanta, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Public Affairs and Civic Engagement, ENVS 224

Dr. Samanta will modify ENVS 224 to include a service learning component. The service-learning component of ENVS 224 in Spring 2019 will be the first step of a multi-semester joint project to conduct a structured program impact evaluation for City Surf Project between Dr. Chaudhuri (Department of Economics) and Dr. Samanta.

Partnerships in Service Learning

College of Business

Anoshua Chaudhuri, Ph.D., Professor, Dept. of Economics | Community Partner: City Surf Project

Dr. Chaudhuri will to continue to develop the mental health impact-evaluation partnership that she started with community partner City Surf Project (CSP). She will use funding to hire a research assistant to help prepare a publishable article based on the data collected during Fall 2018 and help train a new group of students in her Spring 2019 Econ 640/840 class to continue with the data collection from CSP participants.

College of Health & Social Sciences

Jesus Ramirez-Valles, Ph.D., MPH,  Health Equity Institute | Community Partner: TurnOut

Dr. Ramirez-Valles and the Health Equity Institute will use grant funding to support development of a new partnership in service learning with local nonprofit, TurnOut. A partnership with TurnOut presents a rich opportunity to develop a strong, high-quality service learning program focused on LGBTQ+ issues at SF State. Leveraging TurnOut’s partnerships with such a diverse array of nonprofits across the city, SF State will be able to offer students the opportunity to volunteer with and learn from with front-line activists and community organizers working on the most urgent issues facing LGBTQ+ communities right now.

Civic Engagement / Civic Learning

College of Business

Katie M. Hetherington, J.D., LL.M., Assistant Professor, Dept. of Accounting

Funds will be used to pay for an SF State graduate student Site Coordinator of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. VITA is a national program sponsored by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). VITA provides free tax return preparation services to low-income, elderly, limited English proficiency and disabled individuals.  The SF State VITA program has averaged well over 1,000 returns prepared each year.

Student Affairs & Enrollment Management

Karen Boyce, LCSW, Director, Health Promotion and Wellness

Health Promotion and Wellness will use funds to provide compensation for Lead Ambassadors in their Ambassador Program, a volunteer program that provides opportunities for SF State students to be peer health leaders. The Lead Ambassador position was created out of the need for leadership with the expansion the Ambassador Program experienced last academic year. 

Department/Program/School Level Service Learning Grant

College of Science and Engineering

Jason Gurdak, Ph.D., P.H., Associate Professor, Dept. of Earth & Climate Sciences

Dr. Gurdak will use funds to advance SFSU student service learning in groundwater sustainability for San Francisco and Malawi communities.  The Call to Service Initiative Grant will be used to support two related service-learning projects within the new S2H2O (Students for Sustainable Water) initiative and in coordination with UNESCO GRAPHIC. S2H2O brings together student leaders, faculty advisors, and community partners to create practical solutions for local, regional, and global water sustainability through interdisciplinary research, education, service learning, community engagement, and capacity building.

Eisman Award for Engaged Scholarship (New category, first time recipient!)

College of Science and Engineering

Jae Paik, Ph.D., Professor, Dept. of Psychology, PSY 558 Field Service Seminar / PSY 559 Psychological Field Service

Dr. Paik has been awarded the Eisman Award for Engaged Scholarship for her work leading the Psychology Faculty-Led Study Abroad program in Sichuan Province, China where students engaged in various curricular and extracurricular activities in real-world service settings (e.g., teaching in preK-12 classrooms, mentoring students, family cultural events, conducting observational assessments of children). Funds will be used for Graduate Research Assistants to transcribe and code qualitative data, travel costs to chair and present at the International Convention of Psychological Science, and research materials.

Conference Travel

College of Liberal & Creative Arts

  • Jerome Schwab, Dept. of English Language & Literature
  • Jolie Goorjian, Dept. of English Language & Literature
  • Amy Love, Dept. of English Language & Literature

The above faculty teach CSL writing courses in the Department of English Language and Literature and have been accepted to present “Performing Composition: Writing Poetry in Service to the Community” at the College Composition and Communication Conference in Pittsburgh, PA on March 15, 2019. This is the premier academic gathering in their discipline, accepting only 15% of proposals submitted.  As part of the community service cluster, they will share the way they use poetry writing to help students prepare, process and reflect deeply on their service experience.