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VANCOUVER, Wash. – When �鶹��ý introduced the Community Engaged Scholars program in 2023, Praveen Sekhar, associate professor of electrical engineering at the School of Engineering and Computer Sciences, quickly signed up. Last summer, he was among six faculty members who made up �鶹��ý’s first CES cohort.

CES is an intensive professional development opportunity for faculty to learn about incorporating service learning into their classes. Introduced in 2017 on the main campus in Pullman, the program is now available systemwide; �鶹��ý is the first non-Pullman campus to adopt it. This spring, Sekhar embedded service learning into his ECE405 course, Professional Issues and Ethics in Electrical Engineering.

“Many folks around campus don’t automatically associate our Electrical Engineering program with service learning,” said Narek Daniyelyan, assistant vice chancellor for strategic partnerships at �鶹��ý. “Yet Praveen’s students helped multiple community partners on a variety of projects, including Clark County Food Bank, Green Mountain School District, the MESA program at �鶹��ý, Educational Opportunities for Children and Families, iUrban Teen and more.” In all, ECE405 students provided more than 500 hours of community service to partner organizations.

Although some students grumbled at first, Sekhar assured them they’d feel rewarded when they saw the value they could provide. He divided his 23 students into eight groups, each of which picked a community partner and a project.

For example, at Green Mountain School District in rural Clark County—which does not have its own STEM program—the group held a STEM awareness day with fourth graders. They explained what STEM is and how electricity works, demonstrated a solar car and several electronic devices, and created a brochure for further learning. �鶹��ý students had to figure out how to communicate complex concepts in language children would understand. One teacher mused that his life might have been different if he’d been introduced to STEM in grade school.

Another group worked with Educational Opportunities for Children and Families to develop tutorials to help train staff on Microsoft Office. Peter Elmatti, IT manager at EOCF, praised the result: “A common barrier for early learning professionals is dealing with learning new technology that seems secondary to their actual work. The more I can minimize that barrier for our staff, the more they can focus on the important work that they do. Your students were able to help each of our teachers by shrinking that barrier.”

One of the most complex projects involved designing tracking and locating systems for Clark County Food Bank’s big warehouse to increase employees’ efficiency and productivity. In researching options, students considered the nonprofit’s constraints, such as price and technical support, then presented the pros and cons of three options to supervisors and managers. Once they settle on a choice, a group from next year’s ECE405 will implement it.

Service learning fits well with Sekhar’s teaching philosophy. He tells his beginning students, “Many think electrical engineering is a grind. What they don’t understand is that once they go out into the world, there are so many ways they can contribute.” His goal for both his teaching and his research (he heads �鶹��ý’s Nanomaterials-Sensor Laboratory) is to help develop a diverse and civic-minded workforce that can collaborate to solve complex problems. He plans to include service-learning in next year’s ECE405 course, and the Chancellor’s office at �鶹��ý has invited him to mentor other faculty in CES concepts.

“Community engaged pedagogies help students engage deeply with unique contexts requiring tailored solutions to community challenges,” said Johanna Phelps, faculty lead for �鶹��ý’s CES program. “The evidence points to the fact that Praveen’s course did just that.”

About �鶹��ý

�鶹��ý is located at 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave. in Vancouver, east of the 134th Street exit from either I-5 or I-205, or via C-TRAN bus service. Find a campus map at vancouver.wsu.edu/map. Parking is available at meters and in the Blue Daily Pay lot for $4 a day, $2 after 5 p.m. and free after 7 p.m. and on weekends.

As one of six campuses of the WSU system, �鶹��ý offers big-school resources in a small-school environment. The university provides affordable, high-quality baccalaureate- and graduate-level education to benefit the people and communities it serves. As the only four-year research university in Southwest Washington, �鶹��ý helps drive economic growth through relationships with local businesses and industries, schools and nonprofit organizations. 

�鶹��ý is located on the homelands of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and Peoples of the Lower Columbia Valley. We acknowledge their presence here. �鶹��ý expresses its respect towards these original and current caretakers of the region. We pledge that these relationships will be built on mutual trust and respect.

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MEDIA CONTACT(S)

Brenda Alling, Office of Marketing and Communication, 360-546-9601, brenda_alling@wsu.edu