Faculty Resources
“The thing I enjoyed the most and that meant the most to the students was the direct contact with community members. Students went out into the community and community members visited the class. I was surprised how much it meant to the students to interview local amateur musicians and get a direct sense of the importance of music in people’s lives.” - Professor M. Hunter, Music and in the Community, Music
What is community-engaged teaching?
Courses, independent studies, or honors projects that do one or more of the following:
- Helps students understand public issues both in theory and through concrete, contextual, and practical experiences.
- Partner with non-profit or governmental organizations to contribute to the organization’s mission in some way.
- Connect curricular concepts to community needs in order to enhance learning, promote active citizenship, and foster reciprocal ties between campus and community.
- See examples of past community-engaged courses.
McKeen Center Resources for Community-Engaged Learning
Community-Engaged Courses and Independent Studies
- Assistance with identifying community partners and exploring community-engagement options for courses
- Mini-grants to support costs associated with community-engaged courses, e.g. transportation for students, honoraria for community speakers
- Funding for Community Course Liaisons, who are students hired to support the community engagement components of a course
- Customized orientations for course participants to prepare them for community engagement experiences
- Support for students pursuing community-engaged independent studies or honors projects
- Information and resources for students who wish to continue engaging with community organizations outside of the classroom
Symposia / Public Events
- Collaboration through What Matters dialogue series to organize campus conversations about topics of public concern
- Assistance identifying speakers for symposia and public events
- Co-sponsorship of events
- Collaborating in design of symposia with topics related to the public good