Dr. Ronald Porter
Position: Director of Service Learning
Hometown: Washington DC, Maryland
Degree: Undergrad at Eckerd College and Grad at UC Berkley
Dr. Porter started his whole career in service learning way back in high school. He went to a school called Western School of Technology and environmental science. It was a magnet school where he took an environmental science educational track. He came down to the Keys to do environmental service while he was in high school which was the initial spark of his interest. Along with the many service things he did in high school he also worked for the Chesapeake Bay foundation which is a nonprofit that worked on saving the bay due to pollution.
He realized that he did not want to go to a huge university; he wanted to study marine science and also to be in Florida. As soon as he stepped on Eckerd College’s campus he knew that this was where he wanted to get he needed to be. The year he entered Eckerd was the year that September 11th happened and at that time it brought a lot of people out of the sciences into politics or international relations. This resulted in Dr. Porter changed his major to political science. He traveled to the UN in New York, looking at terrorism issues, and Geneva, Switzerland, to look at the relationship between international organizations and human rights. He was able to intern at Amnesty International in the environment department in Washington, DC. He was able to do a research project through the Ford program through the college and was also a Rhodes Scholar finalist. He studied abroad to London through the international education office here at Eckerd, which anyone can do and you can also ask him about his experience there!
His interest in “environmental racism” led him to do a project about human trafficking in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, because of a Freeman Grant in Asian studies. That also sparked his interest in Asian religion. He has done many things through Eckerd College and it shows how much you really can do through this school and what opportunities are out there for our students.
Dr. Porter wanted to make a contribution to the world and live a balanced life. Dr. Porter started to act as the managing director of the Studio at 620 in downtown St. Petersburg, while he was going through the process of applying to graduate school. He decided to pursue the path of getting a PhD in education, but not in the traditional sense. The program he worked in at UC Berkley was in social and cultural studies in education. This program would look at education in diverse environments, out of the school system in the different communities.
Becoming interested in yoga brought on an interest in holistic educational programs. Dr. Porter makes a good point about how the average educational system beats down on your body. His dissertation mentions that to be able to reach the higher echelon of education in society you have to drive your body into the ground first and becoming unhealthy in many ways. If a student is doing well in school they are most likely becoming sick due to the stress from all the work they are doing and it is never heard of as a person doing well and being healthy and unstressed.
He wanted to create holistic educational programs that make contributions to communities on the local, national and international level. This marked his transition into the position at Eckerd College that he holds today in service learning, which was a dream come true for him. Dr. Porter makes his office into a living classroom and wants to give students a realization that people should learn more about themselves through service learning about their bodies emotional self through service. Breaking down boundaries and barriers that are across campus and even in the local St. Pete area through his and the service learning office’s work is a part of his mission.
Dr. Porter loves being in this position because he had a chance to come back to Eckerd College after graduation and the ability to work with the students here as well. He says that the students of Eckerd are very open and have a commitment of making the world a better place. Not many faculty at Eckerd can say that they were a part of the Eckerd family from the start as a student. He feels that it is his responsibility to bring the service learning program to the next level.
Some of the improvements he would like to see in the service learning program would be to introduce a spring break service trip proposal process, a community round table to bring in locals to talk about issues of service in the area around Eckerd and many more. He recently had one of these round table discussions with alumni called “return of the rainbow children” this past weekend to show students that there is an opportunity to do service beyond Eckerd College.
While Dr. Porter has been director of the office of service learning the offices goals have shifted towards focusing a community based approach, reflection on service practice in order to avoid causing damage to the community, and making the office a learning laboratory. He sees the students of Eckerd College as students who are hungry to create and live their own destiny’s and Dr. Porter wants to act as an operator of knowledge to help those students to achieve their goals. He is currently trying to achieve a relationship with athletics and bring athletes into the service learning office to create an even more diverse audience to service learning.
Overall Dr. Porter’s overall goal for the office of service learning is to create a digital classroom. He would like to bring in ideas from Google and the Silicon Valley in order to relate both, learning and the liberal arts to the new technological movements that are going on today. An online platform for the office is in the works which will allow students to reflect on their service experience on this new online platform. He encourages students to offer their input on what they would like to see happen in the office of service learning. So if you have any ideas for the program go and talk to Dr. Porter! Also for the incoming freshman there is a new requirement of community service that you are able to complete freshman, sophomore or junior year through an academic class or a co-curricular proposal. This gives a chance for students to grow into their service learning instead of waiting until the last minute of senior year to complete it in QFM.
Spring Break is almost here and so if you are going on a spring break trip led by the office of service learning let us know about your experiences! Also Dr. Porter will be hosting a feminist CPS lecture called “What is Feminism?” on April 14th in Fox Hall 7-9pm. Come out and hear more wonderful things about Dr. Porter and hear what he has to say about Feminism!