Western Connecticut State University was named for the second year in a row to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. The 2014 designation recognizes the university’s commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.
“These achievements represent important partnerships, service learning components in the classroom, and community service initiatives,” said Dr. Ann Atkinson, WCSU associate vice president for Academic Affairs, who led Western’s effort to qualify for the honor roll. “We have demonstrated that we are building upon our previous success by being named to the Honor Roll for a second year.”
One project that helped Western earn this distinction is the research of Dr. Neeta Connally, assistant professor of Environmental & Biological Sciences, and several of her students, who collected and tracked deer ticks at the Nature Preserve on Western’s Westside campus and several western Connecticut towns including Ridgefield and Newtown. They count the ticks they gather and test some to determine whether they carry Lyme disease or other infections. They also work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a community Lyme disease prevention study in several towns Connecticut towns.
“Tick-borne diseases like Lyme disease are a major problem in our region. The community component of our work is very important,” Connally said. “Working directly with residents is key to our understanding of how to limit the spread of infected ticks and prevent people from getting sick.”
Also in the Department of Biological & Environmental Sciences, Dr. Mitch Wagener, professor, and associate professor Dr. Edward Wong, guide students to research the threat of invasive species such as zebra mussels in Candlewood Lake and several other bodies of water in the region. They partner with the Candlewood Lake Authority, volunteer groups and individual residents to identify areas of concern and determine how to react when the WCSU lab discovers new infestations or expansion of old ones.
“We work with people who are directly affected by our research,” Wagener said. “We can disseminate our findings quickly because we are working so closely with residents and the organizations they have formed to protect these important bodies of water. We feel we are part of the community.”
“We work with hundreds of students, and their families and teachers, each year,” said Melissa Carlo, the program’s project coordinator. “Our professors — and most important, our students — work with high school and middle school students as mentors, providing information about post-secondary education, fostering potential, engaging students and increasing their abilities to succeed at a college or university. After a decade, we are fully integrated into the Danbury and Bethel communities.”
Finally, a two-course sequence in the Social Work Department teaches students about the theories that inform community organizing and helps them put the theories into action. Recent community projects include teaching financial literacy to high school students and raising funds to build a well in Zambia.
The Honor Roll is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s (CNCS) strategic commitment to engage millions of college students in service. CNCS has administered the award since 2006 and manages the program in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as the American Council on Education and Campus Compact.
For more information, call the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.
Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England’s best small private universities.