CAMPUS PROFILE

(Maryville, Tennessee) 

Maryville College is ideally situated in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville, the state’s third largest city. Known for offering its students a rigorous and highly personal experience, Maryville College is a nationally ranked institution of higher learning that successfully joins the liberal arts and professional preparation in partnership with others. Founded in 1819, Maryville is the 12th oldest college in the South and maintains an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Total enrollment for the Fall 2020 semester was 1,072.

CEL Faculty Cohort, Faculty Fellows, and Staff CE Leaders

Facilitated by Co-PIs Amy Gilliland (Director of Community Engagement) and Ariane Schratter (Professor of Psychology, Bonner CEL Faculty Fellow), two 2020-2021 CEL faculty cohorts were created: the Advanced CEL Faculty Cohort (Carl Gombert, Rebecca Lucas, Alesia Orren, Adrienne Schwarte, Kathie Shiba, Jeremy Steeves,) and Apprentice CEL Faculty Cohort (Wei Fu, Kristin Riggsbee, Christina Seymour, Irene Guerinot, Anna Engelsone, Gabie Kerr, Joy Buongiorno). The Advanced Cohort is focusing on issues related to institutional infrastructure, tenure and promotion, and the intersection of CE and racial diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Apprentice CEL Cohort explores the history and purpose of community-engaged learning while also focusing on CE coursework design and partnership development. An additional faculty member (Doug Sofer) serves as a Spring 2021 Bonner Faculty Fellow assisting efforts to add a community-engagement course designator. Four staff members (Anne McKee, Ryan Indelicato, Jessica Twitchell, and Jan Taylor) are leading key institutional CE initiatives, focused on CEL project management, voter engagement, and issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and infusing civic engagement into the first-year core curriculum.

Members of the CE Faculty cohorts have created new projects or further developed existing projects, across all major academic divisions. Collectively, this past Fall and Spring, faculty and students have (or are in the process of) partnering with the community to: work with children who have experienced trauma, create virtual community outreach products (videos, Facebook sites), provide 1:1 literacy and fluency practice for at-risk students, develop databases for local businesses, lead physical activities for children with special needs via Zoom, design Special Olympic events, engage in research with Parks ‘n Rec, modify Upstander Training for preservice teachers and campus community, create mural project in support of student deaths due to gun violence, create STEM enrichment curriculum, organize an online auction, and create various installments to hospital’s mural. New projects, forthcoming for the Spring and/or Summer semester, regarding racial justice, social change, and STEM are currently in development.

Goals and Progress Our primary goal for the 2020-2021 year was to create two distinct, yet collaborative, faculty cohorts to better target the workshop curriculum and resources to meet their needs. One cohort represents our more advanced CEL faculty, interested in publishing and/or presenting their CE work and developing an institutional infrastructure that promotes CEL. The other cohort represents faculty new to CEL work, seeking guidance in syllabus design, project implementation, and partnership development. Members of both cohorts attended the March 2021 Gulf-South Summit which focused on ways in which campuses and communities work together to build healthier communities. With thanks to our institutional membership made possible due to CEL funds, Maryville College students, faculty, staff, and community partners comprised approximately 12% of the 900 Gulf-South registered participants.

Highlights of Coursework or Curriculum Change 

Following a Fall 2020 approval process, the Division of Behavioral Sciences is launching its new Developmental Psychology Major, with four new tracks/minors, of which CE is embedded throughout its language and structure. Two faculty (Drs. Shiba and Schratter) attended the Appalachian Studies Conference—Toward Antiracism in Appalachian Studies—to help support the creation of the new developmental curriculum, heavily focused on advocacy and social justice in our region. 

Institutional Change Projects

A CE course descriptor will be added to courses, ready for students’ 2021-2022 course registration. The Faculty Fellows identified four major criteria for CE courses (in summary): disciplinary content, demonstration of academic competencies, required as integral to the course, and reciprocal value for partners. Faculty will be submitting their CE course proposals April-Summer, 2021. Proposed CE courses will be reviewed by both Faculty Fellows and the Director of Community Engagement. Upon its acceptance, the course will be updated as a CE course in the electronic catalog of courses (Self-Service). The CE designation will be searchable for students and faculty and the Registrar can run reports regarding CE enrollment.

Stories and Anecdotes 

Ariane Schratter and Amy Gilliland (CEL Co-PIs) prepared a panel discussion for the Gulf-South Summit highlighting the ways in which Maryville College partners with the community to train students to work with children who have experienced trauma. To approximately 50 synchronous participants, they presented the varied ways in which partners join our students in the classroom as experts to help prepare students to serve children in our community who have experienced chronic adversity. Focus of the presentation also included the ways faculty and students are a part of a Blount County Community Trauma Responsive Group which promotes community-wide efforts to mitigate the effects of child trauma.

Unique Elements or Innovations 

Maryville College student, Madison Gilliam, was accepted into the Tennessee Department of Education’s Building Strong Brains trainer’s program to train others about the neurological and behavioral effects of childhood trauma. In partnership with fellow student, Kristopher Seiber, they successfully trained almost 60 Bonner Scholars. In Spring 2021, they will continue working alongside CO-PI Ariane Schratter to develop training opportunities to be shared throughout the Bonner network. 

Led by Ryan Indelicato, MC Votes worked to increase civic engagement, specifically voter education and turnout, in the Maryville College community. Over 15 different events, coupled with new social media platforms, helped students register, verify registration 13 status, and learn how and where to vote. Ryan worked with faculty and students, including Dr. Colter’s PSY 349: Community Psychology and Social Justice course, various First-Year Seminars (Drs. Shiba, Colter, and Riggsbee), Dr. Buongiorno’s Scots Science Scholar Event, and many athletic teams to increase student civic engagement.

Other News

Article that shares the President’s commitment to the local region.

Mother- and daughter-in-law, Rebecca Lucas, associate professor of education, and Sheena Lucas, an assistant athletic trainer, both decided to take part in COVID-19 vaccine trial to help their communities.

Three MC faculty members pursue NEH grant-funded projects.

Kris Seiber ’23, Bonner Scholar at Maryville College, was recently named a Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact for the 2021-2022 academic year.