Two faculty members recently were honored by Michigan Campus Compact for their dedication to community service-learning.
Barry Checkoway, professor of social work, School of Social Work, and professor of urban and regional planning, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and David Schoem, adjunct associate professor in sociology and director of the Michigan Community Scholars Program (MCSP), LSA, received the 2012 Michigan Campus Compact Faculty/Staff Community Service-Learning Award. Both were nominated by Provost Phil Hanlon.
Lester Monts (right), senior vice provost for academic affairs and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, joins Barry Checkoway (left), professor of social work, School of Social Work, and professor of urban and regional planning, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and David Schoem, adjunct lecturer in sociology and director, Michigan Community Scholars Program (MCSP), LSA, at the 2012 Service Learning and Civic Engagement Institute at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing. Photo courtesy David Schoem.
The awards were presented Jan. 30 at the 2012 Service Learning and Civic Engagement Institute at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing. The annual awards ceremony and dinner recognized outstanding community service and service-learning work of faculty and staff from higher education institutions across the state.
“The provost was pleased to nominate professors Barry Checkoway and David Schoem for these important awards from Michigan Campus Compact,” says Lester Monts, senior vice provost for academic affairs and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor. “Like our partners in the compact, the University of Michigan believes civic engagement enhances our students’ education while contributing to the vitality of our neighboring communities. This valuable component of a Michigan education would not be possible without the commitment of faculty. It is fitting that Professors Checkoway and Schoem receive recognition for their important work.
“It was a proud moment for students from Michigan Community Scholars who attended the ceremony to see Drs. Checkoway and Schoem receive these prestigious awards. U-M was the only university with an appreciable number of students in attendance, which made this a very special event.”
Checkoway was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, which “recognizes a faculty member for his/her significant contributions to the institutionalization of community engagement and for advancing a vision of service on the campus by supporting faculty, students, and/or campus-community partnerships,” according to the Michigan Campus Compact website.
“It means a great deal for me to know that my colleagues recognize this work and share commitment to our common cause — of strengthening student learning, involving the faculty and building strong partnerships, on campus and in the community,” Checkoway says.
His research and teaching emphasize community organization, community development, neighborhood development, community-based policy advocacy, participatory research and evaluation, according to his website.
Checkoway worked with the White House in launching AmeriCorps, then served as founding director of the Michigan Neighborhood AmeriCorps Program, Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning, Michigan Youth and Community Program, and Youth Dialogues on Race and Ethnicity.
Schoem was nominated for making the most outstanding contributions on campus in the area of community service-learning during the past two years.
As director of the nationally recognized Michigan Community Scholars Program, as well as teacher and author, Schoem has inspired thousands U-M students to be engaged citizens locally and globally while in college and throughout their professional lives. The nomination letter states, “His students learn to embrace diversity and make a difference in the world with commitment and responsibility.”
In his work with MCSP, Schoem says he is inspired each day by the efforts of students, faculty and staff to make a difference in the world. In MCSP, sponsored by LSA and University Housing, students study about community together with faculty in the classroom, go into communities to provide needed service as part of their learning, and model the ideals of a just, diverse, democratic society in their residence hall community.
“This award from the Michigan Campus Compact and U-M is truly a recognition of the outstanding work of the entire community of MCSP-affiliated faculty, its staff and students,” Schoem says.
Schoem says it is critical that students, as part of their education, learn to be active participants and leaders in democracy by engaging deeply in civic life.
“Community-based learning and service-learning bring classroom theory and texts to life for students, giving them first-hand experience and opening their eyes to new perspectives, deeper understanding, and clearer insight into the complexities of social concerns,” Schoem says. “Working in a respectful partner relationship with community members and organizations, service-learning and community-based learning provide benefits both to the community and to student learning.”
The Michigan Campus Compact grew out of a national coalition of college and university presidents who sought to “create public service opportunities for college students and to develop an expectation of service as an essential part of student life and the college experience,” according to its website.
