This year, the Office of Service-Learning at the University of Georgia welcomes 13 faculty members into its 22nd Service-Learning Fellows cohort.
The program allows faculty from a wide range of disciplines to integrate academic service-learning into their professional work. Since its launch in 2006, over 200 faculty from across UGA have participated in the Service-Learning Fellows program.
“Service-learning as a pedagogy provides UGA faculty with a framework for connecting course curricula to community issues,” says program co-director Kathy Thompson, a clinical professor in the Mary Frances Early College of Education. “This creates real-world opportunities for university students to apply their knowledge and skills to make a meaningful difference in their communities.”
Faculty participants develop service-learning course projects that pair students with communities across Georgia to address issues such as youth development, food security, health access, economic development and more. Through completion of these projects, students can fulfill their experiential learning graduation requirements while simultaneously benefiting local communities.
The 2026-27 Service-Learning Fellows and their proposed courses are:
Analisa Arroyo – Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Arroyo seeks to introduce a semester-long project into COMM 4420/6420: Communication and Body Image. Students will be trained to implement Be Real USA’s peer-led body image program, College BodyKind, with fellow UGA students. The evidence-informed program promotes self-compassion, body appreciation and positive body image. Through the workshops, students will apply communication theories and facilitation skills while gaining hands-on experience in leadership, community engagement and health communication. The project will expand access to body image programming on campus while connecting communication theory to community practice.
Man Basnet – Associate Director/Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Statistics
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Basnet will develop a service-learning project in STAT 4365/6365: Modern Statistical Programming, where students will partner with a Athens-Clarke County community organization to address a problem identified by the client. Depending on the project, students may work with existing data or help identify appropriate data sources and analytical approaches. Students will apply statistical programming, data analysis and modeling techniques while strengthening professional communication skills, exploring ethical questions in applied data work and developing a deeper understanding of civic responsibility and how data science can serve the public good.
Amy Bonnaffons – Fiction Editor/Academic Professional
The Georgia Review
UGA Libraries
Bonnaffons proposes a variation of ENGL 4805: Editing and Publishing that will include a module on feminist and grassroots publishing. Students will create their own publication in collaboration with a community partner, giving them an opportunity to apply what they learn in an authentic publishing project. Along the way, they will gain experience in essential areas of publishing such as copy editing, shaping an editorial vision, marketing and distributing their work, while learning how publishing can connect students with community-based perspectives and partnerships.
Cesar L. Escalante – Professor
Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics
College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences
Escalante will update the existing service-learning project in AAEC 6980: Advanced Agribusiness Management to revive and expand agribusiness consultancy services for businesses throughout Georgia. The project will connect graduate students with a larger base of organizations that can benefit from their business consultancy services, including firms focused on traditional cost minimization and profit optimization as well as nonprofit-type organizations with community development and social welfare goals. Escalante also intends to explore an Extension-focused course that would will use applied research to address real-world issues and prepare students for related careers.
Maryann Gallagher – Senior Lecturer
Department of International Affairs
Director, Security Leadership Program, Benson-Bertsch Center for International Trade and Security
School of Public and International Affairs
Gallagher will develop a service-learning project for INTL4420S that engages students from the Security Leadership Program and GLOBIS Human Rights Research Lab in “Future Security Scholars,” a three-week summer program for Clarke County high school students. The program will introduce participants to international security topics including trade, energy security, human rights and nonproliferation, as well as related career pathways. UGA students will gain experience translating complex international affairs topics for younger learners through a community-focused educational program.
Wil Golden – Lecturer/VITA Coordinator
Department of Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics
College of Family and Consumer Sciences
Golden plans to expand the UGA Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Programinto a multidisciplinary service-learning platform focused on financial wellbeing. Through FHCE 4325S: Applied Financial Planning and FHCE 6235S: Applied Financial Planning Leadership, students will move beyond preparing tax returns to address wealth-building challenges facing low- and moderate-income families. The experience will give students real-world preparation for careers in financial guidance while broadening the program’s focus on the financial needs of community members.
James Huff – Associate Professor
Engineering Education Transformations Institute & School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering
Huff proposes a multi-faceted project to advance service-learning partnerships in ECSE 1100: Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering with subsequent undergraduate research courses. In collaboration with UGArden, Huff will continue working with students into their sophomore year on an existing service-learning project. He also intends to collaborate with faculty across disciplines and within engineering to strengthen team-based service-learning and expand community partnership. In addition, Huff will explore creating an undergraduate service-learning research section that would allow students to continue faculty-mentored, community-engaged work beyond the introductory course.
Deborah Lacey – Lecturer, CFP® MST – Lecturer / CFP® Program Director
Department of Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics
College of Family and Consumer Sciences
Lacey is designing a new course that will be incorporated into FHCE 5250 Capstone in Financial Planning and a new section of existing applied financial planning courses. Students will design and implement interactive seminars and individual meetings focused on financial resiliency, covering topics such as investing, retirement, taxation, savings, risk assessment and budgeting. The project aims to help community members make confident financial decisions, reduce financial stress and build long-term economic stability while giving students hands-on experience applying financial planning knowledge with individuals and communities.
Kristen Kuder Lynch – Lecturer
Music/Music Education, Hugh Hodgson School of Music
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Lynch intends to incorporate service-learning into MUSI 4360: Woodwind Instrumental Techniques and MUSI 4370: Brass Instrumental Techniques. Students will design and lead a month-long program for beginning instrumentalists, applying course concepts in an authentic educational setting and receiving real-time feedback from learners. The courses will partner with local elementary or middle school music programs, giving fifth and sixth grade students opportunities to explore wind instruments before taking a band class. Lynch also hopes to work with local music companies to secure loaner supplies and instruments and increase access.
Danielle Heceta McArdle – Lecturer
Kinesiology/Sport Management
Mary Frances Early College of Education
McArdle seeks to redesign KINS 4820: Social Aspects of Sport into KINS 4820S, adding a community-engaged component to a course that examines how class, race, gender, access and representation shape opportunities in sport. Students will work with Athens-area organizations to prepare a summer “Sport Management Week” for justice-impacted individuals, including campus tours, sample classes and exploration of sport-industry careers. Inspired by the Justice and Upward Mobility Project, the effort would give students experience expanding access and opportunity while deepening the department’s relationships with the Athens community.
Kate Meixner – Clinical Assistant Professor, Family and Community Medicine
Department of Clinical Sciences
UGA School of Medicine
Meixner proposes to enhance longitudinal service-learning for medical students in Community and Population Health, where she serves as assistant director. Student teams currently provide free primary care under faculty physician supervision at community sites serving patients who face barriers to healthcare access, while also carrying out research and advocacy projects around unmet health needs. As the UGA School of Medicine grows, Meixner will focus on expanding community and interdisciplinary partnerships and strengthening infrastructure for student research and advocacy, creating additional learning opportunities while increasing access to services and community impact.
Sally Ann Nichols – Clinical Assistant Professor
Music Therapy, Hugh Hodgson School of Music
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Nichols is developing a service-learning course focused on performing arts in healthcare. The course will teach students how to provide intentional and safe musical experiences in public spaces within healthcare settings and will include an in-person practicum. Student musicians from across UGA will learn about the impact of the arts on wellbeing and the role of creative arts therapies while gaining early exposure to clinical environments. The course also will expand existing partnerships with organizations including Piedmont Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital, as well as other community entities.
Demitra Thomloudis – Associate Professor, Chair of Jewelry and Metalwork Program
Lamar Dodd School of Art
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Thomloudis is creating Skill-Sharing & Tool Literacy Workshops: Advancing Community-Centered Hands-On Learning through Jewelry and Metalwork as her service-learning project. Led by students within the Lamar Dodd School of Art’s Jewelry and Metalwork program, the workshops will emphasize tool literacy and applied problem-solving for community members. Students will learn to frame their technical expertise as transferrable knowledge with civic, social and professional relevance while stepping into teaching and mentoring roles. Thomloudis hopes the project also makes hands-on material and tool literacy more accessible to community members.
