Community Engagement: A Continuum from Outreach to Engagement

Lynette Overby, Theatre Chair of the Community Engagement Commission at the University of Delaware

Lynnette Young Overby, Ph.D. is a Professor of Theatre and Dance, and Chair of the Community Engagement Commission at the University of Delaware.  She is the author or coauthor of over 40 publications including eight books. Her honors include the 2000 National Dance Association Scholar/Artist, and the 2004 Leadership Award from the National Dance Education Organization.  She is a strong believer in interdisciplinary education and community engagement. A daCi International At-Large board member, she is the archivist for the organization Dr. Overby is currently collaborating with literary historian P. Gabrielle Foreman on a long term “Performing African American History” research project. She was a member of the dance writing team for the new National Core Arts Standards.

Jules Bruck, Landscape Design

Jules Bruck, ASLA, PLA, is Associate Professor of Landscape Design at the University of Delaware, where she teaches courses in design process, CAD, field sketching, and planting design. She also teaches landscape design courses at Longwood Gardens, Mt. Cuba and the Barnes Foundation. She is a registered landscape architect and a permanently certified member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. She owns and operates Evolution Landscape Design, LLC with her husband, Tony. With a love of travel and interest in experiential education, Dr. Bruck has conducted many study abroad trips to highlight design in both Brazil and Europe. Her current research interests are in design based learning and public perception of sustainable landscape practices such as designing for ecosystem services. Dr. Bruck has a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. Visit www.julesbruck.com

Jon Cox, Art

Jon Cox is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Project Liaison in the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Lab at the University of Delaware. He has served as a Board Member of the Dorobo Fund for Tanzania since 2006. Cox’s latest published work was a six-year documentary book project with hunter-gatherers in Tanzania titled Hadzabe, By the Light of a Million Fires. Cox has directed over twenty photographic study abroad programs across the globe including destinations to Antarctica, South East Asia, Tanzania, Australia, Tasmania and several countries in South America. He was a pioneer in the field of digital photography, served as the adventure photographer/writer for Digital Camera Magazine and authored two Amphoto digital photography books. Cox is the 2014 co-recipient of a National Geographic – Genographic Legacy Fund Grant to support a collaborative cultural mapping initiative with the Ese’Eja hunter-gatherers living in the Amazon basin of Peru.

Kate Colyer, Residence Life & Housing

As a Complex Coordinator, Colyer supports the academic and personal growth of the nearly 600 residents residing in George Read North and South. She supervises a professional Residence Hall Coordinator and indirectly supervises a student-staff team of 14 Resident Assistants to ensure prioritization of each student’s personal, academic, and co-curricular engagement at UD. She is an instructor of the Academic Integrity Seminar in the Office of Student Conduct. Finally, she supports faculty, staff, and Peer Mentors in the implementation of three Living Learning Communities (LLC): Biological Sciences LLC, the “Discover our World” College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment LLC, and the “Thrive” Wellness LLC within George Read complex.  She served on the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification Task Force and is a member of the Community Engagement Commission.

Yasser Payne, Black American Studies

Yasser A. Payne is an associate professor in the Department of Black American Studies at the University of Delaware. His street ethnographic research program is centered on exploring notions of resiliency with the streets of Black America using an unconventional methodological framework entitled Participatory Action Research–the process of involving members of the population of interest on the actual research team.

Steve Peuquet, School of Public Policy & Administration 

Sue Serra, Office of Service Learning Susan Serra serves as Assistant Director of the Office of Service Learning, which she founded in 2004.  She works with faculty, students, and community organizations to develop sustainable partnerships through service-learning and community-based research. She coordinates the Service Learning Scholars, a summer service immersion program and is a member of the national Summer Service Collaborative. Serra served on the steering committee of the UD Carnegie Community Engagement Elective Classification Taskforce and currently serves on the UD Community Engagement Commission. She earned her  M.A. in  Liberal Studies from the University of Delaware.

April Veness, Geography

April Veness is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography. She specializes in applied social geography and frequently involves her students in off-campus research and service. Most recently, students in her Global at Home and Newark DE: People, Place and Politics courses participated in community-based research projects addressing issues of interest to the local community. In Georgetown, Delaware they worked with local stakeholders on a bilingual door-to-door survey about communication issues in that ethnically diverse town. In Newark, Delaware they worked with the City of Newark and members of the UD Community Engagement Commission to do preliminary outreach and an online survey inventorying campus-community partnerships. In each of those projects students presented their findings to the community in formal reports and presentations.