Faculty Mini-grants

CCEL provides mini-grant funding for faculty in two areas:

• Research or Projects: to conduct community engaged research or plan and carry out community projects.
• Curriculum: to create or redesign curriculum incorporating community engagement and community partnerships. 

Funding is available for full-time faculty for these two types of community-engaged activities that further develop partnerships, involving students, faculty, and community members as participants in addressing public issues. Awards are open to full-time faculty in all UAA schools and colleges and at all campuses. Junior faculty, faculty teaching GER courses, and faculty in under-represented disciplines are encouraged to apply. Funded proposals will conduct community engaged research or plan and carry out community projects and involve UAA students whenever possible. These projects include engaged scholarship and professional partnerships with community organizations that incorporate the principles of reciprocity and respect for community knowledge with research or creative activity.

Proposals for Spring 2025 Faculty Mini-grants are open

Faculty from all departments, colleges, and campuses can apply for up to $1000 in funding for their project. The deadline to submit an application is Jan. 10 at 11:59 p.m.

Apply for Spring 2025 faculty mini-grant

Past Projects

• 2023-2024

  Mari Hahn, Music

  Opera collaboration
  Community Partner: Anchorage Opera

  Ingrid Johnson, Justice

  Good for business, good for the community: Exploring the range of sexual violence prevention efforts in nightlife settings
  Community Partner: CHARR

  Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Computer Science and Engineering

  A data federation approach to analyze behavioral health and supplement healthcare practice with community health metrics in Alaska
  Community Partner: CHOICES, Inc. 

  Joel Potter, Philosophy

  Alaska Young Philosopher Awards
  Community Partner: South Anchorage High School, Romig Middle School

  Steffi Kim, Psychology

  Alaska Native focused dementia care
  Community Partner: Alaska Native dementia caregivers

  Michelle Mishaan, Fine Art

  Connecting Communities through Fine Arts and Ceramics
  Community Partner: Palmer Middle School, Palmer High School

  Jessica Ross, Human Services

  Nughejagh - "To become healed"
  Community Partner: Native Village of Eklutna

  David Moxley, Social Work and Human Services

  Advancing Personalized Health Care through Photovoice Methodology and the Arts
  Community Partner: CHOICES

  Chris Jung, Biological Sciences

  The Alaska Brain Bee
  Community Partner: Alaska High Schools

  Amanda Walch & Emily Faerber, Dietetics & Nutrition

  Development of a Best Practice Intervention Design to Address the Mental Health and Nutrition- Related Needs of Student-Athletes at UAA
  Community Partner: UAA Athletics

  Heidi Biskborn Graves, Learning Center

  KPC - Kenai Peninsula Food Bank Partnership
  Community Partner: Kenai Peninsula Food Bank

  Katie O-Loughlin, Theater and Dance

  UAA Dance - Pulse Dance Partnership
  Community Partner: Pulse Dance Company

  Kristin Riall, Psychology

  Increasing Representation of Alaska Native People in Teaching Materials
  Community Partner: Cook Inlet Native Head Start

• 2022-2023

  Vanessa Hiratsuka, Center for Human Development

  Alaska Disability Self-Advocate Meaning, Inclusion and Training Development
  Community Partner: Peer Power Alaska

  Christopher Jung and Rachael Hannah, Biological Sciences; Gwen Lupfer, Psychology

  2023 Alaska Brain Bee
  Community Partner: Alaska High Schools

  Libby Eufemio, Alaska Native Studies Program & Alutiiq Studies Program

  Edible Landscaping & Student Food Gardens at Kodiak College
  Community Partner: Rooted

  Sarah Kirk, Writing

  Building a Partnership for English Language Teaching
  Community Partner: Alaska Literacy Program

  Ingrid Johnson, Justice Center, and Rei Shimizu, School of Social Work

  Voice! Acknowledgement! Power! Victims’ Rights and Restorative Justice Symposium 
  Community Partner: Alaska Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (CDVSA)

  Dorn Van Dommelen, Anthropology and Geography

  Denali National Park Navigational Mapping
  Community Partner: Denali National Park Backcountry Information Center

• 2021-2022

  There were no available funds for faculty minigrants this year, unfortunately. 

• 2020-2021

  Joy Chavez Mapaye, Journalism and Public Communications

  Managing Health Misinformation in the Infodemic Era
  Community Partner: Alaska Public Health Association

  Hattie Harvey, Psychology

  Alaska Cultural Standards for Birth to Five Early Learning Settings
  Community Partner: Cook Inlet Tribal Council

  Ashley O'Connor, Social Work

  Evaluation of the "Responder's Promise" Equine Therapy Program
  Community Partner: Aurora Equine Therapy Program

  Sarah Prielipp, Writing

  Community Story Walk
  Community Partner: MOA Parks and Recreation

  Leslie Redmond, Dietetics & Nutrition

  Promoting the use of herbs and spices to improve dietary quality and intake among food pantry clients in Alaska
  Community Partner: Saint Francis House Food Pantry

  Amanda Walch, Dietetics & Nutrition

  Phase 2: Promoting the use of herbs and spices to improve dietary quality and intake among food pantry clients in Alaska
  Community Partner: Saint Francis House Food Pantry

• 2019-2020

  Martha Amore, Writing

  Story Works WRTG 111 Collaboration
  Community Partner: Story Works Alaska

  Sara Buckingham, Psychology

  Untapped Talent: Inclusion and Integration in Anchorage, Alaska
  Community Partner: Mayor's Office

  Joy Chavez Mapaye, Journalism & Public Communication

  Brand U: A Strategic Communications Project to Help Local Businesses and Non-Profits
  Community Partner: Several Anchorage small businesses and non-profit organizations

  Herminia Din, Art

  Raising Awareness of Plastic Pollution in the Arctic
  Community Partner: Aleut Community of St. Paul Island

  Ruby Fried, Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies

  Traditional Food Security on St. Paul Island
  Community Partner: Aleut Community of St. Paul Tribal Government

  Alison Gardell, Biological Sciences, KPC

  Monitoring Beluga Habitat Use in the Kenai
  Community Partner: Alaska Beluga Monitoring Partnership

  Micah Hahn, Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies

  Development of a Food Security Index for the Municipality of Anchorage
  Community Partner: Municipality of Anchorage

  Rachel Hannah, Biological Sciences

  Alaska Brain Bee
  Community Partner: Anchorage High School Educators

  Britteny Howell, Population Health Sciences

  Barriers and Opportunities to Healthy Aging Using Concept Mapping: Phase II
  Community Partner: Anchorage Senior Center

  Amana Mbise, Social Work

  Asset Mapping to Inform FCC-UAA After-School Program
  Community Partner: First Congregational Church Anchorage

  Lauren Lessard, Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies

  Adolescent Mental Health Pilot Project
  Community Partner: NAMI, Story Works

  Lauren Lessard, Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies

  Adolescent Reproductive Life Planning
  Community Partner: State of Alaska Division of Public Health

  Nancy Nix, Population Health Sciences

  Healthy Food-Related Themes and Resources Across the Curriculum for Early Education
  Community Partner: Department of Health & Social Services

  Kathi Trawver & Heidi Brocious, Social Work

  Office of Children’s Services Mentoring Program Evaluation Project
  Community Partner: Office of Children's Services

• 2018-2019

  Daniel Anteau, Theatre

  "New Kid"
  Community Partner: Anchorage School District

  Gabe Garcia, Health Sciences

  Evaluating the Anchorage School Based Health Centers
  Community Partner: Anchorage School Based Health Centers

  Rachael Hannah, Biological Sciences

  Anchorage Brain Bee
  Community Partner: Multiple High School Science Teachers

  Ian Hartman, History

  Black Life in the Last Frontier: A History of African Americans in Urban Alaska
  Community Partner:  Cook Inlet Historical Society and National Park Service

  Hattie Harvey, Early Childhood Education

  Blend Practices: Supporting Diverse Learners in Pre-K Classrooms
  Community Partner: Anchorage School District Preschool Program

  Agatha John-Shields, Indigenous Education

  Future Indigenous Educators Group
  Community Partner: First Alaskans Institute

  Toby Long, Chemistry

  Remote, On-Site Testing for Arsenic on the Kenai Peninsula
  Community Partner: Love INC

  Mike Mueller, Teaching & Learning

  Creating Birding Kits for Youth Citizen Science in Alaska's Public Schools
  Community Partner: Campbell STEM Elementary, National Park Service, Anchorage Museum

  Terry Nelson, Management & Marketing

  Tom Case Leadership Program
  Community Partner: Clark Middle School

  Marsha Olson, Communication

  Campus Vote Project
  Community Partner: League of Women Voters

  Riva Symko, Art

  Stories from Santa Fe to Anchorage
  International Gallery of Contemporary Art

  Kathi Trawver, Social Work

  Evaluation of Mentoring of New OCS 
  Line Workers
  Community Partner: Office of Children's Services

SL/CE Course Designations

UAA History and Rationale

The UAA Faculty Senate approved new definitions for community engaged academic curriculum in Spring 2014. The Community Engagement designation (CE) encompasses a broad range of ways that courses might engage students in learning about and taking action for the public good. Courses with the Service Learning designation (SL) are a subset of that broad range meeting additional criteria. A course may be designated CE or SL but not both. The absence of accurate data on classroom engagement led to the course designation process and is critical to our having a mechanism for capturing, assessing, and reporting academic engagement at UAA. Capturing this data, assessing it, and reporting out are integral to UAA's accreditation reports and to our continued status as a Carnegie Engaged University.

Not sure if your course should be designated, or which designation to use? You can read about the definitions, and find instructions on how to enter the designations, below:

Definitions

• Service Learning (SL)

  Service Learning (SL)

  The SL designation, by definition, asks more of the faculty and the students in designing a significant experience based in the community and asks that issues of impact, sustainability and reciprocity be addressed with the community partner. Additional guidelines are to prepare students for service roles, structure reflection, and address evaluation of impact for students and community.

  A Service Learning course is a Community-Engaged course which integrates the service learning more deeply and more intentionally. At a minimum, the course should have:

  Service: significant community-based work work defined in response to a need or aspiration presented by one or more partnering community organizations and for which core issues of impact, sustainability and reciprocity have been addressed.

  Clear linkage between the service and student learning outcomes: both academic and civic learning are addressed, and this is communicated in the syllabus.

  Preparation for service: students are prepared for the roles they will play, including engaging respectfully with a community that may differ significantly in race, class, age, or other elements of social identity.

  Structured reflection: intentional, systematic reflection on students' experience in the community is integrated throughout the course, not added as a one-time or final assignment. Reflection activities may include talking, writing or other means, and may be individual, group-based, or both.

  Evaluation: assessment of student learning and community impact has been planned. This could consist of asking the CCEL to survey the community partner and students, or could be instructor-designed assessment activities.

• Community Engagement (CE)

  Community Engaged (CE)

  The designation of a CE course may apply to a broad spectrum of courses that could include a wide variety of experiences and activities. There may be a portion of the course or a set of assignments that require the students' interaction with the community and/or community issues that does not carry throughout the semester. Activities might be indirect or direct service to a community organization or individuals and could potentially take place entirely in the classroom. The broad definition may sometimes capture work that is exploratory for faculty beginning to engage with community in their courses, bring an application of theory to practice that is appropriate for only part of a course, or requires a relatively low level of community interaction due to large course size or other considerations that do not favor intensive engagement.

  A Community Engaged course involves the student(s) in some kind of work outside of the classroom that contributes to the public good. At a minimum, the course should:

  Design and implement the community work with appropriate community input so that the students' efforts will provide an identifiable public benefit rather than a community burden.

  Clearly link the community work to student learning outcomes in the syllabus.

  Engage students in some oral or written reflection that explores their experience of engagement and connects it with the course learning goals.

*Definitions Approved by UAA Faculty Senate on March 7, 2014
** Definitions and parameters were taken and modified from University of Massachusetts Amherst Office of Civic & Service Learning  

How to Designate UAA Courses

Department schedulers can designate courses through the CLSS online scheduling system, hosted by the UAA Office of the Registrar. To request access to CLSS please contact uaa_publications@alaska.edu. Basic instructions to help you get started in CLSS can be found on the Curric website.

To designate a course:

Enter the Banner code, SL or CE, in the 'Attn Method' field, located in the enrollment section of the Edit Section window

Click 'Save Section'

Repeat for each course and section, if there is more than one section

Individual or Departmental Consultations

Need help? Contact the CCEL Main Office at 907-786-4062 or uaa.ccel@alaska.edu.

Selkregg Award

The Selkregg Community Engagement & Service Learning Award of $5,000 supports faculty to develop community-based research, creative activity, and course-based service-learning projects. The award seeks to encourage, inspire, and reward faculty at UAA for engaged scholarship that creates and sustains our community partnerships. Purposes of the award are to recognize community engagement projects with significant discipline-based scholarship, community partnership, and creativity in project design and implementation. The projects ultimately aim to improve the quality of life for Alaska residents and develop civic leadership, democracy, and social justice on campus and in the community.

Learn more about the Selkregg Award

Selkregg Award Request for Proposals are closed

The Selkregg Award Request for Proposals usually goes out in early-Spring. Keep an eye on your email or our social media during that time to learn about when next year's RFP is announced. 

Questions or requests for further information can be directed to uaa.ccel@alaska.edu.