Meet O&E’s new graduate student staff

The Office of Outreach & Engagement welcomes two new graduate student staff members who will be helping with service-learning program development and engagement data collection.

Stacy Bluth

Program Assistant for Service-learning

College/Department: College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sociology

Education interests: My education and research interests focus on using sociology to create change on important social issues. Some of my favorite topics include examining the effectiveness of volunteer and diversity initiatives and studying employment and educational opportunities for marginalized populations such as youth without family support and mothers receiving social assistance.  

Why are you interested in engagement? How do you hope to incorporate it into your career? I think higher education and the community both have so much to learn from each other, especially when it comes to tackling today’s complex issues! I’m particularly interested in service-learning and hope to always incorporate this approach in the courses I teach.

What’s your favorite place to visit in NC? My favorite place to visit in NC is pretty close to home! I love early morning visits to Jordan Lake where I am trying desperately (and rather unsuccessfully!) to keep one of my dogs on the paddle board with me.

 

Chandler Marr

Program Assistant for Engagement Data Collection

College/Department: College of Humanities and Social Sciences / Department of Communication

Education/Research Interests: My research explores emotionality, communication, and relationship development in the workplace. I’ve also began to take interest in the ways in which volunteers are socialized into the non-profits they serve at. The goal of all my research is to provide individuals with the tools to flourish in organizational contexts.

Why are you interested in engagement? How do you hope to incorporate it into your career? I believe that engagement is a way to actively pursue justice, and that it offers unique opportunities to remediate the systemic inequalities that exist within our communities. Someday I hope to incorporate engagement into my own career by teaching service-learning courses as a university professor, and continuing to do community-based, applied research!

What’s your favorite place to visit in NC? Maggie Valley, North Carolina! It’s such a beautiful little mountain town, and the hikes in the surrounding area are some of my favorites.