African and African American Studies and Communication Professor Wins Pedagogy Award

University of Arkansas

Teaching assistant professor Angela Mensah collecting her award.

Angela Mensah, a teaching assistant professor of African and African American studies and communication, has been awarded the National Communication Association Activism and Social Justice Division Pedagogy Award.

Mensah went up against other professors from various universities to win this award, her first, which reflects her work with her service-learning designated course, Communicating Body Image.

Mensah's course aims to identify hidden assumptions about body image as it relates to the intersections of race, class, gender and body image in America. Students will expand their understanding of the issues through independent reading and synthesis. Students are expected to facilitate the production of systematic knowledge by applying theory to critically analyze a media-related phenomenon on content. This course is designed to stimulate student interest in feminist media studies as an academic discipline that can also provide insights to practitioners and researchers of body image and eating disorders.

The course is also a service-learning designated course. It took on this designation when Jennifer Bryant, an intake officer for the Washington County 4th Judicial Circuit Court, Division 8, contacted the university's Service-Learning Initiative to find out if the university could help with programming for the young women and girls who are at risk.

Cary Nelms, then-director of the Service-Learning Initiative and a faculty member in the Department of Communication, knew of Mensah's Communicating Body Image class, spoke to her about those possibilities, and this aspect of the course was born. Students currently work with the Washington County Court, Beauty Redefined to provide an online curriculum and program and are also the writers of the course text, More Than a Body: Your Body is an Instrument, Not an Ornament. Other community partners include Fayetteville Public Library, Potter's House and Springdale Aquatics.

Through the course, now offered for the second time with 27 students, Mensah notes, "We had to be creative because we would like to keep the core group small, which creates a more effective communication environment that feels safe for the girls. This semester, students were engaged in creating a body image blog, an Instagram page, a food pick-up, a Remind app, a photographer and of course, service-learning research."

Mensah notes that she "applied for this award hoping that it would give some merit to the program. ... I hope to continue building the program by adding more community and campus partners to give the girls a chance to do more positive activities to enrich their lives and encourage them to stay in school and build a better future for themselves and their families."

Caree Banton, associate professor of history and director of the African and African American Studies Program, noted that she is thrilled that Mensah is providing this kind of opportunity for community connection and relevant pedagogy for these students. She further noted, "Our undergraduate majors in African and African American Studies are encouraged to become involved in service-learning opportunities, which is a significant part of an AAST education."