Courtney partnered her LTS LLC cohort with non-profit organizations in Southwest Florida
(SWFL) so that her students could develop and refine skills while simultaneously and
collaboratively designing engaged scholarly products, conducting research, and completing
meaningful, action-driven service-learning projects. Courtney's interest in creating
a community of student leaders who work together on issues of sustainability (collaborative
learning skills) allowed her to develop opportunities in the classroom and SWFL community
for students to not only understand the value of civil service and engaged scholarship
as it related to their academic experience (content knowledge) but the opportunity
to evaluate and respond to the needs of their local community (critical thinking)
through collaboratively designed projects that produced real, tangible, and beneficial
results. Courtney's experiential approach to teaching provides opportunities for her
students to understand the importance of being servant leaders who are equipped with
the skills and knowledge to be active, engaged, and contributing members of their
local and global communities. Courtney also researched and tracked the benefits of
Living Learning Communities (LLC's) to FGCU, the Southwest Florida community, and
LLC students and faculty, with a particular focus on how LLC's impact attainment,
retention, and long-term academic, leadership, service, and social success on University
campuses.
Courtney also has an interest in Restorative Juvenile Justice. Her multi-year study
(June 2004-May 2007) of Restorative Juvenile Justice allowed her to facilitate School
Accountability Board (SAB) sessions in the Collier County School District. Courtney
served as the lead researcher and coordinator for the SAB and ran weekly board meetings
with leading restorative justice practitioners, Collier County School campus officers,
principals, guidance counselors, students, and parents, as well as police officers,
and FGCU Political Science faculty and students. In her authored and published 75-page
research brief, she examined the efficiency, long-term benefits, and effectiveness
of the SAB on 130 middle and high school juvenile offenders. Courtney's research included
case studies, a cost-benefit analysis, and a thorough review of the principles and
practices of restorative juvenile justice. As part of her larger scope, her study
analyzed crime rates, local and national trends, and best practices for preventing
and reducing crime on K-12 campuses, while restoring justice and safety to the community.
Courtney's study found that 90% of offenders successfully completed the SAB program
and remained less likely to reoffend. Courtney's program assessment revealed that
the SAB model was time efficient, cost-effective, and provided specific services for
victims and offenders that followed best practices for restorative justice. As part
of her focus on restorative justice as applied to middle and high school public schools,
her research concluded that modern justice methods (incarceration, expulsion, etc.)
do not solve, nor prevent, juvenile crime. However, restorative justice practices,
as modeled in her SAB study, had an overwhelmingly positive impact on the school and
community, reduced crime, and positively influenced how victims, offenders, and their
community prevented and responded to crime.
