The Columbus City Council will recognize Ohio State graduate student Tim Hawthorne's Geography 580S course Monday for its efforts in creating landmark maps to benefit the Near East Side community.
Hawthorne, who is studying geography, along with associate professor Ola Ahlqvist and Carla Wilks of the African American and African Studies Community Extension Center, came up with the idea for the service learning course. Students who take the course make maps that pinpoint important resources for low-income families and communities, as well as the history of the city. The class generated more than 3,000 maps.
"I wanted students to learn the basics of good map design while also understanding that maps have power and they as mapmakers have power," he said. "What students choose and do not choose to put on their map can influence the way a place is viewed."
The geography course, which was created last quarter, introduces students to cartography - the study and practice of making geographical maps. In March, Hawthorne's students presented their maps of the city at the AAASCEC. A legislative aide to Councilwoman Charleta Tavares was in attendance and was impressed with the display. Tavares then invited Hawthorne and his class to a meeting with the city council.
"From my perspective, the most important audience we are reaching with this meeting is residents and community leaders in the Near East," Hawthorne said. "By seeing our work, they may be able to access these resources highlighted on the maps."
The maps his class will present include poster-sized maps that will be hung in prominent community areas, such as the Martin Luther King Library, the Urban League and the AAASCEC. They have also created brochure maps to hand out to residents.
This benefits the community because the maps identify important locations within the city, so residents can find everything easily, he said. The maps will help residents find employment centers, food pantries, stores that accept food stamps, low-cost health clinics and after-school programs for children.
"Most importantly, I wanted to offer this class as a service learning course so students could walk away with more than just an introduction to cartography," he said. "I wanted them to be able to apply what they learned in a real community to address a real need. I wanted them to view their education as more than just classroom learning."
He said he wants people in higher education learning to be more involved in helping low-income communities.
"As an educator and researcher, my goal is to show that academics can and should do more to serve local communities," he said. "I hoped that by working with community organizations, students would feel more invested and committed to learning and applying the subject matter, and see how their knowledge learned in class could help explore real world issues."
He said enrollment for the class has increased from about 15 students last quarter to 35 students this quarter.
Tammara Carr, a senior in geography, said she chose the hands-on course over the traditional classroom course because of the invaluable support she will provide to the Near East community.
"My hope is that residents in the Near East Side will discover places of continual professional development and increased accessibility in a dynamic, ever-changing world," she said.
Hawthorne said his students were able to create the maps because they had help from local tour guides who know the area. As the course continued, he said, his students met and communicated with members of the community to get feedback about their maps.
"Our students were thanked by lifelong residents of the Near East Side for the tremendous service they provided to the community," Hawthorne said.
He said the council meeting will be aired on OSU's local channel 3, as well as on the city council Web site.
Mariam Khan can be reached at khan.197@osu.edu.
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