Catherine Boyer, Director of the Isla Vista/UCSB Liaison, recently invited UCSB faculty to attend a luncheon with teachers at Isla Vista Elementary School and tell them a bit about what they and their departments do. Dr. Martin Raubal represented the Department of Geography’s educational outreach activities: “The lunch at Isla Vista Elementary went well. I gave a brief introduction to the UCSB Spatial Center and its mission, and told them that we’d be happy to help if they need any assistance concerning spatial education and with any geography-related questions in the future (e.g., if they need info on Google Earth or would like a demonstration of technology employed in geographic research).”
The event featured a welcome address by Dean Jane Close Conoley of the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education. The Principal of Isla Vista Elementary, Lisa Maglione, and 36 teachers attended the luncheon, and UCSB was represented by faculty from the departments of Art, Chemistry, Education, Physics, and Geography, as well as representatives of the Marine Science Institute, the University Art Museum, the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, and Associated Students.
As Anthony Cadenas, the UCSB K-12 Outreach Coordinator, points out: “Academic Outreach in the College of Letters and Science aims to serve an increasingly diverse population of learners and educational partners in the public schools. Expertise that University faculty can provide may contribute to raising educational standards in the schools and increase student motivation to learn. Academic outreach is defined as a beneficial exchange of knowledge between the University and the K-12 Education System. The Program strives to facilitate as many L&S faculty as possible in meaningful school-based academic outreach projects that relate to their research fields and to the self-perceived needs of the schools. A public research university must share new information with society as part of its overall mission. Academic outreach to the schools is an important part of this mission” ).
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