Cassie Argenbright, MS

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of
Psychology, College of Science

Service Learning Course(s):

• PSYC-1315, Introduction to Psychology

“I think that service learning is really important because it's transformative. It crosses a lot of boundaries to kind of create this unity between higher education and the community."

Cassie has been teaching psychology courses at UTA since 2019 as a neuroscience Ph.D. student. She became interested in using service learning in her courses because she started noticing that a lot of students weren't grasping or making the connections for how psychology applies to the real world; so, she took time to delve into what she wanted her students to take away from their first class in psychology.

With guidance from the Center for Service Learning, Cassie integrated a service learning project into the course and became a service learning faculty fellow the following semester. As a fellow, Cassie enjoyed meeting and learning about the community partners and having an opportunity to collaborate with other faculty who wanted that same kind of engaged scholarship for students.

Cassie has seen the impact of service learning within her course because her students witnessed the reality of psychology and the effect it has on the community. She adds that the results of incorporating service learning into the course is transformative, for you become involved in the community and change the student experience. As for faculty integrating a service learning for the first time, Cassie encourages faculty to jump right in and to understand that you will make mistakes, but you will learn as you progress.