Faculty Reflections and Stories:

Part of the InTeGrate Savannah State University Program Model

Team reflection:

Value of Working Collaboratively

In CHARTing I, the core leadership team worked synergistically

  • to process the materials for more efficient use by team members that were unfamiliar with the InTeGrate materials (Morris),
  • to coordinate efforts within the team (Ebanks),
  • and to coordinate efforts for the team with University administration (Pride)

This component was key for the work to be strategically executed in such a way that efficiency was maximized. Each member of the leadership team fulfilled their specific role(s) and volunteered their assistance to others when needed. For other team members (Arora, Arora, Clay, and Rukmana) that were involved in the development of the project and have agreed to participate in continued development and expansion of ideas, each one was willing and active in providing the necessary information to make an impact in their respective courses and colleges.

In CHARTing II, the shift in participants reflected the desire to reach a different group of students and begin to build partnerships that allowed for a better developed legacy of this work. This component is always important, and at our HBCU, this was particularly important to attracting students to the geaoscienceThus, there were We anticipate that this growth will continue.

Group Experience of Working with InTeGrate Materials

Admittedly, the wealth and breadth of materials was overwhelming at first, but co-PI Morris led the charge to make the materials digestible by team members. Having a least one person committed to that effort made a world of difference for this team that was, as a whole, brand new to the materials.

In CHARTing II, PI Ebanks was able to bridge the gap for the new participants to the materials, Drs. C. Davis and D. Ebanks, and having a graduate student managing the data (This was written into the proposal), allowed the PI to spend that valuable time assisting the new faculty participants be comfortable with the InTeGrate materials. This was particularly important for the non-geoscience faculty member, Dr. Davis, who was not able to attend the Earth Educators' Rendezvous (EER). Dr. D. Ebanks, faculty participant working with non-science majors for our Marine Science service course, being able to attend EER provided him exposure to the materials in teaching demos and other formats that were helpful in developing ways to implement InTeGrate activities more efficiently into his classroom. Additional later interaction with PI S. Ebanks allowed for supplementary input after the EER. A key component to the success of CHARTing II was having a dedicated data manager and having that role filled by a graduate student was additionally valuable to the student, giving her managerial experience.

Other

The collaborations between the College of Sciences & Technology (Ebanks, Morris, and Pride), College of Business Administration (Arora and Arora), and the College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences (Clay and Rukmana) to initiate this program, have brought attention to our program, sprouting new community relationships as well as additional relations with faculty in these Colleges, our School of Teacher Education, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Southeast Region.

In phase II, having additional interactions that were in the College of Sciences & Technology (D. Ebanks) and in the College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences (Davis) provided opportunities for our efforts to grow in other ways through collaboration development that led to the submission of a proposal with some fellow members of the HBCU Geosciences Working Group to address issues in attracting and keeping underrepresented minorities, particularly African Americans, in the geosciences. Additionally, having Dr. S. Ebanks and another member of the SSU Marine Science faculty (Dr. Christopher Hintz) attend the National Association of Marine Laboratories Biennial Meeting at the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve Center managed by Rutgers University, allowed this team was able to explore collaboration ideas with other members of this national organization as well as Dr. Yair Rosenthal at the main campus of Rutgers. This has led to plans to submit a proposal to develop a culturing facility at Savannah State. This submission is planned for Fall 2018 and is important to broadening research opportunities for Savannah State faculty and students. Lastly, support from CHARTing II allowed for taking the next step to realized a partnership between our Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences and the SSU Homeland Security and Emergency Management Program. This was realized in HSEM faculty member Prof. Meldon Hollis attending the Global Marine Science Summit: Coastal Resilience and the Blue Economy and PI Ebanks presenting on Coastal Hazards and Risks at the HSEM Student Organization Expo on Disaster Preparedness. This was the first event of this type (student-led) for our campus and students expect that it will be an annual event with different themes. The longer goal of this interaction between HSEM Marine & Environmental Sciences, and potentially other social science and business administration/marketing programs at SSU will be development of a center on coastal resiliency.

Individual Faculty Reflections

Amit Arora, CHARTing I, Savannah State University
Course(s): Global Supply Chain Management

Anshu Arora, CHARTing I, Savannah State University
Course(s): Global E-Business and Advertising & Promotion Management

Brigette Brinton, CHARTing I, Savannah State University
Course(s): ENVS 1140 Environmental Issues

Christina Davis Faculty Reflection (Acrobat (PDF) 156kB May11 18), CHARTing II, Savannah State University
Course(s): AFRS 1501 The Survey of the African American Experience, AFRS 3102 Introduction to Africana Studies

Dwight Ebanks Faculty Reflection (Acrobat (PDF) 151kB May11 18), CHARTing II, Savannah State University
Course(s): MSCI 1501K Introduction to Marine Biology;
Other Involvement: Earth Educators' Rendezvous (Jul 2017), American Geophysical Union meeting workshops (Dec 2017)

Sue Ebanks, CHARTing I & II, Savannah State University
Course(s): ENVS 1140 Environmental Issues, ENVS 3121 Environmental Ethics, COST 4140K Environmental Justice & Coastal Risk Management;
Other Involvement: Earth Educators' Rendezvous (Jul 2017), Food, Energy, Water Nexus Summit (Oct 2017), National Association of Marine Laboratories Biennial and SSU-Rutgers Collaboration-building Meetings (Nov 2017), and American Geophysical Union meeting workshops (Dec 2017)

Andrea Moore Faculty Reflection (Acrobat (PDF) 49kB May10 18), CHARTing II, Savannah State University
Involvement: American Geophysical Union meeting workshops December 2017

Jolvan Morris, CHARTing I, Savannah State University
Course(s): ENVS 1140 Environmental Issues

Carol Pride, CHARTing I, Savannah State University
Course(s): ENVS 1121K Introduction to Physical Geology

Deden Rukmana, CHARTing I, Savannah State University
Course(s): POLS 3702 Introduction to Geographic Information System