Dominican University of California

SL Program Joyful News Dec. 2016

News Flash
Upcoming Events at Dominican
SL Program Stats at a Glance
SL Program Spotlights
Meet the SL Student Leaders
Spring 2017 SL Courses

News Flash

New Minor in Community Action and Social Change

Dominican University is proud to launch a new minor in Community Action and Social Change (CASC). Students in any major can declare the CASC minor to supplement their degree programs with a structured developmental path towards deeper and more meaningful engagement in the community. The 20-unit minor requirements include 2 core courses on Theory and Practice in CASC (3 units), Community Engaged Research Methodology and Project Design (3 units), 2 Issues Seminars (1 unit each), and 4 electives from a list of multi-disciplinary community-engaged courses (3 units each). The first core course will be offered in Spring 2017. To learn more about the CASC minor and its requirements, please visit this webpage .

SL Student leaders Elaine Arciaga and Dylan Martin promoting the CASC minor in front of the Caleruega Dining Hall

Democracy and Equity Initiative Events

Every 1-2 years, Dominican has a specific community engagement theme. For Fall 2016 and Spring 2017, almost fifty courses are being redesigned around our first theme of Democracy and Equity. Extra-curricular events and activities in relation to the theme are also offered throughout the school year. To see the full list of Democracy and Equity Initiative events, please see here.

Molly Raynor (far left) and Donté Clark (second from left) led a wonderful discussion with the Dominican students and faculty after the screening of Romeo is Bleeding.

One of the September Democracy and Equity events on campus was a film screening of Romeo is Bleeding and conversation afterwards with the poet laureate of Richmond and star of the film, Donté Clark. Almost two hundred Dominican students attended the event as well as faculty, staff, and community members. The film is an urban adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet developed by youth at the RYSE Center in Richmond. Donté and other Richmond youth wrote poetry and prose about their experiences with the gang turf war between neighborhoods, in hope of starting dialogue about violence in their city. Read more of AHHS Dean Laura Stivers' deliberation on the event here.

As part of November's Democracy and Equity Initiative events, Dominican hosted a community partner panel on homelessness. Over 60 students, faculty and staff attended. The panelists included Zara Babitzke and Juliana Steccone from Ambassadors of Hope and Opportunity; Logan McDonnell and Jesse Taylor-Vermontfrom Downtown Streets Team; Simón Tiles from Ritter House;Rev. Paul Gaffney from Marin Interfaith Street Chaplaincy; and Sally Hindman from Youth Spirit Artworks. Dr. Laura Stivers moderated the panel. Read the Marin Independent Journal article on the event.

Service-Learning Symposium

Our end-of-the-semester Symposium highlighted the value of community voice and knowledge and celebrated inclusion. Three panels of SL students and community partners addressed the themes of Standing for Inclusive Community, Standing for Inclusive Education, and Standing for Inclusive Histories. To read some of the student insights from this semester, please go here.

Vanessa Mendoza (standing ), student leader/moderator Michael Gomez (left), and Patricia Brawley from Parent Services Project.

Upcoming Event

Poverty Simulation Experience Coming to Dominican

For her senior project, Service-Learning student Hawi Awash will implement a Poverty Simulation on our campus. The simulation sensitizes participants to the lived reality of the poor. It raises awareness of the challenges and root causes of poverty and the interconnectivity of the issue. The Poverty Simulation provides a catalyst to proactively address cycles of poverty. Participants will strengthen their sense of civic identity and gain empathy for the plight of others caught in cycles that are very difficult to overcome. The event will take place in March 2017 in Guzman Lecture Hall. Hawi is collaborating with Downtown Streets Team (DST), a Bay Area non-profit organization that works with homeless clients to help them break the cycles and stigmas of poverty. To read more about Hawi's personal life journey that motivated her work in the community, click here.

Stats at a Glance

FALL 2014 Spotlights

Vietnamese American Community in Marin

Marin County has a space place in the migratory history of Vietnamese in America — Hamilton Field in Novato, previously a Navy Yard and now where Homeward Bound is located, was an intake center for Vietnamese refugees after the Vietnam War. Many of the Vietnamese refugees moved on to other parts of the United States since then, but some stayed. Currently, approximately 0.5% of Marin’s population self-identify as Vietnamese ethnics.

Since 2013, Service-Learning faculty Dr. Emily Wu and her students have been working with the Vietnamese American community in Marin. Through collaborating with Marin Asian Advocacy Project, Asian American Alliance of Marin, and Vietnamese mental healthcare providers from Marin County Mental Health Services, Dominican SL students participate in a wide range of activities in the Vietnamese community. The SL students also interview the seniors in the community to add their precious life stories to the Marin Vietnamese American Oral History Archive. Read More.

On Veteran’s Day, the Marin Vietnamese community sponsored a lunch at the St. Vincent de Paul Society to show appreciation to the Marin community that accepted them as refugees after the Vietnam War. SL student Rhea Abesamis (bottom left) helped out in the kitchen.

Community-Engaged Intern Sierra Najolia

Sierra Najolia is a Junior with History and Communications double major and a minor in Community Action and Social Change. In Spring 2016, she started working with the Vietnamese American community in Marin county in Dr. Emily Wu’s Service-Learning course The Power Structure of Forgiveness. This semester, Sierra continued as a community-engaged intern with the responsibility of conducting, recording and digitally archiving the oral histories of the Vietnamese Americans in Marin County. Go here to view her recent documentary of Frank Quan's memorial at t China Camp. Read more.

Public History: New SL-Designated Course

In the first iteration of HIST 3901: Public History, a Service-Learning designated course taught by Dr. Jordan Lieser, Dominican University of California students became active participants in our community history. Thanks to partnerships with multiple local historical resources and experts, every student took a local historical topic relevant to the Marin Headlands from concept to publication in an effort to showcase the power of collecting community knowledge. These publications were written using the best practices of the Public History discipline in an effort to inform the general public with only minimal accessibility obstacles. Read more student perspectives on this course.

Fall 2016 SL Student Leaders

Clockwise from top left:

Julia Sayavong Student Leader for Venetia Valley School

Sophie Miller Student Leader for Venetia Valley School

Dylan Martin Student Leader for AVID Program at San Rafael High School

Julia Hills Student Leader for AVID Program at San Rafael High School

Michael Gomez Student Leader for Canal Alliance UP!

Avni Gandi Student Leader for Young Moms Marin

Cristina Cummings Student Leader for Asian American Alliance of Marin — Korean Drumming and Comfort Women Project

Sierra Najolia Student Intern for Asian American Alliance of Marin — Vietnamese American Oral History Archive

Not Shown in photo:

Elaine Arciaga Student Leader for Marin Community School

Katie Blankenship Student Leader for Catholic Charities Canal Family Support Kids Club

SL Courses in Spring 2017

ART 3119 SL: Art Fundamentals for Educators

CLQ 3190/92 SL: Environmental Advocacy & Law through Art

CLQ 3290/92 SL: Understanding the "Other": Shaping the Future in the Midst of Difference

CASC/HCS 3400 SL: Theory & Practice/Community Action and Social Change

ENGL 1004.2 SL: Expository Writing

ENGL 3200.2/3 SL: Advanced Writing & Research

HONO 3200 SL: Aquatic Ecosystems

PHIL 1109/3109 SL: Ethics in Healthcare (Hybrid)

PHIL 3520 SL: Self & Community, Service: Thinking & Action for Ethical Being

PSY 3121 SL: Adult Development & Aging (Hybrid)

RLGN 1086/3186 Catholic Social Teaching

For detailed course descriptions, link here.

Questions or Comments?

Visit Dominican University of California Service-Learning webpages: http://www.dominican.edu/academics/service

Contact SL Program: service.learning@dominican.edu

Dominican University of California
50 Acacia Avenue, San Rafael, California 94901