2007-2008 Williams Fund Recipients

Interdisciplinary Food Studies:
A Project to Enhance Collaborative Student Learning across Disciplines

Ina Asim, Department of History, and Geraldine Moreno, Department of Anthropology.

With a focus on China, this course combines the disciplines of history and anthropology to study food in the culture, history, and environment of that nation, as well as to give students a deeper understanding of the multidisciplinary approach to research and learning.

Theater for Change

Robert Barton, Department of Theater Arts, and Abigail Leeder, Office of Student Life.

This course is designed to examine ways to which the art of theater can be employed to bring about personal, social, and political change and to demonstrate how difficulties – personal and group – can be used to achieve resolution.

Teaching Military History in a Large-Course Setting: Modifying the Curriculum of War in the Modern World I and II, HIST 240 and 241

Alex Dracobly, Department of History.

These popular lower-division courses analyze the history of warfare over the past seven centuries, with newly developed exercises and activities that allow students to become more actively involved in its materials and issues. Group and research projects help participants gain a deeper understanding of source footnotes and endnotes, offering learning opportunities often found only in upper-division or graduate-level courses.

Redesigning Survey of Peninsular Spanish Literature, SPAN 316 and 317, and Survey of Spanish American Literature, SPAN 318 and 319

Amalia Gladhart, Amanda Powell, Cecilia Enjuto-Rangel, Gina Herrmann, Analisa Taylor, Department of Romance Languages.

Because of increasing enrollments in Spanish-language courses, this redesign combines the necessity of larger classes with the opportunity for greater individual participation through smaller discussion sections led by graduate teaching fellows. In addition, innovative technological resources provide students with textual, visual, and auditory materials for a broader understanding of class content.

Design Bridge: Integrating Service Learning into Architectural Education

Nico Larco and Michael Cockram, Department of Architecture.

Due to a large number of UO architecture students arriving with a well-directed social mission, this course adds a community-service component to its already strong integration of environmental sustainability. By incorporating this service-learning element into the existing curriculum, Design Bridge allows more students to engage in the life-changing effects of community involvement and civic responsibility.

Learning by Doing: The Community-Service GIS Lab

Marc Schlossberg and Robert Parker, Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management; Steve Mital, Environmental Studies Program.

Combining the study of geographic information systems (GIS) with community service, this cross-disciplinary laboratory provides a place where community needs and student interest can meet to yield a variety of community-based mapping and monitoring services, including works for urban parks, national forests, and river-restoration projects.