Linda Hollandsworth, professor of English and journalism at Coastal Carolina University, will work with the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum this fall as part of the university's Public Engagement Directed Studies program.

Hollandsworth will assist the museum staff with writing assignments, coordinating activities for children and adults, and establishing public programming and outreach initiatives.

She earned a bachelor's degree in theater and speech from Greensboro College in 1969, a master's degree in liberal studies from Hollins College in Roanoke, Va., and a Ph.D. in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1990. Hollandsworth joined the Coastal faculty in 1985. In addition to teaching duties, she also serves as adviser of the Tempo student magazine staff.

The Public Engagement project, initiated in the spring 2003 semester, is a university-community partnership in which Coastal professors work full-time, 40-hour-per-week "internships" with area organizations. They share their knowledge and expertise with their respective partner organizations, focusing on projects that have meaningful, measurable applications in "real world" endeavors.

A total of 17 professors have participated in the public engagement program since its inception in 2003. Their work in the community has ranged from scientific analysis of the S.S. Hunley in Charleston to working with the Myrtle Beach Marathon committee to addressing the issue of declining numbers of computer science majors nationwide.