A total of 24,648 verified service hours and $16,487 in donations has been logged in YSU PenguinPulse by students, faculty, and staff so far in the 2023-24 academic year.

Of those hours, more than 2,300 have directly served organizations or causes in Youngstown. The breakdown of Youngstown hours by category is outlined in the chart below (this does not include service to the university).

Keep up the outstanding service, Penguins!

Join the YSU efforts to support the American Heart Association in February for American Heart Month!

On Friday, Feb. 2, Penguins are encouraged to wear red to promote the goal of ending heart disease and stroke. Then, take a selfie and post it to Instagram or LinkedIn using the hashtags #NEOGoesRed and #YSUGoesRedforAHA for a chance to win a red Stanley cup to stay Heart Healthy, Happy, and Hydrated!

Individuals and departments from across campus are partnering with AHA in support of the Go Red for Women campaign to assist in addressing awareness and clinical care gaps of women’s greatest health threat, cardiovascular disease. Watch for more information in the coming weeks.

YSU students, faculty, staff, and community partners have three weeks left to submit a proposal to be considered for a presentation role at the YSU Community Engagement Symposium. The event will be Tuesday, April 16, 2024, on campus.

Proposals are due by February 1.

Have a keynote recommendation related to community engagement? Tell us about it here!

The Engagement Scholarship Consortium is offering an online workshop, "Turning Community Work into Publications," on February 9, 12 to 1 p.m.

Dr. Diane Doberneck of Michigan State University will talk about specific steps for developing scholarly publications from your community work. 

If you're interested in attending, you can register here.

As part of its strategic planning initiatives, YSU is dedicated to becoming a community-engaged campus by applying for the 2026 Carnegie Foundation Elective Classification for Community Engagement. This segment keeps you informed of the process every step of the way.

Amy Laurel Fluker, Reeder Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Community-Engaged Learning Course: HIST 3748: History of Ohio

Community Partner: Trumbull County Historical Society/Oakwood Cemetery Association (Warren)

Associate Professor Amy Fluker has been busy with her History of Ohio students for her first Community-Engaged Learning course this academic year.

In the course, Fluker and her students participate in an ongoing community engagement project with the Oakwood Cemetery Association and the Trumbull County Historical Society (TCHS). She explains the CEL project:

"The cemetery holds an estimated 30,000 records detailing important information about the lives and deaths of the people of the Mahoning Valley from 1847 to the present. The organizations often receive research requests related to these records but do not have the capacity to fulfill them.

"Therefore, we are collaborating to make the records publicly available and fully searchable online for the first time. Not only will this serve individuals studying their family histories, but it will also create a clearing house for information that reveals valuable insights into health, culture, and society in our region."

In the course, each student transcribes 40 scanned interment records into a shared database. Students then evaluate one another through a process of review, correction, and approval to ensure accuracy.

So far, YSU students have transcribed more than 3,000 records and are helping to build an online database of fully searchable interment records.

The application for Community-Engaged Learning course designations is open. For review and inclusion in the 2024-25 catalog, applications must be received by January 18.

Faculty can find a CEL info sheet here and apply using the link below. You will be able to use the "Save and continue later" function located on the bottom of the application.

How much time are YSU students spending volunteering?

In Spring of 2023, 20% of YSU First-Year and Senior students participated in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). YSU has been administering this survey measuring student engagement for more than a decade.

One series of questions asks students how they spend their time on average each week on activities such as commuting, working on or off campus, studying, or volunteering.

In 2013 YSU first-year students self-reported spending about 2.5 hours a week volunteering and YSU senior students self-reported spending about 2.8 hours a week volunteering.

Now 10 years later, both First Year and Senior Penguins are self-reporting spending an additional hour on average each week engaging in community service and/or volunteer work – that’s 3.5 and 3.8 hours respectively!

In partnership with the Office of Community Engagement, the Institute for Teaching and Learning will be sharing more NSSE data this spring related to community engagement through this newsletter. You can access additional NSSE data online at: ysu.edu/yourvoicematters or contact ysuitl@ysu.edu with any requests.

Teach the explorers in the microelectronics lab the basics of circuitry or beginning coding skills. 

Dogsmartz Unleashed needs volunteers to work around and with dog/human teams as they prepare for tests, such as AKC Canine Good Citizen and therapy dog certification.

The IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs offer free basic tax return preparation to qualified individuals. Volunteers are needed for this tax season.

Advise middle schoolers through the United Way's Report Card Mentoring program.

On the third Saturday of every month, YSU and United Way host Satur-Day of Caring, where volunteers pack groceries and deliver them to people who are unable to leave their homes.

The YSU Office of Community Engagement is dedicated to creating a community-engaged campus driven by the value from mutually beneficial campus community partnerships. This monthly newsletter is your community engagement connection.

CONTACT THE OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Youngstown State University
One University Plaza
Youngstown, OH 44555
330.941.3000

1 Tressel Way | Youngstown, OH 44555 US