Students represent their class at the HAWC Race Against Violence 5K race.

As they wrapped up a successful semester, students in Dr. Creshema Murray's COMM 3315: Small Group Communication class presented their final projects. A semester-long service learning course, Murray's class was one of five at UHD that participated in the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) project entitled "Advancing Underserved Student Success through Faculty Intentionality in Problem Centered Learning."

Based on existing research related to effective classroom strategies, the yearlong project challenges instructors to evaluate student success using the AAC&U VALUE rubrics. Instructional focus is placed on intentional teaching paired with high impact educational practices and programs.

Over the course of the spring semester, students toured the Houston Area Women's Center (HAWC), learned about intimate partner violence, and participated in the Race Against Violence 5K race. These activities prepared the students to create three public service announcements highlighting the services offered by HAWC, creating awareness about intimate partner violence, and exposing the impact of child abuse in the Houston community.

During the final presentations, members of the UHD community and HAWC viewed the public service announcements and left the room intrigued to donate to the Houston Area Women's Center, but most importantly, more informed about the impact that intimate partner violence has on families in the Houston community.

"I am extremely proud of my students for applying the small group communication theories and concepts they've learned in an effort to tackle such a taboo topic," Murray said.

 Murray's class poses for a final photo after presenting their public service announcement videos.