Gallery of Public Service
Solar Decathalon
A delightful mix of architecture, engineering, and community service
The Solar Decathlon is a competition held every two years, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and its partners. The goal of the competition is to explore the feasibility of a sustainable home, with emphasis on solar power. Through research, testing, and experimentation, each team will arrive at a design from which they will construct a solar home. In our solar powered home the sun will power the heating, cooling, hot water and lighting.
UMass Dartmouth is the only team invited to the 2005 competition from Massachusetts and the only team working with Habitat for Humanity to build affordable sustainable solar homes.
The Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission (MFAC) has announced that SMAST's Professor Kevin Stokesbury has been chosen to recieve the 2004 Belding Award for marine resource conservation. Created in 1989, the Belding Award is given annually to the individual who, in the opinion of MFAC, has done the most to promote the conservation and sustainable use of the Commonwealth's marine resources. Stokesbury's Sea Scallop Research Laboratory has received much attention in recent years, notably for surveys of the entire northwest Atlantic scallop resource. Stokesbury's surveys use an innovative video system that brings a new precision to the data and his findings have helped regulators arrive at management plans that have reinvigorated the scallop fisheries while still conserving the resource.
The SHARE Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides custom-designed assistive computer technology to people with disabilities.
Dr. Susan LeClair counsels patients across the world, explaining their diseases and the clinical laboratory ramifications of Diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis.
Changing Lives Through Literature
Changing Lives Through Literature is an "alternative sentencing program based on the power of literature to transform lives through reading and group discussion. This visionary approach has proven itself as a successful alternative to traditional sentencing methods and has been implemented throughout the United States and the world."
Nursing Professor and recent winner of the Drum Major award Jeanne Leffers writes:
From my Master's and Doctoral Degree in Medical Sociology, I have a strong concern for the sociopolitical implications of nursing and health care. As a communityhealth/public health nurse, I strongly believe in empowering students and clients to improve health of populations. To meet this vision, I have voluntarily worked with a center for immigrants and refugees for the past 6 years, made several trips to Guatemala and the Dominican Republic and included nursing students in these efforts. My most recent research effort is directed at empowering members of underserved groups to identify their environmental health risks.
The Compeer program, an adjunct to therapy sponsored by UMD, is based on the concept that a volunteer's friendship, advocacy and support can offset the loneliness and fear experienced by those suffering from mental illness.
UMD's local chapter of Compeer International, an award winning program that matches volunteers with adolescents and children with mental illness in one-to-one friendship relationships, is proudly sponsored by Nursing Professor Sharon Sousa, Psychology professor Jack Conboy, and Counseling Center Director Christine Frizzell.
At the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Assistant Professor of Foreign Languages and Literature Dr. Carlos Benavides, teaches his Business Spanish Service Learning Project. Because of this project's excellence and its ramifications on the surrounding communities, Prof. Benavides has been awarded this year's UMD ELCR Teacher Award.
If there is a project you feel should be listed here, please request its inclusion at http://www.umassd.edu/catls/facultygallery.cfm.