Tanner Humanities Center

KILO ZAMORA Instructor, Gender Studies Program
In Spring 2019, Professor Kilo Zamora will partner with Planned Parenthood of Utah and the American Civil Liberties Union’s youth leadership and community advocacy training program to build community-engaged internship opportunities. This partnership extends Zamora’s work with the University of Utah’s Gender Studies Division’s Gender Justice Scholars program, which aims to recruit, retain, and graduate underserved students.

Associate Professor, Family and Consumer Studies
Dr. Wright will lead a project in partnership with Columbus Community Center (CCC), a local nonprofit that supports education, training, and independence of people with disabilities. Wright will extend the reach of her innovative and award-winning 3-D technology-training program for transition-age students on the autism spectrum, which she piloted in 2014 at CCC in collaboration with Big D Construction, the Salt Lake City School District, and the University of Utah's Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute.

One of the long-range goals for students in this project is the enhancement of job skills and the development of technology skills that will lead to internships and long-term successful and meaningful employment. This goal is particularly important because individuals with ASD have the highest rates of unemployment, underemployment, and mal-employment (mismatch of skills) of all disability groups.

Assistant Professor, Department of Modern Dance
Professor Claudio's project is titled "Bridging Cultures to Form a Nation: Dancing Through Differences in a Community of Democratic Thinking." Partnering with Bryant Middle School of the Salt Lake City School District, Claudio will use dance as a medium to enhance personal and social responsibility while expanding students' knowledge of peoples of different cultures. By exploring dance as a means of empowerment, discovery, and community building, he looks to reduce the school’s truancy rate and cultivate personal ownership by students of their academic studies.

JAEHEE YI Assistant Professor, College of Social Work
Yi’s project, “Photo Storytelling for Latino Immigrant Adolescents” will begin Fall 2017.

In collaboration with therapists at Community Health Centers, Inc. of Utah (CHC), professor Yi will develop a community-based mental health empowerment program. Her project will use Photo Storytelling, a new intervention method, to empower adolescent Latinos to manage and thrive beyond their life challenges and integrate Photo Storytelling into supportive group therapy sessions.

By sharing their experiences with family members, mental health providers, and the general community through Photo Storytelling, Latino participants will help raise awareness about the mental health needs of their peers.

As Yi explains, this approach honors the Latino youth’s “lived experiences” and “self-expression” and empowers them to work together to “discover ways to heal and thrive.”

Ann House Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Family and Consumer Studies Director, the U’s Personal Money Management Center
In Spring 2020, Ann House will train and supervise students from her “Tax Preparation Certification and Community Education” course to participate in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) at local community centers. This national program assists low-income individuals and families by helping prepare their income taxes and by directing them to community resources for food, shelter, jobs, and personal money management. Community partners for this project include the IRS and the Community Action Partnership of Utah, which leads statewide VITA efforts. House also will conduct research assessing the barriers to eligible households in claiming Earned Income Tax Credits.

Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics
Professor MacArthur’s project, “Mathematics in Prison,” seeks to reduce recidivism through education by expanding her volunteer efforts teaching math in the Utah State Prison System. In collaboration with South Park Academy, the adult high school at the prison in Draper, Utah, she will lead weekly classes for both male and female prisoners that focus on improving mathematical and critical thinking skills. Through these lessons, students will expand their educational horizons and improve their chances of attending college after release.