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Detecting food pantry clients’ needs post-COVID-19: A project design for future service-learning courses

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

Community Engagement Division Technical Session 4- COVID and Virtual Learning

Page Count

14

DOI

10.18260/1-2--40698

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/40698

Download Count

371

Paper Authors

biography

Shaoping Qiu Texas A&M University

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Shaoping Qiu obtained his Ph.D. in Huan Resource Development from Texas A& M University. Currently, he is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the College of Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution, Texas A&M University. His research interests include human resource development, organizational leadership, organizational change, stress and well-being, service-learning, and quantitative methods such as multiple regression, structural equation modelling (SEM), hierarchical linear model (HLM), and item response theory (IRT).

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biography

Malini Natarajarathinam Texas A&M University

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Dr. Malini Natarajarathinam received her Ph.D. in Operations Management from The University of Alabama in 2007. Dr. Natarajarathinam joined the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M University as an Assistant Professor in 2007. Dr. Natarajarathinam teaches undergraduate and graduate capstone courses. She also teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in logistics, distribution, purchasing, supplier, and customer relationship management. She developed the distribution customer experience course for the graduate program and she has made significant curriculum changes to several courses in the department. Dr. Natarajarathinam’s research focuses on engineering education including service-learning and workforce skills development. She has received over $3.6 million in external research funding from several companies, governmental agencies, and National Science Foundation. Dr. Natarajarathinam has written 22 peer-reviewed journal articles, a business case with a teaching note, 63 peer-reviewed conference proceedings, and was the keynote speaker at the food banks Conference. She works with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in developing innovative Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses in logistics and distribution. Dr. Natarajarathinam has chaired 91 graduate capstone projects, and several undergraduate capstone projects, and has served on two master’s committees. Dr. Natarajarathinam was chosen as of the “40 under 40” faculty by the American Society of Engineering Educations, Prism Magazine in 2018.

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Abstract

Abstract: Previously, we partnered with food banks to design a service-learning course in our Industrial Distribution Program to help food pantries deliver food and solve their operational problems. However, students complained that we did not provide well-defined problems for students to solve in this course. They suggested that we provide well-designed processes, activities, and pre-designed tools so that they can save much time and focus on better serving the clients. For this purpose, we participated in a Houston Food Bank (HFB) Needs Assessment project. Apart from helping the HFB to determine the needs of the clients and HFB post-COVID-19, this project was also designed to provide a roadmap for future service-learning courses to follow. This project was conducted in the summer of 2021. The project team consisted of members from Industrial Distribution Program and HFB. To design the project, we discussed the issues, identified agencies and clients, decided on data collection methods, formulated focus group questions, and chose survey instruments. We implemented the data collection and analyzed the data, followed by writing a report and presenting the results. In addition to providing a guideline for food banks and pantries to distribute food, this project can be used to design better service-learning courses in Industrial Distribution Program that can enhance community impact. The next step is that in the fall semester of 2021, we launched another food insecurity service-learning course that followed our project design and execution to avoid the aforementioned issues, allowing food agencies and students to better serve the communities.

Qiu, S., & Natarajarathinam, M. (2022, August), Detecting food pantry clients’ needs post-COVID-19: A project design for future service-learning courses Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40698

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