Service Statement

When my fifth-grade teacher asked me to tutor an at-risk student, she taught me the rewards of service and teaching. Watching this young girl’s confidence grow and her happiness increase because she was learning gave me immeasurable joy, and that experience has shaped my life. Early on, I recognized the ripple effect caring teachers have, so I have sought opportunities to make other lives better through education. My community service background is full of service rendered to reading programs at public schools or adult literacy programs.Thus, I am invested in dedicating my talents to helping people gain the power they need to thrive.

I view my institutional service as opportunities to help the college fulfill its mission to foster the personal growth of our students. For example, it was my privilege to redraft the Academic Honesty Policy that currently serves EGSC. The policy defines academic honesty and outlines a due process, even as it identifies the importance of upholding academic integrity and encourages our students to think about the value of authentically undergoing the learning process. As integrity and fairness are principals that I value the most, serving on a committee to redraft the Academic Grievance Policy has reaffirmed my commitment to providing safe learning environments for my students. My service to the Institutional Review Board Committee, the Academic Policy and Curriculum Committee, and the Faculty Senate (as secretary) has taught me the intricate levels in which the institution serves the educational needs of its community and how important it is to identify accurately and precisely how to fulfill those needs. My service as the Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning has increased my knowledge in pedagogical approaches that inspire students to actively participate in their own education process. I have enjoyed sharing the knowledge that I've gained through faculty learning communities, workshops, and publications. I believe that we are all engaged in the same work of changing lives, even as we help students meet their potential, so it is my privilege to work with caring faculty devoted to enhancing their effectiveness in the classroom. However, while I see all my services to EGSC as skill-enhancing opportunities as much as they are valuable contributions, my service as the Statesboro editor of The Hoopee Bird has been the most rewarding. As I volunteered my time and talents to instruct students in my COMM service class, I fostered the growth of their career skills, spending weekly hours coaching students in writing. I have also enjoyed serving the Science Olympiad that EGSC hosts every spring semester for surrounding high school students.

Finally, my service to my profession takes on different roles other than professor, researcher, and faculty member, as I am dedicated to academia itself. Currently, I am an executive committee member at large for the South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA), which I have been an active participant since 2012. My official service as an Executive Committee will go into effect for the 2018 conference in Birmingham, AL. I am serving or have served SAMLA as a judge for the prize essay selection for the South Atlantic Review and as a CV Reviewer. Striving to strengthen the academic community, I have also served as the teaching collaborator for a digital humanities project the University of Virginia hosts: Digital Yoknapatawpha. The project is digitally mapping Faulkner’s works to preserve history, literary criticism, and a regional literature. I joined the project in 2012 as a research collaborator and writer, but in 2015, Dr. Railton named me the project’s teaching coordinator. As the teaching coordinator, I have designed lesson plans for high school and community college classrooms, and I have trained teachers on how to use DY in the classroom. Moreover, Dr. Railton invited me to present at the prestigious Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference in Oxford, MS in July of 2016. I have committed to this project because I see the value it lends to introducing students to ideas on how technology is being used in the world in addition to the critical thinking skills the project promotes.

The service that I render to my community, my institution, and my profession is freely given out of love for learning and empowering others with knowledge. I dedicate my talents in the name of fostering personal growth in character and knowledge in hopes that I am building a better world.