Kiser honored as finalist for faculty service-learning award

Pam Kiser, professor of human services, was named one of 10 finalists recently in the competition for the 2004 Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning. Sponsored by Campus Compact, this national award recognizes one faculty member each year for contributing to the integration of community and public service into the curriculum.

The award is named in honor of Thomas Ehrlich, past chair of the Campus Compact executive committee, president emeritus of Indiana University and a senior scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Kiser has been a member of the human services faculty at Elon since 1981, when she began teaching service-learning courses in the department. She was one of the faculty leaders involved in the founding of Elon’s service-learning efforts in the early 1990s.

In 2000, Kiser published a book titled, “Getting the Most from your Human Service Internship: Learning from Experience,” which is used on college campuses around the world. She consults and leads faculty development sessions related to service-learning. Earlier this academic year, Kiser was named Kernodle Service-Learning Faculty Development Fellow at Elon. In this role, she leads faculty development efforts related to service-learning, and acts as a liaison between the faculty and the Kernodle Center for Service-Learning.

The 2004 winner of the Ehrlich Award, Richard Eberst, professor of health and human ecology at California State University, San Bernardino, received a $2,000 award.

Faculty nominated for the award are evaluated using three main criteria:

  • Extensive experience in teaching service-learning
  • Evidence of engaged scholarship
  • Evidence of leadership that promotes service-learning on campus

Other finalists besides Kiser included:

  • Karen Bojar, Community College of Philadelphia
  • John Eby, Messiah College
  • Joan Gluch, University of Pennsylvania
  • Marlene Groomes, Miami Dade Community College
  • Margarita Lenk, Colorado State University
  • Marybeth Lima, Louisiana State University
  • David Scobey, University of Michigan
  • Dayle Smith, University of San Francisco
  • Mark Warren, Harvard University