A Social Impact Practicum (SIP) is a project-based experiential learning opportunity connecting undergraduate courses at Dartmouth with community needs identified by nonprofit organizations throughout the Upper Valley.
Details about the specific projects and community partners associated with each SIP course can be found below.
Course: Eichler '57 Fellowship
Professor Email: Elizabeth Carepenter-Song; Manish Mishra
SIP Project Number: 117_19-20
Exploration of HARP's particular Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) intervention strategy and associative augementative pedagogy practices.
Course: Eichler '57 Fellowship
Professor Email: Elizabeth Carepenter-Song; Manish Mishra
SIP Project Number: 72_19-20
Research and suggestions to close the access to healthcare gap even more for uninsured and under-insured people in the Upper Valley.
Course: Eichler '57 Fellowship
Professor Email: Elizabeth Carepenter-Song; Manish Mishra
SIP Project Number: 66_19-20
Research and development of a Best Practices model (and manual) for free health clinics.
Course: ENGS 174
Professor Email: Mark Laser
SIP Project Number: 44_20-21
Determine fuel assistance needs and opportunities for residents of Sullivan county.
Course: ENGS 174
Professor Email: Mark Laser
SIP Project Number: 126_19-20
An energy conversion feasibility analysis of battery storage for three distinct hydroelectric plants.
Course: ENGS 174
Professor Email: Mark Laser
SIP Project Number: 17_19-20
A feasibility study assessing the use of vegetable oils as a carbon neutral energy source for fuel and heating.
Course: ENGS 174
Professor Email: Mark Laser
SIP Project Number: 85_SustainableWoodstock_21-22
Explore regenerative agriculture and sustainable energy technologies to improve carbon offset among Upper Valley residents and farmers.
Course: ENGS 174
Professor Email: Mark Laser
SIP Project Number: 14_TRORC_22-23
Consult on converting the Fairlee Town Hall heating plants to renewable energy sources in alignment with Vermont's H.518 Municipal Energy Resilience Initiatives Bill.
Course: ENGS 174
Professor: Mark Laser
SIP Project Number: 31_FWNI_23-24
Research and produce possibilities for long-term energy planning for the town of Chittendon in Vermont.
Course: ANTH 50.XX
Professor Email: Sarah Kelly
SIP Project Number: 81_XXX_21-22
Build on applied anthropology research started in the Winter "Environmental Justice" course to support equitable "community power" and a just energy transition in local New Hampshire towns.
Course: ANTH 50.XX
Professor Email: Sarah Kelly
SIP Project Number: 82_XXX_21-22
Provide support for Indigenous Mapuche-Williche territorial claims in energy conflicts in Chile.*
*proficiency in Spanish required
Course: ANTH 50.48 / GEOG 40.04
Professor Email: Sarah Kelly
SIP Project: 22_COVER_22-23; 79_Hanover-Hartford_22-23
Engage students to incorporate energy-efficiency measures into their home communities and personal habits by painting a community mural in White River Junction and organizing a student solarpunk exhibit at Dartmouth (22); Explore local renewable energy initiatives (Community Choice Aggregation) for the towns of Hanover and Norwich and coordinate an Energize the Upper Valley fair in April (79). **While not a SIP affiliated with DCSI, this class will also be organizing a conference in Norway this May for Mapuche-Williche (Indigenous people from Chile) and Saami (Indigenous people from Norway) discussing Indigenous rights infringements caused by renewable energy development undertaken by a Norwegian state-owned company.
Course: ANTH 50.48/GEOG 40.04
Professor: Sarah Kelly
SIP Project Number: 117_LISTEN_23-24; 118_VEM_23-24
Collaborate with the Lebanon Energy Advisory Committee to administer an energy burden survey for the Upper Valley including associated data analysis and communication of results (117); Map resilience and mutal aid in Vermont floodplains following the 2023 floods across the state (118).
Course: ANTH 50.48
Practicum description:
Course: ENGS 90
Professor Email: Sol Diamond
SIP Project Number: 1_20-21
Create a non-invasive medical device for home use that can sense when an infant's nasogastric feeding tube ("NG tube") is correctly inserted.
Course: ENGS 89
Professor Email: Sol Diamond; Doug Van Citters
SIP Project Number: 76_19-20
Designing a sensory (deprivation/modulation) pod to de-escalate young people and children with special needs at the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD).
Course: ENGS 89
Professor Email: Sol Diamond; Doug Van Citters
SIP Project Number: 76_19-20
Designing a sensory (deprivation/modulation) pod to de-escalate young people and children with special needs at the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD).
Course: ENGS 90
Professor Email: Sol Diamond; Doug Van Citters
SIP Project Number: 76_19-20
Designing a sensory (deprivation/modulation) pod to de-escalate young people and children with special needs at the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD).
Course: ENGS 90
Professor Email: Sol Diamond; Doug Van Citters
SIP Project Number: 76_19-20
Designing a sensory (deprivation/modulation) pod to de-escalate young people and children with special needs at the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD).
Course: ENGS 89
Professor Email: Sol Diamond
SIP Project Number: 1_20-21
Create a non-invasive medical device for home use that can sense when an infant's nasogastric feeding tube ("NG tube") is correctly inserted.
Course: COLT 70.05
Professor Email: Damiano Benvegnu
SIP Project Number: 59_20-21
Create social media narratives that connect environmental communication, ecological imagination, and digital technology for both a local and a national audience.
Course: ITAL 7
Professor Email: Damiano Benvegnu
SIP Project Number: N/A
Creating a dynamic soundscape for the Upper Valley Land Trust.
Course: ANTH 12.06 / GEOG 68
Professor Email: Maron Greenleaf
SIP Project Number: 22_COVER_22-23
Engage students in incorporating energy-efficiency measures into their home communities and personal habits.
Course: ANTH 12.26 / GEOG 68
Professor Email: Maron Greenleaf
SIP Project Number: 80_Hanover_21-22
Conduct applied anthropology research to support equitable "community power" and a just energy transition in local New Hampshire towns.
Press: "Energy Justice Clinic works on projects in New Hampshire and Chile" (The Dartmouth: 2/18/22)
Course: ANTH 12.26/GEOG 68.01
Professor: Charis Boke
SIP Project Number: 23_COVER_23-24
Share the impact of COVER Home Repair through digital stories at the intersection of energy insecurity and flooding repair with mobile home park homeowners.
Course: ENVS 50
Professor: Michael Cox
SIP Project Number: 18_CRC_23-24
Develop policy proposals regarding two key themes in hydro dams: (1) Mid-cycle relicensing during climate crises and (2) Proactive processed to set aside decommissioning funds.
Course: ANTH 12.01
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: FILM 41.09
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: FILM 41.09
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: FILM 41.09
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: FILM 41.09
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: FILM 41.09
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: FILM 41.09
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: Anth 64
Professor Email: Zane Thayer
SIP Project Number: 80_20-21
Create educational and locally-based social media content for GBUV aimed at engaging both parents and children together.
Course: Anth 64
Professor Email: Zane Thayer
SIP Project Number: 81_20-21
Design participant material for the prenatal preparation "Transformation through Childbirth" course offered at Gentle Landing.
Course: Anth 64
Professor Email: Zane Thayer
SIP Project Number: 82_20-21
Conduct a literature review and generate clinically-focused content regarding what is known about birth experience for parents with addiction
Course: ENVS 61
Professor Email: Michael Cox
SIP Project(s): 1_UVAW_22-23 / 44_CRC_22-23
(1) Support a multi-stakeholder analysis exploring climate change through the lens of climate migration and the economic opportunities present therein (44) Develop an outreach plan to educate the public about the role that personal septic systems play in the classification of rivers and the TMDL of pollutants found in local water bodies.
Course: First Year Research in Engineering Experience (FYREE)
Professor Email: Sol Diamond
SIP Project Number(s): 86_EqualizeHealth_21-22; 87_EqualizeHealth_21-22
86-Design a way to safely deliver CPAP therapy via nasal interface to reduce adverse events and address interface challenges on neonates.
87-Design a method of blending oxygen and air to clinically safe percentages to enable bubble CPAP therapy in low-income neonatal care settings lacking access to conventional gas blenders.
Course: Foundations
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Consulting on sustainability possibilites and incorporating new initiatives into LISTEN's mission to expand organizational efficacy and have a greater environmental impact.
Course: Foundations
Professor Email: Leah Torrey; Seth Arico
SIP Project Number: 111_19-20
Designing innovative programming responding to The Family Place's strategic visioning to be both for as well as of parents.
Course: Foundations
Professor Email: Leah Torrey; Seth Arico
SIP Project Number: 112_19-20
Designing innovative solutions to create a more welcoming and accessible space for fathers at The Family Place.
Course: Foundations
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Consulting on sustainability possibilites and incorporating new green initiatives into LISTEN's mission to expand organizational efficacy and have a greater environmental impact.
Course: Foundations
Professor Email: Seth Arico
SIP Project Number: 9_20-21
Develop a toolkit to encourage patients to quit cigarettes/vapes and utilize the D-H Tobacco Treatment Program.
Course: Foundations
Professor Email: Seth Arico
SIP Project Number: 11_20-21
Create engaging educational content about the importance and availability of preventative lung cancer screenings
Course: Foundations
Professor Email: Seth Arico
SIP Project Number: 9_20-21
Develop a toolkit to encourage patients to quit cigarettes/vapes and utilize the D-H Tobacco Treatment Program.
Course: Foundations
Professor Email: Seth Arico
SIP Project Number: 11_20-21
Create engaging educational content about the importance and availability of preventative lung cancer screenings
Program: Foundations in Social Impact Leadership
Staff Adviser: Henry Do Rosario
SIP Project Number: 40_LISTEN_23-24; 91_VT-DOH_23-24; 92_VT-DOH_23-24
Analyze the environmental footprint of items donated to LISTEN and identify pathways toward greater sustainability and holistic utility (40); Design a website application modeled after March Madness in the NCAA to gamify the education of pressing issues related to public health and wellness in Vermont (91); Design a graphic novel or comic book on vaccine hesitancy or emergency preparedness in Vermont (92).
Course: GEOG 50
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Mapping clusters of high-risk spatial areas implicated in the spread of hrHPV in Honduras.
Course: GEOG 50
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: GEOG 50
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: GEOG 50
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: GEOG 50
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: GEOG 50
Professor Email: David Parr
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: GEOG 4.01
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Analyzing the valuation/devaluation of elder care through both weekly immersion in direct service and co-creating an ethical care analysis.
Course: GEOG 4.01
Professor Email: Patricia Lopez
SIP Project Number: 61_Hanover-DLibrary_21-22
Support stewarding the Old Dartmouth Cemetery and help conserve gravestones as an act of both care and historic preservation.
Press: "Keep History Alive...In a Cemetery" (Dartmouth Communications: 11/29/21) & "The Privilege of Care in Death" (Spare Rib: 3/28/22)
Course: GEOG 4.02
Professor Email: Patricia Lopez
SIP Project Number: 61_Hanover-DLibrary_21-22
Continuing support stewarding the Old Dartmouth Cemetery and help conserve gravestones as an act of both care and historic preservation.
Press: "Keep History Alive...In a Cemetery" (Dartmouth Communications: 11/29/21)
Course: ENGL 52.16
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: ENGL 52.06
Professor Email: Christie Harner
SIP Project: 66_FairbanksMuseum_22-23
Creating an interactive museum exhibit for the public at The Fairbanks Museum exploring the intersection between evolutionary and religious narratives as constructions of mankind.
Course: ENGL 52.16
Practicum description:
Course: ENGL 52.16
Professor Email: Christie Harner
SIP Project Number: 191_19-20
Creating an interactive museum exhibit entitled "Deus Ex Homine," exploring evolutionary and religious narratives as constructions of mankind.
**Press: "Museum Openings and Social Impact!" (Dartmouth Admissions Blog)
Course: ENVS 61
Professor Email: Michael Cox
SIP Project Number: N/A
Determining whether farmland conservation make a difference in the lives of farmers and the sustainability of agriculture/agricultural economy in the region.
Course: ENVS 61
Professor Email: Michael Cox
SIP Project Number: N/A
Analyzing the current revision process for Act 250, the dominant policy that governs land use and development in Vermont.
Course: ENVS 61
Professor Email: Michael Cox
SIP Project Number: N/A
Developing a set of recommendations to the VT Department of Forest Parks and Recreation for a new forest management plan of Coolidge State Park.
Course: ENVS 61
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: ENVS 61
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: ENVS 61
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: ENVS 61
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: FILM 39
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: EDUC 15
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Exploring the research-practice continuum: creating a professional resource detailing developmentally appropriate experiences for K-8 students that capitalize on the intellectual resources at Dartmouth.
Course: SPEE 26
Professor Email: Yana Grushina
SIP Project Number: 204_19-20
Exploring the successful social media practices of peer organizations and how Maynard House can incline in that direction in support of their broader community outreach strategy.
Course: SPEE 26
Professor Email: Yana Grushina
SIP Project Number: 139_19-20
A social media analysis of CHaD's current strategies with targeted suggestions for how to better communicate their impact with different stakeholders.
Course: SPEE 26
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: SPEE 26
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: ENVS 11
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: COCO 18
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: COSC 29.04
Professor Email: Lorie Loeb; Thalia Wheatley
SIP Project Number: 119_19-20
Creating personalized experiences of delight for students at HARP.
Course: COCO 18
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: COSC 29.04/PSYCH 15
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Creating an experience of delight for students at HARP.
**Press: "Impact Design: How I'm Taking a Class about Delight" (Dartmouth Admissions blog; 11/10/2018)
Course: EDUC 51
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: ENGS 171
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Creating "smart locker" hardware to complement MyTurn's software platform for product sharing.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: Ron Shaiko
SIP Project Number: 19_20-21
Identify funding sources and write a grant for the Upper Valley Humane Society's general operations.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Grant Writing: Supporting the building of a new middle school.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Grant Writing: Access to digital technologies supporting the learning of students on the Autism spectrum.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Grant Writing: Finding new financial sponsors for the CHaD Hero.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: Ron Shaiko
SIP Project Number: 28_20-21
Identify funding sources and write a grant to support the Upper Valley Trail Alliance's Passport to Winter Fun Program.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Grant Writing: Developing arguments for energy policy around battery storage in relation to hydroelectric plants.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Grant Writing: Advocacy campaign around extended producer responsibility in NH.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Grant Writing: Supporting additional water quality testing and aquatic invasive species inventories in the Connecticut River.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Grant Writing: Cultivating new support for the Montshire STEM Alliance.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Grant Writing: Support for Senior Solutions' Friendly Visitor program.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Grant Writing: Building playgrounds for children at several Twin Pines housing project sites.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Grant Writing: Initiatives related to Lyme Disease prevention and education on its link to climate change.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Grant Writing: Financing trail building and maintenance efforts.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Grant Writing: Pitching place-based education to expand the reach of Valley Quest throughout the Upper Valley.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: Ron Shaiko
SIP Project Number: 152_19-20
Grant: Accompanying educational programming and curriculum for middle and high school students.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: Ron Shaiko
SIP Project Number: 134_19-20
Grant: Upper Valley Habitat for Humanity's first duplex home build in Lebanon, NH.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: Ron Shaiko
SIP Project Number: 186_19-20
Grant: Hiring of the organization's inaugural Executive Director.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: Ron Shaiko
SIP Project Number: 1170_19-20
Grant: Playground at The Briars, a 24-unit property for low- and moderate-income families in White River Junction.
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: N/A
SIP Project Number: N/A
Course: PBPL 45
Professor Email: Ron Shaiko
SIP Project Number: 79_19-20
Grant: Curriculum development training local police departments on an integrative Special Needs Registry database.