GC Journeys Newsletter

GC Journeys has created two different mini-grant opportunities, as a way to support faculty leading transformative experiences—Departmental Planning Mini-Grants and Project Mini-Grants.

The Departmental Planning Mini-grants will offer up to $5,000 (500 per faculty team member) in professional development funding with the intention of increasing the students’ access to transformative experiences. The planning mini-grants asks department to create an action plan for institutionalizing, strengthening, and/or expanding students access to Transformative Experiences within the department’s curriculum. The applications are due on December 15th, and plans will be due (for selected Departments) on June 1st, 2022.

The GC Journeys Project Mini-grants will provide funding support for supplies, etc. for individual projects, so faculty leading transformative experiences in Spring 2022 can apply. These will be decided on a rolling basis.

GC Journeys Department Planning Grants can be found here.

GC Journeys Project Mini-Grants can be found here.

by Maggie Smith

Launched in 2020, the second issue of Undergraduate Research is now available, both in print and online. This journal is a national journal, Issue #2 features authors from Swarthmore College, Temple University, and Georgia College, among others. Dr. Kelly Massey, Editor-in-Chief, and Dr. Alesa Liles, Managing Editor, just successfully produced the second edition of the journal, where they increased the number of manuscripts accepted and plan to continue this trend with Issue 3 next semester.

Dr. Kelly Massey, Editor-in-Chief, commented, “I am extremely grateful to Dr. Spirou and Dr. Cofer for their belief in my abilities to lead this journal. It has been most fulfilling, and I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to make a difference in these young researchers' lives”. Dr. Massey also recommended, Luri Piovezan’s "Atomic Culture and Cultural industry: Their Spread and Acceptance in America During 1940s and 60s." According to Massey, this young scholar had significant growth during the entire process and noted that their manuscript was incredibly interesting.

Although the journal is a rigorous and competitive process for students, the publication is a huge achievement for the students featured, who can use this to boost their resumes, as well as but an amazing talking point for interviews with potential graduate programs and/or employers. Anyone interested can find Undergraduate Research Issue #2 here, or physical copies on campus.

The GC Journeys Symposium, which was held virtually using GatherTown on Oct 29th, featured nationally renown panelists and GC faculty discussing the future of the liberal arts. The Symposium also featured sessions on transformative experiences. The symposium had 80 participants.

"This symposium was actually the brainchild of some our faculty," said Dr. Cofer, Associate Provost for Transformative Learning Experiences. "We weren't sure how many people would attend, but we ended with 72 registrants and 80 participants. We think word of mouth spread and that this type of participation shows a real desire for these types of opportunities," said Cofer.

In addition to a well attended panel on the Liberal Arts, the Symposium featured sessions on leading a Community-based Engaged Learning experiences, the new Vertical Integrated Programs for Undergraduate Research, and revised Career Milestones.

As a result of the GC Journeys Symposium, faculty interested in CbEL (Community based Engaged Learning) can join a Community of Practice focused on leading CbEL experiences.

On Wednesday, Dec 1st, Dr. Stefanie Sevcik will host on information session of CbEL/Service Learning Support and the upcoming community of practice for those interested in participating.

GC Journeys is offering $300 for all participants in Spring 2022 Service-Learning Communities of Practice to support new and ongoing service-learning experiences for students. Each group of the following groups will meet 5 times over the course of the Spring 2022 semester:

This Community of Practice is designed to benefit people who are new to service-learning collaborations who would like to develop an idea for a project or who have a project in its early stages, but have yet to implement it fully. Through a community of engaged, supportive peers, we will discuss the components of excellent service-learning projects, opportunities for support, and the steps to successfully implementing your project.

Join the session, Dec 1st @ 4pm (Zoom link here).

Apply to participate here.

December 1st @4pm- Community of Practice (Service Learning) Info Session:

Join Dr. Stefanie Sevcik to learn more about the Service Learning Community of Practice. Participants will receive $300 in professional development funding.

Zoom link here: https://tinyurl.com/SLGCSU

December 16th 9am-12:00- Transformative Experiences Workshop

Directly applicable to teaching in a liberal arts college, this highly interactive two-part series is designed to help everyone be on the same page for the university's GC Journeys program. We will provide you with information to help you make the classes you teach and the programs you teach in more transformative for students and more meaningful for you.

The program is already getting nationwide attention, but it will take a village to bring it to fruition at GC.

Sign up here: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/34003d9b10dd4df6a2c4abff231fbf12

GC Journeys has published its second annual report to help chart the progress of the GC Journeys Initiative, as well as its first program assessment.

Find these reports here:

View the 2020-2021 GC Journeys Annual Report

View the 2021 GC Journeys Program Assessment

Email: journeys@gcsu.edu
Website: https://www.gcsu.edu/gcjourneys
Location: Carl Vinson House