Community Learning Exchange #3
Out third Community Learning Exchange took place in IT2 on the Edinburg campus on March, 29th 2019.
Introduction of the CLE was kicked-off by Dr. Alexis Racelis. Faculty and community partners were given a grand tour of the on campus botanical garden and the laboratories in the newly-built science building, as well as a run down of grant opportunities and the chance to network.
The garden includes land that is fully equipped with irrigation, access to a tool shed, and a shade house, all adjacent to UTRGV's state-of-the-art greenhouse equipped with a water wall, sprinklers, and fans ensuring optimum temperature. These resources are available to use by student organizations that focus on sustainability and research such as Dr. Racelis' on soil ecology.
The new science building, which opened its doors to faculty and students alike on January 11th, 2019, houses classrooms, teaching labs, faculty and researcher offices, an instrumentation research and teaching core, and research labs supporting biological and physical sciences (physics, chemistry synthesis, general research requiring hoods, life sciences, geology, and some infectious materials normally characterized as BSL-2). CLE attendees were walked through the first floor physics labs and third floor chemistry lab of Dr. Shizue Mito, who researches the chemistry of biosustainable gardening.
Following this, attendees were escorted to the College of Science Annual Conference held in the HPE2 building gymnasium to hear Dr. Racelis present his proposal on community engagement integrated STEM courses and projects that students have completed under faculty members like Dr. Teresa Feria-Arroyo. Faculty and community partners were presented with glass plaque honoring them for their contributions to Community Engaged Scholarship and Learning. CLE 3 concluded with lunch in the IT2 building to allow attendees to network amongst themselves.