Three University of Georgia faculty members have been recognized by the Office of Service-Learning with Service-Learning Excellence Awards in 2023. These awards recognize faculty for outstanding service-learning instruction and for advancing service-learning scholarship. Since 2011, more than 30 UGA faculty have received these awards.
Jon Calabria – Service-Learning Research Excellence Award
Jon Calabria, associate professor in the College of Environment and Design, effectively connects his research with his service-learning courses to benefit the community. Calabria’s research focuses on improving and restoring the environment through landscape architecture, and he has revamped and developed several courses using service-learning pedagogies to provide students with hands-on experiences in environmental enhancement in the Appalachians, Costa Rica and the Georgia coast. In addition to his research in landscape architecture, Calabria has researched the public’s attitude and behavior toward the topics of water quantity and quality, which has resulted in the creation of outreach and educational campaigns to help meet requirements of the Clean Water Act. He is also part of UGA’s Faculty Learning Community on Service-Learning Scholarship and Research, resulting in multiple conference presentations on topics including visual reflection in service-learning and service-learning’s impact on student resilience. Calabria was a recipient of a Creative Teaching Award in 2016 and received the CED Outstanding Teaching Award in 2015. He was a 2011-2012 Service-Learning Fellow.
Katie Darby Hein – Service-Learning Teaching Excellence Award
Katie Darby Hein, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Promotion & Behavior in the College of Public Health, teaches multiple service-learning courses to prepare students for their future careers in health promotion. For nearly a decade, Hein’s service-learning course, Foundations in Health Promotion Professional Practice and Service, has placed students at sites around Athens-Clarke County to gain hands-on experience working with the community. Hein also helped develop a study abroad trip to Japan in which students worked with rural communities in central and southwest Japan and gained valuable health promotion experience working across language and cultural differences. As the undergraduate internship coordinator for her department, she has connected Health Promotion & Behavior interns with nearly 200 organizations and companies throughout Georgia, the Southeast and beyond, including Puerto Rico and Tanzania. Hein previously received an Excellence in Teaching Award from the College of Public Health in 2014 and an Excellence in Service Award from the College of Public Health in 2016, and she was a member of the 2015-2016 Service-Learning Fellows cohort.
Kim Skobba – Service-Learning Teaching Excellence Award
Kim Skobba, associate professor in the department of Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, has developed and taught multiple service-learning courses on topics including housing and community development, housing counseling and sustainable housing. Her Topics in Sustainable Housing service-learning course teaches students to critically examine the effectiveness of green building in different environmental, economic and social contexts and connects students to local community partners such as the Athens Land Trust and Athens Habitat for Humanity. Skobba also co-developed FHCE 4900: Green Building and the Tiny House Movement, which allowed students to build a tiny house each semester. In addition to teaching, Skobba has served as the director of UGA Center for Housing and Community Research since 2018. A 2012-13 Service-Learning Fellow, Skobba received the Service-Learning Research Excellence Award in 2016, was inducted into the University of Georgia Teaching Academy in 2019, and participated in the 2021 Active Learning Summer Institute.