Karishma Chatterjee, Ph.D.

Service Learning Course(s):

• Communication Training (COMS 4322)

“By doing, we learn in a way that’s more powerful than other ways, and for service learning courses, it is something that students will remember beyond college."

Dr. Karishma Chatterjee has been at UTA since 2009 and has been partnering with nonprofit organizations since 2014. Her first partnership was with an agency in the DFW metroplex called Helping Restore Ability which provides support to individuals with disabilities who work independently in their communities. Her class of 40 students did various communication activities for them, and also did a service learning project the next year where they developed a newsletter and did social engagement activities on campus to promote the organization. They also did some marketing activities that involved meeting with prospective clients of the agency and inform them about what the agency does.

Another project Dr. Chatterjee hopes to start is a simulation in which students go into a situation with a client that has a specific communication need, and assess their needs to come up with a training workshop. The experiences she gained being a Faculty Fellow have given her all the resources she needs to make implementing service learning easier. She has seen how many of her students that took a service learning course have built better connections and relationships because of these courses, and have utilized them to make their own classroom experiences better.

Dr. Chatterjee would advise faculty interested in service learning to face the fact that they may not get the outcome they were hoping for, but if they utilize all the tools and resources available through the Center for Service Learning they can enhance their experience and make it better the next time around.