Impact of Service-Learning Projects on Rural Communities in India

This program will develop best practices for service-learning projects by assessing the needs of partner communities and evaluating the long-term effects of interventions. Students will partner with Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action NGO in Tamil Nadu, India, to develop protocols for engaging with rural communities and assessing the impact of three previous projects completed by the Texas Global service-learning initiative, Projects with Underserved Communities (PUC). This program builds a unique collaboration between the President’s Award for Global Learning and PUC, an innovative project-based, service-learning collaboration formed between Texas Global, the Cockrell School of Engineering and the Steve Hicks School of Social Work.

Faculty team members:

• Janet Ellzey, Ph.D., Professor, Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering
• Farya Phillips, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor of Health Social Work, Steve Hicks School of Social Work

Student team members:

• Debarghya Chaki- Biomedical Engineering, Andrew Alan- Asian Cultures & Languages, Chemistry, Andrew Samson- Biology Honors, Afsaneh Masoumi- Youth & Community Studies
• Courtney Schulze- Human Dimensions of Organizations, Midori Barry- Radio-Television-Film, Avery Park- Religious Studies (Ethics and Social Justice)
• Maheshwari Rajesh- Psychology, Plan II, Sowmya Sridhar- Public Health, Mansi Patel- Neuroscience, Roopa Bindingnavele- Mathematics, Plan II
• Priyanka Bhasi- Biochemistry, Kate Angulo- Management Information Systems, Sociology, Nila Shankar- Biochemistry, Elizabeth Bailey- Public Health

International partner:

• Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action, Tamil Nadu, India