Defiance College professor, dean give presentations on McMaster School model
August 22, 2016
DEFIANCE, Ohio - Two Defiance College representatives, faculty member Dr. Jo Ann Burkhardt and McMaster School for Advancing Humanity dean Mary Ann Studer, gave presentations this summer at conferences on aspects of the McMaster School’s distinctive higher education model of undergraduate research.
Since its inception in 2002, Defiance College’s McMaster School has grown into a unique model of high impact practices focused on supporting partnerships between multi-disciplinary teams of faculty, staff, and students, and various small villages, schools, community centers, conservation entities, women’s groups, and clinics across the globe.
In July, Burkhardt and Studer presented at the international conference of the Centre for Research on International Education held at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. Their session explored the topic "Undergraduate Community-Based Research Without Borders: Opportunities to Apply Academic Expertise in a Global Context."
The focus of the session was to develop a better understanding of international opportunities most effective for undergraduate college students. Burkhardt and Studer described McMaster School’s unique model that supports interdisciplinary teams of students as they utilize expertise from their academic major to find solutions to complex world problems through community-based research initiatives.
Students and faculty take part in year-long learning communities in which they participate in common experiences including literature review, writing assignments, and collaborative projects. Such a format encourages student growth academically and personally and allows them to thrive and collaborate across cultural boundaries.
Conference participants included faculty, administrators, and researchers from around the world.
In June, Burkhardt and Studer attended and presented at the biennial conference of the Council on Undergraduate Research held at the University of South Florida. Their session was entitled "The Confluence of High Impact Practices: Undergraduate Research and Common Intellectual Experiences, Learning Communities, and Global Learning."
The session focused on the McMaster School’s model of undergraduate research that is intentionally designed to combine several high impact practices under a specific short-term study abroad initiative. Burkhardt and Studer provided information about the design and implementation of learning communities. They stressed that in such an extended experience, students begin to view the world through their own academic lens with an understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of undergraduate research.
The session was well attended and overflowed into an after-session discussion about the effective design of learning communities.
In its short history, the McMaster School for Advancing Humanity has taken part in initiatives in Jamaica, Guatemala, Thailand, Cambodia, Belize, Ghana, Panama, and Tanzania.
Between 2002 and June 2015, the McMaster School has supported more than 100 faculty and staff Fellows and Associate Fellows and more than 260 student Scholars as they engaged in community-based research with under-resourced populations one family, one village, one school at a time.
McMaster projects are designed in collaboration with partners in the countries served, based on identified needs. Some of the overarching projects include water quality analysis, teacher training, technology in schools, agricultural soil monitoring, sustainable forestry support, and tools to improve diagnosis and treatment of malaria and tuberculosis.
The McMaster School for Advancing Humanity was founded with a generous endowment from Harold and Helen McMaster. The mission of the McMaster School is to educate students to become committed global citizens, who through their McMaster experiences gain an understanding of the importance of individual liberties in improving the human condition.
Defiance College, chartered in 1850, is an independent, liberal arts institution in Northwest Ohio offering more than 40 undergraduate programs of study as well as graduate programs in education and business. Defiance College has received national recognition for its educational experience of service and engagement. The college website is www.defiance.edu.
