Community Initiatives
Beyond the Classroom
We partner with community organizations to create a future where access to quality education, mental health and well-being, and the merging of education with technology are top priorities. Explore a sampling of our current community engagement initiatives below.
Utah Collaborative for Equitable STEM Teaching
Partners with Salt Lake Community College and the Granite and Salt Lake City School Districts to develop highly effective science teachers as they prepare to craft learning environments accessible to all populations.
Utah Collaborative for Equitable STEM Teaching
The Utah Collaborative for Equitable STEM Teaching partners with Salt Lake Community College and the Granite and Salt Lake City School Districts to develop highly effective science teachers who are skilled in creating accessible learning environments. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional teaching environments and highlighted inequities in education, placing teachers at the front lines of social and educational change. This project seeks to equip secondary school teachers with the training and skills they need to support their students’ socio-emotional needs.
Contact: Holly Godsey (Principal Investigator), holly.godsey@utah.edu
Utah Prison Education Project & Research Collaborative
Advances educational justice through on-site higher education, empirical research, and advocacy.
Utah Prison Education Project & Research Collaborative
Co-founded by Dr. Erin Castro and in partnership with Salt Lake Community College (SLCC), UPEP aims to provide a four-year degree pathway inside Draper and Timpanogos prisons. In 2024, UPEP accepted its first degree-seeking cohort of incarcerated students in the women's unit at the Utah State Correctional Facility. UPEP's aim is to continue to work with prison partners in establishing the following pathways for students: South Park Academy (GED or high school diploma), Salt Lake Community College (general education, certificates, associate’s degree), and UPEP (upper division credits and undergraduate programs).
Contact: Erin Castro (Co-founder), erin.castro@utah.edu
Ensuring Early Literacy Opportunities
Seeks to develop and evaluate community literacy programs around story time and outreach literacy activities.
Ensuring Early Literacy Opportunities
The EARLY Lab (Early Acceleration of Reading and Literacy in Youngsters Lab), directed by Dr. Seung-Hee Claire Son in the Department of Educational Psychology, has conducted Ensuring Early Literacy Opportunities projects to examine the role of community spaces and community programs on early childhood literacy. Specifically, the EARLY Lab has collaborated with community organizations, including Salt Lake City Public library and the County Library, to develop and evaluate community literacy programs around story time and outreach literacy activities.
Contact: Claire Son, claire.son@utah.edu
Mestizo Arts and Activism Collective
An engaging space for high school students to develop leadership skills and create research projects that address issues that matter to their communities.
Mestizo Arts and Activism Collective
Dr. Leticia Alvarez Gutiérrez advises the Mestizo Arts and Activism Collective, a youth-led creative arts-based activist organization and think tank for intergenerational cultural organizing. Together with undergraduate mentors, researchers, university faculty and artists, MAA works collaboratively to create positive change in the community. It is an engaging space for high school students to develop community-based leadership skills and create community based research projects that address issues that matter to their communities.
Contact: Leticia Alvarez Gutiérrez, leticia.alvarez@utah.edu
Utah School Mental Health Collaborative
Trains school staff in screening students for mental health and collaborates with schools to develop effective mental health systems that draw from schools' existing resources.
Utah School Mental Health Collaborative
Co-led by College of Education faculty member Dr. Aaron Fischer, the SMH Collaborative trains school staff in screening students for mental health and developing effective mental health and well-being systems that draw from the school’s existing resources. The team also provides technical support. The SMH Collaborative is able to work with external care providers, when necessary, to ensure kids get the level of support they need. With this scalable and adaptable approach, schools can protect and improve their students’ mental health and well-being with their existing pool of resources.
Contact: Aaron J. Fischer (Co-lead), aaron.fischer@utah.edu
In-school Reading Clinics
The University of Utah Reading Clinic (UURC), housed in the College of Education, provides reading interventions for struggling readers.
In-school Reading Clinics
The University of Utah Reading Clinic (UURC) operates an in-school clinic for struggling readers at Mt. Ogden Junior High in Ogden City School District. UURC provides assessment and intervention on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the school day. These reading interventions are led by specialists and occur in small groups built into students' schedules. And the results are impressive—students make more than a year's growth in an average of just 45 sessions. The UURC operates a similar project at Highland Junior High, which is in the same district as Mt. Ogden.
Contact: Kelly Patrick (UURC Director), kelly.patrick@utah.edu
UITE Connect
New teachers and Urban Institute for Teacher Education alumni find support through UITE Connect for up to 3 years post-graduation.
UITE Connect
The UITE Connect program provides Urban Institute for Teacher Education (UITE) alumni with a supportive network for 3 years after graduation. Says Professor Udita Gupta: “Our student-teachers enjoy strong support throughout their licensure year and want to continue with that support during their early teaching years, too.” With UITE Connect, this kind of collaboration and support are possible. Participants can choose to receive credit along with compensation for being a part of UITE Connect.
Contact: Udita Gupta, udita.gupta@utah.edu
Teacher Recruitment Scholars
Identify, recruit, support, and retain potential future teachers to foster equal opportunity across varying backgrounds and populations.
Teacher Recruitment Scholars
The TRS Program collaborates with 4 different school districts and Salt Lake Community College to identify, recruit, support, and retain potential future teachers to ensure equal opportunity across all backgrounds. Students recruited into the TRS program get support early, beginning with the college application process. Students in the TRS program also receive financial support to attend Salt Lake Community College. Financial aid continues as they transition to the University of Utah’s College of Education.
Contact: Mary Burbank (Associate Dean), mary.burbank@utah.edu
We Are Rose Park
In this biweekly program, participants engage in interactive discussions, experiential activities, and arts-based projects intended to promote creativity, self-awareness, empathy, and community building.
We Are Rose Park
We Are Rose Park is a school-university partnership between Rose Park Elementary School and the University of Utah’s Department of Educational Psychology. In this biweekly program, participants engage in interactive discussions, experiential activities, and arts-based projects intended to promote creativity, self-awareness, empathy, and community building.
Contact: Lindsay Taylor, lindsay.taylor@utah.edu