Fall 2023 Courses
Learning for the World
PPS 1100-01, 1 hour, Thursdays, 2:00-2:50pm
Instructor: Dr. Emily Hunt-Hinojosa, Assistant Clinical Professor of Civic Formation and Social Innovation, Baylor University
This class begins the student academic journey toward excellence in scholarship, leadership, and citizenship. It is designed to equip students with the pathways to orient their education toward human flourishing and to begin developing the purpose, character, and innovative mindsets that foster excellence together. In concert with academic reading and discussion, students will be placed in service groups connected to local organizations for weekly engagement opportunities.
Poverty in Waco
PPS 1100-02, 1 hour, Wednesdays, 12:20-1:10pm
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.
Helping Challenged Neighborhoods Thrive
PPS 1100-03, 1 hour, Tuesday, 2:00-2:50pm
Instructor: Jimmy Dorrell, Co-Founder and President Emeritus of Mission Waco
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 and Public Service
PPS 1100-04 & 1100-05, 1 hour, Wednesdays, 2:30-3:20 & 3:35-4:25pm
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.
How to Build a City
PPS 1100-06, 1 hour, Wednesdays, 12:20-1:10pm
Instructor: Krista Brinser, Director of Community Relations, External Affairs, Baylor University
How to build a city works with The Baylor Neighborhood Association, connecting the off-campus community with Waco residents living within the Baylor Neighborhood Boundaries. Students in this course will: 1) Discuss and evaluate the needs and improve the quality of life within the neighborhood, 2) Promote a strong sense of cooperation in our neighborhood and among businesses, 3) Assist and encourage the restoration, preservation, and improvement of this neighborhood, and engage more holistically the Baylor University student body in the local community.
Family Community Medicine
PPS 1100-07, 1 hour, Wednesdays, 2:30-3:20pm
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, 1 hour, Tuesdays, 12:30-1:20pm
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.
Helping Families in Crisis
PPS 1100-09, 1 hour, Fridays, 12:20-1:10pm
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.
Advocacy for Children and Families
PPS 1100-10, 1 hour, Fridays, 1:25-2:15pm
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.
Community Gardening
PPS 1100-11 & 1100-12, 1 hour, Thursdays, 12:30-1:20 & 2:00-2:50pm
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, 1 hour, Thursdays, 3:00-3:50 pm
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, 1 hour, Wednesdays, 9:05-9:55am
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.
Food and Sustainability
PPS 1100-15, Wednesdays from 3:35-4:25
Instructor: STAFF, 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.
Community Law Enforcement
PPS 1102-01, 1 hour, Wednesdays, 10:10-11:00am
Instructor: Robert Lanning, Assistant Police Chief, Waco Police Department
This course provides students an opportunity to interact with and listen to federal, state, county, and municipal government officials and understand how they function. The students are exposed to 12-14 guest lectures from all areas mentioned. The focus is on management and law enforcement and class discussions are held on hot topics such as racial profiling, use of force, etc. The course involves guest speakers such as federal agents, district attorney representatives, state police, municipal police, county police, S.W.A.T. teams and crime scene experts.
Criminal Justice and Community Law Enforcement
PPS 3302-02, 3 hours, Wednesdays, 5:30-8:15pm
Cross listed with PSC 3302
Instructor: Chief Sheryl Victorian, Chief of Police, Waco Police Department
Examination of the criminal justice system, law enforcement, police, courts, and the corrections system through service-learning, as well as classroom instruction.
Philanthropy and the Public Good/Social Philosophy
PPS 4310, 3 hours, Wednesdays, 12:20-3:05pm
Cross listed with Philosophy, PHI 4361
Instructor: Dr. Anne Jeffrey, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Baylor University & Felicia Goodman, Executive Director, Cooper Foundation
This course is designed to provide an understanding of the role of philanthropy in shaping public life and investigate charity’s relationship to power in contemporary social institutions. Students will apply disciplinary knowledge towards stewarding 100,000 dollars to the Waco community in partnership with local social sector organizations.