Papers by Christopher LaFontaine
Purdue journal of service learning and international engagement, Sep 1, 2018
is a senior studying psychology and sociology at Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW). He has concent... more is a senior studying psychology and sociology at Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW). He has concentrated on community engagement and service learning as areas of focus for the past year. He plans to pursue a career in applied sociology and he has been involved with applied research among vulnerable populations. Christopher has worked with homeless veterans in Fort Wayne and has studied health conditions in a rural county that ranks low in health outcomes. In this article, he describes his experience with servicelearning partnerships between community organizations and an institution of higher education.
Language, Discourse & Society, 2020
This article presents a study undertaken to investigate how effectively the "Conversation Wall" p... more This article presents a study undertaken to investigate how effectively the "Conversation Wall" project serves to connect between students and the student support program at a Midwestern university. The Conversation Wall project has been launched by using the glass window space located in front of the Center for Student Support Program. It serves as a tool for learning about students' perceptions and experiences related to their campus as well as social and cultural lives. To conceptualize anonymous texts written on the wall, graffiti studies are applied to this study. Both graffiti and texts written on the wall can be loosely defined as writing or drawings on a publicly accessible surface, and they are considered an important source of data for the analysis of cultural production and language use. A total of 1309 texts were transcribed and subjected to content analysis. The results reveal students' social and cultural lives, the campus climate, the issues that the students care about, and what they need from their university. This article discusses findings and provides recommendations for further improvement to the Student Success Program.
Prepare, Motivate, Lead: The Development of a Peer Mentoring and Leadership Service Learning Capstone Course for Psychology Majors
We developed a service learning capstone course: PSY 392 Peer Mentoring and Leadership. Whereas s... more We developed a service learning capstone course: PSY 392 Peer Mentoring and Leadership. Whereas service learning courses typically provide service to an organization external to the campus, here advanced psychology majors serve as support resources/peer mentors for first-year students during their summer orientation experience, and then throughout their first semester
A Study of Anonymous Responses on the Wall on a Higher Education Campus
The purpose of this study is to understand university students’ lives and find out campus issues ... more The purpose of this study is to understand university students’ lives and find out campus issues that they encounter and experience through the examination of anonymous words and comments written on the glass windows of a campus office at a Midwestern university. The Office of Student Success (OSS) posts a new topic/question on the glass windows every week in front of their office for students to anonymously express, free from the restraints of social and cultural norms, their thoughts and ideas. At request of the OSS director, this study was undertaken to analyze anonymous responses on the glass windows in order to glean insight from them, shed light on campus issues, and possibly enable a proactive approach to student needs. To operationalize our research, we first reviewed graffiti studies. Graffiti is defined as a pictorial or visual inscription on a publically accessible surface, and it can be a personal and free form of communication absent of common social restraints which would usually prevent individuals from conveying their thoughts (Abel \u26 Buckley, 1977; Gross \u26 Gross, 1993; Hanaeuer, 2011). Drawing on Sad and Kutlu’s (2009) categorization, we analyzed a total of 1336 responses in order to identify patterns and themes
Prepare, Motivate, Lead: Peer Mentoring and Leadership
Going Green: A Popular Epidemiological Method to Community-Engagement Research
Undergraduates’ Perceptions of Peer Interactions with a Peer Mentor
Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement, 2018
is a senior studying psychology and sociology at Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW). He has concent... more is a senior studying psychology and sociology at Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW). He has concentrated on community engagement and service learning as areas of focus for the past year. He plans to pursue a career in applied sociology and he has been involved with applied research among vulnerable populations. Christopher has worked with homeless veterans in Fort Wayne and has studied health conditions in a rural county that ranks low in health outcomes. In this article, he describes his experience with servicelearning partnerships between community organizations and an institution of higher education.
Uploads
Papers by Christopher LaFontaine