Staff & Faculty - Published Articles and Papers
K. Guerrieri, S. Sgoutas-Emch, C. Nayve, J. Liu, JC. Carlos Rivas, M. Williams, “Community Engagement, Social Innovation, and Anchor Institutions: A Case Study for Converging Paradigms of Social Justice Education,” in Connecting Civic Engagement and Social Innovation: Toward Higher Education’s Democratic Promise, ed. A. McBride, E. Mlyn (Campus Compact: Stylus Publishing, 2020), pp.110-131.- USD faculty and community engaged professionals from USD’s Mulvaney Center co-wrote a chapter in an edited book focused on the intersection of civic engagement and social innovation. USD’ focused on the role of faith-based university that braids community engagement, social innovation, anchor institution practices, and place based community engagement
- This journal was a thematic issue that focused on immersion as a form of engaged pedagogy. This special edition journal featured authors composed of USD faculty, staff, and a community partner. Immersions are frequently characterized as intensive educational experiences in a specific setting over a concentrated period of time ranging from one week to a semester or a full academic year in local, domestic, or international settings. Despite the pedagogical potential, immersion experiences can also present a number of paradoxical challenges such as perpetuating and exacerbating power and privilege. The authors of this issue’s articles provide thoughtful insight to both the power and peril of immersion experiences.
- Drawing on cultural studies and the practice of engaged learning and scholarship, this paper proposes a cultural approach to institutional transformation, which we argue necessarily follows anchor partnerships. The authors advance a model of cohesion and alignment among equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), community engagement, and social entrepreneurship commitments at colleges and universities. This centers on the notion of “joining” as an epistemology and a methodology in community and campus-based work to achieve the anchor mission. In addition to advancing a theoretical model, the authors draw upon theory in practice at the University of San Diego, where the Center for Inclusion and Diversity, Mulvaney Center for Community, Awareness, and Social Action, and the Changemaker HUB aligned their efforts to approach student learning, community empowerment, and economic development through a cohesive lens.
- June 2013 marked the eighth consecutive summer of the University of San Diego’s Jamaica study abroad program. In moving toward the primary academic goals, once again through both service-learning and multidisciplinary in-class curriculum, the program seeks to have students develop an appreciation for the intrinsic value of Caribbean literature, music, and culture; understand how the world’s most powerful nations have shaped the economies and cultures of less powerful nations in ways that often detract from the self-determination and global competency of these less developed nations; and use Jamaican culture as a lens through which they can critically evaluate their racial, ethnic, gendered, national, and socioeconomic selves. Despite many of the challenges that come with international service-learning programs, there remains the tremendous potential for transformative experiences that stimulate student development and create deep, meaningful connections with community members abroad.
- This article examines faculty motivation to integrate community engagement (CE) into teaching and research, in relation to faculty identity, rank and status, experience, and faith. Building upon previous research that focused on intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, our study also examined the role of an institutional definition of CE with clear criteria, as outlined by the Community Engagement Institutional Assessment (CEIA) rubric, in the motivational cycles of faculty reflection on current and aspirational aspects of CE. Surprisingly, our results illustrate that even when colleges and universities support CE across the institution, faculty may not be significantly motivated by this expressed valuing of CE. Importantly, our findings indicate that faculty would like to achieve the aspirational status on all criteria, pointing to the potential for the rubric to bridge the gap between institutional mission and individual faculty motivations. Enhancing this alignment may increase sustained and meaningful impact on the community.
- Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships, with support from the Teagle Foundation, produced this white paper on the public responsibility of higher education, particularly urban higher education, in a COVID-impacted world. In 2022, we invited colleagues from eight institutions (including the University of San Diego) to write brief case studies that highlight mutually beneficial partnerships between their urban college or university and its local community. The sites intentionally reflect a diversity in institutional type, geographic location, and background of authors. We also gave careful consideration to the infrastructure for engagement, specifically where the community engagement was located within the institution (e.g., the Presidential, Provostial, or departmental/center level). All the cases highlight continuous reciprocal engagement with community partners. They are powerful examples of what colleges and universities can and should be all about— educating students to be democratic citizens and advancing knowledge for the public good.
- Building upon the proposed concept of an engagement of hope (Green, Stewart, Bergen, & Nayve, 2020) emerging from the exploration of faith-based approaches to community engagement, the authors delve into collaborative inquiry and critical reflection to construct a framework and equity-centered theory of action for community engagement. Drawing from the work of faith-based community organizations and institutions of higher education, and through the lens of a practitioner-scholar framework, the authors present a scholarly approach to collaborative inquiry and exploration into an engagement of hope, responding to the current context of higher education. The development of the engagement of hope conceptual framework emerged with core approaches to community engagement, responding to the current context and seeking to move the field of community engagement to address this context. The five themes that scaffold the conceptual framework are explicated, including challenging unjust structures, the common good, collaborative courage, community-centered, and individual goodness. The implications of this framework and theory of change are discussed as well as a call to re-center relationships in the community engagement field.
- This is a practical guide to designing, teaching, and coordinating service-learning courses, and for developing reciprocal community partnerships and community-based research through a lens of equity that addresses the endemic racial, social, economic, and environmental disparities across society.
- May Farid is working on helping communities in Indonesia that are affected by mining activities to push back against Chinese transnational extractives corporations. That work is still ongoing and not yet published. But much of her past work has grown out of helping Chinese NGOs advocate for policy change within China.
- This paper presents USD’s Engineering Exchange for Social Justice (ExSJ), a model for fostering justice-focused engineering partnerships. ExSJ emphasizes community collaboration and a socio technical approach to address complex social and technical challenges. The authors outline the ExSJ framework, describe the infrastructure and activities supporting its application, and discuss the challenges encountered. ExSJ is committed to reciprocal, equitable exchanges rather than traditional service-based models, encouraging an engineering praxis that prioritizes social and environmental justice, humanitarian aims, and sustainability. The paper argues that these values can reshape engineering across diverse contexts, promoting a shift away from purely techno-centric methods.
- Schools of Business have enormous potential to contribute to the common good and the public purposes of the university by integrating into the curriculum a broader and deeper focus on university-community collaboration, civic engagement, and solidarity with community partners to address social and economic inequities. This case study of a partnership between an MBA program and a community center’s microenterprise program highlights the key role that community engagement can play in graduate business education. The study includes the theoretical model used within the collaboration, which incorporates three overlapping areas: democratic civic engagement, intersectionality, and multilingual communication.
- Rural communities in Africa lack access to safe, treated drinking water. Boiling water is expensive and environmentally damaging. Boiling removes the risks of bacteria but does not address toxic metals that often contaminate the water in Southwestern Uganda. Plant xylem has been found to remove both coliform bacteria (Escherichia coli) and metals, which can be used in a point-of-use device to treat water in the home. This paper discusses how the partnership with community partners resulted in finding solutions to the lack of access to clean drinking water.
- Changemakers are justice-minded individuals working toward implementing positive and sustainable change within their communities. The project created a space for Changemakers to connect, engage in critical dialogue, and leave with shared knowledge and skills to dismantle oppressive, deficit-based educational systems in the aftermath of COVID-19. This qualitative study examined how the Changemaker framework guided educators to frame [ubuntu], convene [masikhule], and ignite change [skep verandering]. Findings indicate that this process allowed participants to collaborate and reimagine ways to inspire others while renewing their commitment to the responsibilities they face as educators affected by the pandemic. From this project, educators have a framework to participate in global discourse that illuminates commonalities through critical friendships, decreases burnout, humanizes their experiences and increases the implementation of culturally responsive and sustaining inclusive practices.
- Universities seek tools that provide a clear vision and expectations for community engagement at the institutional level. This study focused on the development of a rubric to evaluate four key criteria and its application in a pilot study of course-based community engagement. The results revealed a significant divergence between faculty perceptions and the vision projected in the rubric, which suggests the need for building a more collective understanding and development of opportunities in community engagement.
- This essay is an account of teaching social justice and community engagement classes at a private medium-size liberal arts college in California; and as a scholar with a sustained involvement working with indigenous immigrant communities from Mexico in the United States. One of the main goals is to help students develop awareness about how hierarchies of knowledge and power affect them and people who are different from them, in many cases by the distance that social class, race and ethnicity may enact between communities and individuals. Working together by bringing community knowledge to the classroom, we are able to work on decolonizing these structures and articulating the classroom as a space for sustaining conversations across different epistemologies.
Journal Introductions
Books/Forewards/Afterwards
Reframing Community Engagement in Higher Education (Nayve, Koth, Yamamura)- Promoting academic development and life skills through the high-impact practice of service-learning, the book explores a new ecological framework for reflecting on and improving practice. This book describes new models such as the #CaliforniansForAll College Corps, offers advice on coalition building, and presents the narratives of community-engaged professionals and faculty, offering a sense both of tensions inherent in this work and examples of initiatives in local contexts. Chapters primarily reflect on what action is required for fulfilling our public purpose and what’s holding us back.
Press/Op Eds
Civility Cafe (Nayve, C., Galy, A., Loggins, J., Martinez, R.)
- Staff and faculty from the University of San Diego collaborated with California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) to develop curriculum utilized by CSUSM to implement a campus-wide deliberative dialogue and civil discourse training. The mission of the Civility Campaign is to engage CSUSM students, faculty, and staff in learning opportunities to create a community that navigates social justice issues and multiple perspectives through self-reflection, care, respect, and empathy while acknowledging the culture and humanity of others.
Student Scholarship and Presentations
Collins, K., Spencer, C., Schnieders, S., & Alrasheed, R., & Dalrymple, O. O., (2024, April). Enhancing Mobility for the Visually Impaired: A Community-Centered Capstone Project. Presented at the 2024 ASEE Pacific Southwest (PSW) Conference, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
- This presentation discusses a community-centered capstone project from the Engineering Exchange for Social Justice (ExSJ), where a team of senior computer science students is developing a wearable app to enhance navigation for visually impaired users. Leveraging the Lidar technology and processing power of iPhone 12 and newer models, the team has created a chest-mounted app utilizing the YOLOv8 framework to rapidly detect nearby objects. Prioritizing real-time responsiveness over object-specific accuracy, their model combines object detection with threat detection to alert users if an object is approaching, providing crucial adaptive navigation cues. The project addresses key assistive technology gaps by focusing on features like step and curb detection, with extensive testing in simulated environments. In their presentation, the team will share their design process, insights, and progress toward building a comprehensive navigation tool for visually impaired individuals.
Tavares, S., Dignum, J.R., Forbes, M. H., & Dalrymple, O.O. (2024, April). The Kapawi Electric Boat System: Insight on Community-Partnered Senior Capstone Projects. Presented at the 2024 ASEE Pacific Southwest (PSW) Conference, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
- This presentation explores a capstone project undertaken with the Achuar community in Ecuador, focusing on developing an electric alternative for river transportation to reduce pollution and noise from fuel-based motors currently used at the Kapawi Ecolodge. The Achuar people, known for their sustainable living practices, previously relied on manual canoeing but have recently adopted fuel-powered motors for efficiency. However, these motors have introduced environmental and social challenges. The presentation will address how the student team navigated the unique needs of this community within an industry-focused curriculum, adapting traditional capstone requirements to prioritize community input and sustainability. The presentation also discusses how the team’s planned visit to Ecuador further informed how their design aligns with the Achuar’s environmental values and practical needs.
Kirkpatrick, K., Dalrymple, O. (2024, April). Optimizing Local Biomethane Formula for Net Energy Yields: Applying Industrial Engineering Methodologies to an Eco-Social Justice Problem. Presented at the 2024 ASEE Pacific Southwest (PSW) Conference, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
- This presentation details a capstone project between the University of San Diego, Rum & Sargassum (R&S), and local San Diego partners to optimize biomethane production using waste resources. Inspired by the successful R&S model from Barbados, which combines alcohol-based wastewater, seaweed, and animal waste, the project has already shown promising micro-scale results using kelp, beer wastewater, and animal waste. With early results tripling biomethane yields, the new 2023/24 team aims to improve the formula by testing less energy-intensive mixtures to maximize net energy output. The team will share insights from applying Industrial and Systems Engineering methodologies and their experiences working on an eco-social justice initiative with international collaboration.
Gabriel Ramon Moran Nunez-Soria, Dissertation for the Ph.D. program in SOLES (2024)
- There are many published narratives of Chicana/x/o leaders from the Southwest and substantial research exists on the formation and potential power of critical consciousness within contemporary educational settings. However, there is a dearth of literature that focuses on the development of critical consciousness within the lives and experiences of Chicana/o elders who experienced the Chicano movement within the San Diego region. This study invited elders in the Chicana community, who participated in the Chicano movement, to share some of their experiences of schooling, education, and political activism, to better understand the formation of their critical consciousness, and what they see as critical in creating and maintaining more access to social justice experiences and environments for their communities.
Wissman, N., Ellam, R., Castruita, B., Hamburger, A., Kelly, M., & Farmer, T. (2024). Equity implementation framework for the County of San Diego's Climate Action Plan. In County of San Diego, Planning and Development Services, Climate Action Plan. County of San Diego.
- Dr. Nichole Wissman received a $121,098 grant from the County of San Diego’s Sustainability Planning Division to develop the Equity Implementation Framework as part of the Climate Action Plan Update. This project focused on strengthening equity integration in climate resilience efforts by developing three community engagement workshops, staff development workshops, and collaborations with local organizations and County staff. The framework provides foundational knowledge on equitable resilience-building across justice dimensions—interaction, procedure, and structure—while offering actionable tools to enhance organizational and community capacity and foster cross-sector partnerships. Several student research assistants contributed to the project. Robin Ellam (MBA) and Leah Appleby (Peace and Justice) supported the initiative from May to October 2023, assisting with structuring nonprofit and County staff engagement, conducting research, and handling administrative tasks. Molly Pero, an MBA student, volunteered as part of her program’s community engagement requirement, while CA for All College Corps students observed and assisted with various aspects of the project. Brenda Castruita (Nonprofit Institute) served as a research assistant through the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative.
Mendez Arroyo, M. Impact Justice’s The Homecoming Project: “We are more than numbers, we are stories”. MICAH Summer Fellowship Participatory Action Research Project.
- The MICAH Summer Fellowship offers current USD students the opportunity to foster personal and social responsibility by actively engaging with communities dedicated to creating positive social change. This living-learning fellowship encourages participants to critically examine and embody the program's core values: community, leadership, solidarity, social justice, and spirituality. A key component of the program is Participatory Action Research (PAR). Fellows work collaboratively with faculty, peers, colleagues, and community members to conduct a PAR project centered around a research question developed in partnership with a community organization. The final deliverable is not a traditional research paper, but rather a practical artifact tailored to the needs of the organization (e.g., infographics, concise reports, etc.). MICAH Fellow, Maria Mendez Arroyo, wrote her PAR about The Homecoming Project through Impact Justice which works to bridge the gaps in housing supply and services for those who have been recently released from incarceration.