College of Arts and Sciences

Education:

• EdD, Educational Leadership and Policy, Drexel University, 2015
• MS, Criminal Justice, Saint Joseph's University, 1998

Bio:

Cyndi Rickards, EdD, comes to higher education with over a decade of experience in the criminal justice field as an administrator of an alternative school. Her graduate research explored racial disparities in urban juvenile drug use patterns. More recently, her research has examined the emergence of 21st-century skills as a result of democratic engagement within community-based learning courses.

Rickards teaches community-based learning courses in the department of Criminology and Justice Studies. She regularly teaches courses within the Philadelphia Prison System and brings together Drexel students and incarcerated students for and Inside-Out course. In partnership with the University’s Lindy Center for Civic Engagement, she co-developed UConnect – an urban extension center model that brings students and community members together to navigate the city’s complex social service system.

In addition to her interest in community-based learning, Rickards is interested in the relationship between technology, alternative assessment and ePortfolios as tools for student success.

Selected Publications:

• Rickards, Cyndi R.; Kebea, Jennifer; Daley, Brian; and Souder, Lawrence (2019) "Utilizing the College-Level Community Engagement Assessment Rubric to identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for growth in Drexel University’s College of Arts and Sciences," eJournal of Public Affairs: Vol. 8 : No. 3 , Article 5.

• Rickards, C., McNeese, J., Speer, H. (2023). Mapping data to reveal and reflect upon our history of injustice in an undergraduate criminology course. Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. March 1t, 2023. Alexandria, Virginia.
• Rickards, C., Behr, E. (2022). The 21st-Century Citizen Police Academy: Our responsibility to create spaces of shared learning with students, community, and police. Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. March 18, 2022. Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Pompa, L., Rickards, C. (2021). Turning Law Enforcement and Public Health Inside-Out: Moving Beyond the Systems that Divide Us. Global Conference on Law Enforcement and Public Health. March 22, 2021. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Rickards, C., Hocman, M., (2021). Global is Local: Developing community-engaged partnerships during the pandemic. Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities. October 15, 2021. Virtual.
• Rickards, C., Kevelier-Williams, A., McFarlane, K. (2021). Using SIM City to Enhance Community Engagement. Engaged Scholar Consortium. September 13, 2021. State College, Pennsylvania.
• Rickards, C., Eve, N, (2018). The Imagination Prescription: Preparing the next generation of medical professionals with 21st-century skills through democratic engagement, civic learning, fiction, film and fun. Guni: Global University Innovation Network. November 12. Barcelona, Spain.
• Rickards,C., Saltmarsh, J., Janke, E., Hooper, C., Gestland, B. (2017). Self-Assessment Rubric for the Institutionalization of Community Engagement at the level of the College/School within a University. International Research Association of Service-Learning and Community Engagement. September 16. Galway, Ireland.
• Rickards, C., Kerman, L., Kebea, J., & Peterson-Magnum, C. (2017). Learning Side-by-Side: Cocreating new knowledge together within today’s modern universities and the community. Association of American Colleges and Universities Annual Meeting, January 23. San Fransisco, CA.
• Rickards, C., Adams-Williams. (2017) Becoming Healthy Together: Learning Side-by-Side in the Age of Trump. American Public Health Association, November 5,. Atlanta, GA
• Rickards, C. (2016). Impacting Your Community: Neighborhood & Community Service. Girls Scouts of Pennsylvania's Real Girls: Next Generation Leaders Conference, October 30. Philadelphia, PA.
• Rickards, C. (2016). Equity and Diversity in Experiential Learning. Colonial Academic Alliance Pedagogy Summit on Experiential Learning, October 27. Philadelphia, PA.
• Rickards, C. (2016). Recovering Inside: Ethical Challenges in Correctional Mental Health Care. University of Pennsylvania's Bioethics Scattergood Program, October 20. Philadelphia, PA.
• Rickards, C. & Destillio, L. (2016). Carnegie Classification: Strategies for Measuring and Documenting Impact. Pennsylvania Campus Compact Service-Learning Consortium of Northeast PA, June 28. Carlisle, PA.
• Rickards, C. (2016). Assessing Community-Based Learning through the Lens of 21st-Century Skills. Pennsylvania Campus Compact Service-Learning Consortium of Northeast PA, April 14. Dallas, PA.
• Rickards, C. (2015). Examining the Acquisition of 21st-Century Skills through Democratic Engagement within a Side-by-Side Community-Based Learning Course. Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU) , October 10-12. Omaha, NE.
• Rickards, C. (2015). Examining the Acquisition of 21st-Century Skills through Democratic Engagement within a Side-by-Side Community-Based Learning Course. International Association for Research on Service-learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE), November 16-18. Boston, MA.
• Johnson Kebea, J. & Rickards, C. (2014). Drexel University’s Community Based Learning Framework and Faculty Support. International Association for Research on Service Learning Annual Conference, September 29 – October 1, 2014. New Orleans, LA.