Dear Colleagues,

Welcome back to MSU and Happy New Year! Last semester was a productive time for The Center for the Advancement of Service-Learning Excellence (CASLE) and our service-learning faculty, students, and community partners. As we begin our second full semester, we are expanding the reach of our service-learning classes; further developing MSU's reputation as one of fewer than 300 universities recognized for earning the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification.

This semester, CASLE has several service-learning courses linking Academic Affairs and the Extension Service. These projects have a direct impact on our local communities and across the state of Mississippi. Two examples from the College of Art, Architecture, and Design (CAAD) include Suzanne Powney's Graphic Art Design II students partnering with the Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity to provide signage concepts for their Resale Store. These students will also be revising props for the Extension Service's Body Walk - a mobile field trip in which children throughout Mississippi learn about the various parts of the body and how they work. Dr. Neil Callander and his Design II students will be working in conjunction with the Starkville Area Arts Council (SAAC) to design and create quilt squares for what will become the state of Mississippi's Barn Quilt Trail.

I am happy to announce that CASLE has received a $50,000 grant from the MSU Extension Service competition. This grant money will be used to support the creation of MSU's new Sweet Potato Innovation Challenge beginning fall 2014. The challenge gives MSU service-learning students the chance to develop creative uses for cull sweet potatoes which will, in turn, benefit Mississippi sweet potato farmers, and our local economy. Toward that end, Karyn Brown and the students in her PR in Organizations class will create a full promotional campaign for the Challenge. Through the diverse service-learning courses implemented this semester, we know a unique teaching and learning experience will be provided for faculty and students.

Our partnership with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) continues this spring as CASLE will play host to a series of Teaching Circles. These circles provide opportunities for faculty and agents to learn more about service-learning and the possibilities therein in a smaller setting. CASLE will also feature a brown bag panel and a seminar. Please watch our website for details or register at the Center for Teaching and Learning (www.ctl.msstate.edu). 

I invite you to contact our office if you have any questions about service-learning or how we can assist you in what you do at MSU. CASLE is always looking for opportunities to help others learn, serve, and become.

Best wishes for a successful semester,

Dr. April Heiselt

Director, Center for the Advancement of Service-Learning Excellence (CASLE)