The Center for Academic Community Engagement at Penn State Berks, supported by the Office of Academic Affairs, is faculty-led and faculty-run. It is a forum to share knowledge, expertise, experience, and training among participating faculty. Service learning and community-based research require that faculty redesign their classes. Faculty take risks that often lead to meaningful student learning and contribute to the public good and social justice. Students also leave their comfort zones as they apply new concepts to real situations, and communities benefit from the knowledge and activities students bring to the organization.
Benefits
Benefits of service learning, community engagement and community-based undergraduate research for faculty and staff include:
- motivating students to participate actively in coursework;
- providing opportunities to apply classroom concepts to real situations;
- transforming student research assignments into concrete learning experiences;
- giving students the chance to make a difference with their own work by sharing their knowledge, research and conclusions with community organizations working on real problems;
- enlivening the exchange of ideas and experiences in class;
- learning from your students as they share their projects with you and their classmates; and
- connecting your own research interests and expanding your knowledge of and contacts with the community in which many of us live.
How CACE can help you?
CACE personnel will assist you with the intellectual, curricular, and logistical planning and execution of your project. We try to match interested faculty with community organizations' needs.
The center also offers its library of print and web resources including those listed on the bibliography page as well as specific articles and examples of syllabi for many disciplines, which we continue to expand.