Examples of Funded CPIA Projects

 

Dr. Jason Polk, Geography and Geology, received $4907 for a community-based research project entitled, Developing an International Community-Based Online Assessment Tool for Anthropogenic Impacts on Karst Environments. Dr. Polk is partnering with Mammoth Cave National Park, Friends of Lost River Cave, and Citizens for the Kart (Puerto-Rico based), as well as the Karst Conservancy, the Hoffman Environmental Research Institute and the Cave Research Foundation.

The central aim of this project is to develop an online instructional and resource tool and database for implementing the Karst Disturbance Index (KDI), which measures the amount of anthropogenic impact on karst (caves, springs and sinkholes) landscapes for use by community leaders, nonprofit groups, governmental agencies, and educators. Through the partnership of several community-based stakeholders, this website tool will allow for the evaluation and mitigation of human impacts to vulnerable groundwater resources and ecosystems in karts areas, such as that of the South Central Kentucky region, which has significant karts landscape susceptible to development, pollution and agricultural impacts.

Dr. Sonia Lenk, Modern Languages, received $3095 for a community-based research project entitled, Hispanic Initiative: a Portrait of a Hispanic Community. Dr. Link is partnering with the Hispanic Organization for the Promotion of Education (HOPE), middle and high schools through Bowling Green Independent and Warren County schools and St. Joseph Catholic School.

The long-term objective of this project is to help the Hispanic community in this area to overcome the barriers that are keeping them from having access to higher education. Therefore, it is important to have a complete portrait of the target community in the area and their needs. The central aim of this project is to conduct research in order to locate the Hispanic population between the ages of 12 and 19, find out who they are, what they do, where they live, where they go to school, what academic needs they have, as well as to find out what factors impact their present and future education. Dr. Link would also like to find out what resources they have available at this point.

Dr. Lenk, Modern Languages, also received $1800 for a community development project entitled, Working Together to Enhance the Lives of People in Santa Ana, Ecuador and the Lives of WKU students. Dr. Link is partnering with the community of Santa Ana in the Chota Valley in Quito, Ecuador and students at WKU.

The central aim of this project is to create an opportunity for the community of Santa Ana to have ongoing communication with the outside world through community-wide internet access. This will be made possible through a partnership between modern language student translators and IT students, who will install the computers, create weather protection, install security features, and provide training so their community partners can maintain the computers and continue to use them. Ongoing contact and technical support will continue to be provided on an as-needed basis by WKU students who participate in the service-learning activities.

Dr. Terry Wilson, Center for Environmental Education and Sustainability (CEES), received $1,000 for a service-learning project entitled, Nurturing Environmental Service-Learning in Regional Schools. Dr. Wilson is partnering with teachers within the GRREC region and Holy Trinity Lutheran School.

The central aim of this project is to provide funding for teachers throughout the region who have completed WKU’s ENVE 560 and want to apply for a small minigrant to help support the projects that their students research and wish to implement in their communities, whether it is in their school or in some other community-based organization.

This project will support the larger grant-funded work of CEES, as they were the recipient of a Learn and Serve Program of the Corporation for National and Community Service. The ALIVE Center’s Community Partnership Incentive Awards provides an opportunity to partner with regional school systems in a way that the Learn and Serve grant will not support. Together, WKU can create greater impact in the schools and classrooms that participate in environmental service-learning.

Dr. Strenecky also received $500 for a service-learning project entitled, Collaborative Effort of WKU and Defiance College, Ohio for a Better Belize. Dr. Strenecky is partnering with students and faculty member, Ms. Mary Ann Studern, Physical Science at Defiance College, as well as students at WKU.

The project entails conducting a symposium for WKU students and faculty to share their experiences and knowledge with faculty and students from Defiance College, Ohio, since both universities work extensively with the village of Gales Point in Belize. A symposium with Defiance College is expected to create a reciprocal learning opportunity focused on service-learning. The primary goal is the creation of better service-learning opportunities with the community of Gales Point, Belize.

Dr. Jane Olmstead, Women’s Studies, received $3,000 for a community development project entitled, Women & Kids Learning Together Summer Camp. The Women & Kids Learning Together camp is a joint venture of the WKU Women’s Studies program and the Housing Authority of Bowling Green’s Reach Higher program. Reach Higher is a welfare-to-work program that strives to help people on welfare become self-sufficient.

The Women & Kids Learning Together summer camp seeks to enhance the lives of low-income women and children throughout the entire Barren River region (BRADD). The objectives for the women and their children are to 1) encourage a better understanding of the opportunities for higher education, 2) to promote civic engagement and community involvement, and 3) to improve self-esteem through self-discovery workshops in the arts. WKLT encourages participants on a personal level through empowerment activities that enhance self-expression, self-awareness and self-esteem, including an abuse prevention session. The women gain an improved sense of their abilities for work and education through the camp’s workshops on goal setting and interviewing. The camp provides a positive experience on a college campus, as a means to show them in very concrete ways that “The Hill” is possible.

Dr. Barbara Kacer, FaCET/College of Education & Behavioral Sciences, received $2,355 for a community-based research project entitled, Cross-Cultural Transitions: Burmese Refugees in America. Dr. Kacer is partnering with the International Center in Bowling Green, Holy Spirit Catholic Church, and the local Burmese population, as well as Dr. Gottfried, adjunct faculty member in Social Work at WKU.

The aim of this research project is to learn about the life experiences of immigrants from the Myanmar Republic, formerly known as Burma. More specifically, the aim is to gain in-depth understanding of their experiences as refugees: how they were forced from their homes in Burma and why they chose to leave; where and how they lived prior to emigrating; how the attained refugee status; and what their lives are like since moving to this country. The results of this study will be shared with campus and community groups through multiple venues so that the Bowling Green community has a better understanding of how to serve the local Burmese population effectively, as well as how to help them better assimilate to the area. This study will also inform future quantitative studies of Burmese refugees/immigrants.

Dr. Michael Ann Williams, Folk Studies & Anthropology, received $1,000 for a service-learning project entitled, Gardner House Restoration Project – Open House. Dr. Williams is partnering with Hart County Community Scholars, Friends of Mammoth Cave, Horse Cave theater, Preservation Kentucky, and Landmark Association.

When the Upper Green River Biological Preserve was created in Hart County, Kentucky, the directors responded to local community concerns that one of the oldest structures in the county, located on preserve land, might be destroyed. The Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology was contacted by Drs. Albert and Ouida Meier, and the department began various archaeological and preservation activities at the Gardner House, including the listing of the house on the National Register of Historic Places. The house has been stabilized and, although the restoration is hardly complete, we are now ready to show it off. Various groups have already visited the site, including the Hart County Community Scholars, a group of local individuals who are trained to document their own history and culture through the Kentucky Folklife Program (an interagency program of the Kentucky Historical Society and the Kentucky Arts County). The aim of this project is for the house to serve as a center for the interpretation of local history and culture.