Author: Costa, Barry

Intersectionality Bench

Overview:

This bench serves as a positive space on campus where students can sit outside on benches placed across from each other, and talk about critical issues such as the intersections between climate change, racism, sexism, and classism.

The bench will be installed between the sculpture, Mobius Solaris, and the large tree in the Student Union quad (see photo for reference). This location was chosen because of the contrast it represents between a man-made sculpture, perceived as masculine, and a natural creation from the earth (the tree), perceived as feminine. One person would be facing East, where the sun rises, symbolizing renewal. While the other person would be facing West, where the sun sets, symbolizing reflection and sacrifice. The bench will also be located in front of the engineering building, where STEM students and faculty will be encouraged to apply intersectionality to their coursework and everyday lives.

Project Goals:

Bringing sensitive topics to a space of open, safe discussion is one of UConn's largest academic goals. This bench speaks to UConn's dedication in bringing light to such topics and incorporating them into both UConn classrooms and campuses. This bench will be engraved with questions addressing issues pertaining to intersectionality and encourage those seated to explore the questions.

The bench serves to further promote an awareness and discussion around the topics those questions address.

 

Contact

Phoebe Godfrey

Associate Professor in Residence of Sociology

phoebe.godfrey@uconn.edu

Initial proposed project location and designs (see below)

Through collaboration with partners across the university, we shifted the project location and received approval for a more ideal location on campus (see below). 

intersectionality bench

Splunk>4good

Splunk influences its partners, employees, and user to inspire and participate in global social change.

Through Splunk4Good, Splunk makes machine data accessible, usable, and valuable to everyone. Splunk works with their community partners to utilize machine data in powering social change and offers free licenses to all university affiliates.

 

CONTACT:

Jonathan Moore

jonathan.a.moore@uconn.edu

(860) 486 – 0660

Husky Sport

Using the power of sport, Husky Sport will collaborate with community and campus partners to support youth and college student development through shared teaching, learning, and practice committed to equity. Husky Sport will work to facilitate positive, sustained, and reciprocal relationships, between members of the Hartford’s North End and University of Connecticut communities (Campus-Community Partnership).

Campus

Through collaborations with students, volunteers, alumni, staff, faculty, and campus programs, Husky Sport will work to enhance both systemic and individual development at the University of Connecticut.

Husky Sport will work to develop supportive spaces to facilitate enhancement of knowledge and practice in the fields of sport-based youth development, teaching and learning around diversity, social justice and equity. Participant development will be supported through rigorous experiential learning (Service Learning), on-going professional development (Community of Practice), and additional organizational initiatives aligned with missions of the Sport Management Program, the Department of Educational Leadership, the Neag School of Education, and the University of Connecticut (Scholarship). 

Outcomes

Husky Sport’s campus engagement should reveal progress toward the following objectives, with particular focus on college student development outcomes:

  • Value stakeholder voices in co-constructing identified needs/desires within partnerships
  • Develop reciprocal relationships, while actively dismantling savior-mentality and approach
  • Enhance beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, and social competency among diverse participants
  • Increase knowledge and application as teachers, learners, and practitioners of SBYD
  • Increase student attitudes, behaviors, and intended behaviors associated with social justice
  • Build diverse networks for exchange of social capital

Find at University of Connecticut Academic Vision and Neag School of Education and additional citations: (Bruening, Fuller, & Percy, 2015; Dewey, 1916; Kolb and Fry, 1975; Kolb; 1984; Bringle & Hatcher, 1996; Bringle & Hatcher, 2002; Bruening, et al., 2010; Conway, Amel, & Gerwien, 2009; Peters, 2011; Enfield & Collins, 2008; Bruening, et al., 2014; Fuller, et al., 2015)

 

CONTACT:

Justin Evanovich, Ph.D. Sport Management

justin.evanovich@uconn.edu

Community

Building upon the power of sport as a common denominator in relationship building and tool for supporting youth development, Husky Sport will engage in shared program planning, delivery, and evaluation that encompasses a larger number of youth participants, along a greater age continuum (K–12), and in more aspects of a child’s growth process within Hartford’s North End communities. As part of school time and out of school time support towards youth development, program pillars will include teaching, learning, and application of physical activity, healthy nutrition, transferable life skills, and academic enrichment (Sport-Based Youth Development). 

Outcomes

Husky Sport’s community engagement should reveal progress toward the following objectives, with particular focus on youth development outcomes:

  • Increased self esteem/self worth as participants gain interest, knowledge and improve their physical abilities
  • Increased accountability/responsibility for self as part of a small program with considerable individual attention
  • Increased connections to community/sense of belonging through working closely with mentors, mentees, and peers
  • Increased knowledge/acquisition of nutrition/physical activity/life skills/academic skills from the curriculum
  • Application of those skills both within program, school, home, and community activities
  • Active participation/recognizing one’s own influence on self/others through power-sharing

Additional citations: Bruening, Dover & Clark, 2009; Perkins & Noam, 2007; Pittman, et al., 2002; National Institute on Out-of-School Time at Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, Harvard Family Research Project After School Program Quality Assessment Categories of Standards, DC Standards for Out-of-School Time, The Community Network for Youth Development’s Youth Development Framework for Practice, Team Up For Youth’s Building Blocks for Quality Youth Sports.

 

 

Husky Nutrition

Husky Nutrition educates Connecticut residents who are in greatest need about nutrition, physical activities, and lifestyle choices that promote greater health. Working with UConn students, we facilitate Community Engagement Programs (Service Learning) that decrease disparities in food and nutrition-related conditions and diseases, food security, and food access. We do this by:

  • Promoting positive behavior change in the food-related and physical activities of adults, families and children; and/or
  • Impacting systems-level changes to improve access to healthy food and encourage opportunities to be physically active.

Students from many academic disciplines gain knowledge and experience to improve their skills. Utilizing strong community partnerships, students participate in programs that serve underserved, limited resource children, families and adults throughout Connecticut.

Overview

The Husky Nutrition (NUSC 3171) course emphasizes community service, with learning laboratory and site lesson plan development all focused on enhancing the applied, community experience. UConn students enrolled in this course increase their understanding of nutrition and health in underserved Connecticut communities, gain skills in conveying healthy nutrition messages to families, and solidify their cultural competence. At the community site, students interact with parents or caregivers and their children, engaging them and delivering brief, healthy nutrition messages when the parents and caregivers come to pick up their children.

Course Goals

  1. To understand the principles of healthy nutrition messaging and be able to convey these principles in the community;
  2. To positively impact community health and well-being by providing nutrition education to parents and caregivers of preschool children that results in reducing children’s consumption of sweetened beverages; and
  3. To listen to and learn from parents, caregivers, and children about their communities in order to understand what works to improve good nutrition and what challenges they face.

 

Contact

Heli Roy, Ph.D., RD
heroy@uchc.edu

Husky Nutrition Summer Scholars

Every summer, Husky Nutrition offers a paid internship for undergraduate and graduate level students studying at UConn. Husky Scholars (interns) act as role models and mentors by developing lessons and sharing healthy eating and physical activity messages to participants in under served areas throughout Connecticut.

Husky Scholars participate in active community engagement by:

Contact

Susan Furbish, RDN
furbish@uchc.edu

Resources

Nondiscrimination Statement

Husky Reads

Low literacy and limited access to healthy foods is particularly acute in urban youth living in poverty. The Husky Reads course at UConn provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to impact this problem through the delivery of nutrition information that promotes literacy in Connecticut preschoolers.

Overview

UConn students work in pairs or in small teams using prepared lesson plans that allow them to focus on literacy skills and nutrition information, while also enabling them to gain classroom management skills. In addition,students benefit from experiential learning in community settings that increases their cultural competence with the groups served.

The overall goal of Husky Reads is to provide basic nutrition information and healthy food tastings to young (preschool-aged) children living in under-served urban areas in Connecticut. Additionally, the Husky Reads experience is designed to provide students with opportunities to participate in advocacy, education, and service to the community in the areas of public health and nutrition.

 

Contact

Susan Coleman
sucoleman@uchc.edu