These course syllabi are from our ongoing Periclean Faculty Leadership (PFL) Program™, as well as an earlier Civic Engagement Course (CEC) Program™. The syllabi provide examples of how faculty members are incorporating civic engagement in a wide variety of disciplines in the humanities, STEM, and social sciences.
Syllabi can be viewed by department, institution, or key word using the search box. On mobile devices, drag table leftward to bring off-screen columns into view.
Syllabi can be viewed by department, institution, or key word using the search box. On mobile devices, drag table leftward to bring off-screen columns into view.
| Discipline | Institution | Course / Instructor(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Business | Wagner College | Post-Crisis Housing on Staten Island This course, from an assets-based approach, seeks to examine how socioeconomic factors effect and are affected by diverse communities' access to housing, with the goal of helping individuals answer the overarching question of whether to own or rent. Additionally, students work with the Neighborhood Housing Services of Staten Island (S.I.) and the community. Through the creation and distribution of a survey, the students: define the energy profile on S.I. to identify resources, identify what pockets on S.I. have the greatest needs (in order to target funding), sign homeowners up to receive a home energy audit and open up markets in different neighborhoods, and identify job opportunities, in the field of energy, where services are needed. Professor: Mary L. Lo Re, Associate Professor of Finance and Chair, Department of Business Administration Peer: Brian Nienhaus, Elon University |
| Physics | Occidental College | Energy Conversions and Resources This course, which introduces students to the physics of energy conversion and its application to global energy resources, includes field trips to energy-generating facilities, student assessments of the energy needs, costs, and policies of community partners or of partners' recycling programs and student recommendations for reducing partners' energy costs. Professor: Adrian Hightower, Assistant Professor of Physics |
| Environmental Science | Drew University | Advanced Environmental Science—Climate Consulting (Syllabus Forthcoming) In this Advanced Environmental Science course, students will do a graduate-level dive into climate science to become experts in the field. They will then directly apply that expertise by serving as environmental impact consultants for small businesses in the local Madison, NJ community. In collaboration with these clients, they will work to produce an actionable and highly defensible product that increases their clients' resiliency to and awareness of potential impending climate disruptions and gives them a thorough, clear, scientific, and objective sense of what their next steps could or should be. Ultimately, we hope to make our clients more competitive, competent, and confident in a climate-altered world and, importantly, help them persevere through the next big crisis--our students have been learning how to make a real difference in their classes up to this point, and, in this class, they will make the formal transition to making that difference in the community they have adopted. Professor: Alex Bajcz, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Peer: John P. Esser and Abraham Unger, Wagner College |
| Women's and Gender Studies | Chatham University | Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies (Syllabus Forthcoming) Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies will teach students how to understand their identity positions and situate themselves within contemporary issues including Climate Change, Education Access, Immigration, Mass Incarceration, Race and Inequality, and Voter Engagement. Students will learn from community advocates, including but not limited to Write Pittsburgh and the Latino Community Center, about how these grand challenges manifest in the Pittsburgh community, and, based on students' identities, what actions students can meaningfully and responsibly take in being civically engaged with these issues. Professor: Alexandra B. Reznik, Assistant Professor of Humanities; Women’s and Gender Studies Coordinator Peer: Euncie S. Ferreira, Skidmore College |
| Global Studies | The New School | Sanctuary (Syllabus Forthcoming) This course examines sanctuary as a practice, an ideal, a theory, an historical proposition, a call to civil disobedience, and a vision of social justice for the present. We want to think together about the possibilities that sanctuary offers in practice and also as a political tool, as a form of imagining different new forms of community, responsibility, solidarity, accountability and mutuality both in our local spaces, in our everyday, but also as a vision for the future, beyond border security, control, enforcement, mass incarceration and the prison-industrial complex. Together with La Morada restaurant in the Bronx, we are focusing specifically on mutual aid and food sovereignty. Students and faculty will work with La Morada to develop its network of solidarity farms and expand its gardening program in the Bronx. We will also work with La Morada to produce a report on its mutual aid efforts and their impact on the community. Professor: Alexandra Délano Alonso, Associate Professor and Chair of Global Studies Co-taught by: Abou Farman, Assistant Professor of Anthropology Peer: Sarah Blake, Widener University |
| English | Wagner College | English III: World Literature (Syllabus Forthcoming) This section of English III: World Literature will have Immigration as its theme, and through readings and discussions in class, students will learn the history and context of immigration in the US. The students and I will collaborate with El Centro, our community partner, in offering opportunities for adults who are English language learners to practice skills in reading, listening, and speaking English, which is one need our community partners identified. Professor: Alison Arant, Professor of English; Director of the Center for Leadership & Community Engagement Peer: Doron Taussig, Ursinus College |
| Religious Studies | Bates College | From Shangri-la to Radical Dharma: Buddhism in North America (Syllabus Forthcoming) This course is called From Shangri-la to Radical Dharma: Buddhism in North America, and focuses on the critical issues of sexism, racism, and White supremacy in North American Buddhist spaces. In partnership with Vajra Dakini Nunnery and other Buddhist community partners, we will examine the racism and gender bias that persist in North American Buddhist communities and ways to counteract these forms of racism and inequality. The course seeks to educate students about racism against Black and Indigenous people, and other people of color in Buddhist sanghas, and how racism and sexism continue to function within American Buddhist communities. Professor: Alison Melnick Dyer, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Peer: Penelope Wong, Berea College |
| Interdisciplinary Studies | Allegheny College | Envisioning Environmental Futures From an artistic, literary, ethical, political, economic, scientific, or spiritual point of view, students analyze contemporary environmental problems, create a project that provokes discussion of possible solutions, and collaborate with local residents to improve responsiveness of local planning to the environment and quality of life. Professor: Amara Geffen, Professor of Art |
| Biology | Wagner College | The Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of the Genome This course examines scientific concepts and basic research that underlies the decoding of the Human Genome and explores the resulting biomedical revolution that has created a need for answers to questions such as what we can and should do with genomic research and calls into question the way people think about family structure, life expectancy, quality of life, expectations of health and medical care, privacy, the way food is grown, and attitudes toward religion. Professor: Ammini Moorthy, Professor of Biology Co-taught by: John P. Esser, Associate Professor of Sociology |
| Philosophy | Macalester College | Civic Engagement, Ethics, and Community This philosophy course, in addition to using traditional tools of reading, writing, and discussion, involves students as community volunteers to help them explore issues such as what it means to 'do good' or 'make a difference,' whether civic engagement is essential to a good life and a good society, whether citizens have a moral obligation to 'give back' to their communities, and what opportunities exist for meaningful and effective social involvement. Professor: Amy Ihlan, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy |
| Music | Carleton College | Co-Creating Music with the Key: Engaged Collaborative Composition and Musical Membership The course (MUSC340), an advanced composition studio, will work with a cohort of Carleton student composers to address inequities in education access, creating and supporting a co-creative music composition model with youth at The Key, an area youth drop-in center. Carleton is a deeply resourced institution, with robust facilities for music composition and production; this project will share that wealth of expertise and material support with local youth who are hungry for the experience of making and sharing music, bringing youth from both spaces into sustained contact and collaboration. Professor: Andrea Mazzariello, Assistant Professor of Music Peer: Sarah DiPasquale, Skidmore College |
| Sociology | Berea College | Civic Sociology (Syllabus Forthcoming) This class explores how sociologists and their research have impacted public policy, informed activism, and contributed to social change. As we study this tradition in sociology, students will study contemporary social issues and policies of greatest interest to them and become equipped with the civic knowledge and skills necessary to communicate social science to the public, policy makers, and activists. Professor: Andrea Woodward, Associate Professor of Social Sciences Peer: Jennifer Carroll, Elon University |
| Political Science | Morehouse College | Debt and Democracy My course, “Debt and Democracy,” a first-year seminar in the humanities field of political theory, will wrestle with normative questions about debt and democratic life— how we ought to understand and address the costs of what we value, the mounting burdens of both public and private debt and the growing influence of finance capital in our economy, reparations for slavery and what history’s beneficiaries owe on account of the past. Given Robert F. Smith’s gift to the Morehouse graduating class of 2019, the college has been thrust squarely into public debates about student debt and the accessibility of higher education. Working with the Morehouse College National Alumni Association, students will think through these questions and ideas in deliberative forums with Morehouse alumni to collaboratively address the 3 community’s issue of the student debt crisis and its effects on Black men. Ultimately the idea is to position the Morehouse community, including community partners in its own alumni network, to contribute and lead national conversations around mounting debt crises. Professor: Andrew J. Douglas, Associate Professor of Politcal Science Peer: Nicholas D. Hartlep, Berea College |
| Sociology | Elon University | Social Issues and Problems in the Local Community Students learn to use an interdisciplinary framework, grounded in sociological theory, to discover the interconnections between local, national, and global problems. Students work with local organizations in order to understand specific issues and apply sociological theory and analysis to these problems. Professor: Angela Lewellyn-Jones, Associate Professor of Social Justice and Department Chair of Sociology and Anthropology Co-taught by: Pamela Kiser, Professor of Human Services |
| American Studies | Goucher College | Religions of Baltimore This course will provide an introduction to the world religions through attention to the religious life of Baltimore, MD and the engagement of religious communities in social justice work. Organized around two to three rotating themes such as housing, the environment, or gun violence, this course will explore the ways in which race, class, and imbalances of power and privilege contribute to structures of injustice. Readings and course work on the religious histories and theologies that inspire this work will be combined with community-based learning opportunities to increase the religious literacy and interreligious engagement skills of students. Professor: Ann Duncan, Associate Professor of Religion Peer: Ann Muse, Hendrix College |
| Theatre Arts & Dance | Hendrix College | Engaging Community Through Theatre: The Service of Others Can theatre change the world? Will the bridge to civil discourse and understanding be through theatre? This course introduces students to Social Justice through Theatre. The goals are to learn performance development through Moment Work and interview techniques associated with the process. The final project is performance piece based on interviews of local public servants. Professor: Ann Muse, Professor of Theatre Arts Peer: Ann Duncan, Goucher College |
| Environmental Studies | Pace University | Research in Environmental Science (Syllabus Forthcoming) It is estimated that by 2030 more than 60 percent of the world's population will live in cities, the majority of which are located in coastal or riparian regions. On a global level, changing public demands and threats posed by climate change have spurred interest in and effort toward sustainability, revitalization, and resilience of urban waterfronts. This interest and effort have generated a wide array of visions about the present and future of urban waterfronts, but it has also raised concerns about how certain values and uses are being privileged over others in waterfront planning and management. This course will use a civic science methodology to assess human-ecological relationships along polluted waterbodies in the Bronx in New York City. The course will be conducted in collaboration with the New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program (HEP) whose mission is to promote the use and restoration of urban waters, especially in environmental justice communities (communities that are disproportionately impacted by environmental pollution and which are often home to People of Color and/or low-income residents). Professor: Anne H. Toomey, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Science Co-taught by: Monica M. Palta, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Science Peer: Elizabeth Harper, New England College |
| School of Critical Social Inquiry | Hampshire College | Memory, Nation, Power, and the Politics of Place (Syllabus Forthcoming) This course uses a place-based approach to introduce students to the role that narrative plays in creating and maintaining a sense of both local and national belonging while also producing politics of difference. The class considers how narrative and place play a role in bringing people together as communities and how they can also divide. Case studies are used to consider the following questions: How do some stories and places become nationally important? How do these stories shape us and our sense of national belonging? What is the relationship between memory and history? Whose memories count? Whose stories get shared and whose get silenced? Why? How does this impact communities? And how might we intervene in this process to promote more equitable and vibrant communities whose stories and contributions are valued? Professor: Ashley E. Smith, Assistant Professor of Native American Studies and Environmental Justice Peer: Marcella Raney, Occidental College |
| Politics | Earlham College | Civic Engagement Toolkit for Legislative Process The course is designed to help students learn about Congress from the perspective of a Congressional staffer. Students develop a portfolio of writing samples to use in applying for internships and entry level legislative positions. Professor: B. Welling Hall, Professor of Politics and International Studies; Plowshares Professor of Peace Studies Peer: Benjamin F. Berger, Swarthmore College |
| Science (Core Curriculum) | Chatham University | Environmental Health Issues This course addresses the connection between health and environment including environmental epidemiology, toxicology, policy, disease, and water, air, and soil quality. The work of scientists to discover, assess, and reduce exposure and risk to environment health problems is explored. Professor: Barbara Biglan, Associate Professor of Education Peer: Debby Rae Walser-Kuntz, Carleton College |
| Psychology | Swarthmore College | Psychology in Schools (Syllabus Forthcoming) In Psychology in Schools, as students are engaged with theory and research pertaining to student learning, motivation, and school belonging, we will address the challenge of education access, particularly college matriculation. We will collaborate with the Chester Charter Scholars Academy (CCSA) in Chester, PA by providing a College Experiences Panel where in groups of my students will share their experiences applying to and transitioning to college as well as provide other insights into their first year. As every student at CCSA is to apply to a postsecondary school before graduating, the school’s teachers and administrators wanted an experience where the 7-9th grade students could learn firsthand from those who are currently in college. Through this project, we seek to demystify the college application and transition process for middle and high school students who are just beginning to think about higher education. Professor: Barbara Thelamour, Assistant Professor of Psychology Peer: Lori Banks, Swarthmore College |
| History | Allegheny College | Citizenship, Democracy, and the French Revolution Students will study the French Revolution through role-playing, which will allow them to experiment with modes of civic engagement including elections, parliamentary maneuvering, lobbying, street demonstrations, and protests and help them understand historical contingency and cause and effect. Professor: Barry Shapiro, Professor of History |
| Political Science | Swarthmore College | Democratic Theory and Practice This class combines normative political theory (to determine how U.S. democracy ought to operate), empirical political science (to assess how U.S. democracy actually does operate), and community-based learning with a range of community partners in a socio-economically diverse area (to seek ways in which together we might close the gap between theory and practice). Professor: Ben Berger, Associate Professor of Political Science Peer: B. Welling Hall, Earlham College |
| Sociology | The New School | Blind Spots of NYC: Capitalism, Settler Colonialism and Exclusion (Syllabus Forthcoming) The course is done in collaboration with visual artist Kamau Ware’s Black Gotham Experience, an organization that celebrates the impact of the African Diaspora on New York City. With an eye on race and inequality, as well as immigration, the project is a combination of regular seminars, debating literature on slavery, collective memory, racializing forms of violence and exclusion, the selective memory of and in public spaces, and five walking tours or visits of Lower Manhattan in order to re-imagine a different NYC, with urban spaces that would do justice to the multiple and continuous forms of erasure. Professor: Benoit Challand, Associate Professor of Sociology, New School for Social Research Peer: Jeremy Blatter, Drew University |
| Middle Eastern Studies | Hampshire College | Civil Society and the State This course, in which students critically rethink classical and contemporary theories of civil society, uses actual case studies from the West and Middle East to explore civil society's links to the state and other political institutions, examining alternative interactions between the state and a wide-ranging sphere of collective action and paying particular attention to the relation between civil society, religion, and nationalism. Professor: Berna Turam, Associate Professor of Sociology and Middle Eastern Studies |
| Art and Art History | Pitzer College | Topics in Native American Art History: Native California Through the study of material in museums, Indian casinos, cultural centers, and other institutions, students will examine Native American art and cultural history, focusing on patterns of contact, conflict, accommodation, government relations, education, economic revitalization, and cultural and political activism. Professor: Bill Anthes, Assistant Professor of Art History |
| Communication Studies | Berea College | Political Communication Students design and execute a media campaign based on their study of communication theories, media influence on policy development, core issues for the 2008 presidential election, and the importance of speech writing for candidates. Professor: Billy Wooten, Assistant Professor of Speech Communication and Director of Forensics |
| Interdisciplinary Studies | Widener University | Perspectives on Sustainability (Syllabus Forthcoming) This course takes a holistic approach to the study of sustainability, with particular emphasis on the ethical basis and implications of current debates surrounding sustainability. Readings and guest lectures from faculty in various disciplines will prompt students to critically examine the theme of sustainability from multiple perspectives, enabling them to gain an appreciation for the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability as well as the different value systems underlying those approaches. Students will affiliate with community partners and embrace a community-based approach to investigate the array of institutional and individual practices that have been or could be adopted to address sustainability-related challenges at the local level. This capstone course aligns with Widener’s Sustainability and Civic Engagement Pathway, which was conceived to enhance the curricular coherence across existing general education courses touching on a sustainability theme. Professor: Bretton T. Alvaré, Associate Professor and Chair of Anthropology Peer: Bevin Ashenmiller, Occidental College |
| Business | Elon University | Business and Sustainability During this winter term course, students travel to the Yucatán, Mexico where they explore how an agrarian subsistence economy illustrates some of the central issues of sustainable development. The course introduces students to the basic sustainability framework, the triple bottom line, and to current critiques of private sustainability initiatives including externalities, price signals generated by existing markets, and the meaning of GDP and economic growth. Professor: Brian Nienhaus, Associate Professor of Business Administration Peer: Steve Snow, Wagner College |
| Ecology | Hampshire College | Agriculture, Ecology, and Society This course uses readings, discussions, field work, assignments, and independent and group projects to examine ecological systems and issues of agriculture, covering such topics as crop pests, pesticides and alternative methods of pest control, soil erosion and conservation, agricultural inputs and water pollution, food production, problems of local farmers and of developing countries, social issues, and community-supported agriculture. Professor: Brian Schultz, Associate Professor of Entomology and Ecology |
| Political Science | Occidental College | Disaster Politics: New Orleans in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina This course uses both academic study and on-site participation in the New Orleans recovery effort to introduce students to the politics of disasters, including disaster recovery, federalism, local politics, grassroots politics, activism, race, and public policy through the lens of response to Hurricane Katrina. Professor: Caroline Heldman, Assistant Professor of Politics |
| Interdisciplinary Studies | Allegheny College | Global Health Transitions Professor: Caryl Waggett, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science |
| Urban Planning | Dillard University | Housing Policy This course focuses on Housing Policy in the United States and highlights global housing themes. Using the city of New Orleans as a living classroom, students learn about housing policy, examining the city's affordable housing crisis, gentrification, and mixed-income development, while partnering with several community organizations. The course examines policy issues affecting urban housing such as real estate development, property taxation, homestead exemptions, race and class discrimination, and public housing. Students complete community-based activities within the housing policy sector. Students make connections with representatives from groups such as Neighborhood Development Foundation, which works on increasing homeownership in the African-American community, and Plant4Peace NOLA, which works on water management issues, as well as Habitat for Humanity, HousingNola, and the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority. Professor: Casey Schreiber, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies and Public Policy Peer: Jessica Magaldi, Pace University |
| Theatre | Reed College | Community-Based Performance (Syllabus Forthcoming) “Community-Based Performance" explores the role of theatre-making in civic change around race and inequality, by encouraging students to think about how they can develop the form of theatre to directly interact with the civic life of their diverse communities, and how the history of theatre can be better understood as being intertwined with and responsible to the lives of the people. In collaboration with Theatre Diaspora and the August Wilson Red Door Project, students will incorporate their classroom studies on historically relevant theatre practices (such as Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed; the United Farmworker’s El Teatro Campesino; and the Black Arts Movement) with a firsthand engagement in local community-based theatre groups and non-arts organizations using theatre for community engagement, in order to ultimately produce a) a theatre piece rooted in an issue significant to their community and which utilizes community- based performance techniques; or b) a written proposal to established local commercial theatre companies detailing possible ways of furthering community engagement. Professor: Catherine Ming T'ien Duffly, Associate Professor of Theatre Peer: Deborah Goffe, Hampshire College |
| Health | Ursinus College | Community Health (Syllabus Forthcoming) Community Health is a public health course taught at Ursinus College and offered to students primarily in STEM disciplines. Students will examine the root causes of health inequity produced by the Covid-19 pandemic, by conducting service for an organization supporting populations with high vulnerability to Covid-19 and have experienced the negative socioeconomic repercussions of the pandemic. Two community organizations based in Montgomery Country, PA are partners in this course: First, Phoenixville Area Positive Alternatives (PAPA) a community organization supporting the youth of Phoenixville in becoming successful and productive adults through programs that have a positive impact on self-esteem and life skills development. Second, Frederick Living cares for and enriches the lives of older adults. Over the course of their service, students will work to redress social and health inequity by providing remote tutoring for middle school PAPA students and hold online discussion sessions with seniors living in long-term isolation at Frederick Living. Professor: Catherine van de Ruit Peer: Michael Zis, Macalester College |
| Theater | The New School | IHD-Theater/Eco Justice & Climate Citizenship Education Seminar (Syllabus Forthcoming) Lang College students will explore the connection between engaged theater and issues of Environmental Justice, as they participate in running ZOOM PLAYS -- a virtual Afterschool Drama Program for NYC elementary school students. In online seminar sessions, students will be exposed to critical pedagogy and transformative arts education, as they explore the politics and practice of Theater in Education, its connections to the Gaming and Improv moments and the challenging themes of eco-justice. Covid-19 has disrupted not only the regular school day in New York City but also afterschool which remains critical to both young people and working parents. Through seminar sessions, Lang students will plan and develop their own Environmental Justice/theater workshop sessions for NYC afterschool students which they will co-teach via zoom sessions. At the end of the semester Lang students will help facilitate a ZOOM PLAYS final sharing with their NYC afterschool students for families and the community. Coursework also includes readings, weekly written reflections, and a final project in which students will create curriculum proposals for their own Arts & Education projects. Professor: Cecilia Rubino, Associate Professor of Theater; Arts in Context Program Director, Lang College/The New School Peer: Rachel Simon, Pace University |
| Education | New England College | Teaching Literature for Social Justice This course will explore the ways that texts can be utilized to open the dialogue around themes of social justice (and injustices) in a classroom. The definition of the term ‘text’ will be expanded, as this course will introduce students to media literacy theory as a teaching pedagogy. Students will analyze texts in all forms (from print to multi-modal) in order to understand how underrepresented voices are portrayed. A significant portion of this course will be dedicated to analyzing storytelling, both oral and written, as a literary mode to promote social and civic activism. Specific topics will include: gender, race, sexual orientation, politics, and propaganda. This course will include a practicum component where students will work with partner schools to develop, teach, and assess original curriculum that includes embedded themes of social justice. Professor: Christine Oskar-Poisson, Assistant Professor of Education Peer: Laura Beth Kelly, Rhodes College |
| Social Science | Hampshire College | What is Africa to Me? Black Diasporic Encounters Recognizing the value of a complex diasporic lens that includes race, gender, and class, this course introduces students to some of the diasporic encounters that African descendants have experienced from the Harlem Renaissance to Hurricane Katrina. Professor: Christopher Tinson, Assistant Professor of African American Studies Peer: Laura Y. Liu, The New School |
| Geography | Macalester College | Cities of the 21st Century Students in three courses share field trips, guest lectures, and faculty expertise as they collectively prepare a public document that addresses selected issues concerning local watersheds. The report includes quantitative and qualitative research by students in the Urban Geography Field Seminar; maps of social and economic variables by students in GIS Concepts and Applications; and analyses of policy issues and proposed solutions by students in Cities of the 21st Century. Professor: Daniel Trudeau, Assistant Professor of Geography |
| Geography | Macalester College | Urban Geography Field Seminar Professor: David Lanegan, Professor of Geography and Department Chair |
| General Studies | Berea College | Questioning Authority This introduction to college reading, writing, and thinking is taught from a framework of free thought and skeptical inquiry to help students recognize and resist corporate, governmental, religious, and individual oppression, skills that the students will be expected to use in service projects, such as working with small business owners displaced by corporate mega-stores. Professor: David Porter, Professor of Psychology and General Studies |
| Biology | Carleton College | Immunology In addition to exploring the function of the immune system in infectious disease, vaccination, autoimmunity, transplantation, allergy and asthma, students also build connections between course material and the world outside of the classroom by working with community partners involved in public health, learning to communicate and translate scientific ideas to a nonscientific audience. Professor: Debby Walser-Kuntz, Professor of Biology Peer: Barbara R. Biglan, Chatham University |
| Dance | Hampshire College | Curating Performance: Fostering Environments of Care (Syllabus Forthcoming) In "Curating Performance: Fostering Environments of Care" students will be invited to explore curatorial practices as systems of care and nurturance in support of artists' essential work: traveling to other realms, coming back whole, and activating our relationships to worlds of imagination through those journeys. Far from an exclusionary practice of taste making, students will build relationships with local artists and cultural organizers like the Springfield-based performance company, First Generation, to disrupt the raced, gendered, sexed, classed, institutionally-biased systems of marginalization that have shaped arts ecosystems. Professor: Deborah Goffe, Assistant Professor of Dance Peer: Catherine Ming T'ien Duffly, Reed College |
| Theater | Ursinus College | Community-Based Theater and Civic Engagement In this course, students examine the history, theory, and practice of a variety of community-based theaters, and design and execute performance work tailored specifically to local communities. Students assess particular needs in under-represented communities or communities in conflict, gain the skills to address those needs through community-based performance practices, and become knowledgeable and responsible artists engaged with their local communities. Professor: Domenick Scudera, Professor of Theater Peer: Marina C. Barnett, Widener University |
| Journalism | Ursinus College | Documenting Inequity in Public Schools (Syllabus Forthcoming) Ursinus College will partner with the news organization the Pottstown Mercury to address the “Grand Challenge” of education access. Students will produce multimedia journalism about the practical effects of public school funding disparities in Pennsylvania, by interviewing administrators, teachers, parents, and students in different school districts about their experiences in their neighborhood schools. The work will be published as text stories and web videos on the Mercury’s platforms, and shared in a community forum co- hosted by Ursinus and the newspaper, in the hope of advancing public understanding and enabling civil discourse about this important issue. Professor: Doron Taussig, Assistant Professor Peer: Alison Arant, Wagner College |
| Writing | New England College | Art of the Essay: Making the Personal Public This course explores the different ways that essayists have employed personal reportage and the personal essay to engage with prominent civic issues of their times, particularly related to cultural identity, the environment, social justice, and political action. Students practice immersion journalism, positioning themselves in an area of local civic life, studying techniques for interviews and information-gathering, and considering the ethical questions that arise. Professor: Douglas Haynes, Assistant Professor of Writing |
| English and Literature | Pitzer College | Non-Citizens in Wartime America: A Periclean Course in Civic Understanding This literary and cultural studies course examines how immigration status, race, and class bear the signs of a wartime society in the present-day US, in order to understand democratic values in the context of these particular junctures. Students undertake analytical discussions on contemporary civic institutions and discourses, and pose ethical questions of democratic social processes and political governance in the post-9/11 world. Professor: Edith Vásquez, Assistant Professor of English and World Literature |
| Natural Sciences | New England College | Community Action on Climate Change (Syllabus Forthcoming) Students at New England College will be working with community members who are active in the Kearsarge Climate Action Committee to develop education and outreach materials that can be used during community presentations at local libraries. These presentations will use local stories and examples to illustrate how climate change is impacting our community’s ecosystems and economies, and will encourage civil discourse and democratic debate about local and national policy decisions around climate change. During the laboratory portion of the course, students and community members will engage in citizen science projects focused on documenting how climate change is affecting local ecosystems and economies. Professor: Elizabeth Harper, Associate Professor, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences Peer: Anne H. Toomey and Monica M. Palta, Pace University |
| Psychology | Allegheny College | Community Psychology With attention to local and national issues, the course is an introduction to the dynamics of how communities function and how citizens can create change for the common good. Students' learning is enhanced by observation of, and participation in, community institutions. Professor: Elizabeth Weiss Ozorak, Professor of Psychology |
| Communication Studies | Pace University | Youth, Media, Democracy In the context of historical and current debates about media and youth, this course explores, through readings, discussions, screenings, and service, how contemporary youth use the media to document their lives, produce social change, and put democracy into action. Professor: Emilie Zaslow, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies |
| Environmental Studies | Goucher College | Food Justice (Syllabus Forthcoming) This course is designed to introduce students to food apartheid, which describes how food access intersects with social, political, and economic systems, such as institutional racism, social class, white supremacy, gender, and patriarchy. Food apartheid illustrates that equitable food access and distribution must also grapple with systemic injustices that underpin society. Students will collaborate with the Black Yield Institute (BYI), a non-profit organization whose mission is Black land and food sovereignty in the neighborhood of Cherry Hill in south Baltimore. The course will support a collaborative research project with BYI focused on histories and practices of food access and distribution in Cherry Hill contributing to more just outcomes today. Professor: Emily Billo, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies; Program Coordinator, Environmental Studie Peer: Joshua (Josh) Mullenite, Wagner College |
| Communication Arts and Theatre | Allegheny College | Media Ethnography (Syllabus Forthcoming) The Meadiaville Listening Project is a student-run community podcasting project that stitches together local stories to explore how everyday life in the Rust Belt town of Meadville, Pennsylvania is entangled with larger social, cultural, and political-economic forces. Season six of Meadiaville will partner with The Meadville Calendar and other community organizations to dig into Meadville's opioid crisis, thinking through how local class- and race- based inequalities and a carceral state impact and shape addicts' lives. The project unpacks how large forces bear down on everyday lives, and by highlighting local voices, demonstrates the importance of local media systems for tackling grand challenges. Professor: Emily Chivers Yochim, Associate Professor, Communication Arts and Theatre Peer: Jayne M. Thompson, Widener University |
| Computer Science | Drew University | Innovation I (an interdisciplinary course offered under Civic Engagement) In this course, students study examples of innovation in historical and contemporary contexts. This course challenges students to act, think, and collaborate across disciplines by drawing from the arts and humanities, as well as social and natural sciences in formulating potential solutions. Students then implement a solution to a real-world problem that has social impact. Projects included creating prototype websites educating middle-school youth on web safety and helping learners find customizable educational resources based on their individual learning styles. Professor: Emily Hill, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Co-taught by: Andrew Elliott, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts Peer: Mark Goadrich, Hendrix College |
| Sociology | Bates College | Research Methods for Sociology This course is a practical introduction to research methods used by sociologists, including survey research, content analysis, participant observation/field research, and qualitative interviewing. The assumptions of various approaches to social science research are considered, along with application of methods of collection and analysis for both qualitative and quantitative data. These methods are explored through a community-based research project in the Lewiston community, offering students the opportunity to learn more about a specific social issue in our community and to contribute to addressing it through research linked to existing community efforts/organizations. During the Winter 2011 semester, the community-based research project focuses on food security. Professor: Emily W. Kane, Professor of Sociology Peer: Lisa A. Leitz, Hendrix College |
| Sociology | Pitzer College | Colonialism, Racialization, and Renewal: Indian Nations of Southern California This course critically examines higher education as a site of decolonizing struggle within settler societies such as the United States. This course studies colonization and decolonization, the cultural specificity of knowledge production, the educational experience of indigenous peoples, and differences between Western and indigenous ways of learning and knowing. This class engages in the 'unsettling' of settler frameworks and identities, thus integrating institutional and personal aspects of Pitzer's relationships with the Indian Nations that are our neighbors and hosts. Professor: Erich Steinman, Assistant Professor of Sociology Peer: Margaret M. Olsen, Macalester College |
| Theater | Skidmore College | Theater for Social Justice & Change (Syllabus Forthcoming) Students from a variety of disciplines will integrate their creative talents with social consciousness and activism in this participatory seminar/studio course that is rooted in Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed techniques. Students will research and practice the application of theater in a variety of settings to educate, build community, address social justice issues, foster civic engagement, and serve as a catalyst for social change. Students will collaborate with community partners MLK Saratoga and local youth program SHYFT to address issues of race and inequality with original projects offered on campus and in the local community. Professor: Eunice S. Ferreira, Associate Professor of Theater Peer: Alexandra (Allie) B. Reznik, Chatham University |
| Latinx Studies | Berea College | Crimmigration: Crimminalizing Immigrant Life (Syllabus Forthcoming) How and why is migration made a crime? How does “crimmigration” impact migrants, their households, and the communities they reside in? How do migrants respond and resist “crimmigration?” In this course, we will explore how criminal law and immigration law converge to criminalize the act of migration and migrants’ everyday life through activist and engaged research methodologies and praxis, with a focus on Latinx migrants. In-class research and discussion will be combined with collaboration with regional immigrant justice organizations. Specifically, we will work with the Adelante Alabama Worker Center and focus on two of their campaigns: Shut Down the Etowah Detention Center (in Gasden, AL) and Community Deportation Defense. Thus, students will gain a theoretical and applied understanding of how crimmigration works, how it manifests in the everyday lives of migrants, and how it is challenged by organizations like the Adelante Alabama Worker Center. Professor: Gwendolyn (Gwen) Ferreti, Assistant Professor of Latinx Studies Peer: Stephen (Steve) R. Haynes, Rhodes College |
| General Studies | Elon University | Development Issues in Ghana This seminar, the foundation course for Elon's Periclean Scholars program and open only to Periclean scholars, focuses on socio-economic development in Africa, especially Ghana, using case studies that address uneven development and access to resources by vulnerable ethnic groups, women, peasant farmers, and fishers. Its primary objective is to improve the lives of Ghanaians. Professor: Heidi G. Frontani, Associate Professor of Geography |
| Geography | Macalester College | GIS: Concepts and Applications Professor: Holly Barcus, Assistant Professor of Geography |
| Environmental Science | Allegheny College | Community Energy Design (Syllabus Forthcoming) In order to support the community of Meadville, Pennsylvania as it combats climate change, students from Community Energy Design will facilitate the local adoption of renewables. After an introduction to energy use, climate change, and the electrical grid, students will develop the skills necessary to design and build systems for residential and commercial solar energy production. The course will culminate with the development of a solar proposal for Common Roots, a local housing nonprofit whose mission is to offer healthy and environmentally friendly housing options for Meadville’s low-income residents. For a small fee, students will also have the option of testing for the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners Photovoltaic Associate Credential. Professor: Ian Carbone, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Sustainability Peer: Sabrina Stierwalt, Occidental College |
| American Studies | Hendrix College | American Ways of Life This course introduces traditions of civic engagement to international students, with special focus on students from the People's Republic of China, for whom the course was required. Professor: Jay McDaniel, Professor of Religion |
| Economics | Wagner College | The Economics of Discrimination In the classroom and an optional service component, this course explores the proposition that the market reproduces and can reinforce economic inequality based on gender, race, and ethnicity and will examine the effects of globalization on these inequalities in developing countries and the U.S. Professor: Jayne Dean, Associate Professor of Economics and Department Chair |
| English | Widener College | Community Literacy and Social Justice (Syllabus Forthcoming) Community Literacy and Social Justice focuses on putting writing center theory and pedagogy to work in establishing sustainable writing centers across the community, the first at State Correctional Institution at Chester, and each with the signature feature of collaborative student leadership of writing workshops and the editing and publishing of writing emerging from those workshops. Professor: Jayne M. Thompson, Assistant Teaching Professor of English: Director Chester Writer’s House Peer: Emily Chivers Yochim, Allegheny College |
| Sociology & Anthropology | Elon University | Citizenship in Crisis (Syllabus Forthcoming) “Citizenship in Crisis” is an upper-level anthropology course exploring how and why questions of citizenship matter in times of social crisis. Topics covered will include the construction of national and biological citizenship, sovereign exceptionalism, modes of governmentality, and ways in which citizens’ and governments’ obligations to each other shape our understanding of moral personhood. The course will include investigations into the role of citizenship in responses to the opioid crisis in Elon, North Carolina. Professor: Jennifer Carrol, Assistant Professor of Anthropology Peer: Andrea Woodward, Berea College |
| Economics | Drew University | Political Economy of Non-Profits The main goal of this course is to provide students with an overview of the non-profit sector both in the U.S. and internationally, with a particular focus on gaining an understanding of the types of economic decisions non-profits regularly make. A central question we examine is the extent to which non-profits should or do make decisions in a manner similar to for-profit firms, and the struggles non-profits face in terms of addressing economic realities while staying true to their mission. As part of the course, students work in groups with a non-profit organization, providing analysis of a current economic challenge or question with which the non-profit is grappling. Professor: Jennifer Olmsted, Associate Professor of Economics Peer: Matthew W. Broda, The College of Wooster |
| Media and Communications | Drew University | Documentary Practice: Civic Media, Local Stories and Community Voices (Syllabus Forthcoming) This course will explore the ethics, practice, and power of the documentary form to amplify marginalized voices, bring attention to local issues, spark critical dialogue, and encourage civic engagement. Readings on civic media, documentary ethics, and non-fiction storytelling will be combined with thorough technical instruction in documentary filmmaking. In collaboration with the non-profit CinemaEd, undergraduates will be partnered with East Orange and Newark high school students interested in filmmaking to produce civic-minded short documentaries addressing, through a local lens, grand challenges ranging from climate change, education access and immigration to mass incarceration, race and inequality, and voter engagement. Professor: Jeremy Blatter, Documentary Practice: Civic Media, Local Stories and Community Voices Peer: Benoit Challand, The New School |
| Law | Pace University | Business Law – Civic Engagement The course discusses the notion of citizenship within the context of examining laws governing aspects of business including contracts, real property, personal property, torts, and crimes. A major learning goal is to develop and foster critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making skills in the context of the study of law. The course teaches socially responsible business practices and examines issues of justice and equity in a business context by encouraging students to integrate classroom learning and experiential learning by pursuing internships at The New York City Bar and the Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals, to understand the application of legal principles to real-world issues. Professor: Jessica Magaldi, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Taxation Peer: Casey Schreiber, Dillard University |
| French and Francophone Studies | Macalester College | Francophone Cultures of/in America (Syllabus Forthcoming) The course French 311, Francophone Cultures of/in America will be revised significantly and taught during Spring 2022, in partnership with an advanced French class at Saint Paul Academy High School and the Minneapolis/Saint Paul. The course will focus on and engage with issues of Immigration and Race and Inequality through education and engagement with the very diverse communities of French heritage in North America, including the Twin Cities; students will learn, reflect, and participate in activities that thoughtfully engage in understanding and supporting marginalized perspectives on the history of that diverse heritage, especially the co- curating of a month-long cultural program with and for the Alliance Française. Professor: Joëlle Vitiello, Professor and Chair, French and Francophone Studies Peer: Martin Shuster, Goucher College |
| Sociology | Wagner College | The Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of the Genome This course examines scientific concepts and basic research that underlies the decoding of the Human Genome and explores the resulting biomedical revolution that has created a need for answers to questions such as what we can and should do with genomic research and calls into question the way people think about family structure, life expectancy, quality of life, expectations of health and medical care, privacy, the way food is grown, and attitudes toward religion. Professor: John P. Esser, Associate Professor of Sociology Co-taught by: Ammini Moorthy, Professor of Biology |
| Sociology | Wagner College | Freshman Reflective Tutorial (RFT) for Learning Community 14: Society and the City (Syllabus Forthcoming) This course addresses the immediate public health crisis of COVID-19 in a disadvantaged urban community of New York City. Using an IRB approved structured survey instrument and social science methodology in analyzing the data, students will produce a needs assessment report for a major New York City non-profit agency that supports social service delivery for a public-private housing project in the South Bronx for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers. The report deals with issues faced by affordable housing tenants during this public health crisis and will recommend what measures need to be taken by community stakeholders. Professor: John P. Esser, Professor of Sociology Co-taught by: Abraham Unger, Director of Urban Programs and Associate Professor of Government and Politics Peer: Alex Bajcz, Drew University |
| Education | Ursinus College | Education and Inequality (Syllabus Forthcoming) In my course, I will partner with nearby Perkiomen Valley School District (PVSD) to address the “wicked problems” of education access and race and inequality. In their academic work in the course, students will examine the interplay of individual educational stories, as revealed in memoirs and journalistic accounts; and the larger historical and social forces (especially racial and class discrimination) that shape those stories, affording differential levels of access to educational opportunity in America. Students will then extend and apply their learning by choosing a specific area of focus and engaging with members of the PVSD community on that issue. Professor: John Spencer, Associate Professor and Chair, Education Department Peer: Lindsay A. Sabatino, Wagner College; Kaitlyn G. Patia, Whitman College |
| History | Widener University | Practices in Public History: History and Memory in Chester Students in "Practices in Public History: History and Memory in Chester" will conduct original research on the Chester NAACP chapter and its long-time leader, George Raymond. Based on readings and observations in the field of public history, this group of Widener University students will then set out to create a traveling museum exhibit detailing the history of race and inequality--and abiding attempts to mitigate this "Grand Challenge"—in twentieth-century Chester, Pennsylvania. Building the exhibit will depend on collaboration between local institutions, and the finished project will be an educational tool that can be used by local schools and civic organizations. Professor: Jordan Smith, Assistant Professor of History Peer: Mark I. Wallace, Swarthmore College |
| Anthropology and Environmental Studies | Wagner College | Introduction to Discard Studies (Syllabus Forthcoming) Students in this course will work with Snug Harbor Botanical Garden and Cultural Center to understand both how the production of waste contributes to climate change and the uneven racial and ethnic exposure to pollutants in the United States. With the recent closure of the NYC Compost Program, students will work to develop an alternative composting program based at the college for the Staten Island North Shore neighborhoods near our campus. Professor: Joshua (Josh) Mullenite, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Studies Peer: Emily Billo, Goucher College |
| Political Science | Macalester College | Presidential Campaigns and Elections This course uses a combination of academic theory and focused field experiences to expose students to the complexities and inner workings of U.S. presidential elections. Students examine state primaries, caucuses, nominating conventions, and the Electoral College, especially focusing on the 2008 election, and conduct a community education project to share their knowledge with the larger community. Professor: Julie Dolan, Associate Professor of Political Science |
| Social Work | Skidmore Colelge | Social Policy & Social Justice (Syllabus Forthcoming) A major focus of this course will be on the policy-advocacy component in which students will work directly with the National Association of Social Workers, New York State (NASW-NYS) to gain hands-on experience addressing one or more of the following social justice issues: climate change, education access, immigration, mass incarceration, public health, race and inequality, and voter engagement. As a part of this project, students will 1) work with NASW-NYS to identify a state or local social policy they would like to see implemented and/or reformed in relation to one of the social justice issues above, and 2) develop a formal letter to an official (e.g., elected representative, public department or agency head, cabinet member) that includes a proposal for a grassroots effort to engage the public on this policy issue. Student’s letters, and the proposal, will be mailed to identified officials at the end of the semester. NASW-NYS will also work with students to identify potential officials, refine their proposals to ensure that they are effectively rooted in community-based needs, and assist them with plans to present their proposals in a public format. Professor: June C. Paul, Assistant Professor of Social Work Peer: Sandy Marshall and Danielle Lake, Elon University |
| Urban Studies | The New School | Engaging Urban Homelessness This course introduces students to the nature and extent of urban homelessness, the root causes of homelessness, and the principal societal and political responses to the problem. Upon placement in homeless service and advocacy organizations, students are encouraged to examine their field experiences critically and to think about creative, innovative, and unconventional ways to address the multifaceted problem of homelessness. Professor: Jürgen von Mahs, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies |
| Rhetoric | Whitman College | Rhetorical Field Methods: Equity and Access in Education (Syllabus Forthcoming) In 2016, residents of Walla Walla County and the surrounding region in Washington state identified access to education as their number one priority as a community. In this course, students will research, through course readings, seminar discussions, and work with organizations in the Walla Walla community, the barriers that exist to equitable access to education from pre-K to higher education. Through the course and their work with community organizations, students will be introduced to methodologies from the field of rhetoric that focus on incorporating civic engagement, advocacy, community involvement, and personal reflection into their research. Students will not only learn about the challenges surrounding access to education in Walla Walla but will participate in local efforts to address issues ranging from trauma-informed education to college preparation, as well as related issues such as access to healthcare and affordable housing that can impede equitable access to education. Professor: Kaitlyn G. Patia, Assistant Professor, Rhetoric, Writing & Public Discourse Peer: Lindsay A. Sabatino, Wagner College; John Spencer, Ursinus College |
| Asian American Studies | Pitzer College | Asian/Pacific Islander/Desi Voices: Immigrant Detention and Leading Change (Syllabus Forthcoming) This course provides students with a broad and comprehensive overview of the social context and determinants of population health among Asian, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Desi communities. This course also explores the concept of public narrative as a therapeutic, policy, and investigative tool in public health. This course includes community engagement collaborations with older immigrants and refugees and those impacted by immigration detention centers. Professor: Kathleen (Kathy) S. Yep, Professor of Asian American Studies Peer: Lei X. Ouyang, Swarthmore College |
| Sociology | Pitzer College | Nonviolent Social Change This class examines the history, philosophy, and practice of nonviolent social change, drawing on examples from both the U.S. and abroad. Students apply their knowledge by teaching about this form of democratic participation and social change at a juvenile detention center. Professor: Kathleen S. Yep, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies |
| Psychology | Hampshire College | Returning to Hampshire Students returning from international programs or community internships in the U.S. or abroad examine their off-campus learning experiences and their multiple identities/positions within different community and institutional contexts, and then develop and conduct an independent research project based on questions derived from that examination. Professor: Kimberly Chang, Associate Professor of Cultural Psychology |
| Anthropology | Elon University | Applied Anthropology: Meeting Human Needs This course applies anthropological theories and methods to local, national, and global human needs, such as adequate nutrition and health care, freedom and power, adequate educational supplies and well-trained teachers, and access to work that allows workers to provide adequately for themselves and their families. Professor: Kimberly Jones, Assistant Professor of Anthropology |
| Cinema & Media Studies | Carleton College | Nonfiction Media Production This course addresses nonfiction media as both art form and historical practice by exploring the expressive, rhetorical, and political possibilities of nonfiction production – specifically, short videos and films. Central to the course are the ethical concerns that arise from making media about others’ lives while engaging with diverse modes of nonfiction production. The course includes a project for which student teams work closely with community partners to craft a video for which the partner organization has an immediate need and audience. The videos, addressing the interrelated issues around housing in Rice County, will be used by the town to engage voters about what issues are at stake in our community. Professor: Laska Jimsen, Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies Peer: Melanie LaRosa, Pace University |
| Education | Rhodes College | Issues at the intersection of Education & Immigration In Education and Immigration, students facilitate a semester-long reading and writing workshop with immigrant youth at an alternative public high school, the Newcomer International Center; they support these youth in creating digital stories that reflect their experiences. College students in this course also examines current immigration issues and how these issues impact the educational experiences of immigrant students and their families, particularly in U.S . public schools. Professor: Laura Beth Kelly, Assistant Professor Peer: Christine Oskar-Poisson, New England College |
| Urban Studies | Eugene Lang College, The New School | Immigrant Communities in the City This course examines immigrant communities in the urban environment, ranging from mixed migrant neighborhoods to well-established enclaves. The course takes New York City as its primary case study with a focus on the intersection of immigration and labor as expressed in immigrant political activity. Students engage in term projects shaped in collaboration with community partner(s) actively involved in immigrant communities and neighborhoods. Professor: Laura Y. Liu, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies Peer: Christopher Matthew Tinson, Hampshire College |
| Music | Swarthmore College | Taiko and Asian American Experiences (Syllabus Forthcoming) In this course students will examine the origins of Taiko drumming in post- war Japan and consider how the tradition continued to develop in North America and beyond. We will discuss the role of Taiko drumming in the Asian American Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, explore different styles of contemporary Taiko in Asian America, and gain basic drumming competency. Through the integration of academic and performance study we will consider and experience Taiko drumming as a prominent and dynamic Asian American performing art. A semester-long community-based project will investigate how Taiko as a site of cultural production within Asian American communities may help facilitate visibility, learning, and social change on the topic of race and inequality in the United States. Our community partner is Philadelphia based Asian Arts Initiative, an organization committed to connecting cultural expression and social change. Professor: Lei X. Ouyang, Associate Professor of Music Peer: Kathleen (Kathy) S. Yep, Pitzer College |
| Sociology | Bethune-Cookman University | Introduction to Sociology Students examine institutions that comprise society, explore how people perceive and relate to the world around them, and investigate ways to apply sociological principles to improve the quality of life in local and global communities. Students elect to take this course in either a standard classroom format or in a separate on-line course. Professor: Linda Scola, Assistant Professor of Sociology |
| Women's and Gender Studies | Berea College | Introduction to Women's Studies This required course for Women's and Gender Studies majors focuses on both a general introduction to the discipline, and more specifically, the issue of domestic violence within the Commonwealth of Kentucky. While the national statistics for domestic violence remain at 1 in 4 women, in Kentucky, 1 in 3 women are victims of domestic violence. Students are asked to think about this issue and ways in which we may decrease the incidence of domestic violence in the Commonwealth of Kentucky through legislation and a recognition of the issues that contribute to the higher incidence within our state. Professor: Linda Strong-Leek, Professor of Women's and Gender Studies & Associate Vice-President of Academic Affairs Peer: Monica L. Melton, Spelman College |
| English | Wagner College | Writing Intensive Tutoring (Syllabus Forthcoming) The students will learn about the impact of literacy and how language shapes our perceptions of the world; specifically, students will dissect the roots of racism and power associated with the insistence of “Standard English,” gain an understanding of language diversity, and learn strategies for how to address language choices that perpetuate oppression in order to focus on education access, racial inequality, and voter engagement. Through our partnership with Port Richmond High School, the students will address education access by conducting workshops for the high school writers to develop their writing and prepare them for college and careers. Professor: Lindsay A. Sabatino, Assistant Professor of English; Director of the Writing Center Peer: Kaitlyn G. Patia, Whitman College; John Spencer, Ursinus College |
| Sociology | Hendrix College | Gender and Sexuality This course examines how social institutions such as the state and legal system, the family, education, religion, and mass media shape gender and sexuality on the individual, interactional, and institutional levels. We pay particular attention to social inequality and systems of power, including gender & sexuality's relation to race, class, and other systems of stratification. The course includes a civic engagement project where students conduct group projects that include research into a community problem regarding gender/sexuality and in connection with community leaders develop a product to help with that issue. Professor: Lisa Leitz, Assistant Professor of Sociology Peer: Emily W. Kane, Bates College |
| Biology | Bates College | Cellular Biochemistry (Syllabus Forthcoming) This is a redesigned 300-level Cellular Biochemistry course to have a public health focus, with attention to race and inequality. In response to the fact that many vitamin deficiency-associated illnesses disproportionately affect marginalized populations in the United States, students will develop research-based multimedia materials exploring the scientific basis for those conditions and identifying possible ways to mitigate them within the social context. These materials will be created in collaboration with Lewiston Middle School and will eventually be made available to other local educators through the online platform, BatesConnect. Professor: Lori Banks, Assistant Professor of Biology Peer: Barbara Thelamour, Swarthmore College |
| History | Wagner College | Leadership in the Face of Conflict: Twentieth Century Crises Students identify exemplary models of leadership by examining case studies of select political and civic issues in the 20th century that prompted the mobilization of communities in the U.S. and abroad. The course focuses on the possibilities and liabilities of feminist activism, and involves a leadership project in partnership with local refugee groups. In collaboration with Patricia Moynagh's Political Science course, 'Crossing Boundaries, Raising Voices: The History and Politics of Feminist Activism' Professor: Lori R. Weintrob, Associate Professor of History and Department Chair |
| Psychology | Widener University | Multicultural Psychology The course introduces students to the principles, theories, and applications of multiculturalism so that they can acquire the necessary competencies for working with children and adolescents from diverse backgrounds. To enhance these competencies, students work as mentors or tutors in public schools and community-based organizations. Professor: Lori Simons, Associate Professor of Psychology |
| Mathematics | Swarthmore College | Topics in Statistics, Data Analysis for Policy Reports Students in this course learn sophisticated data analysis methods while working on a semester-long research or evaluation project for local community organizations. The organizations receive free statistical consulting; while the students discover the many challenges that come with working with real data sets. Professor: Lynne Steuerle Schofield, Associate Professor of Statistics Peer: Phong Le, Goucher College |
| Kinesiology & Economics | Occidental College | Planting Seeds: The collaborative approach to implementing green schoolyards n the urban environment In this community-based learning course, students will be introduced to educational, economic, environmental, and public health perspectives related to urban green schoolyard design and implementation. The course includes off-campus visits to school sites and presentations by experts in landscape design, water conservation, and public education. Throughout the semester, students will learn how to use social science and life science research tools to evaluate the impact of green schoolyards. The semester will culminate in a green schoolyard project with community partners in the Northeast Los Angeles neighborhood. Professor: Marcella Raney, Associate Professor of Kinesiology Co-taught by: Bevin Ashernmiller, Associate Professor of Economics Peer: Ashley E. Smith, Hampshire College |
| Hispanic Studies | Macalester College | Cultural Survival: Resisting the Legacy of Colonialism in the Americas Students in this course trace the historical trajectory that connects early modern colonialism with contemporary struggles for cultural survival in selected sites of the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and North America. Historical texts, testimonial documents, and maps help us understand how and why cultures and languages have been threatened in the Americas, particularly among peoples of Native American and African descent. Students also examine colonial and postcolonial visual arts and verbal and performative expressions that contain strategies of resistance against dominant culture. A key learning component is students' collaboration with Latino, Native American, and African American cultural organizations in the Twin Cities. Professor: Margaret (Molly) Olsen, Associate Professor of Hispanic and Latin American Studies Peer: Erich W. Steinman, Pitzer College |
| Social Work | Widener University | Generalist Social Work Practice with Communities and Organizations Students in this course develop macro practice skills in social work, including organizing, building relationships with communities, and planning for community and organizational change. To exercise macro practice skills, students work with an Environmental Studies class to conduct an assessment of civic engagement by adults aged 55 and older to create an asset map of civic engagement resources in Chester, PA. Professor: Marina Barnett, Associate Professor of Social Work Co-taught by: Chad Freed, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science |
| Social Work | Widener University | Organization and Community Intervention This second course in the Social and Economic Justice sequence builds on the conceptual areas of the first course, but now moves the student into the domain of advocacy, policy change, and community practice. The course provides the student with the opportunity to understand community and communities, analyze community problems, formulate community level interventions, and develop advocacy skills appropriate to such tasks. Professor: Marina Barnett, Associate Professor of Social Work Peer: Domenick Scudera, Ursinus College |
| Religion | Swarthmore College | Radical Jesus and Apocalypse: Hope and Despair in the Last Days (Syllabus Forthcoming) I will teach two classes in 2020/21 that will require students to participate in two civic leadership programs in the under-resourced city of Chester, PA. Experimentally, the first class will take place in Chester, not the Swarthmore College campus, and if this venue change is successful, the second class may be sited in Chester as well. Chester Eastside Inc., under the direction of Zuline Wilkinson, and Quaker Earthcare Witness African Diaspora Coalition, under the direction of Pamela Boyce Simms, will be my community partners in this effort. Each partner will provide civic engagement opportunities for students that address issues such as educational access (Chester Eastside) and climate change (Quaker Earthcare Witness) along with their combined foci on community self-development, race and inequality, and environmental sustainability. (In turn, students from these two community-based classes will be recruited to serve in the following academic year as year-long civic interns in Swarthmore’s inaugural ChesterSemesters program.) Professor: Mark I. Wallace, Professor of Religion and Environmental Studies Peer: Jordan Smith, Widener University |
| Computer Science | Hendrix College | Foundations of Computer Science This course is an introduction to solving computational problems, including the fundamentals of computer programming. Assignments incorporate a civic engagement component, such as analyzing public data to solve civic problems and creating programs that assist civic-related processes, such as filing taxes, registering to vote, and applying to be a U.S. citizen. Professor: Mark Goadrich, Associate Professor of Computer Science Peer: Emily Hill, Drew University |
| Philosophy | Goucher College | Environmental Ethics (Syllabus Forthcoming) This course addresses both the challenge of “Climate Change” and “Race and Inequality” by taking “environment” in an expansive, robust sense, understanding that the very construction of the human environment (“nature”)—a project already always going on and in our contemporary world, already always wrought by race, gender, and class—is itself a core ethical issue. By partnering with two Baltimore city organizations (Bliss Meadows and Backyard Basecamp), the class will amplify their transformative, environmental projects while aiming to critically assess the entire construction of environment and nature from a philosophical, historical, and ethical perspective. Professor: Martin Shuster, Assistant Professor of Philosophy; Director, Center for Geographies of Justice Peer: Joëlle Vitiello, Macalester College |
| Communication Studies | Hendrix College | Communication Analysis of Presidential Candidates' Nomination Acceptance Speeches Students examine selected nomination acceptance speeches at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions from 1980 to 2008, exploring the historical context, the candidates themselves, the outcome of the election, and the impact of the speeches on the election. In a forum setting, students compare Obama and McCain's speeches in 2008, and predict the winner of the election based on those speeches. Professor: Mary M. Richardson, Adjunct Instructor of Speech |
| Education | The College of Wooster | Issues in Education This course is designed to study contemporary issues in education: their theoretical, political, and social backgrounds, their current status, and ways to make decisions about them and inform practices regarding them. This course examines topics relevant to teachers at all levels including discipline; effective professional relationships; roles and responsibilities of various school personnel; collaborative teaching and learning; needs of the individual learner; multicultural education; legal and ethical implications of teaching; school finance; educational technology; professionalism; standards and accountability; and school reform. Professor: Matthew Broda, Assistant Professor of Education Peer: Jennifer Claire Olmsted, Drew University |
| Humanities (Core Curriculum) | New England College | Exploring Community in Our Towns: The New Hampshire Town Meeting This course examines the traditions of the New Hampshire town meeting process through a cross-disciplinary lens in order for students to broaden their understanding and concept of community, civic engagement, and participatory democracy. Specifically, students engage with local politicians, artists, writers, and academics to understand the complexity and dynamics of the decision making process in communities using the New Hampshire town meeting structure as a model. Professor: Maura MacNeil, Professor of Writing Co-taught by: Inez McDermott, Associate Professor of Art History Peer: Melvinia Turner King, Morehouse College |
| Media, Communications & Visual Arts | Pace University | Multimedia Storytelling (Syllabus Forthcoming) Examining the ideas of perspective and story, students will work in remote/socially-distanced teams to create short audio, video, and photo stories in collaboration with “Prison, Parenting, and Pups,” a Pace University course using therapy dogs to teach parenting skills to incarcerated women, and College & Community Fellowship, a non-profit supporting women to earn college degrees post-incarceration. Professor: Melanie LaRosa, Assistant Professor Peer: Laska Jimsen, Carleton College |
| Interdisciplinary Studies | Allegheny College | Health Policy Professor: Melissa Kovacs Comber, Assistant Professor of Political Science |
| Leadership Studies | Morehouse College | Leadership and Civic Engagement This course introduces students to the academic study of leadership from both theoretical and practical perspectives, as well as a variety of settings. Leadership as a field is shaped by many disciplines such as business, sociology, psychology, political science, religion, and philosophy. The course includes educational innovations to advance civic engagement, such as thematically linked learning communities, community-based research, collaborative projects, service-learning, mentored internships, and reflective experiential learning where knowledge and skills from the course must be implemented and practiced. Professor: Melvinia Turner King, Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies & Interim Executive Director of Leadership Center Peer: Maura A. MacNeil, New England College |
| English | Morehouse College | Honors College Composition The course focuses on writing analytical academic essays and emphasizes the writing process in order to develop critical thinking and writing skills. It features a community dialogue module: collaborative study with, and mentorship of, local high school students, who join the class to study some of Martin Luther King Jr.’s most important essays and speeches. It culminates in a student symposium dedicated to the presentation of a collection of MLK’s most essential writings, with students from MLK’s college and high school almae matres working collaboratively in a dialogue on the relevance of his work to contemporary issues of social justice. Professor: Michael H. Janis, Associate Professor of English Peer: Glenn Stuart, New England College |
| Political Science | Macalester College | Hungry for Change: Urban Food Politics, Policy, and Movements (Syllabus Forthcoming) Urban food security has risen dramatically over the past year, disproportionately impacting communities of color and neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. Minneapolis civic leaders, like others, are searching for solutions to address this crisis under fiscal constraints. The Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council, which provides ongoing guidance to the City on local food issues, has asked our class to conduct research into what the current crisis reveals about the nature of food insecurity in Minneapolis, what is being done locally in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to address it, and what it can learn from other similarly situated cities. In collaboration with the Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council, our class will produce a public facing research project aimed at addressing these questions and, in so doing, help the Council in its development of its Minneapolis Food Action Plan (MFAP) -- a roadmap, currently in draft stages, toward building a more equitable, climate resilient, just, and sustainable local food system and local food economy. Professor: Michael Zis, Senior Instructor of Political Science Peer: Catherine van de Ruit, Ursinus College |
| Religious Studies | Rhodes College | Death, Burial, and the Afterlife: Historical Engagement in Urban Cemeteries In this course students learn how rituals and beliefs develop and change, and also are involved in a local cemetery restoration project that helps them realize practical outcomes from our study of the past. Throughout the semester, they actively think about historical cemeteries in the city of Memphis and plan projects related specifically to a large cemetery that was founded by a group of African American families in 1876. Professor: Milton Moreland, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Archaeology Peer: Winona R. Somervill, Dillard University |
| Women's and Gender Studies | Spelman College | Gender and Health in Cross Cultural Perspective This course examines current thinking about the politics of women's health and well-being by exploring the major issues and topical areas in the field of gender and health. Theoretically, the course is grounded in multi-racial feminism, black women's activist strategies, and health narratives. Professor: Monica Melton, Assistant Professor of Women's Studies Peer: Linda Strong-Leek, Berea College |
| Urban Studies | Hampshire College | The Crafted City: Art, Urban Regeneration, and the New Cultural Economy This seminar explores the role of aesthetic practices in the politics and redesign of urban space, drawing on case studies of the use of art, culture, branding, and design to address urban economic problems and to contribute to area regeneration. Students work in groups to assist local arts and cultural organizations. Professor: Myrna Breitbart, Professor of Geography and Urban Studies |
| Criminal Justice | Widener University | Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice Students in this course, which provides academic grounding in such topics as theories of delinquency, the evolving concept of juvenile justice, the roles and duties of courtroom players, and the effectiveness of community-based treatment, detention, and diversion programs, assist with a community-based youth court in which young people deliver justice to first-time youth offenders. Professor: Nancy B. Blank, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice |
| English | Dillard University | Special Topics in Literature and Community Involvement (Syllabus Forthcoming) As a Dillard English professor, I have always believed in addressing social issues in my classes, and my students have always responded positively to such class discussions and writing assignments surrounding these issues. Literature is an ideal medium to address civic discourse. The Mellon Periclean Award will allow me to propose a new English course, Literature and Community Involvement, that would expand on my above experience and classroom engagement by working with One Book One New Orleans (OBONO), a campaign for literacy and community that calls on all New Orleans citizens to read the same book at the same time. I have worked with OBONO for years, and this English class will also take students outside the classroom to volunteer with Louisiana's Books 2 Prisoners organization as well as the Literary Alliance of Greater New Orleans and their Adult Literacy program. In other words, what we accomplish in the classroom as well as our community involvement in partnering with One Book One New Orleans is in line with Dillard's mission to ""produce graduates who excel, become world leaders and are broadly educated, culturally aware, and concerned with improving the human condition.” Professor: Nancy Dixon, Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of English Peer: Stephanie Hsu, Pace University |
| English and Literature | Bethune-Cookman University | Literature and Writing This writing and composition course encourages social awareness and activism through a study of relevant literature and current events, and through participation in community projects such as tutoring, voter registration, and letter and editorial writing on social and environmental problems. Professor: Nancy Zrinyi Long, Associate Professor of English |
| Philosophy | Morehouse College | Climate Change Ethics: Collective and Individual Responsibilities (Syllabus Forthcoming) This course on climate change and ethics: what must we –individually and collectively, locally, nationally, and globally—do to address climate change, and how we make that happen in just, fair and effective ways. Students will work with the ""Georgia Climate Project"" to help tell the personal stories of Georgians impacted by climate change and who are taking steps to respond to climate change. Professor: Nathan Nobis, Associate Professor of Philosophy Peer: Jason Roberts, Drew University |
| Education Studies | Berea College | Student Loan Debt as a Wicked Problem The course explores neoliberalism and how loan-based financing is causing Wicked Problems when it comes to collegians' access to higher education. The course employs a civic engagement perspective that draws from the work of Joel Westheimer and Joseph Kahne (2004), who in their co-authored article “What Kind of Citizen” put forth a taxonomy of civic engagement that asks critical questions and engages citizens in action. The community partner of this course is the Work Colleges Consortium (WCC), based on Berea College's campus. The WCC will collaborate with Dr. Hartlep and his students to address equity in education. The course will result in a Student Debt Summit, hosted at Berea College, whereby speakers, activists, members of the WCC, and Berea Community members who may or may not carry student debt, can voice their experiences, concerns, and solutions. Professor: Nicholas D. Hartlep, Robert Charles Endowed Chair in Education; Education Studies Department Chair Peer: Andrew J. Douglas, Morehouse College |
| Environmental Studies | Skidmore College | Political Ecology This course develops a critical and historical analysis of human-environment interaction that integrates the study of ecological and social-cultural processes. The class integrates a service-learning component that helps students learn theoretical concepts about power relationships, race, gender, and class embedded in nature-society interactions. The class extends this discussion through the opportunity to implement solutions at a local scale by working with a community organization, such as Sustainable Saratoga, advocating for ecologically sustainable practices and zero-waste initiatives. Professor: Nurcan Atalan-Helicke, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies Peer: Vanessa Volpe, Ursinus College |
| General Studies | Elon University | Volunteerism, Social Justice, & Civic Engagement in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina Through reading, research, reflecting, and engagement in service activities, students in this course examine responsibilities of and interrelationships among public, federal, state, and local governments and the media in times of natural disasters and engage in projects that relate their service activities to assigned reading. Professor: Ocek Eke, Assistant Professor of Communications |
| Spanish | Carleton College | Radio and News (Syllabus Forthcoming) RADIO AND NEWS 209 is a new course. My goal with this class is to provide an accurate exchange of information on systemic and structural problems affecting the life of the people in the Latinx community in Northfield. The program will have two different sections. The first part will open the conversation to commenting on current news (domestic and from abroad), and the second part will be dedicated to conducting interviews with members of the Carleton and Northfield community with a Hispanic heritage. Each program will be recorded and previewed by everyone involved before we select fragments for the radio show on Sunday. I want to make sure that the student learners feel comfortable allowing other people to listen to their comments. Once we edit each episode, we will turn it into a podcast that the radio programmers will be able to use on their Sunday Spanish radio show. The creation of a collaborative radio program will support the Vecinxs Unidxs (Neighbors United) group in Northfield in their aim to raise awareness of the diversity in Northfield and at Carleton. Professor: Palmar Álvarez-Blanco, Professor of Spanish Peer: Teresa Mesa-Adamuz, Macalester College |
| English and Literature | Pace University | The Individual and Society: Folklore and Fairy Tales Through the study of literature and through reading to children who are clients of service organizations, students explore how individuals relate to literature according to age and culture and how literature may influence ideas of acceptable and deviant social interaction. Professor: Patricia Hamill, Adjunct Professor of Writing and Literature |
| Political Science | Wagner College | Crossing Boundaries, Raising Voices: The History and Politics of Feminist Activism This course introduces students to topics in feminist theory, especially contemporary debates. The course also examines feminism in relation to issues raised by African-American, Third World, postcolonial, and poststructuralist thought. In partnership with a history course, students make connections between the history and politics of feminism, leadership, and community, and work in a leadership role with local refugee groups. In collaboration with Lori Weintrob's History course, 'Leadership in the Face of Conflict: Twentieth Century Crises' Professor: Patricia Moynagh, Assistant Professor of Government and Politics |
| Communication Studies | Bethune-Cookman University | Introduction to Effective Oral Communication This introductory course is designed to help students develop thinking, research, organization, and speaking skills through study and analysis of a social problem of their choice, resulting in an informative speech, a speech of controversy, a problem-solution speech, and a motivational speech. Professor: Paula McKenzie, Assistant Professor of Speech Communication and Theatre |
| Communications | Bethune-Cookman University | Leadership Communication This course explores leadership communication through theory and application. It is designed to raise awareness of the complexity and power of the leadership communication process and to help students develop leadership skills cognitively, and behaviorally. Students produce an issue campaign, write a reflective essay, identify values via a current events journal, and create and deliver a problem-solution speech and a motivational speech. Professor: Paula McKenzie, Associate Professor of Speech Communication Peer: Seong-Jae Min, Pace University |
| General Studies | Berea College | Stirring the Pot: Food Politics, Gender, and Globalization This course examines food from a variety of interdisciplinary and global perspectives, with special attention on the role that women play in global food economies. Students designed their own research project exploring an aspect of food politics, often involving a presentation to community members or research about a local food issue, such as a nearby local-foods-only restaurant. Professor: Peggy Rivage-Seul, Associate Professor of Women's Studies Co-taught by: Chad Berry, Associate Professor of Appalachian Studies |
| Education | Berea College | Using Contemplative Pedagogy and Mindfulness Practices as Alternative Approaches to Address Racism, Inequality and Inequitable Educational Access (Syllabus Forthcoming) This Education Studies course will explore and study the benefits of a contemplative and mindfulness approach to addressing racial and other associated inequities in the K-12 public schools. While inequities in K-12 educational access have been pervasive and long-standing throughout the U.S. public education system, contemplative and mindfulness approaches and practices are a novel and creative way to imagine possible solutions and ways to address this grand challenge. Professor: Penelope Wong, Associate Professor of Education Studies Peer: Alison Melnick Dyer, Bates College |
| Mathematics | Goucher College | Data Analytics This introduction to data analytics course incorporates elements of statistics, computer science, geographic information systems (GIS) and principles of data visualization. Three particularly important objectives in the course are interacting with publicly available data, analyzing data visually, and communicating conclusions drawn from data analysis. Students engage with a local health access clinic to generate data visualizations of community need, clinic effectiveness. and access to healthy food and green spaces. Professor: Phong Le, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Peer: Lynne Steuerle Schofield, Swarthmore College |
| Women's and Gender Studies | Pace University | Sexuality and Society (Syllabus Forthcoming) The SP 2021 course Sexuality and Society will allow a cohort of undergraduate students to engage with The LOFT, our local LGBTQA Center in White Plains, NY and ask them to evaluate the needs of the center and work to address those in a way that empowers them to action in concert with the LOFT community and leadership. The LOFT's programming is wide-ranging, and students will address current areas of urgency for the organization including the intersection of gender and sexuality with some of the following: post-incarceration, immigration status, systemic racism and inequality, voter engagement, climate change, and possibly the global pandemic. Professor: Rachel Simon, Interim Director Office of Multicultural Affairs; LGBTQQ Coordinator; Adjunct Faculty of English and Women’s and Gender Studies Peer: Cecilia Rubino, The New School |
| Chemistry | St. Mary's College of Maryland | Instrumental Analysis of Oil and the Gulf of Mexico Environment This course has two overarching objectives. First is the examination of the theory and appropriate use of instrumentation found in most modern chemistry labs. The second is for upper level science majors to recognize and develop an appreciation for the link between science and the community. Students use their knowledge to focus on the issues associated with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and its impact on the coastal community in order to meet both objectives. This is accomplished through touring the impacted coastline, interviewing various stakeholders, reading both the related scientific studies and media reports, as well as collecting samples and processing them on the instrumentation they are studying. Professor: Randolph Larsen, Associate Professor of Chemistry Peer: Thomas D. Eatmon, Jr., Allegheny College |
| History | Berea College | Seminar in Modern European History: Social Responses to Poverty This course introduces students to European responses to poverty from the 17th through 20th centuries, covering criminalization of poverty, definitions of family, socialist critiques of capitalism, the rise of voluntary associations, and the relationship between philanthropic organizations and the state. The course employs an individual-focused historical analysis, exploring the engagement of those who wrestled with the rise of industrial capitalism. Students use forms of public writing to address these issues. Professor: Rebecca Bates, Assistant Professor of History |
| Interdisciplinary Studies | Allegheny College | Environmental Geology Professor: Ron Cole, Associate Professor of Geology and Department Chair |
| Theatre | New England College | Language and Discourse: How a Resistance Can be a Production The intention of this course is to provide students with a richer understanding of the process of theatrical production from conception to execution and analysis, as well as to better understand the connection between the civic and natural world in which we live. The result is an original theatrical production created by the students, with civic engagement at its core. The production includes poems that reflect their personal stories and experiences, surrounding themes that include feminism, loss and grief, disabilities (both mental and physical), racism, LGBTQ community, marriage equality, and immigration. Professor: S. Alexandra (Alex) Picard, Associate Professor of Theatre Co-taught by: Glenn Stuart, Professor of Theatre Peer: Victoria Fortuna, Reed College, paired with Alex Picard; Michael H. Janis, Morehouse College, paired with Glenn Stuart |
| Physics | Occidental College | Physics of Energy: Connecting physics-driven concepts to community-driven efforts to support urban energy needs (Syllabus Forthcoming) As we face down the inevitable need to adapt our energy usage in our quickly changing climate, the energy infrastructure of the United States is likely to change completely over the next 30 years. This course will prepare students for the growing industry of renewable energy by training them not only in the physics behind energy efficiency and delivery methods, but also in how to adjust that technology to meet community needs. California especially is a leader in clean energy but programs like subsidies for electric vehicles or rooftop solar mainly benefit wealthy neighborhoods. We will work with our community partner SCOPE (Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education) whose mission is to build grassroots efforts to create social and economic justice for low-income, female, immigrant, black and brown communities in Los Angeles to address this gap. Working from SCOPE’s goal of building power from within communities, potential student projects include data collection and analysis related to how people use energy in South LA and developing educational materials to empower community members to make their own renewable energy choices. Professor: Sabrina Stierwalt, Assistant Professor of Physics Peer: Ian Carbone, Allegheny College |
| Business Law | Widener University | Business Law and Environmental Action In the course of examining contemporary law and ethics in relation to the formation and management of businesses and other organizations, students work with community and nonprofit groups to help alleviate environmental problems. Professor: Sandra K. Miller, Professor of Accounting and Taxation |
| Geography | Elon University | Race, Place, and Memory (Syllabus Forthcoming) The course Geo 378-Race, Place, and Memory examines how the production and design of place and the social construction of collective memory intersects with structural anti-black racism and white supremacy. In the tradition of cultural geography, students will learn to observe how traces of the past are embedded within and erased from the cultural landscape. To do so, students will engage in a creative, community-based research project with our course partners, the African American Cultural Arts and History Center and the Mayco Bigelow Center. Together, we will conduct oral history interviews and create digital stories with community members toward the aim of documenting the hidden histories of displacement and violence embedded in the urban environment, as well as valorizing memories of community strength and resilience, in order to break down the ongoing spatial and racial divisions in our community. Professor: Sandy Marshall, Assistant Professor of Geography Co-taught by: Danielle Lake, Director of Design Thinking and Associate Professor of Philosophy Peer: June C. Paul, Skidmore College |
| Sociology | Widener University | Food, Water, and Social Justice (Syllabus Forthcoming) Our Food, Water, and Social Justice course will address the grand challenge of climate change by connecting theories of environmental transformation and environmental justice to issues of social sustainability through a discussion of small scale, historical solutions to food insecurity (i.e. food banks) and their evolution to community gardens, farms, and kitchens. Students will engage with the Boys and Girls Club of Chester to create a community garden on the Widener campus. The garden will extend the community organization’s current efforts by providing additional garden space for educational experiences and community- building between Boys and Girls Club members and Widener students. Additionally, students will connect theory to practice by engaging in evaluation research to better understand community needs and tailor the garden programing to fit those needs. Professor: Sarah Blake, Assistant Teaching Professor of Sociology Peer: Alexandra Délano Alonso and Abou Farman, The New School |
| Dance | Skidmore College | Dancing Toward Success: Arts Education for Public Schools (Syllabus Forthcoming) Dancing Toward Success: Arts Education for Public Schools is a community-based learning course that will investigate and decode the issues surrounding arts education access, funding, and the relationship between arts and learning. Collaborating with a public elementary school with high rates of poverty, college students will design and implement a dance residency, sharing the power of art and movement with children in their community. Professor: Sarah DiPasquale, Assistant Professor of Dance Peer: Andrea Mazzariello, Carleton College |
| Philosophy | Wagner College | Ethics and Society (Syllabus Forthcoming) Wagner students enrolled in the philosophy course Ethics and Society will partner with local middle school students at IS51 to practice critical thinking and dialogue skills. Wagner College has an established partnership with IS51 centered around programming to help middle school students become college ready. Wagner students in Ethics and Society will contribute to this partnership as they inspire middle school students to think about their future as civically engaged, voting citizens. Wagner students will draw on social and political philosophy from Ethics and Society as they utilize voter modules (either existing Periclean modules or ones that they design) to develop workshops for middle school students on important voting issues. College and middle school students will showcase their work on a particular issue at the end of the semester in a poster presentation at the middle school. Professor: Sarah K. Donovan, Professor of Philosophy Peer: Stephanie Kelley-Romano, Bates College |
| Communications | Pace University | Citizen Journalism and Deliberation This course examines new developments in democratic theories and journalistic practices. Beyond classroom lectures, students in the course take several different roles - news reporter, forum moderator, and discussant, experiencing participatory democracy through the analysis and deliberation of vital issues facing their communities and school. Professor: Seong-Jae Min, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Peer: Paula T. McKenzie, Bethune-Cookman University |
| English | Pace University | Introduction to Literature, Culture, and Media (Syllabus Forthcoming) To address the themes of Education Access and Race and Inequality, and in partnership with a NYC nonprofit that operates family homeless shelters (Bowery Residents' Committee), I am developing a new course called "Book Club" that joins undergraduate English majors with youth and young adults whose formal education has been disrupted by housing instability in an exploration of our shared power as readers and writers. Professor: Stephanie Hsu, Associate Professor of English; Director, American Studies Program; Associate Director, Pace University Press Peer: Nancy Dixon, Dillard University |
| Rhetoric | Bates College | What is Rhetoric? (Syllabus Forthcoming) In our work with local community partners (Auburn Public Library and Lewiston Public Library) my students and I will work to address voter engagement. Specifically, I anticipate students making print and video products which will be used by the community to a) inform voters of basic "how to" information (how to vote, how to evaluate a source, how to test reasoning of claims); b) provide specific policy stance information about each of the major party candidates; c) provide historical context for Presidential Debates in the general election and d) inform voters "what to watch for" in debates. These four are what I consider basic, and the final focus of these print and video texts will depend on what the students in collaboration with our community partners choose to work on, and I will not limit them to these four, but offer them as a starting point. Professor: Stephanie Kelley-Romano, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies Peer: Sarah Donovan, Wagner College |
| Religious Studies | Rhodes College | Mass Incarceration: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives (Syllabus Forthcoming) “Mass Incarceration: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives” will introduce students to the realities of mass incarceration through various perspectives on the problem, including advocates for criminal justice reform, staff of the Tennessee Department of Correction and the incarcerated themselves. Professor: Stephen (Steve) R. Haynes, Professor of Religious Studies Peer: Gwendolyn (Gwen) Ferreti, Berea College |
| Art and Art History | Ursinus College | Museums and Their Communities This course examines the concept of the museum as a site of civic engagement, i.e., the museum as a partnership between the institution and its communities, between museum professionals and museum audiences. Professor: Susan Shifrin, Assistant Professor of Art |
| Spanish | Macalester College | Translating Human Rights (Syllabus Forthcoming) In collaboration with Centro Tyrone Guzman and the Minnesota History Center, students in this course will serve as guides and museum interpreters in Spanish for Latinx elders - some of whom have Alzheimer's - and their families. This project addresses issues of Immigration, Education (Language and Culture) Access, and Race and Inequality. Professor: Teresa Mesa-Adamuz, Senior Lecturer, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Peer: Palmar Álvarez-Blanco, Carleton College |
| Environmental Science | Allegheny College | Environmental Education What is environmental education and why is it important for building a sustainable future? Can environmental education affect change in our abilities, attitudes, and actions as related to human-environment interactions? An examination of these questions is the central focus of this course. Professor: Thomas Eatmon, Jr., Assistant Professor of Environmental Science Peer: Randolph K. Larsen III, St. Mary’s College of Maryland |
| Public Health | Bethune-Cookman University | Public Health Communications (Syllabus Forthcoming) The Bethune-Cookman University Department of Public Health and the Florida Chapter of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) will collaborate on a Communications course for Fall 2021. The course provides an introduction into public health communications and the communications competencies needed to inform and influence individual and community health behavior. The course will provide a practical process model for developing health communication interventions while exploring how the media shapes conceptions and opinions of health, illness, and wellness. In collaboration with members of the Florida Chapter of SOPHE, students will develop projects that address (1) the role of health educators in these areas, (2) increasing general public awareness and knowledge of subtopics in these areas, and (3) creating an advocacy call to action to address and highlight needs and disparities in these areas. Professor: Thometta Y. Cozart, Assistant Professor of Public Health and Health Equity Co-taught by: Matilda O. Johnson, Assistant Professor of Public Health and Health Equity Peer: Todd Honma, Pitzer College |
| Asian American Studies | Pitzer College | Science, Race and Social Change (Syllabus Forthcoming) The course, Science, Race, and Social Change, will focus on community-based science movements, examining both historical and contemporary initiatives to rethink how science is taught, researched, and implemented. The class will collaborate with community partner Asian Pacific Islander Forward Movement (APIFM), whose mission is to cultivate healthy, long-lasting, and vibrant Asian and Pacific Islander communities through grassroots organizing. Students will work on creating digital media to educate residents and elected officials about the levels of disproportionate impact from pollution in Alhambra and Monterey Park. This community-based collaboration will address the topics of climate change, public health, and race and inequality. Professor: Todd Honma, Associate Professor of Asian American Studies Peer: Thometta Y. Cozart and Matilda O. Johnson, Bethune-Cookman University |
| Humanities Interdisciplinary | The Evergreen State College | Inventing the Citizen: The History of Political Action and its Limits The course’s goal is to educate students on the history of citizenship, how citizens become political actors, learn their rights, and use their power to make a social change. Students independently create projects engaging directly with the community, fostering civil dialogue and leadership, and serving the needs of both college and regional community. Student led projects include creating a voter education program and a bilingual after-school program for at-risk rural youth. Professor: Ulrike Krotscheck, Member of the Faculty in Archaeology and Classical Studies Co-taught by: Bradley Proctor, Member of the Faculty in History Peer: Wilson Valentin-Escobar, Hampshire College |
| Psychology | Ursinus College | Minority Health and Health Disparities This course integrates institutional, interpersonal, and individual-level factors to examine both the health challenges and strengths of individuals from marginalized communities. Through this course, students gain foundational knowledge that will enable them to build successful initiatives for social justice and health equity at individual and organizational levels. Students practice civil discourse as they move beyond the classroom to engage with the diverse perspectives of local community partners and develop feasible, sustainable, and appropriate community health projects that address disparities. Professor: Vanessa Volpe, Assistant Professor of Psychology Peer: Nurcan Atalan-Helicke, Skidmore College |
| Interdisciplinary Studies | Allegheny College | Rhetoric and Civic Engagement These four courses form an interdisciplinary collaborative spanning the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences to address Water and Health from multiple perspectives. The collaboration is part of a larger effort at Allegheny, where more than 20 faculty members incorporate some aspect of public health into their courses, using specially developed case studies that include such issues as health disparities, environmental exposures, effective prevention, and the impact of globalization. Professor: Vesta Silva, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric |
| Dance | Reed College | Community Dance and Collective Creation Community Dance is a project that brings together members of the Reed College and broader Portland communities. They practice community dance as a mode of dancemaking and social intervention based on the principles of collective creation. The course offers a forum for dancing and holding dialogue about social, cultural, and identity-based issues. The class also includes a residency with a local activist who is instrumental in guiding reflections on the relationship of “place,” belonging, and dance. The Fall 2017 resident was Teresa Raiford of Don’t Shoot Portland, a community organization dedicated to addressing racism. Professor: Victoria Fortuna, Assistant Professor of Dance Peer: S. Alexandra (Alex) Picard, New England College |
| Political Science | New England College | Campaigns and Elections This course combines traditional coursework, which will be focused on candidates, the media, campaign finance, party politics, the internet, and voter turnout, with the opportunity to work on a presidential campaign and also with role-playing, a mock election, and a mock debate. Professor: Wayne Lesperance, Associate Professor of Political Science |
| Humanities Interdisciplinary | Hampshire College | Citizens(hip) and Colonialism in our Backyard: Puerto Rican History, Civic Engagement, and Decolonial Social Change The course teaches students the foundational knowledge to better understand the history, politics, and cultures of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, and how the legacy of U.S. colonialism shaped every aspect of the lives of Puerto Ricans residing within and outside of Puerto Rico. The course built on the ongoing collaborative partnerships between Hampshire College and local grassroots organizations based in adjacent cities of Holyoke and Springfield, which have large Puerto Rican communities. Professor: Wilson Valentin Escobar, Associate Professor of American Studies, Critical Ethnic Studies, and Sociology Peer: Ulrike Krotscheck & Bradley Proctor, The Evergreen State College |
| Sociology | Dillard University | Political Sociology An introduction to political sociology is grounded in the use of 'the sociological imagination.' An examination of theoretical perspectives and research methodologies used in political sociology is followed by an opportunity for student learning through civic engagement. With the support of the chief city economist, for example, students compare New Orleans' budgets prior to the Hurricane with those after the Hurricane. Professor: Winona Somervill, Professor of Sociology Peer: Milton C. Moreland, Rhodes College |
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