The Faculty Role: From the Margin to the Mainstream
1995 - 1998
Funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service
Learn & Serve America

Five faculty members were selected to serve in leadership roles in the project, each experienced in service-learning and skilled in motivating and encouraging other faculty to consider and embrace service-learning as an effective teaching and learning tool.

The project faculty's biographies and their assigned regions are available.

This project was consistent with national initiatives to strengthen the academic nature of service-learning (embedded in its summer institutes and invisible college projects). It also aligned with the Community College National Center for Community Engagement initiatives of directly impacting faculty, providing and developing corresponding resources, and demonstrating the role of service-learning in professional development.

From the Margin to the Mainstream was a dynamic project engaging faculty to work with faculty through workshops, presentations and technical assistance. Over 55 community colleges, 100 senior administrators, 75 faculty and 1,500 students were directly and positively impacted by From the Margin to the Mainstream faculty.

The resulting positive impact on neighboring communities was enormous, from reducing social problems to addressing environmental issues to community improvement. The campus-community partnerships developed as a result of the project served as models for other organizations and initiatives.

Data collected from the field through site visit summaries, progress reports and discussions with project faculty assisted the Center to meet several of the objectives developed in the Center Action Plan and to develop research opportunities to meet its constituents' needs.

The From the Margin to the Mainstream project moved service-learning to the core of the academy by working directly with community college faculty and providing them the encouragement and resources they needed to integrate service-learning into their courses.

The Margin to the Mainstream faculty members had a combined service-learning experience of over 25 years and twice as many years teaching on community college campuses. Their wealth and breadth of discipline-specific knowledge and their orientation to providing high quality learning and serving opportunities for their students provided them the skills to encourage, train and support community college faculty throughout the nation.

Below are brief biographies of each of the project faculty members. Complete resumes are on file at the Community College National Center for Community Engagement.

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Sue McAleavey is a sociology and social work faculty member at Mesa Community College (MCC), where she has incorporated service-learning into her courses since 1992. From 1994 until 1997, Sue was Director of the Center for Public Policy and Service (CPPS) at MCC, where she greatly expanded MCC’s community outreach and service-learning programs. In 1996 Sue received two awards, one for Faculty Advisor of the Year by the Associated Students at MCC, and the CPPS received a National Award for Collaboration with Business and Industry. Sue has consulted with many community college campuses across the country on setting up service-learning programs and regularly gives workshops at national conferences. She has authored several published articles on service-learning and is an inaugural member of the Invisible College. Prior to becoming a faculty member at MCC, Sue’s career in social work in her native Great Britain and the United States included medical, psychiatric, and school social work. In addition, Sue has consulted with residential treatment and behavioral health programs, has extensive training in play therapy and anger management education, and is certified in Reality Therapy. Her civic commitment includes a history of leadership positions on agency and voluntary association boards, and she is currently a Big Sister.

Sue McAleavey, Sociology and Social Work Faculty Cultural Science Department Mesa Community College 1833 W. Southern Ave Mesa, AZ 85202 602-461-7074 phone, 602-461-7812 fax email: mcaleavey@mesacc.edu

AZ, LA, NM, NV, TX

Sharon (Shar) Halford, MCJ, has been teaching at Community College of Aurora (CCA) since 1990.  She is currently Chair of the Public Service Department, which includes the Criminal Justice, Paralegal, and Mediation Programs, and is also Coordinator of the Service-Learning Project at the college.  Prior to joining the faculty at CCA, Shar spent several years as a legal researcher before becoming the director of victim services programs for the 18th Judicial District in metropolitan Denver.  She is active in a number of community organizations, including the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, the Lowry Family Center, Sungate Child Advocacy Center, and Project PACT, and she brings to the classroom the spirit of service and civic responsibility.

Sharon Halford Chair, Public Service Department Community College of Aurora 16000 E. CentreTech Parkway, Suite C208 Aurora, CO 80011 303-361-7407 phone, 303-361-7374 fax email: None at this time

CO, ID, MT, UT, WY

Tanya Renner has taught Psychology at Kapi’olani Community College for the past six years. As a proponent of active learning, she seeks out and uses strategies that help students take responsibility for their own learning. These approaches, including hands-on demonstrations and problem-solving exercises, were significantly augmented when she discovered service-learning three years ago. Since then, she has helped to provide service-learning to students on her campus, as well as at other community colleges. Tanya’s current emphasis is on the development of learning communities in conjunction with service-learning. Learning communities allow students and faculty to build community within the classroom and provide opportunities for service-learning activities that may be feasible in traditional courses.

Tanya Renner Assistant Professor of Psychology, Social Science Department KapiÌolani Community College Instructional Services Office 4303 Diamond Head Rd. Honolulu, HI 96816 808-734-9832 phone, 808-734-9151 fax email: trenner@olona.kcc.hawaii.edu

CA, HI, OR, WA

Joan Kleinman is a Professor of Mathematics and Coordinator of Activating Learning in the Classroom (ALC), a faculty development initiative at Middlesex Community College in Massachusetts.  Her teaching interests have been focused in computer science.  Her ALC work includes presenting workshops on topics related to teaching and learning, as well as working with faculty on curriculum development.  During the 1996-97 academic year, she has been a lead faculty member for the SEAMS project, which fosters service-learning in science, engineering, architecture, mathematics, and computer science.  Joan earned a BA in Mathematics from Brown University and an MA, also in Mathematics, from Boston University.

Joan N. Kleinman Mathematics Department Middlesex Community College Bedford Campus, Springs Rd. Bedford, MA 01730-9214 781-280-3909 phone, 781-280-3906 fax email: kleinmanj@middlesex.cc.ma.us

CT, MA, ME, NH, VT

Victoria Knoderer-Cote is a registered nurse with a Masters of Science from Wright State University. She has been a faculty at Hocking College for 12 years. She actively participates in the service-learning projects in the school of nursing, in both practical nursing and associate degree nursing levels, and in the community and school district in which she lives. She developed a successful service-learning component for the Community Health Course. Victoria also serves on the Service-Learning Advisory Board at Hocking College.

Vicki Knoderer-Cote School of Nursing and Allied Health Hocking College 3301 Hocking Parkway Nelsonville, OH 45764 614-753-3591 ext. 2851 or 2334, 614-753-5105 fax email: cote_v@hocking.edu

IL, MI, MN, OH

Tonia B. Fay has been a Professor in the Human Services Department for the past five years. She has spent this time teaching, advising, and placing students in the community (Field Placement Seminar I). Tonia is a strong believer of the service-learning model because of the combination of hands-on experience with theory, which together cannot be taught in the classroom. Tonia received a Master’s in Education from the University of Rhode Island, a BA in Psychology from Rhode Island College, and an AA in Substance Abuse/Mental Health from the Community College of Rhode Island.

Tonia B. Fay Adjunct Faculty/Consultant Human Service Department Community College of Rhode Island Knight Campus 400 East Avenue Warwick, RI 02886-1805 (401) 825-2271 phone , (401) 825-2265 fax email: tbfay@uriacc.uri.edu

DL, PA, NY, RI

The five faculty members selected to take on leadership roles for the project have experience in service-learning, recognize the impact service-learning has on individuals and the community, and demonstrate the ability to motivate and encourage other faculty to consider and embrace service-learning as an effective teaching and learning tool.

This project is consistent with national initiatives to strengthen the academic nature of service-learning (embedded in its summer institutes and invisible college projects). It also aligns with the Community College National Center for Community Engagement initiatives of directly impacting faculty, providing and developing corresponding resources, and demonstrating the role of service-learning in professional development.

From the Margin to the Mainstream is a dynamic project engaging faculty to work with faculty through workshops, presentations and technical assistance. The expectation is that over 55 community colleges, 100 senior administrators, 75 faculty and 1,500 students will be directly and positively impacted by From the Margin to the Mainstream faculty.

The resulting positive impact on neighboring communities is expected to be enormous from reducing social problems to addressing environmental issues to community improvement. The campus-community partnerships developed as a result of the project will serve as models for other organizations and initiatives.

Welcome to an adventure that will advance the field of service-learning on community colleges by moving it from the margin to the mainstream.

This material was based upon work supported by the Community College National Center for Community Engagement through a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service under the Learn and Serve America Program. Opinions or points of view expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Community College National Center for Community Engagement, the Corporation, or the Learn and Serve America Program.