Director of Service-learning

Denison University announces that Gina Dow, associate professor of psychology, will serve as the next director of the college’s John W. Alford Center for Service-Learning. The Alford Center promotes and supports the local community by engaging Denison students, faculty and staff in curricular and co-curricular service learning projects. Current Alford Center director Lyn Robertson ‘70, associate professor of education and women’s studies, will retire from Denison this spring. Denison University President Dale T. Knobel said, “Responsible and productive civic engagement is a critical part of the education of many Denison students. It is particularly effective when it can be paired with classroom engagement through service-learning courses.” He added, “I am excited about Gina’s leadership and look forward to the ways in which she will be able to build upon the strong foundation in the Alford Center that has been crafted by her immediate predecessors.” Dow joined Denison in 1993 and holds a Ph.D. in child psychology from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she earned membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Her research interests include various aspects of children’s social and cognitive development and functioning. Dow’s students have participated in service-learning in day care centers and preschool programs throughout the county. She has served on the Service-Learning Advisory Committee that acts as a sounding board for the director and staff of the Alford Center, and she is known by many in the education and social service sectors in Newark and the larger Licking County community. During her three years of tenure as director, Robertson, a former mayor of Granville, built strong new ties with the local community, especially in the area of grass-roots community development, extending the strong networks she had built during her many years in education and government service. Under her direction, the center has expanded the number and range of service-learning courses taught by Denison faculty and has developed a strong program around concepts of social change and the common good.