The University of Arizona Coverdell Fellows will host an Outreach and Research Showcase to show what graduate students in the fellowship program are doing for the Tucson community on Friday, Feb. 22 in the Student Union Memorial Center North Grand Ballroom.

“This is an event that the University of Arizona Coverdell Fellows has done several times. I think this is our fourth time,” said Georgia Ehlers, Director of the Office of Fellowships and Community Engagement for the Graduate College.

Coverdell Fellows are graduate students that have served in the Peace Corps and receive the fellowship to do work within the community, or with an outreach unit of the university, to benefit an underserved community, according to Ehlers.

The poster session will focus on the academic and community outreach work the fellows do in Southern Arizona.

50 UA students that served across 35 nations around the world for the Peace Corp will be presenting posters. Each poster will have a feature card, which says “ask me about my service,” according to Ehlers.

“What they are doing with the poster session is bringing that experience that they gained in the US Peace Corp back here to our campus and our community,” Ehlers said. “This is really student engagement in a really fundamental way that integrated academics, life experience and community based needs.”

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Community agencies and the Coverdell Fellowship community partners will be attending the event, which also celebrates National Peace Corps Week.

“This event would be of interest to people interested in graduate school or the US Peace Corp and interested in finding a way to be engaged and work in the community,” Ehlers said. “It’s a pretty authentic way to look at local issues and figure out how to get connected.”

The poster session will include tabling, food and four presentations from graduate students who served in the Peace Corps that will focus on critical issues both in Tucson and where they served.

“One presentation is on culturally relevant educational practices in high schools,” Ehlers said, “The idea is to have a community discussion.”

The showcase will be held in the North Ballroom of the Student Union Memorial Center on Friday, Feb. 22 from 3-6 p.m.  

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