Service Stories

Students and faculty are invited to our Serve and Shine event on Thursday, November 13th, from 11:30am to 2:30pm in the Campus Life Center (3rd floor). A lunch buffet with networking friendly food is available for attendees. Join us to look at upcoming service-learning opportunities and make sure to save the date so you don’t… Read more: Save the Date: Serve and Shine!

Tammy Pike, senior instructor of history, has woven South Carolina women’s history into her Service Learning courses in a way that brings local history to life. Pike has established a significant partnership with Joe Hursey, historian at the Piedmont Historical Preservation Society. In her HIST U325 course, Women in the US Since 1865, students transcribed… Read more: Engage Upstate Spotlight: Bringing Local History to Life

Art has always been an important part of the Upstate’s cultural identity, both on and off campus. Statues and murals scattered throughout downtown Spartanburg and pieces throughout Upstate’s campus show this clearly. This especially holds true in Professor Freda Sue’s printmaking classes (ARTS U207 and ARTS U307) where students are reaching out to their communities… Read more: Engage Upstate Spotlight: Printmaking and Its Impact

Despite Hurricane Helene imposing her will on Spartanburg and the areas surrounding the Upstate, community engagement events post-storm have been successful and have given a sense of perseverance and resolve. Making landfall September 26th and bringing the region to a halt with countless downed powerlines, incapacitated roads, hundreds of thousands without power for a week,… Read more: Community Engagement 2024: A Year in Review

This article was originally published in the ’19-’20 academic year. Students in multiple sections of Community and Public Health Nursing (NURS U461) work with a variety of community partners to explore health issues in our Upstate community. In addition to serving alongside nurses in public schools, in hospice agencies, in home health agencies, and at detention centers, NURSU461… Read more: Service Stories Archive: Community and Public Health Nursing (NURS U461)

This article was originally published in the ’19-’20 academic year. Kim Land’s MKTG U352 – Marketing Communications class services six local small businesses or non-profits in our community every semester through extensive research, evaluation and recommendations that are developed into a full Integrated Marketing Communication plan for their business. Since Fall of 2016, Land and… Read more: Service Stories Archive: Marketing Communication Plans (MKTG U352)

Introduction to German Translation (GERM U311) was taught for the first time in USC Upstate’s history to eight students in Fall 2019. The focus of the course is on the essential goal of the translator, which is to transmit a living voice from one language, culture and moment to another. By using hands-on teaching techniques, students… Read more: Service Stories Archive: Translating Holocaust Documents (GERM U311)

This article was originally published in 2020. Spreading Awareness of Various Infectious Diseases and Methods of Disease Control Students in Dr. Ginny Webb’s Microbiology course (BIOL U330) aim to spread awareness of various infectious diseases and methods of disease control. They regularly partner with Oakland Elementary School where microbiology students teach hands-on lessons to kindergarten… Read more: Service Stories Archive: Spread Awareness, Not Disease

Serving the Upstate during the COVID-19 Pandemic Senior Nursing Instructor, Latasha Gooden with the support of the Mary Black College of Nursing, has partnered with the Charles Lea Center and Palladium Hospice & Palliative Care to initiate the COVID-19 Virtual Interaction Outreach program. From May 2020, the program has provided nursing students and faculty volunteers the opportunity to virtually connect… Read more: Service Stories Archive: College of Nursing Virtual Outreach

This article was originally published in the ’19-’20 academic year. Dr. Renu Pariyadath has been connecting SPCH U347: Environmental Communication classes with her research in both local and global communities since she joined us in Fall 2016. As an environmental advocate, it just made sense for her to bring students into partnership with community organizations… Read more: Service Stories Archive: Communication as Environmental Advocacy (SPCH U347)

USC Upstate’s Watershed Ecology Center, founded by the late Dr. Jack Turner, seeks to promote scientific research on the watershed ecology of the region, community outreach, and educational programming for local schools. The Center reaches children in grades K-8 with hands-on standard based science education at no cost to the schools thanks to the generosity of… Read more: Service Stories Archive: Water Ecology Center reaching local schools and monitoring local streams

This article was originally published in Fall 2019. This spring for the third year running, Dr. Lisa Johnson will teach a special topics course which includes an oral history project offering students an opportunity to connect with the LGBTQ community in the upstate of South Carolina, providing the LGBTQ community a means to share their… Read more: Service Stories Archive: LGBTQ Oral Histories (SOCY U391 / WGST U398)

Upstate students do great things both in the classroom and out. This week’s story highlights the service outside the classroom of three December graduates. Whitley Farmer is a Nursing student and mother who runs an annual coat drive from November through the beginning of January. She credits her recently deceased parents with teaching her to caring,… Read more: Service Stories Archive: December Graduates Who Serve (December 2019)

Dr. Brooke Hardin’s Addressing Reading and Writing Problems class partners with Jesse Boyd Elementary School. The mission of JBES is to inspire and equip all young people to become lifelong learners and productive community members through a challenging and supportive environment which promotes academic excellence, confidence, and creativity. Dr. Hardin’s service learning project, “We Write… Read more: Service Stories Archive: Jesse Boyd Elementary School and Addressing Reading and Writing Problems (EDRE U444)

This article was originally published in Spring 2019. SHRCC is now known as Project R.E.S.T. Dr. Esther Godfrey’s Introduction to Women’s & Gender Studies classes partner with the SAFE Homes-Rape Crisis Coalition. The coalition seeks to “use our collective voice to address the impact of domestic and sexual violence by providing quality services to those… Read more: Service Stories Archive: SAFE Homes-Rape Crisis Coalition and Introduction to Women’s & Gender Studies (WGST U101)

This article was originally published on May 2, 2016, on USC Upstate’s News page. Enlightening the World of Five-Year-Olds: Hand Washing Activity Shines Light on Germs MAY 2, 2016 AT 9:32 AM Wide-eyed students at Oakland Elementary School got a lesson in hygiene, while also having some fun. It’s a lesson on microbes and germs… Read more: Service Stories Archive: Oakland Elementary School exploring germs with Microbiology (BIO U330)

This article was originally published on March 11, 2016, on USC Upstate’s News page. It began as part of the Spanish U311 translation class in 2013. Maria Monteso, a full-time instructor in the Languages, Literature and Composition Department, believed providing her students with a practical way to demonstrate the value of translated documents would also… Read more: Service Stories Archive: Making English documents more available through Spanish Translation (SPAN U311)

by Suzanne Floyd, Senior, Interdisciplinary Studies Follow one student’s journey from homelessness to serving the homeless community in service learning course, WGST U101. If you need help, connect with our Community Resource Coordinator! From Homelessness to Serving with Opportunity Housing I had no home when I moved to South Carolina in fall 2011 from the… Read more: Homelessness to Opportunity

Spreading Awareness of Infectious Diseases and Methods of Disease Control Students in Dr. Ginny Webb’s Microbiology course (BIOL U330) aim to spread awareness of various infectious diseases and methods of disease control. They regularly partner with Oakland Elementary School where microbiology students teach hands-on lessons to kindergarten students about disease transmission and hand washing. The… Read more: SPREAD AWARENESS, NOT DISEASE