BIO 1550 Nutrition
- Instructor: Lynne LoPresto
This course covers the fundamental aspects of human nutrition and metabolism including the basic biochemistry and physiological function of dietary protein, carbohydrate, fat, vitamins and minerals in the human body. The US Dietary Guidelines, MyPyramid and a dietary analysis program will be used to demonstrate dietary assessment techniques and as tools for nutrition education. Student will have 3 opportunities to adapt these materials to educate children in an elementary school classroom about healthy eating habits. The course also includes a module on food production, pesticide use, food processing and safe food handling. We will conclude with overview of food insecurity and world hunger issues which includes introduction to principles of sustainability and the prevention of environmental degradation.
LS 4000 English Language Development
- Instructor: Jennifer Lucko
California Public Schools are in dire need of well-trained teachers competent in both subject matter and instructional methodology. Yet, while content knowledge and methods provide the essential foundation for effective teaching, successful educators also understand the powerful influences of family and community life inside the classroom. In this course, students will design a capstone project that investigates one facet of the home-school connection. As students conduct library research on their chosen topics, a service-learning project will allow students to connect educational theories to instructional practice at a local school-based, community outreach program. At the same time, students will continue to document their growing competence in the content areas by contributing to the development of their program portfolios.
ENGL 1004 Expository Writing
- Instructor: Sister Aaron Winkleman
English 1004 is a University-level writing course that emphasizes the writing of expository essays, including essay structure, thesis idea, the relation between thesis and rhetorical modes—e.g., example, comparison and contrast, and argument—as well as organization and correctness in grammar, mechanics, punctuation, and spelling. It also examines many forms of American English. One of the principal methods for achieving the learning outcomes of the course is service-learning in partnership with the Canal Alliance and Davidson Middle School in San Rafael.
PHIL 1108/3108 Ethics
Philosophers think about thinking. We study what people think and make recommendations about how we should think. The sub-field of philosophical ethics focuses on questions about what is good and just, and what is not. Ethicists analyze and evaluate, defend and recommend particular behaviors, choices, and social policies. Concern for human wellbeing drives us to ask questions about what we should do – “we” as individuals, and “we” in relationships, in society.
The course theme for fall ’08 is ethics and good citizenship. Our anchor texts include readings in classical and contemporary philosophy, as well as service-learning via community service. The classical philosophers – Socrates, Plato, Aristotle – argued that how we define “justice” and “the good” shapes our lives, both personally and collectively. They opened a discussion about the good and justice in the city (the polis, politics) centered on citizenship. In the process, they (especially Aristotle) noticed that ethics requires practical reasoning grounded in life experience. We cannot answer our most important ethics questions in the abstract. Ethics needs praxis to even locate and formulate its key questions. That is why the central “text” of this ethics course is praxis – practical experience of service with community partners. The work of ethics does not stop with praxis, however; ethics moves on to organized practical reasoning and reflection, and to dialogue. That reflection and dialogue then informs and shapes praxis, our life together as citizens. This course is an invitation for you to engage in that praxis-based dialogue on the good and citizenship.
RLGN 1055/3155 Passion for Justice: Liberation Theologies and Social Justice
- Instructor: Cynthia Taylor
For two thousand years, Christianity has been both a force for change and liberation, and for domination and oppression. This course focuses on the former – liberation – as Christian theological movements from the 1950s to the 1980s have combined biblical teachings with social scientific analysis not only to bring about social justice in modern societies but to challenge Christianity’s more oppressive characteristics. Throughout the semester, students will examine several key theological texts that emerged from social movements in Latin American and the United States of this period, and usually identified as Liberation Theology, Black Theology and Feminist Theologies.
Social justice is the crux of all liberation theologies. Our understanding of the intersection between theology and social justice will be deepened through a 25-hour community service component. Service-learning is a structured learning experience that combines community service with academic reflection. Students engaged in service-learning provide community service in response to community-identified concerns and learn about the context in which service is provided, the connection between their service and their academic coursework, and their roles as citizens. Through service-learning, which in this class will be called our Social Justice Project, the student can ascertain how theological knowledge assists him/her in their “praxis situation,” – a term used in liberation theologies to describe the tension between reflection and action.
NUR 4150 Community Health & Nursing
This course is an introduction to population-focused nursing practice. The course utilizes our National Health Objectives, public health core functions, and the nursing process as the basis for health promotion, health protection, disease prevention, health maintenance, health restoration, and health surveillance of individuals, families, aggregates, and communities at the local, state, national, and global levels. The course emphasizes the needs of vulnerable populations across the lifespan, and examines socioeconomic, cultural, gendered, racial and political dimensions of vulnerability and risk.
Thursday is our off-site day at the Umbrella Project. The Umbrella Project is a community health, service-learning, outreach program, designed to provide the vulnerable elderly and disabled residents of Marin Housing Authority and Senior Access communities with health promotion services provided by Community Health Nursing and Occupational Therapy students of Dominican University of California (DUC). Home visiting will focus on medication management, safety, falls risk, nutrition, depression risk, and cognitive assessment. Home visits may often be made by an RN student and OT student together or RN students paired depending on the client need.
HON 3500 Self, Community, and Service: Ethical Theory and Practice
This course examines traditional and contemporary movements in ethical theory regarding questions of selfhood, authentic relation to others, and ethical action. We will delve into a range of philosophical thought in this exploration the connection between ethics, personal autonomy and sense of meaning, and our responsibility to and interdependence on others.
Our understanding of key themes will be deepened through a 25-hour service component that allows for active cultivation and expression of core values in the local community. Service is an integral part of this course as it allows us to bridge theory to practice within an academic context that supports and deepens our understanding of this experience through relevant texts, discussion, and reflection. Students will chose to work with an established community partner with a focus that will also add an enriching experience to their academic major: Youth Court, Canal Alliance, Marin Aids Project, School Environmental Education Docents, Homeward Bound.
PHIL 3510 / WGS 3510 / HUM 3510
Self, Community, and Service:
Modern Identity and Moral Meaning
- Instructor: Julia van der Ryn
I can define my identity only against the background of things that matter.
–– Charles Taylor (The Ethics of Authenticity)
This course examines contemporary movements in ethical theory, focusing on the essential human need for moral meaning and its modern implications. Themes include questions of identity, responsibility, perception of and relation to the “other.” We will probe the ways in which the existential question of authenticity, “who am I?” is inextricably linked to questions of morality and ethical being, such as how we determine right from wrong action and how we choose conduct ourselves in the world.
Our understanding of key themes will be deepened through a 25 hour service component that allows for active cultivation and expression of core values in the local community. Students will develop and act on their social and environmental concerns/interests within an academic context that supports and deepens their understanding of this experience through relevant texts, discussion, and reflection.
ENST 2000 (lecture) and ENST 2005 (lab) ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Investigation of ecological principles involved in human relationship to and interaction with the environment. Emphasis is given to political and economic aspects involved in the solution of environmental problems. Students learn by serving the Dominican community on local environmental projects, or by serving San Rafael/ Marin partners that need help in protecting our environment units. Partners include: Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, Marin Headlands Native Plant Nursery, National Park Service, Presidio Park Stewards, Salvation Army, Sea Flow, Marin Sanitary Services, Marin Mammal Center, Humane Society, Marin Municipal Water District.
Graduate Courses
OT 5103 Program Development in the Community
Skills needed to design and develop innovative programs in community settings using a service-learning model. Topics covered include theoretical frameworks, research, development, implementation and evaluation of community programs, business planning, grant seeking, and marketing This fall, we are doing program development projects at several agencies: Homeward Bound, Marin Youth Center (MYC), Marin Brain Injury Network, and Marin Housing Authority sites, in conjunction with the nursing department and the Umbrella Project. We are also doing two special events: we are hosting a table at the Marin County Senior Information Fair, and we are co-hosting a CarFit senior driver safety evaluation event with the Marin County Division of Ageing. More info
BUS 4075 -- Leadership: Theory and Application
This course examines the role of leaders in business, leadership styles, the ethical responsibilities of leadership, strategies for team development and leading, planning for organizational change, as well as conflict resolution and group decision-making. Particular emphasis is placed on the strategic significance of the organization’s structure and ways in which this impacts both the leader, members of the organization, and both the internal and external relationships. A significant component on course is the Leadership Practicum, where teams will be assigned to complete a service learning project in the community under the direction of a leader in the Marin community. Community Partners include:St. Vincent de Paul, Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership, Dominican's A Greener Dominican Task Force, iReuse.com, Next Generation.
