Penn State Intercom......January 31, 2002

Kellogg LINC mini-grant
awardees announced

By Gary Cramer
Public Information

The Leadership for Institutional Change (LINC) initiative, a partnership of the University and Cheyney University of Pennsylvania that is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, has awarded nine diverse teams with mini-grants for projects that address campus and community concerns.

The awards range from $2,200 to $5,560 and the total amount awarded for this latest round of grants was $34,702. This is the second year that the mini-grants have been awarded to groups at the University that provide a driving force for leadership and change.

The following teams were awarded funding for the period of Nov. 30, 2001, through June 30, 2003:

* Penn State York Early Awareness: Aims to increase the retention rate of high school students from York school district by their participation in a weeklong summer program.

* Community Leadership Development Program of Gettysburg/Adams County: This effort by Adams County Cooperative Extension, College of Agricultural Sciences, focuses on working with local municipalities to develop a cadre of citizen volunteers who will foster intergovernmental cooperation. The long-term goal is to develop a continuing stream of young leaders who will provide guidance to governmental, nonprofit and educational boards.

* Leveraging Faculty for Leadership Development: The Schreyer Honors College is engaging more University faculty in teaching courses devoted to leadership development and/or incorporating more leadership content material into pre-existing undergraduate courses. The major strategy used in this project will be to pay faculty expenses for short, intensive seminars on the subject matter at major think tanks in Washington, D.C.

* Community Built Sustainable Housing -- An Interdisciplinary Service Learning Course: The Schreyer Honors College is examining alternative building methods with a focus on load-bearing strawbale technology. Students in Architectural Engineering 497H will design and lead the construction of a community-built structure, the Strawbale Design and Learning Center on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana.

* Penn State Rural Nursing Connection (PSRNC) -- Early Childhood and Family Assessment and Health Promotion Initiative: LINC funding will help the School of Nursing's multi-site nursing center network to further develop outreach and service-learning initiatives in the 10 medically underserved areas where its programs are taught. Outreach initiatives include students from nursing and other health-related disciplines.

* Intergenerational Program: This initiative is a partnership between the early childhood programs of the University's Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Cooperative Extension, the Gerontology Center and the Community Academy for Lifelong Learning. The program aims to foster interactions between children and senior adults in Centre County, and to provide training opportunities for students, faculty and other professionals.

* New Kensington Youth Leadership Program: A Penn State New Kensington effort to increase participants' knowledge and skills related to leadership, negotiation and conflict resolution, and team dynamics through the design of a team project that addresses a community issue. Participants identify their leadership style recognizing both their strengths and weaknesses, and use a framework for decision-making that includes legal, ethical and moral elements.

* Global Understanding: The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program is launching a project, "Introducing an Old Community in a New Setting: Global Understanding," to immerse a group of 15 high school students in issues and agendas of a global nature that are likely to impact both their personal and professional lives in order to prepare them for broader citizenship and leadership responsibilities.

* Penn State Lehigh Valley Institute for Emerging Leaders: Provides promising high school juniors who might not otherwise have the opportunity with leadership education, training and perspectives on social and ethical issues. It is anticipated that the students will develop links to the community and the University and have an impact on the community through a service project.

The Kellogg LINC Project Design Team includes Sharon Cannon, assistant to the provost for special projects at Cheyney University, and John A. Brighton, University professor with the Teaching/Learning Consortium and executive vice president and provost emeritus; David V. Day, associate professor of psychology; Carol L. Everett, associate director of the Center for Quality and Planning; Barbara L. Gray, professor of organizational behavior; Judith A. Kolb, associate professor of education; and Louise E. Sandmeyer, executive director of the Center for Quality and Planning.

For information, visit http://www.psu.edu/president/cqi/LINC/awardees2002.htm.

Gary Cramer can be reached at gwc104@psu.edu.

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