A side trip to Ojai

We couldn't be in Santa Monica without a trip up to see Judy's sister Christine and her husband Michael, Justin and Marica and their children, and Piper and James -- we drove up Monday morning, and it was only 102 degrees in Ojai!  We spent a few hours at the pool, a stop at Christine and Michael's to clean up and have a glass of wine (in the air-conditioning), and then it had cooled off enough to reconnoiter at Justin and Marica's home for dinner on their big patio that could hold "the whole family!"

Marica and Justin made a wonderful dinner, Sonia brought salad, and Christine brought a chocolate cheesecake with berries - yum!  Great food, great wine, and great company!  We stayed overnight and had breakfast at Lake Cassitas before driving back to LA.  Then it was one last lunch on the beachfront, in Venice this time, before saying goodbye to Jessica at the airport and getting back on theplane.

To add insult to injury, we got home late Wednesday night, and Friday afternoon as I sat in my office, it started snowing furiously!  We had snow all of Friday night, and it was up to 6 inches up on the hillside.  For us closer to downtown, it was all gone by today.  I had to teach a graduate social work course all day Saturday and Sunday, but it was beautiful and sunny today (still a bit cool!)
We're still waiting for summer here in Anchorage, but we have about 18 hours of daylight -- it's light til about 11:30 pm now.

Spring in Santa Monica

Brian and I went to Santa Monica for a few days for Mother's Day to see Jessica, and it was lovely to be in the sun and be warm.  Santa Monica was a nice temperature but could be on the coolish side with a breeze, 68-70 degrees.  It was great to see Jess, and she has a nice apt. just a few blocks from the beach.  Saturday we rented bikes, the 3 of us (cruisers) and rode for a couple of hours on the bike trail that runs right through the beach.  We rode one way and walked out onto the Santa Monica pier, then the other til we ended in a place with fruit popsicles!

Lots of dodging other bikes and, in some places, pedestrians, but it was fun!

It's about a 5 hour flight each way but a direct flight at least!  We went to the Getty Museum on Sunday for Mother's Day and took a picnic with us - Jessica made a kale salad and a tomato & cucumber salad with mint, and we added brie cheese and a sourdough baguette - great picnic under a shade tree.  The grounds are beautiful with some very unique gardens and pretty interesting architecture too, even besides the indoor exhibits.

We came back to the beachfront and went to the Georgian Hotel, which I didn't end up with a picture of - must have been on Jessica's phone.  Wonderful little porch over looking the water with a nice ceviche and cheese tray to with my wine and their beer!

And then back to the beach in time for the sunset - we had a good one, as you can see in the picture!  Santa Monica is beautiful, and Brian commented on how many people are out walking, biking, doing yoga, generally just enjoying the outdoors.  He even said, "I could live here!"  We're not ready to give up Alaska yet though (even after it snowed when we got home and they said it was the 232nd day with snow this year!)

Too soon, it was time to go back, but first we had a trip to Ojai - next entry! 

A Civic Engagement Certificate Graduate in 2013!

Suzanne Schaffer, majoring in Environment & Society, earned a Certificate in Civic Engagment along with her major and graduated on May 5th with her UAA classmates. 

Suzanne is dedicated to a sustainable environment, and her program reflects that.  Her most recent project was working on a community engagement project in CEL A392, Advanced Civic Engagement: Community Inquiry & Action, assisting the Municipality of Anchorage in their survey of community councils.  With a background in courses ranged from Environmental Ethics to Conservational Biology and International Environmental Issues, Suzanne will be a contribution wherever she goes!  And she's a demonstration for sustainability too -- she commuted to school all winter by bike and bus until her bike was stolen in early spring.  All of our congratualtions and best wishes to Suzanne as she goes forward in her work or further education! 

A Community Engagement Task Force Begins Its Work!

May 1 was the first meeting of the newly appointed Community Engagement Task Force at UAA/CCEL.  Tracey Burke, associate professor in the School of Social Work will serve as Chair for what probably will be a two year initiative, with the first year devoted to the preparation of the application for the Carnegie Foundation designation for Community Engagement & Outreach.

The committee is tasked with the following charge from Provost Baker:

    1.       Oversee the renewal  of the Carnegie “Engaged University” classification application due in April 2014.

    2.       Oversee an audit of current community engagement activity in the University to identify areas of strength and potential.

    3.       Develop strategies and processes for (1) identifying community-engaged courses across the institution, and (2) data collection for outcomes of those       courses for students, faculty, and community partners.

4.       Develop mechanisms to research, develop, and recognize best practices in community engagement both internally and externally.

5.       Confer with faculty and external partners to develop further internship and practicum possibilities throughout the state. 

6.       Work with  agencies to identify sustainable funding sources.

7.       Identify and develop responses for any risk management concerns.

Urban in Alaska Conference at UAA

 

Urban in Alaska brought together more than 80 people in the Student Union Den at UAA on March 29, 2013.  An interactive conference combined short sessions presented by UAA faculty and community members in panels, followed by lively discussions amongst the entire group! 
The goal of the “The Urban in Alaska” conference and workshop was to bring scholars and community members together to engage in dialogue about current research on Anchorage as an urban space. The conference was sponsored by the UAA Department of Health Sciences and the UAA Center for Community Engagement and Learning. The conference was free and open to the public.
Panels included:

• Architecture, Public Space & Urban Design with Klaus Meyer, local architect; Sheila Selkregg, Public Administration faculty, Bruce Farnsworth, writer, community organizer, and member of the art group Light Brigade Kor4., and Sharon Chamard, Justice Center faculty.  
• Health, Education, & Food with Tracey Burke, Social Work faculty; Liz Hodges-Snyder, Health Sciences faculty; Gabriel Garcia, Health Sciences faculty; Diwalkar Vadapalli, Institute of Social & Economic Research faculty.
• Labor, Migration & Refugees with Sara Komanisky, graduate student in British Columbia; Chad Farrell, Sociology faculty; Judy Owens-Manley, Civic Engagement faculty & Director of the Center for Community Engagement & Learning.  

Kathleen McCoy created a podcast for the March 29 session, and the conference is archived on the KSKA website.  An invited group stayed for lunch and further discussion. 

Feedback from the conference was an overwhelming request to gather again for Urban in Alaska, at least twice a year!  Our intention is to create a website this summer and a possible newsletter and publication!  Stay tuned! 
 

The UAA Brain Bee: A New Look at the Neuroscience of the Brain!

Caroline Wilson, an Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and faculty with WWAMI, found a way for UAA students and Anchorage high school students to get interested in a particular kind of science - an enrichment opportunity that gets to the base of who we are and why!  The Brain Bee is an internationally recognized program that was founded by Dr. Norbert Myslinski at the University of Maryland.  It motivates students to learn about the brain, to capture their imaginations and inspire them to pursue careers in biomedical brain research Currently there are 150 locations worldwide that hold Brain Bees, and in 2011, UAA joined them! 

Professor Wilson came to UAA from Dennison University, which had a very big Brain Awareness Week as a part of their regular programming.  Upon arriving here in Anchorage, she heard about the opportunity for community engagement grants when she and this Director met at the Cross Cultural Immersion Project sponsored by the Alaska Humanities Forum.  Wilson added the community engagement component to her Biology A490 class and set goals for the first Brain Bee:
1) Enrich the high school curricula to an understanding of the neuroscience of the brain.
2) Implement community engagement in a Bachelor of Science undergraduate setting.

One issue that arose immediately was the difficulty of creating an entree into the high school science program, but Polaris High School was very interested.  There were 30 UAA students, and they had the choice of going out to present information to the high schoolers, assisting at the Brain Bee event in March, or making posters about the brain for a library poster display.  Wilson laughs about the difficulty in planning a new event when you're not a planner! 

The Brain Bee incorporates 10 short answer questions from a guide that is used internationally, and 3 UAA faculty functioned as the judges.  Eight high school students participated from six area high schools, and cash prizes of $100, $75, and $50 were given to the top three students.  The second annual Brian Bee is scheduled for February 16, 2013 with plans for more student participation on both the high school and university sites!  The winner this year will travel with a parent to the National Brain Bee competition in Washington D.C. just a few weeks after the Anchorage competition.

Chester Creek Water Quality Monitoring with Biology 373

Professor Frank von Hippel received a minigrant in spring 2012 to re-engage Biology 373 students with the Russian Jack Community Council and the Anchorage Waterways Council in a project focused on the reassessment of water and habitat quality.  Students were involved with replicating analyses conducted by earlier classes (2001-2005 and 2009) for before and after restoration comparisons; assisting with new analyses using stable isotope techniques to test for the presence of marine-derived nutrients in the system; and making recommendations for future restoration work with a damaged portion of the creek.  Prior studies found there were indications of "potential human health impacts and reduced species richness due to degradation of the watershed.

Professor von Hippel is a proponent of community-engaged learning and has found in the years that he has been teaching in this way that a number of his students were able to use this specific experience to get jobs in water monitoring and to get interested in this field.  He stated, "Prior to 2001, I taught water quality assessment using laboratory exercises.  Student evaluations since 2001 clearly indicate the power of teaching these techniques in a field setting with real-world applications."  The intention this year was to assess the impacts of the restoration of Westchester Lagoon on upstream habitat in Chester Creek and to leverage the work already completed to develop a restoration plan for the impaired section of the Creek in the Russian Jack area.  With nearly of decade of data already compiled, a plan can be presented for community approval and subsequent funding requests will allow students to engage in restoration activities.

von Hippel commented on the demands of engaged learning with real life projects.  Data quality is a concern in that student data has to be as good as faculty data if it is going to be used by the community for policy work or for publication; it requires considerable faculty time and oversight.  He or a graduate student collect their own water chemistry data for comparison purposes and look at student data right away to redo what seems out of the realm of possible or probable, and for the invertebrate data, they are alongside students as they record data.  They use occasions to teach critical thinking in the moment by looking at what students have done and asking, "Does this make sense?"  Most of the data issues experienced in the early years were solved by switching to a simpler chemistry kit.  A CCEL grant made it possible in the beginning to pay for supplies and a student helper, and the minigrants still assist with the costs of the monitoring kits.  Long-term commitment to this project has made it possible for students to see the before and after impacts of the environmental intervention with the Westchester Lagoon and to deepen the relationship with the community partners.