Content with Institutions : Alma College

“Advanced Rhetoric” course: Writing workshops for inmates

Dr. Bill Palmer, a professor of English at Alma College, incorporated service-learning into an Advanced Rhetoric course by providing writing workshops for inmates at a local prison. The course, offered during Alma s one-month spring term, started with an orientation at the prison, where students had the chance to first encounter inmates and decide if they would take part in the service-learning project. Students worked in pairs conducting writing workshops with 4-5 inmates each. At the end of the course, the prison sponsored an essay contest in which inmates got to put their writing skills to the test. From…

Comparative Public Health & Environmental Policy

I. COURSE DESCRIPTION:This course will begin with a comparative review of Mexican and United States history and government, followed by study of selected health and environmental problems along the border of the United States and Mexico. Next we will study the public policies designed to address those problems. After two weeks of intensive classroom study, students will travel to the border to observe conditions and to study and undertake a service-research project related to environmental-health issues. The service project will allow students to utilize public health and environmental skills to assist low income populations in the border region, and thus…