Women working on a survey of the rural economy in the village of Woudourou, Senegal
Community development work in India, Africa, the South Pacific and in impoverished U.S. communities has led me to work with and support students at UM's Project SERVE and to consult for UM's Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning where I've put together some "Nutshell Biographies" of Paulo Freire, Myles Horton, Antonio Gramsci, and others, for students to inform themselves about "big names" in the field. I have also helped the University of Michigan AmeriCorps program develop pre-service and in-service training modules for Detroit community members and UM students in UM's professional schools who work together to improve health, education, housing, social services and small business opportunities in Detroit.
Because of my background in Peace Corps, both as a Volunteer (India VIII, 1964-66) and as a writer and trainer (Togo, 1988), and my graduate work at the Center for International Education at the University of Massachusetts, I have taught a number of writing-intensive courses that deal with issues of global poverty and community development: Building a Community of Change, Why Is There Poverty?, and Through the Eyes of Others (all First Year Seminars); and a Jr/Sr. Social Science Seminar in U-M's Residential College (open to all LS&A students) called International Grassroots Development. In 2006, I developed a first year seminar, Human Rights Activism, that introduces students to human rights abuses in this country and abroad, and encourages them to speak out on these issues.