2008 Woodie Awards
Bridge Initiative provides cash for class outings
By: Angela Riley
Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Learning doesn't always take place in the classroom. In some cases, professors elect to take their students to outside events to help them gain a different perspective. To aid in funding these endeavors, Student Affairs set up the Bridge Initiative.
The Bridge Initiative helps support out-of-class activities that will enhance student learning. Faculty, students or student organizations can apply for funding through Student Affairs for an activity in association with a particular class. Many of the programs receiving funding will be open to students not associated with the class.
"The Bridge Initiative gives students the opportunity to attend events and go outside the classroom, an opportunity that they might not have been able to have without it," said John Ginsburg, director of the University Center and Student Activities, and chairman for the Bridge Initiative.
The initiative provides a few hundred dollars to the class to cover costs of the event - money students would have to pay in other circumstances, Ginsburg said. It does not cover the costs of transportation. Ginsburg approves or denies the request for funding on behalf of Student Affairs.
Meg Sempreora, English department associate professor and chairwoman, used the initiative to help pay for admission to the play, "Bad Dates," for her Women Create Women class.
"I wrote the play into the syllabus and required students to see it," Sempreora said. "Without the funding (from the Bridge Initiative), it wouldn't be guaranteed that all my students could come, and I am not comfortable asking them to pay for the play."
"Bad Dates," which showed at the Grandel Theatre Oct. 17 to Nov. 4, was part of the St. Louis Repertory Theatre Off-Ramp Series. The play contributed to the class theme that women writers create strong women characters, Sempreora said.
Katherine Parsons, a philosophy department associate professor, used the Bridge Initiative in a similar manner. She applied for funding to allow her Environmental Ethics class to tour New Roots Urban Farm last spring. The farm, located in North St. Louis, helps supply low-cost produce to the inner city of St. Louis.
"It was an eye-opening experience for the students," Parsons said. "They didn't know that so much farming could be done in the city on such small plots of land."
While the program can be helpful and supply opportunities to students, faculty and student organizations can forget to use it.
"It's a program that faculty need to be reminded about, and they should keep reminders out for themselves," Sempreora said.
Student organizations do not use the Bridge Initiative very often, although information about it is in the student organization handbook, Ginsburg said. All the organizations have to do is find a faculty member to associate the event with a class.
For more information or applications concerning the Bridge Initiative, contact John Ginsburg at ext. 7105.
The Bridge Initiative helps support out-of-class activities that will enhance student learning. Faculty, students or student organizations can apply for funding through Student Affairs for an activity in association with a particular class. Many of the programs receiving funding will be open to students not associated with the class.
"The Bridge Initiative gives students the opportunity to attend events and go outside the classroom, an opportunity that they might not have been able to have without it," said John Ginsburg, director of the University Center and Student Activities, and chairman for the Bridge Initiative.
The initiative provides a few hundred dollars to the class to cover costs of the event - money students would have to pay in other circumstances, Ginsburg said. It does not cover the costs of transportation. Ginsburg approves or denies the request for funding on behalf of Student Affairs.
Meg Sempreora, English department associate professor and chairwoman, used the initiative to help pay for admission to the play, "Bad Dates," for her Women Create Women class.
"I wrote the play into the syllabus and required students to see it," Sempreora said. "Without the funding (from the Bridge Initiative), it wouldn't be guaranteed that all my students could come, and I am not comfortable asking them to pay for the play."
"Bad Dates," which showed at the Grandel Theatre Oct. 17 to Nov. 4, was part of the St. Louis Repertory Theatre Off-Ramp Series. The play contributed to the class theme that women writers create strong women characters, Sempreora said.
Katherine Parsons, a philosophy department associate professor, used the Bridge Initiative in a similar manner. She applied for funding to allow her Environmental Ethics class to tour New Roots Urban Farm last spring. The farm, located in North St. Louis, helps supply low-cost produce to the inner city of St. Louis.
"It was an eye-opening experience for the students," Parsons said. "They didn't know that so much farming could be done in the city on such small plots of land."
While the program can be helpful and supply opportunities to students, faculty and student organizations can forget to use it.
"It's a program that faculty need to be reminded about, and they should keep reminders out for themselves," Sempreora said.
Student organizations do not use the Bridge Initiative very often, although information about it is in the student organization handbook, Ginsburg said. All the organizations have to do is find a faculty member to associate the event with a class.
For more information or applications concerning the Bridge Initiative, contact John Ginsburg at ext. 7105.
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