Central Michigan University

Teaching teachers to care: CMU prof recognized for service-learning

Monday, March 24, 2008

Topics in this story: Awards, College of Education and Human Services, Education and schools, People, Public service, Teacher Education and Professional Development

Abalo Adewui, associate professor of teacher education and professional development, recently received Michigan Campus Compact's Faculty/Staff Community Service-Learning Award for his commitment to engaging students in service-learning.

Photo by Robert Barclay, CMU public relations and marketing

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Media Contact(s):

Lindsay Allen
989-774-7327

Program Contact(s):

Abalo Adewui
989-774-4411

Central Michigan University faculty member Abalo Adewui may have won a statewide award for service-learning, but that's not what matters to him.

"I always promote the students first; it's about them," said Adewui, an associate professor in CMU's teacher education and professional development department. "And service-learning helps the students see the value of what they are learning. I like to get students to love what they are teaching and develop a passion."

For his commitment to his students, including providing them with hands-on opportunities through service-learning, Adewui recently received Michigan Campus Compact's Faculty/Staff Community Service-Learning Award, a distinction for which he said he is "honored and humbled."

According to Michigan Campus Compact, the award recognizes Adewui's "influence on and the engagement of students to be involved in community service or service-learning through modeling, influencing or instruction."

Adewui established CMU's student teaching site in Ghana, West Africa, where he said there are "a lot of opportunities" for students to engage in meaningful service-learning projects.

While all of CMU's student teachers must complete a service-learning project as part of their experience, Adewui said the Ghana site has unique needs that have led to memorable initiatives, including two students who collected more than 800 books and created a school's first library and another student who gave HIV prevention presentations to youngsters.

Even students who may initially resist the concept of service-learning - or just do not understand it - typically embrace it in the end, realizing that "it's not just the right thing, but it also makes an impact. The student teachers often say they'd do it again," Adewui said.

Next on his service-learning "wish list": A program to follow up with CMU's student teachers after they graduate to determine whether they are continuing to engage in service-learning initiatives as professionals.

Todd Zakrajsek, director of CMU's Faculty Center for Innovative Teaching, nominated Adewui for the award.