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results in Indiana. The program has shown strong growth and continues to encourage students to return to the project year after year. The numbers tell the story. In the inaugural year (2008-09), 25 Global Village students were involved with the project. They represented 26 percent of the entire population of the living-learning center. In 2009-10, 46 residents joined in the project (41 percent of the total population), and 12 percent of them were returning participants. In 2010-11, there were 55 Books & Beyond participants (33 percent of the total population), with 18 percent rejoining the project for a second or third year. In 2010-11, the Global Village expanded to occupy an additional floor in its residential hall, raising its capacity from 112 to 165 students. Although the number of village participants increased, the percentage of residents involved in the Books & Beyond project dropped in 2010-11. These trends in growth continued through 2013. In the 2012-13 academic year, the 55 Books & Beyond participants represent a third of the total Global Village population. Of these 55 volunteers, 40 percent are repeaters who have chosen to participate in Books & Beyond for an additional year.
Photo credit: iNdiaNa uNiversity

videos on YouTube, and now want to live in the Global Village and join Books & Beyond. Each year, former residents have continued to help with the project, despite having moved on to other housing. Many returning students choose to take on new roles in order to learn new skills and to increase their involvement. Madelyn Kissel was one of the founding members of Books & Beyond as a student. She returned to the Global Village and to Books & Beyond year after year, living in the Global Village for her entire college career, reveling in this type of service program. Before getting involved, she remembers thinking that service-learning meant tending a community garden. But the skills, knowledge, perspectives, and experiences that she gained from her involvement in Books & Beyond led to an internship with the Department of Homeland Security and an AmeriCorps term of service with the YMCA, where she was able to adapt quickly to working with a large immigrant and refugee community. Perhaps the greatest evidence of the program’s success has been how enthusiastically individuals and departments outside of campus housing have become involved with the project. When the partnership was first taking shape, Holdeman and Caldarera performed a needs analysis and developed a list of the many possible sources of help on campus: the university’s public radio and T.V. stations, the language labs (for technology training and equipment),

Global Village Writing partners with their Team Schools mentees.

The project has not only demonstrated proven retention but has also become a recruitment tool. Each year, a majority of the program participants are freshmen, and the Global Village receives applications from prospective students who have read about the project on the Global Village website, have seen the promotional

Learn more about the Books & Beyond project as well as the rest of Indiana University’s Global Village Living-Learning Center. http://www.iub.edu/~booksb http://booksnbeyond.wordpress.com http://www.youtube.com/iuglobalvillage http://college.indiana.edu/global/home/
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http://www.iub.edu/~booksb http://booksnbeyond.wordpress.com http://www.youtube.com/iuglobalvillage http://college.indiana.edu/global/home/

Talking Stick - January/February 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - January/February 2013