In 2005, Kathy Stacey was invited to teach faculty at 13 South African universities how to build service-learning into their classes. The EMU model was well-received, Stacey said, partly because service-learning can be really enriching without costing a lot of money.
"It doesn't take much, just energy," said Stacey, a co-recipient of the 2008 Ronald W. Collins Distinguished Faculty Award for Service to the University. "Anyone who does service-learning will tell you that's what it takes — energy and passion."
 |
AT YOUR SERVICE: Kathleen Stacey, director of EMU's
Office of Academic Service-Learning and a professor of
communication and theatre arts, makes a point
during her "Gender Communication" class, which she
team teaches with Dennis Patrick, professor of
communication and theatre arts. Stacey was co-
recipient of the 2008 Ronald W. Collins Distinguished
Faculty Award for Service to the University. |
And anyone who knows Stacey, director of EMU's Office of Academic Service-Learning, will tell you that explains a lot.
"She just radiates energy," said Claudia Petrescu, interim head of the political science department. "She's just like fire. If you touch her, you get contaminated with energy."
A busy mother of four children, Stacey explained that there just isn't time to wear down. As she often tells graduate student Meriah Sage, "We're never bored."
Each fall and winter semester, Stacey works with a group of six faculty, teaching them how to build community relationships that support service-learning and how to incorporate service-learning experiences into their courses. Each leaves the seminar with a revised syllabus and a promise to do service-learning the following semester.
Petrescu, an AS-L faculty fellow in 2004, wasn't even sure what service-learning was when she joined the AS-L program, but Stacey turned her into a believer.
"Because of Kathy, the classes that I teach have changed in their structure and content, and the students are heavily engaged in the community and see the world differently," Petrescu said.
For Stacey, the service-learning office is a springboard for projects that range from helping to create a service-oriented student organization to recruiting EMU students to work the polls on Election Day to establishing a youth entrepreneurship program with local high school students.
The latter, called the B.Side — The Business Side of Youth — grew out of Ypsilanti Youth Empowered to Act (YYEA), a program Stacey first helped secure grant money for, then later funded through her office when the grant ran out. Nicole Brown, the YYEA program, met Stacey through the organization as a high school freshman and is now an EMU student.
"I felt that if a professor like Dr. Stacey taught here, this is where I needed to be," Brown said.
"What I get out of it is seeing that transition that happens in the youth," Stacey said. "It's so amazing, especially with the high school students...They come out of it with a different view of themselves. They develop self-esteem; they realize they can make a difference in the community."
In her five years as head of Academic Service-Learning, Stacey has secured more than $2 million in grants. She's quick to be caught up in other peoples' passion, and she has a hard time saying, "no" — a double-whammy that results in Stacey packing community service into every nook and cranny of her life.
As both a professor and a director, Stacey deftly navigates the worlds of faculty and administration, smoothing what can sometimes be a contentious gap and helping persons on both sides see a common goal.
"I believe (service-learning) is the mission of an institution of higher education," Stacey said. "I truly think we have an obligation to the community and to the students to help them become active citizens of the world."
As part of the AS-L program since Dale Rice started it in 1994, Stacey doesn't miss the significance of receiving an award named for Collins, EMU's late provost and vice president for academic affairs.
"What's especially cool is, that when the grant money ran out, it was Ron Collins who gave Dale the money to keep the office open," Stacey recalled.
