Learning & Serving The Incarnate Word Way

by Lisa Rangel

HAVE YOU BEEN ON CAMPUS RECENTLY? New buildings seem to appear overnight, with more to come. The University is also changing on the inside, due largely to a substantial increase in federally funded programs. Over the last two and a half years, the University has gone from $2 million in federal grants to over $9 million. The result? Innovative programs and services that aid in student and faculty development.

The $9 million in federal funds help perpetuate Incarnate Word's community service tradition. Privately funded programs, such as the Ministerio de Salud: A Partnership for Health, demonstrate Incarnate Word's firm commitment to San Antonio's underserved population. In collaboration with St. Philip of Jesus Parish, Ministerio de Salud is a service-learning based program in which nursing students, faculty, and community members work together to increase access to health promotion, health screening and disease management services.

Now with more federal funds, the University will extend services to the community even further. University of Incarnate Word, with community partners, is providing a seamless conduit of services to underserved minority populations.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently awarded UIW a three-year, $400,000 Hispanic Serving Institutions Assisting Communities (HSIAC) grant which provides small business training, job training and parent mentoring in the South Presa area. The grant will also pay for the construction of a multipurpose learning facility for the South Presa Community Center.

Learning and serving is the backbone of the university. Because of Incarnate Word's emphasis on social justice and community service, most federally funded programs encompass service learning. This allows UIW students to serve their community by applying classroom skills in the community and then transferring that knowledge back to the classroom.

Many more service-learning grants are on the horizon. UIW will look to expand upon the current number of service-learning projects by submitting a HUD Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) proposal this summer. If funded, students and faculty will conduct activities in the southwest part of town aimed at spurring economic development, neighborhood revitalization and community capacity building.

And in late fall of 2002, UIW will submit an AmeriCorps proposal, which is aimed at strengthening the academic performance of Harris Middle School at-risk students. If funded, AmeriCorps members (UIW students) will assist Harris teachers and administrators in various activities during and after school.

While participating in service-learning programs, UIW students have opportunities most undergraduate students in even large universities do not have; to conduct research in the community and position themselves for entry into post-baccalaureate degree programs. Since Hispanics earn only 3% of master's degrees and 3% of doctorate degrees in the U.S. , undergraduate research experiences are key to increasing the likelihood that minority students will pursue a post-baccalaureate degree.

So the next time you see the construction crews hard at work erecting new buildings left and right, remember that there are just as many faculty and students working to promote change outside the campus walls.