Currently, Castel is building upon previous efforts to develop the curriculum for an interdisciplinary community-engaged leadership minor at the University of Mississippi. Once the minor is finalized, Castel will teach the intro and capstone course for the minor.
At the University of Dayton, Castel taught Communications and Community Engagement in the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Leadership for Organizations program, introduction to Sociology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, and an interdisciplinary undergraduate Social Justice in Community course. The Social Justice in Community course accompanied the Semester of Service program she coordinated in which undergraduate students take a semester off from courses and are placed at a local non-profit organization for 35-40 hours a week. As part of the program, students meet once a week for three hours with Castel for the Social Justice in Community course and discuss justice issues relevant to the Dayton community and the work various non-profit organizations engage in as a means of confronting such issues.
At LSU, Castel co-developed and taught a service-learning course for advanced level social work students; Youth Intervention-Prevention and Engagement. Working with a diverse team of social workers, educators, and counselors, she helped implement a $3.5 million after-school and summer program for minority male youth that was funded by the US Office of Minority Health. The social work course provided students the opportunity to learn about prevention models while providing hands-on direct service at the YEP Village after-school program. Outside of the classroom, she participated in numerous community service related programs and initiatives. She served as the Community Outreach Director for LSU’s Geaux BIG Baton Rouge for two consecutive years, and also served as the Focus Area Director for Volunteer LSU.
During the last year of graduate school, Castel was awarded a Distinguished Graduate Assistantship which allowed her to live in Abu Dhabi, UAE. As part of the assistantship, she worked with The Petroleum Institute’s student affairs staff, helping to reorganize their student groups and organizations, and creating student leadership training and workshops for both the male and female campuses.