To support and promote high-impact engaged scholarship, the Office of Outreach and Engagement at The Ohio State University has instituted a process to certify programs of excellence in engaged scholarship. The certification process seeks to identify and certify projects annually that demonstrate excellence in community-engaged scholarship and meet the criteria of high-impact engaged scholarship.
This year, the Global Capstone program, started by Dr. Michael Hagenberger and led by Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering faculty Patrick Sours and Cherish Vance was one of the 18 university programs selected, and one of only two programs in the College of Engineering.
Beginning in 2018, The Global Capstone Program facilitates long-term community impact projects focused on technical challenges co-defined, co-designed and co-implemented by students and a range of community partners around the world. Developing meaningful collaborations with universities, nonprofits and communities allows for contextual and cultural considerations to be woven into project designs resulting in successful and sustainable implementation.
Students in the Global Capstone program learn to navigate and collaborate with an understanding of the complex ways in which technical and social aspects are intertwined, particularly within the context of community engagement. The program develops the intercultural skills required for students to thrive in the globalized world by establishing an interdisciplinary focus and providing high-impact practices. Students will learn these skills within the context of a technical engineering design project, while also receiving hands-on prototyping opportunities in the Impact Engineering Lab.
Since its inception, the Global Capstone offering has impacted over 225 OSU students representing 11 different academic majors culminating in 47 Community Impact Projects in places like Tanzania, Ghana, and Honduras.
“Being recognized as a Program of Excellence in Engaged Scholarship is an honor," said Sours. "Transforming the Global Capstone Design Sequence from a singular project offering in 2016 within the Civil Engineering Capstone to a multi-disciplinary culminating course experience for students pursuing the Humanitarian Engineering Minor where they collaborate on Community Impact Projects with partners across the globe has truly been a team effort and would not have been possible without the immense efforts of our talented students."
All selected programs were honored at an awards ceremony on April 30.
Learn about the Global Capstone Design course.
See the Office of Outreach and Engagement's announcement to view all the selected programs.