New Initiative Announced
May 8, 2013
UT Tyler Office of Marketing and Communications
UT Tyler Announces Community Service, Service Learning Initiative
May 8, 2013
Media Contact: Hannah Buchanan
Editor/Writer–Strategic Communications & Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.539.7196 (cell)
May 8, 2013
The University of Texas at Tyler will enhance its community service and service learning efforts with a new initiative beginning this fall, Dr. William Geiger, vice provost for academic affairs, announced.
The initiative will aid UT Tyler students to develop a sense of social responsibility and also promote the development of leadership and teamwork skills. The UT Tyler Office of Leadership and Service will direct these efforts.
“This initiative is a major step for The University of Texas at Tyler toward attaining its vision of being an engaged partner in East Texas, the nation and around the world,” Geiger said. “We hope it will also cultivate new, mutually beneficial partnerships among UT Tyler students, faculty, staff and community agencies and organizations in local communities and beyond.”
Through the initiative, UT Tyler will continue to stress the importance of service learning through an expanded use of service-learning projects. UT Tyler students will become actively engaged in the discovery, expansion and application of knowledge within their disciplines, across disciplines and through global connections.
The university has already established partnerships with numerous non-profit organizations, businesses and industries. Many UT Tyler student groups as well as all five Greek life organizations regularly participate in service projects.
“We are hoping to implement a tracking system that will aid us in following all of the great work our students and student organizations do in regards to service. I believe implementing this initiative will be a great step in that direction,” said Chase Ragland, UT Tyler student development specialist who coordinates leadership and service programs.
In addition, UT Tyler will expand use of service-learning strategies by faculty.
A Service Learning Faculty Fellows Program will provide an opportunity for UT Tyler faculty to increase and improve the use of service learning instructional strategies. The university will hold networking opportunities for community agencies, organizations, businesses and faculty interested in service learning, and a UT Tyler tutoring corps will be trained and launched in the areas of math and reading.
For more information, contact Ragland, 903.566.7050 or jragland@uttyler.edu.
One of the 15 campuses of the UT System, UT Tyler offers excellence in teaching, research, artistic performance and community service. More than 80 undergraduate and graduate degree programs are available at UT Tyler, which has an enrollment of almost 7,000 high-ability students at its campuses in Tyler, Longview and Palestine.