International Service Learning Projects: Progressive Course Serves as Guide
Civil engineering students help prepare the irrigation system that was built at the only school in Santa Cruz, Peru.
It is one thing to remind students of the importance of global experience but quite another to set them on the path to gaining this type of exposure firsthand. Two visionary engineering professors created a course from the ground up to provide students the opportunity to hone their engineering, project and leadership skills while providing vital services to distressed communities.
CAEE Professor Jim O’Connor and Janet Ellzey, Vice Provost for International Programs and Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, developed a two course sequence, Projects for Underserved Communities (PUC). This cross-disciplinary program includes planning and design components, with each lasting a semester. Students then have the opportunity to implement the project on site during the summer.
In fall 2009, 25 students from virtually all engineering disciplines across the Cockrell School participated in the first PUC course, focusing on project selection and planning. As future engineers, our students are taught that planning is a critical aspect of achieving a positive result. They employed the stage-gate process under the guidance of Ellzey and O’Connor, whose expertise is in project management. In other words, the service learning project is developed by the students, not the faculty. The students generate their own ideas about possible project concepts, gather data, and evaluate project feasibility – all before hashing out the details.
“It was enjoyable to be more of a facilitator than an instructor,” says O’Connor. “I was there to remove rocks from the road and give students the confidence to anticipate issues and reduce risk so that they could be successful.”
After presenting their ideas to an advisory board of outside engineering professionals, students recommended schoolrelated water projects in Santa Cruz, Peru and Patriensa, Ghana and began the extensive design phase. With the help of CAEE Lecturer John Burgin, they designed projects that are responsive to the functional, economic, social and cultural needs of these communities. Burgin led students through water resources planningas well as management and network optimization.
Community leader and project volunteer Pasor Kofi tries out the new potable water system for a primary school in Patriensa, Ghana.
By the end of the semester, they were prepared to begin executing their designs in Peru and Ghana. In June 2010, the two teams completed new water distribution systems at the different locations. The impact of their work hit them immediately—they had improved sanitation for more than 1,100 Peruvian and Ghanaian children, who now have access to clean drinking water.
One of the greatest challenges to PUC students was financing their projects as they were responsible for raising funds for materials and travel costs. In the beginning, their fund-raising knowledge was limited but once they started thinking broader than bake sales, help arrived. Family, alumni and friends were asked to contribute gifts, frequent flier mileage, time, and technical expertise. The teams secured support from the university and private sectors, collected donations and hosted a benefit concert. Members of the CAEE Academy of Distinguished Alumni also donated funds and mileage as Academy president Mary Lou Ralls Newman (BSCE 1981, MSCE 1984) spearheaded an effort to assist the students.
The PUC received a 2010 International Award for Innovative Practices in Higher Education from the American Council on Education’s University Design Consortium. Meanwhile, a new group of students are eagerly workin through the next sequence which began in August 2010.