Dr. Amy Muse named faculty director of service learning, Barbara Baker is program manager
Dr. Amy Muse
The Office of Academic Affairs announces the appointment of Dr. Amy Muse, associate professor of English, as the new faculty director of service learning. Muse has served on St. Thomas' Service-Learning Advisory Board since 2002 and was a founding member of the Changing Faces of Minnesota partnership with Lincoln International High School.
Dr. Amy Muse
For the past four years, Muse has paired with faculty from Justice and Peace Studies, Psychology, French and Theology to engage St. Thomas students in community-based writing projects. She is also the co-author of Composing a Civic Life: A Rhetoric and Readings for Inquiry and Action (Longman, second edition 2007), a writing textbook that encourages students to see their reading and writing as an integral part of a life of inquiry, reflection and civic participation. As faculty director, Muse has a particular interest in bringing people together to imagine varieties of intercultural experiential learning. She looks forward to helping faculty develop new pedagogies and projects and deepen existing ones.
Barbara Baker
Barbara Baker assumed the position as service-learning program manager, effective Aug. 1. She earned master's degrees in education (University of Michigan) and international peace studies (University of Notre Dame). Her master's thesis on service-learning programs was a direct result of her own participation in a service-learning program.
Barbara Baker
Baker has worked with experiential education programs in various settings, including Georgetown University, the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University, and the University of Minnesota YMCA. She spent five years with the National Society for Experiential Education, working with educators across the country. Most recently, she served as a pastoral associate at St. John Neumann, where she was responsible for educating parishioners about Catholic social teaching and addressing underlying justice issues.
The Service Learning Office is located in Room 106, Summit Classroom Building (formerly McNeely Hall), just east of Finn Street on Summit Avenue, and can be reached at (651) 962-5380.
