News & events
Oct. 3,
2005
Announcing
the Wilks Scholars Program
The
Wilks Scholars Program is a multi-year curricular
project developed in collaboration with the Harry
T. Wilks Leadership Institute. During the
2006-07 and 2007-08 academic years, a select group
of students will participate in a university/community
partnership project entitled Acting Locally:
Civic Learning and leadership in Southwestern
Ohio. This one-of-a-kind Miami University
program offers a chance to develop leadership
skills and gain real-world experience through
community interaction and problem solving.
Students
and faculty members will work with local communities
in the region to understand better the ways in
which local communities are challenged, transformed,
and sustained in a world where global forces often
are as important as local ones in shaping people’s
lives. The project focuses on three distinct
locales: Cincinnati’s Over-The-Rhine
neighborhood, the city of Hamilton, Ohio, and
rural Butler County, Ohio. While exploring
the broader impact of globalization on these specific
communities, we will address issues of race and
class in the context of urban development and
decay; environmental and community sustainability
in the context of urban sprawl; and the expansion
of a service sector economy in the context of
increased Latino immigration and migration.
The
selected Wilks Scholars will take 22 credit hours
of course work as follows:
Fall
2006: AMS 201 Approaches to American
Culture: Global to Local: Identity,
Community, and Power (3 credit hours)
Spring
2007: AMS 301 Practice in American
Studies: Globalization in
Southwestern Ohio (3 credit hours)
Summer
2007: Summer Workshop: Community
Partnership Project (8 credit hours)
Fall
2007: AMS 401 Senior Capstone in American
Studies: Community-Based Research
Project ( 4 credit hours)
Spring
2008: AMS 405 American Studies Workshop:
Community-Based Project Implementation
(4 credit hours)
Taken
together this course of study will satisfy a range
of Miami Plan Foundation Requirements including
the following:
MPF II.B.
Humanities requirement
MPF II.
C. Social Science Requirement
MPF III.
A. U.S. Cultures requirement
MPF Historical
Requirement
MPF Senior
Capstone requirement.
Students
will also have completed a minor in American Studies,
which will satisfy the MPF Thematic Sequence requirement.
(Note: Students who use these courses to satisfy
major requirements for American Studies will need
an alternative Thematic Sequence.)
Participating
students will gain much more than liberal arts
requirements. Our goal is to inspire informed,
active, and socially responsible citizens by offering
opportunities for students to engage in collaborative
leadership projects. Students will
acquire the skills that employers are looking
for: real-life experience, an understanding of
diversity, problem solving experience, as well
as interpersonal and collaboration skills.
But more importantly, Wilks Scholars will be able
to put their own knowledge and critical thinking
skills to work to shape a better future in partnership
with local community members.
Nominated
students will apply for the Wilks Scholars Program
at the beginning of the Spring 2006 semester.
Applicants will be asked to provide a current
transcript and a letter of interest with an intellectual
autobiography that indicates why they would like
to participate in the program and what they hope
to get out of it. A select group of students will
then be invited for interviews. The final selection
process will be based on the student's suitability
for the project as assessed through the above
materials. The Wilks Faculty Partners
will begin reviewing applications in early February
2006. To be eligible to apply
students will need to register for AMS 101 Introduction
to American Studies Sections A through F
(Cayton and Shaffer) on the Oxford campus or WMS
201 Introduction to Women’s Studies (Womack
Smith) on the Hamilton Campus during the Spring
2006 semester. Students who have
already received credit for AMS 101 or WMS 201
will also be eligible to apply.
For
more information about this program, please contact
Peggy Shaffer, Director of American Studies, Shaffems@muohio.edu,
529-7527.
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