Laura Phipps, Ph.D.

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of
Kinesiology public health program, College of
Nursing and Health Education

Service Learning Course(s):

• Emergency Preparedness and Management
  (KINE 3354)

“Every major, every type of field, has elements that can be used in the communities to serve other people."

Dr. Laura Phipps has been teaching at UTA since 2018. Her interest in seeing how public health can relate to the community has become a driving force behind the implementation of service learning in her classroom. She was first introduced to service learning because of conversations she had with other faculty members in her department who were already involved with the Faculty Fellows Program. Since discovering the Faculty Fellows Program, her goal has been to help her students see what they are passionate about, how it fits into the community around them, and how they can serve others with the knowledge that they have.

Her favorite part of being in the Faculty Fellows Program is the unique ability to form sustainable partnerships and supportive networks for both students and faculty. She believes service learning provides students with the invaluable opportunity to begin their own networking within the community. She sees service learning as a tool that is not only beneficial for her students but also for the people they are servicing.

Dr. Phipps advises faculty interested in service learning to see what is already happening in the community in their field, and also to start small.