A new PEL baby; Mark your calendars; Kudos!

A New PEL Baby!!!

The PEL community welcomed a new baby recently! PEL Reception Coordinator Janice Writt and her husband, Jeremy, are the parents of Jaxson Billy, born October 25th. Baby Jaxson weighed in at 9 lbs. 10 oz. and is joined at home by their Dalmatian, Dallas. Congratulations!

Mark your calendars

January 14, 2017 is the opening day of the Writers in Paradise week-long workshop. All evening readings are FREE and open to the public. Readings begin at 8 p.m. in Miller Auditorium; refreshments are available beginning at 7:30 p.m. and book signings follow each speaking event.   Scheduled to speak are:

• Saturday, January 14: Keynote Speaker is poet Richard Blanco
• Sunday, January 15: David Yoo and Laura Lippman
• Monday, January 16: Fabienne Josaphat and Andre Dubus III
• Tuesday, January 17: Denise Duhamel, Stewart O'Nan and Helen Wallace
• Wednesday, January, 18: (free day, no reading scheduled)
• Thursday, January 19: Les Standiford and Ann Hood
• Friday, January 20: Sterling Watson, Major Jackson and Peter Meinke
• Saturday, January 21: Closing speaker, Lan Samantha Chang

January 14, 2017: PEL people are invited to a Writers in Paradise Pre-Conference PEL Reception  from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in Cobb Gallery. This year's theme is Celebrating PEL Authors. Read more about this event here.

March 11, 2017: PEL Reception at Alumni Weekend. More details will be coming soon!

Kudos!

PEL Students contributed 2000+ hours of community service through various service learning projects -- including helping to promote the artwork of senior citizens, working with homeless projects, helping teens learn financial literacy skills, and volunteering at nature parks -- during the 2015-2016 academic year.

Most of these hours were part of Reflective Service Learning projects in Quest for Meaning and many were part of the Enactus/SIFE course taught by Professor Malhotra. And many others were completed as part of other PEL courses. Way to go PEL people!

At right: PEL student Yolanda Carter helps install a community garden at CASA. 

Faculty News

 Professor James Welch presented "Developing Ethical Leadership in the Post-Enron World: An Analysis of Business Ethics Education in National Liberal Arts Colleges in the United States" at the European Group for Organizational Studies 32nd Annual Colloquium in Naples, Italy, in July. Professor Welch oversees the Organizational Studies program in PEL.

Professor Naveen Malhotra  presented his paper, "Case Study: The Teaching Tool in Capstone Business Courses," at the International Academy of Business and Economics Conference in Las Vegas in October. Malhotra is the Tom and Mary James Professor of Finance at Eckerd College.

 Staff News

PEL Director of Blended and Online Learning Anne Anderson recently contributed to Toward a Spiritual Research Paradigm: Exploring New Ways of Knowing, Researching, and Being, a book that is part of Information Age Publishing's Transforming Education for the Future series. Anderson's chapter is titled "'Out of the Everywhere into Here': Rhetoricity and Transcendence as Common Ground for Spiritual Research."

The publisher's site describes the book thus: "Spirituality and spiritual experiences have been the bedrock of every civilization and together form one of the highest mechanisms for making sense of the world for billions of people. Current research paradigms, due to their limitation to empirical, sensory, psychologically, or culturally constructed realities, fail to provide a framework for exploring this essential area of human experience. The development of a spiritual research paradigm will provide researchers from the social sciences and education the tools and abilities to systematically explore fundamental questions regarding human spiritual experiences and spiritual growth."

Advising sessions; Honors program; Financial lit class pays you; Service learning info & MORE!

Meet professors, think inside/outside your major -- goodies, too!

It's time to start thinking about Fall terms -- check out the information below!

Advising Sessions July 19, July 26

All PEL students are invited to attend one of the two advising sessions being held later this month.

Led by PEL Associate Dean of Faculty Margret Skaftadottir, discipline coordinators Professors Anne Geroux (Human Development), Catherine Griggs (American Studies, Humanities), Naveen Malhotra (Business Management, Management), and James Welch (Organizational Studies) will discuss the courses offered in their disciplines, new courses and other developments, and course sequencing.

PEL Academic Advisors Monica Roberts, Patti Cooksey, and Alaina Tackitt will be on hand to help students consider options that fit with their degree plans.

When and Where:

• Tampa: Tuesday, July 19 at 5:30pm / Parking and the building entrance at the Tampa campus (1300 N. Westshore Blvd.) is from the rear of the building.
• St. Petersburg: Tuesday, July 26 at 5:30pm / Room FT 210

Not sure you should attend? Consider one student's experience last year:

Teresa Stewart '17 (Human Development) was in class at the Tampa campus the evening the advising session was offered. She hadn't planned to attend, but her professor, who was teaching the class, was one of the presenters and needed to leave the class for a short time.

Stewart, who also is taking enough literature and composition courses to prepare her to teach middle school English, said she gained a broader perspective of all that PEL offers.

"All of the disciplines were presented." Stewart said, "which allowed me to have a better understanding of other opportunities outside my discipline."

Additionally, Stewart said she spoke with other PEL students who shared about different courses they had taken, which she found helpful.

"It was enlightening," Stewart said. "Plus it was a great opportunity to get to know more professors and fellow students, which can be beneficial for networking purposes."

Best of all, Stewart said she was able to confirm her classes for the year and was able to see exactly what was still needed to complete her degree. Stewart suggested students planning to attend this year review their personal degree plan before attending to get a sense of what they still need to take. But even without that advance preparation, Steward said she benefited from the sessions.

"I was very glad I attended," Stewart said, "although I had not planned to attend."

Honors program students attended a conference this past Spring.

Honors Program

Do you enjoy challenging coursework, in-depth projects, and scholarly discussion? Consider applying to the PEL Honors program. For more information, click here.

Financial Literacy Class Pays You!

Whatever your major, Professor Naveen Malhotra invites you to register for MN273S Life, Career and Personal Financial Planning during Fall 1. During the first four weeks, students meet in the classroom and learn how to develop a personal financial plan. For the remaining four weeks, students teach the concepts to teenagers in the community through church groups, clubs, and other non-profit agencies. A $500 tuition stipend and teaching materials, both of which are funded through private donors, are provided. Prerequisite: Instructor approval. Interested students should contact Professor Malhotra at malhotnk@eckerd.edu.

Reflective Service Learning website

Reflective service learning takes many forms.

Reflective Service Learning (RSL) has always been part of the Eckerd program, although it may not always have been called that. For many years RSL was a primary focus of the senior capstone course, Quest for Meaning. Now, however, Eckerd is broadening the focus to help students understand how service applies across disciplines.

Students who began their Eckerd PEL experience prior to August 2015 still will complete the RSL requirement through Quest for Meaning, although they also may choose to take some of the other RSL-inclusive courses. Newer students who began in August 2015 or later will experience RSL across their program.

Both groups of PEL students will find more information on the new Reflective Service Learning website at https://sites.google.com/a/eckerd.edu/pel-reflective-service-learning/home.

Please note: Course information pages are still being developed and, as with all websites, content may change from time to time. Before registering for courses, check with your Academic Advisor to be sure courses fit your degree plan.

More! 

Did you catch the article about the new Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Mindset course? Watch for more new courses coming this year! 

One quick reminder for Fall 1: Monday, September 5, may be Labor Day for the rest of the world, but Eckerd College offices, including PEL offices, are open and classes go on as scheduled. 

PEL & Residential Alumni & Students host Fun Day for children in crisis centers

Back row l-r: Unidentified residential student; Madeline Streilein ’18; Kyla Isakson ’19; Anjali Boyd ’19; unidentified residential student; Bob Albury PEL ’09; Anna Klingenberg ’15, Campus Activities Intern; John Alchin; Tina Horn PEL ’14; Steve Haftke  Front row l-r: Todd DeLozier PEL ’09; Jenna Behnke ‘15, AmeriCorps VISTA Intern in Office of Service Learning; Peggy Albury PEL ’13; Donna Littell ’75, PEL Marketing Coordinator; Pam Butler PEL ’19; Janice Umbarger-LeFebvre PEL ’19; Jerry Kyte PEL ’17; Elissa Alchin ’14; Jamison DeLozier; Not pictured are Dr. Ron Porter, Director of Service Learning,Connie Murphy PEL ‘08, Sydney Cavero, Maggie Cooper, Nick Dalton, Matthew de Braun, Jesie Felipe, Matthew Hein, and Alyssa Troxel.

by Amanda Hagood

On Saturday, November 14th, Hough quadrangle came to life with the sound of laughter as Eckerd volunteers welcomed 48 children and eight staff members from the St. Petersburg Salvation Army's Sallie House and Children’s Village, two crisis shelters serving local children, to a campus-wide fun day. A group of 30 volunteers, including PEL and residential students, alumni, staff, and faculty, hosted an array of activities for the young visitors, who played field games, read stories, created brightly colored sand pictures, learned about marine animals in touch tanks provided by the Galbraith Marine Science Lab, and ate lunch in the dining hall.

Rose Harris, Director of Children's Services for the St. Petersburg Salvation Army' Sallie House and the Children's Village, said the children and teens who attended ranged from age 1 to 17 and that the children seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves.

Children created colorful sand paintings.

"We have volunteers who come to us," Harris said, "but it's not often that the children are invited to a college."

Harris noted that, particularly for older students, activities such as the visit to Eckerd can help them see new possibilities for their own futures.

"We are always in favor of keeping the kids busy, getting them out of the [shelter] houses, stopping negative patterns of behavior, and teaching them the importance of getting an education," Harris said. 

The event, sponsored by the Program for Experienced Learners and the Offices of Service Learning and Campus Activities, was spearheaded by PEL alumna Lisa Alchin ’14, with support from PEL Marketing Coordinator Donna Littell ’75. Alchin first began her relationship with Sallie House while searching for internship opportunities in Professor Haukur Matthiasson’s human development course.

“I wanted to immerse myself in the day-to-day lives of the children and the staff in the crisis shelter in order to deepen my understanding of their experiences and needs," Alchin said. "I also wanted to understand the organization with a ‘macro’ view—from counseling to politics to processes—every aspect.”

With a fellow student’s help, Alchin connected with Harris and developed an internship that allowed her to work closely with Harris in performing administrative duties. The internship exposed her to multiple facets of serving children in crisis.

Beyond this work, Alchin’s personal and professional interest in the field of child services continued to grow. “The internships left me wanting more,” she explained. “I knew then that I wanted to be a leader in the field of child services.” After graduation, Alchin continued her work with Sallie House as a volunteer, and she currently is pursuing a master's degree in Leadership in Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health at the University of South Florida.

Organizing the Fun Day event allowed Alchin to share her passion with a larger community, build upon her expertise, and create a positive experience in the lives of the young visitors.

“The volunteers were amazing and the children could feel that the people at Eckerd that day cared about them. The activities were the vehicle for meaningful and caring interactions with the volunteers and the children all day,” she said.

Left: An Eckerd student (r) shows a child some of the wonders of the sea at the Galbraith Marine 
Science Lab as part of the Fun Day event in November.

It wasn't just the children who benefitted, according to Jenna Behnke '15, AmeriCorps VISTA intern in the Office of Service Learning.

"The event brought multiple generations together for a day of fun and conversation," Behnke said.

Littell agreed, adding that PEL students and residential students don't often have the opportunity to work together on a community project.

"It was gratifying to watch so many different groups across campus come together for the children," she said.

Overall, Alchin felt the event was a great success, with participants from across the Eckerd community working together for the benefit of wonderful group of children, making the all important connection between the lessons learned in the classroom and the communities in which we live and work. Volunteers left with a clearer sense of the important work that Sallie House does for some of the most vulnerable members of our community, and the children left, as Alchin noted, with a broader sense of perspective about what the next chapters of their lives might hold. “Knowing that they are welcome [at Eckerd],” she noted, “could change their education trajectory in a positive way.”

The Sallie House Fun Day was one of several events organized by the PEL Alumni Advisory Committee, a group of alumni dedicated to engaging the alumni community and raising awareness of PEL in the broader Tampa Bay community. For more information about this group, please contact Donna Littell (litteldj@eckerd.edu) or visit the PEL Alumni Services page.