Fall 2024

Poverty in Waco

PPS 1100-02, Wednesday 12:20 p.m. – 1:10 p.m. 

Instructor: Josh Caballero, Community Engagement Officer, City of Waco

This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty in Waco and determine ways students can become more civically engaged. Students will learn from a variety of experts and Waco specific studies about the impact of poverty and its intersection with the sectors of employment, education, health, and community development. Students will also get a firsthand glimpse into the challenges facing those experiencing poverty in Waco through 30 hours of volunteer service over the course of the semester. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of poverty and ways they can work towards solutions in their field.

Christian Comm. Development

PPS 1100-03, Tuesday 2:00 p.m. – 2:50 p.m.

Instructor: Dr. Jimmy Dorrell, Founder/President Emeritus of Mission Waco/ Mission World

Learn how to move past quick-fix projects to a community development model of helping the poor and marginalized in lower-income neighborhoods and cities. You’ll get hands-on experiences in Waco with the founder of Mission Waco/Mission World, a recognized 30-year-old ministry.

Law & Public Service

PPS 1100-04 & 1100-05, Wednesdays 2:30 p.m. - 3:20 p.m. & 3:35 p.m. - 4:25 p.m.

Instructor: Kent McKeever, Founder of Greater Waco Legal Services

In addition to one weekly classroom hour focused on the ways the law can be used to serve, students must complete a minimum of 30 volunteer hours. The volunteer requirement may include public service at local legal aid clinics, veteran’s assistance clinics, immigration clinics, and other pro bono organizations.  As part of the 30-hour requirement, a student may elect to participate in up to 10 hours of courtroom observation.

Family Community Medicine

PPS 1100-07, Wednesdays 2:30 p.m. - 3:20 p.m.

Instructor: Jeremy Korteweg, Waco Family Medicine

Students in this course discuss primary care family medicine for disadvantaged communities and volunteer weekly in clinics at Waco Family Medicine. (List for max of 10 students)

Urban Farmers Markets

PPS 1100-08 & 1100-16, Tuesday 2:00 p.m. - 1:20 p.m. & Thursday 2:00 p.m. – 2:50 p.m.

Instructor: Bethel Erickson-Bruce, Waco Downtown Farmers Market Director

This course explores the connection between small business and the local food and farming community - through the operation of an alternative marketplace. Students will learn how the Waco Downtown Farmers Market addresses food access, supports entrepreneurship, and builds community by engaging in weekly discussions and readings that investigate the various parts of the food system. Students will also spend 10 hours outside of the classroom volunteering with the farmers market or market vendors. 

Advocacy for Children and Families

PPS 1100-09, Friday 12:20 p.m. – 1:10 p.m.

Instructor: Dr. Kerry Burkley, Program Director, Children’s Advocacy Center

This course engages students in becoming informed leaders and community responders, and in becoming advocates for the protection of those affected by child abuse.  Effort will also be made to help students process how churches and religious organizations can engage activity for holistic community change regarding child abuse.

Trauma Advocacy

PPS 1100-10, Friday 1:25 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.

Instructor: Dr. Kerry Burkley, Program Director, Children’s Advocacy Center

Students in this course discuss the specific impact of how trauma affects individuals and how a ministry of hope increases the likelihood of generating a “new normal” in which a family can survive and thrive.  Students will also engage research-based group dynamics that help facilitate a more open approach to helping families in crisis.

Community Gardening

PPS 1100-11 & 1100-12, Thursdays 9:30 a.m. - 10:20 a.m. & 11:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.

Instructor: Doug Nesmith, Lab Coordinator, Baylor Environmental Science

In this course students learn the value of community gardens in schools and urban areas.  Through volunteerism, students will learn how community gardens provide fresh produce as well as neighborhood improvement, sense of community and connection to the environment.

Accompanying Immigrants in Waco

PPS 1100-13, Thursday 3:30 p.m. - 4:20 p.m. PPS 1100-17 Tuesday 3:30-4:20

Instructor: Israel  Loachamín, Executive Director, La Puerta

This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the journey of a Spanish-speaking immigrant in Waco to develop an awareness of the unique and rich community that the U.S. has. Students will explore the journey of a Spanish-speaking immigrant through reading, journaling, volunteering with La Puerta, and class discussions.

Transforming Child Poverty

PPS 1100-14 Wednesday 3:35 p.m. - 4:25 p.m.

Instructor: Sarah Pedrotti, Transformation Waco

Working with Transformation Waco, this course explores the consequences of child poverty in Waco and attends to the role cross-sector collaboration, community schools, and wrap-around services play in mitigating disadvantage.  Students will volunteer with Transformation Waco over the course of the semester. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of child poverty, how schools operate as community hubs, and how they can work towards solutions to child poverty in their respective fields of work.  

Community Data & Research

PPS 1100-15, Monday 5:30 p.m. - 6:25 p.m.

Instructor: Jeremy Rhodes, Prosper Waco

Engaging and partnering with community members and entities in research, sometimes in the form of research practice partnership, can be a powerful mechanism for ensuring  research and data is appropriately situated within the context and utilized for social change. Students will learn how to apply research methods and data analysis to local organizations focused on social impact. Partnering with Prosper Waco, students will implement a community-engaged research project.

Food and Sustainability

PPS 1100-19 & 1100-20, Monday 3:35 p.m. - 4:25 p.m. & Wednesday 3:35 p.m. - 4:25 p.m.

Instructor: Skyler Toney, World Hunger Relief Farm

This course invites students to explore the realities of industrial and local food systems, inequities in food access and distribution, and environmental sustainability while also getting their hands dirty on at World Hunger Relief Institute Farm in Waco, Texas. Students will assist weekly with orchard, gardens, livestock, and other farm projects.

Arts and Social Change

PPS 1100-21, Tuesday 8:00 a.m. – 8:50 a.m.

Instructor: Sol Bautista, Creative Waco

Alongside partners at Creative Waco, students will pursue Design Thinking projects as a
collective healing tool for meaningful change in communities. Understanding the power and 
limitless potential of the creative and arts economy will help us see ourselves as contributors of the  cultural heritage and the public good of any and all of the places that we inhabit.

Practicing Restorative Justice

PPS 1100-23, Wednesday 2:30 p.m. - 3:20 p.m.

Instructor: Tasha Roberts, Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty

Practicing Restorative Justice will introduce students to foundational concepts of restorative justice and food security. Students will partner with Baylor’s Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty to develop a food security interventions addressing re-entry food security challenges faced by formerly incarcerated individuals.

Community Based Global Learning

PPS 2101

Instructors:  Anna Beaudry, Rebecca Flavin, Dwayne Simmons, Bo White

Explore concepts of power and privilege relating to global citizenship, service, and community-driven efforts. Students will be assigned leadership roles related to Engaged Learning courses at Baylor and will experience ethical, critical, and decolonial community-based learning and research practices.

Leadership and Social Change

PPS 2301

Instructor: Leia Duncan

Focuses on theory and practice of leading groups toward positive social change locally and globally, emphasizing issues such as poverty, public education, and systemic inequality. Students will participate in community engagement projects and activities on best practices for leading change. 

Philanthropy, Civil Society, & the Public Good

PPS 4310

Instructor: Andy Hogue

Focuses on theory and practice of leading groups toward positive social change locally and globally, emphasizing issues such as poverty, public education, and systemic inequality. Students will participate in community engagement projects and activities on best practices for leading change. 

Psychology & Culture

PSY 4V96/3313

Instructor: Karenna Malavanti

We will evaluate psychological research and theories with a cultural lens, with the ultimate goal to have a more accurate understanding of the global human experience. To develop an appreciation of cultural differences/similarities and the underlying processes that make us different/similar, students will complete an outreach project with a community partner such as Creative Waco, Cen-Tex Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, or local schools and libraries for Hispanic Heritage Month and related activities. Diverse local leaders will serve as guest panelists.

Applied Sociology

SOC 4303

Instructor: Jodien Johnson

This course is designed to provide students an in-depth understanding of applied sociology through practical application of sociological methods in the community outside our classroom doors. We will be working on projects at the Center for Community Research and Development (CCRD) where students will have the opportunity to work alongside Baylor Sociology graduate students on client-driven research projects. We will work on projects that help you develop critical thinking, presentation, writing, communication, and collaborative skills.

Finding Success and Community Engagement in Physics

PHY 1125

Instructor: Lorin Matthews

New Student Experience (NSE) course that introduces students in physics, astronomy and astrophysics to the benefits and challenges of studying these subjects. The course includes an introduction to research areas and strategies for problem solving in physics. We will discuss topics designed to facilitate your transition to the rigorous academic environment at Baylor University. This course will help students develop skills to present physics concepts to K-12 students and the community.  Students will learn how specific equipment can be used to demonstrate fundamental physics principles, explain these concepts to a wide audience, and design and build their own physics demonstrations.  Students will present physics demonstrations 2-3 times during the semester through events such as Sic ‘Em Science Day at the Mayborn Museum, presentations at the Waco Cultural Arts Fest, and presentations to local schools.

Model United Nations

PSC 3375

Instructor: Rebecca Flavin

This course provides an overview of the principal organs, related organizations, and specialized agencies of the United Nations system, including research into the work of specific committees that Baylor’s Model UN team will simulate at national and local conferences. The course includes an engaged learning component such as a community Model UN for local schools or applied research for a UN agency or NGO. The course may be taken twice. Contact Dr. Rebecca Flavin for more information (rebecca_flavin@baylor.edu).

Honors Engaged Learning Seminar

HON 1398

Instructor: Matthew Whelan

Hunger and Justice: We live in a world that produces more than enough food to feed everyone – and yet nearly 700 million people are hungry. In this seminar we ask: what’s going on? What does justice require of us in the face of this reality? As we seek answers, we’ll hear from experts on famine, nutrition, and public health. We’ll trace the “hunger and thirst for justice” (Mt 5:6) emerging out of the Judeo-Christian tradition. And we will gain practical experience regarding the local face of hunger and poverty in Waco, Texas, as well as efforts to alleviate it.

Public Service Internship

PSC 3382

Instructor: Aric Gooch

This course includes research and seminars supplemented by a 100 hour internship in a regional federal agency, in a state or local governmental agency, or in a not-for-profit agency. Contact Dr. Aric Gooch for more information (aric_gooch@baylor.edu)

Baylor in Washington Semester Internship

PSC 3392

Instructor: Mollie Moore

Baylor in Washington students will participate in a full-time internship in Washington, D.C. in a field of their choice. Examples of internships include: U.S. State Department, Capitol Hill, The Supreme Court, think tanks, advocacy organizations, Smithsonian Museums, consulting firms, and nonprofits. Through the Washington Semester Internship Course, students will earn 9 credit hours for completing their internship and participating in professional development activities every Friday throughout the semester. These professional development opportunities include workshops on writing, communication, and networking along with career panels and behind-the-scenes briefings featuring experts around D.C. Students will also complete several assignments designed to help them learn more about their professional and intellectual strengths and interests and expand their knowledge about career paths in D.C. *Interested students must be accepted to the Baylor in Washington program through a competitive application process to enroll in this course.

Law, Justice and the Community

PSC/PPS 3372

Instructor: Christopher Galeczka

This course provides an introduction to legal practice. This course contains a community service component and required internship in legal offices for 100 hours over the course of the semester. Contact Professor Chris Galeczka for more information (christopher_galeczka@baylor.edu).

Intercultural Competence Abroad

GBL 1102

Instructor: Holly Joyner

GBL 1102 is part of a three-course sequence designed to enhance international educational travel experiences. This course is required for all Baylor students studying abroad. It is designed to help you engage with your host culture and context while abroad and, at the same time, learn more about yourself and your cultural values.

Behavioral Medicine

PSY/NSC 4312

Instructor: Annie Ginty

Major issues in Behavioral Medicine from the contribution of psychological, behavioral, and physiological factors and processes to health and illness to the application of psychological theories and techniques to the prevention and amelioration of illness and the promotion of health. Uses engaged learning methods.

Art as Civic Practice: Engagement, Collaboration, and Inclusivity

THEA 4215

Instructor: Guilherme Feitosa de Almeida

Engagement, collaboration, and inclusivity through the lens of arts-based practices as they are related to three key groups: ourselves, organizations, and communities, including community-based artistic programming across fine arts entities.

Literature and the Environment

ENGL 4365, MWF 11:15 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.

Instructor: Dr. Joshua King

This class asks how ethnically diverse authors pursue environmental justice, or healthy environments for all humans and creatures. Concentrating on contemporary writers, we will also look back to the nineteenth century, when issues we still face became prominent. We will consider how authors draw on varied resources of faith, culture, and imagination to promote mutual flourishing, even as they bear witness to disproportionate burdens of toxicity and ecological ruin borne by poor, marginalized, and colonized communities. We will highlight the suffering entailed in modern food systems, even as we partner with diverse communities in Waco who are growing an ecosystem of urban gardens and composting sites to reduce pollution, nourish healthy food for all, and advance climate resilience.