Newest Living-Learning Center will House Future Educators

Baylor University’s newest living-learning center (LLC) will be the Education Living-Learning Center, opening Fall 2015 in the newly remodeled South Russell Residence Hall. The Education LLC will house not only teacher education majors but any Baylor students with an interest in becoming educators in any capacity.
“I hope we attract a diverse group of students with a commitment to change the world through education,” said Dr. Brooke Blevins, assistant professor in the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum & Instruction. Blevins, along with visiting clinical assistant professor Dr. Leanne Howell, developed the proposal for the Education LLC. “I want students to see the value in community, and the importance of working, living and growing together.”

The Education LLC will have an SOE faculty-in-residence. From 2009 to 2013, the SOE’s Dr. Doug Rogers served as a faculty-in-residence at Baylor’s Leadership LLC in Allen Hall. Rogers, associate dean and associate professor for Curriculum & Instruction, said a faculty-in-residence can help expand the impact the LLC has on its students by focusing on academics.

“Students will see that academics and the notion of learning any time, any place, anywhere is a reality,” Rogers said.

Dr. Larry Browning, professor and chair of Curriculum & Instruction, said students who live in South Russell will take their SOE classes close by, eat their meals in the newly remodeled Penland Crossroads next door, and can find coffee and snacks nearby at the Starbucks in Moody Library. “Everything they need is right here,” he said.

Education LLC residents can choose double or triple furnished bedroom spaces. South Russell will have community bathrooms, a shared kitchen, a game room, an exercise room and classrooms.

Blevins said the LLC will begin accepting applications for the 2015 school year in November. Applicants of any major, concentration, gender or classification are encouraged to apply, she said.

Blevins said she hopes students will stay beyond their freshman year to become leaders who will guide the LLC’s website, service opportunities, programming and spiritual life development.

Browning said he expects the Education LLC to draw students from outside the SOE. “We do have some ongoing partnerships with other departments,” Browning said, noting collaborative programs with health science studies; the history, biology and math departments; and the School of Music. — Briana Rojas
 

Meet Dr. Mona Choucair
Faculty-in-Residence
Senior Lecturer in Curriculum & Instruction and English

“When we move the classroom to the living room…it’s a chance to see a different side of each other.”

Visit: baylor.edu/educationLLC