Inaugural grant recipients’ projects span campus, extend into local, state, global communities
Roots Africa photo by Edwin Remsberg; Bitcamp photo by John T. Consoli; Public Art photo by David Andrews
Terps will build an outdoor play area in a Baltimore neighborhood, create an online hub for opioid peer recovery specialists in training, and create public art, among dozens of projects awarded $460,000 from the University of Maryland’s new Do Good Campus Fund.
The 27 grantees—who include faculty, staff and student groups—all plan to expand or scale up efforts happening across University of Maryland, aimed at reimagining learning and serving humanity both inside and outside the classroom.
Senior Vice President and Provost Jennifer King Rice, the Do Good Campus Strategic Leadership Council and the Do Good Institute selected the award winners from 140 applications in this inaugural round. Additionally, arts-related projects are provided with matching funds through the university’s Arts for All initiative.
“These Do Good Campus Fund projects are shining examples of how University of Maryland students, faculty and staff are committed to creating solutions for a more equitable, sustainable and resilient world. With awardees representing all 12 colleges and schools, this program is a testament to our campuswide commitment to Do Good,” said Rice.
The Do Good Campus Fund is part of a suite of new campuswide investments to expand the university’s leadership and impact to advance the public good. These investments also include the Do Good Campus Strategic Leadership Council, composed of senior administrators from colleges, schools and units across campus to celebrate the social impact already being made by faculty and staff across campus.
“Our first offering of the Do Good Campus Fund far surpassed our expectations in terms of the number of applicants, their impact to date and ambition for the future, and the diverse array of pathways they’re pursuing to do good,” said James Stillwell, faculty director, Do Good Campus. “I’m excited to watch and support the implementation of these incredible projects over the coming year.”
Promoting Meaningful Interaction and Social Engagement (PROMISE) for Asian American Autistic Youth, Parents and UMD Students ($50,000)
College of Education
PROMISE connects Asian American families and caregivers of children and youth with special needs in the DMV with professionals to exchange resources and stories. UMD students launched the program in 2023 in collaboration with the Chinese Culture and Community Service Center. This project will allow them to expand it.
Food for Thought: Combating Food Insecurity on College Campuses ($49,962)
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
This project builds on work to establish a hunger-free campus by providing fresh produce from campus food gardens and Terp Farm, fostering experiential work-learning opportunities, and developing a survey to demonstrate the ongoing need for services and funding. Students will support nutritious food production, emergency food distribution, nutrition education and communications about this model for other universities.
Increasing the Impact of UMD’s PK-12 Tutors and Mentors ($36,088)
Division of Student Affairs
This project will host UMD’s first gathering and symposium connecting all of its tutoring and mentoring initiatives that work with local schools and nonprofits. This will lead to increased adoption of best practices, improved training and new tools that UMD mentors and tutors can use for years to come.
Maryland Peer Hub to Address the Opioid Crisis ($35,103)
College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
This project will establish an online hub that will allow people in recovery from opioid addiction to complete peer certification training, identify recovery-friendly employers and learn about other peer recovery specialists who have overcome substance use.
Establishing Modular Programing in MLAW ($33,205)
College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
The MLAW program aims to refine and expand restorative justice education for the College Park Scholars’ Justice and Legal Thought program, MLAW minor courses and the Francis King Carey School of Law. The project will develop and integrate lessons into law courses that develop students’ ability to build relationships across differences and collaborate with local nonprofits serving refugees, a growing need in Prince George’s County.
Collington Square Play Space ($25,512)
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
This collaboration between landscape architecture students, the Baltimore Department of Recreation and Parks and the city’s Collington Square neighborhood aims to build a safe and sustainable outdoor play center for the community while giving the UMD students a high-impact experiential educational experience.
Public Art @UMD ($25,000)
College of Arts and Humanities
From murals to monuments, sculptures to digital projections, public art has the power to transform its environment and to express a community’s character, diversity and values. This project provides students with an opportunity to understand the process of commissioning and installing public art, leading to new art being integrated into UMD’s landscape.
Media, Self and Society Curriculum Revamp ($23,627)
Philip Merrill College of Journalism
The Media, Self and Society program in College Park Scholars will revamp its curriculum to provide opportunities for students to participate in service learning and experiential learning, such as partnering with local schools and libraries to promote media literacy and launching an Alternative Spring Break to create educational media content along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Historic Byway.
Experiential Learning: Data, Geometry and Outreach ($23,400)
College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences
This project aims to increase the number of underrepresented minority students in the STEM fields by creating a mathematics course for undergraduates that empowers them to apply their math skills through outreach to more than 500 high school students. The team is piloting the 400-level course, “Experiential Learning: Data, Geometry and Outreach.”
Public Health in Action: Community-Based Intervention Planning ($19,069)
School of Public Health
This project-based course now under development aims to enhance the practical and technical skills of UMD students and align their learning with employer expectations, while preparing them to do good in their careers. Students will collaborate with community partner organizations to identify, analyze and address health disparities, environmental issues, social determinants of health and more.
Expanding Leadership Learning Access ($16,620)
Division of Student Affairs
This project will enable the Leadership and Community Service-Learning Office to design, test and launch three co-curricular, open-learning leadership education courses and develop a leadership learning repository. The courses will help UMD students gain leadership skills that employers identify as necessary for success in the workplace.
Pathways to Careers in Heritage: Expanding Access to Education and Training in Archaeology ($13,895)
School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
This project focuses on providing opportunities for underrepresented students to engage in fieldwork, fostering experiences that can lead to careers. The program is intended to address the lack of diversity among archaeological practitioners and increase access for communities that have historically lacked the resources to engage in archaeological research.
Building Community, Access, and Resources for Educator Success (CARES) ($13,626)
College of Education
This project seeks to grow and diversify the teacher workforce by recruiting community college transfer students to the College of Education. It aims to increase the recruitment and retention of multilingual and racially and ethnically diverse teacher candidates as well as the number of certified educators to fill school system vacancies.
The Ten Terp Plan Evolution: Scaling Impact Against Power-Based Violence Through Peer Facilitation ($13,380)
Division of Student Affairs
The Ten Terp Plan on Sexual Assault Prevention is a facilitated dialogue program from the Department of Fraternity and Sorority Life staff, Campus Advocates Respond and Educate to Stop Violence (CARE) staff and members of the fraternal community. The project will establish a course to train peer facilitators to host dialogues centered on bystander intervention, understanding sexual assault, rape culture, dating violence, and the confines of traditional femininity and masculinity.
Get Outside And Learn (GOAL) Engineering Kits ($11,800)
A. James Clark School of Engineering
Managed by the Women in Engineering Program, Environmentally and Socially Responsible Engineering team and Department of Mechanical Engineering, the GOAL program aims to close opportunity gaps in engineering education for K-12 students. UMD students work with faculty and staff as well as K-12 teachers to design and test engineering materials kits and corresponding curriculum. This project will add 500-plus kits and enable more educational and corporate partnerships to sustain the program.
Course Redesign: Incorporation of a Collaborative Public Art Mural ($11,373)
College of Arts and Humanities
“The Arts and Humanities in Practice,” one of four required courses for the Honors Humanities living-learning program, will incorporate a mural painting curriculum to create a public mural and raise awareness about environmental justice issues facing Prince George’s County.
Roots Africa: Training Farmers in Intellectual Property Business Strategies ($8,512)
School of Public Policy
Roots Africa, established in 2017 as a UMD student club, has grown to a network reaching over 600 farmers connected to institutions in Uganda, Cameroon and Nigeria. Roots Africa students who train farmers in agricultural production will also soon train them on how to increase their revenue by building capacity in intellectual property business tools, including trademarks and licensing.
Bitcamp ($5,000)
College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences
Bitcamp, one of the largest collegiate hackathons on the East Coast, brings together more than 1,000 students annually to celebrate inclusivity and diversity in technology education. The new funding will enable organizers to provide a space for students to learn how to apply their skills to develop solutions that make the world a better place.
Collective Memory of the City of College Park ($5,000)
Office of Undergraduate Research, First-Year Innovation & Research Experience (FIRE)
Students will collect oral histories from residents and combine them with existing archival materials, culminating in a larger project that tells stories of College Park’s history and placemaking. It will create a publicly accessible digital archive as well as pop-up exhibits.
Exploring Racial Identities in Global Research Preparation: Cuba Study Abroad ($5,000)
College of Education
This project explores the ethical dimensions of global research as it pertains to race, identity and nationality, with an emphasis on the unique and complex history of Cuba and the United States. It will add a new social justice dimension to UMD’s Cuba study abroad program, which has deep community ties in the country’s education sector.
Game Changers: First-of-its-Kind Free Sports Equipment Marketplace ($5,000)
Robert H. Smith School of Business
Game Changers is a nonprofit founded by a student that redistributes sports equipment to children in need around the globe. This project plans to upgrade a free-to-use marketplace on the Game Changers New York website where donors can offer equipment and volunteers.
Kesem at University of Maryland ($5,000)
College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Through its flagship program, a weeklong sleepaway camp, Kesem provides a community of support for children impacted by cancer. The demand for a camp experience like this continues to rise, with 90 kids attending last summer and more expected in summer 2024.
Student Service Leadership and Black Mental Health Events ($5,000)
Division of Student Affairs
The Student Success Initiative focuses on increasing retention and graduation rates of Black students at UMD. The proposed series of events, including listening sessions, student empowerment activities, a community-wide study hall and monthly check-ins, will provide valuable support, resources and a deeper sense of community for Black students.
TechBridge: Fostering Digital Literacy and Intergenerational Connection in Montgomery County ($5,000)
College of Information Studies
TechBridge is a unique intergenerational mentorship program: Students mentor older adults on digital technologies through tutoring and collaborative design sessions; and the older adults help students develop communication and intergenerational skills to prepare for future tech sector employment. Ultimately, more than 200 students will be able to participate in this program over the next year. Led by Galina Madjaroff Reitz.
Terrapin Teachers: Game-Based Learning Facilitated by Future Mathematics Teachers ($5,000)
College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences
Students in Terrapin Teachers courses visit local classrooms in Prince George’s County public schools for early field placements. This project will update resources used in middle school classrooms with educationally rich games that aim to develop mathematical reasoning and computational fluency among students.
Temperament and Narratives Lab: Story-Guided Emotion Coaching ($5,000)
College of Education
This project from doctoral students in the Temperament and Narratives Lab develops parents’ and educators’ ability to use storytelling to coach children’s social emotional learning in Prince George’s County Public Schools. The team aims to reach a larger and more racially, ethnically and economically diverse population of elementary school students, and to disseminate their intervention at conferences.
Maryland Cochlear Implant Center of Excellence: Outreach Events ($4,800)
College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
The center hosts on-campus events for children with cochlear implants (CIs) and their families to meet other deaf children. The children engage in fun, educational activities while their parents participate in a researcher-led group, sharing experiences, asking questions and learning about the latest CI research.