Communitybased Learning

Learning History

In all of Dr. Brittany Goetting’s history classes, students can earn extra credit by engaging in community service projects. Dr. Rob Musick, Chaplain, provides ideas for volunteer opportunities in our region. After completing their service, students write a reflection of their experience and the impact it had on the organization they served and on them personally. In addition, Drs. Goetting and Musick take their students into the community; recently, they visited the Church of Latter-Day Saints in Pikeville and will travel to the Cane Ridge Revival site and a Shaker Village in April.

Germany

Dr. Brittany Goetting (History) and Dr. Brigitte Anderson (English and German) are currently co-teaching HUM 370 Destination Study, a course focusing on the country’s people, culture, and history. The course highlight is scheduled for May 8-20, when the 10 students will travel to Köln, vintner villages along the Rhein River, Nürnberg where they will stay in an 11th-century castle, Füssen with King Ludwig II’s dreamy Neuschwanstein castle, München, and finally the capital Berlin. The trip is designed as a “Trains, Planes, Riverboats, Busses, and Bicycles” adventure giving students a chance to meet locals and practice German. Their overseas experience is made possible through generous supporting funds from the UPIKE Experiential Learning Committee and the Humanities Division. Auf Wiedersehen!

In the Fall of 2022, Professor Hazlewood’s Corrections class visited the Historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, TN. The Penitentiary’s history began with its opening in 1896 and remained operational until 2009. Throughout its 113 years, Brushy Mountain housed Tennessee’s most violent criminals, and was nicknamed the “Alcatraz of the Smokies.” The tour guide, George, a resident of Brushy Mountain, shared his story and gave the class a very informative private tour of the grounds. The class thoroughly enjoyed the tour, George, and the experience of visiting Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary.

Contributions of local businesses by Bryon Meade, Assistant Professor of Biology

My research assistants and I have been working on ways to turn waste products such as used brew grain and used coffee grains into mushroom substrate. We have used coffee grounds from Lincoln Road Coffee and brew grains from Dueling Barrels Brewery & Distillery. Those waste streams are collected by us, then sterilized and turned into nutritious substrate. We use that recycled substrate to grow a dozen different strains of delicious mushrooms!