Summary & notes by Kate Cammack, Center for Teaching
Friday, February 21, 12:00-1:00pm
Community engaged learning (CEL) is a high-impact, experiential learning opportunity in which community engagement is integrated into the learning objectives & activities of a course. Sewanee’s 2024-2025 CEL Fellows Clarissa Peterson (Politics/African and African-American Studies), Lucia García-Santana (Spanish), Max Dahlquist (Earth and Environmental Systems), and Eric Ezell (Earth and Environmental Systems) discussed their CEL interests, presented their CEL projects, and fielded questions from their packed audience.
Amy Patterson, Professor of Politics & Director of the Office of Civic Engagement, introduced key principles of CEL experiences, including that they are rigorous, well structured, reflective, and reciprocal. She also presented the pedagogical benefits to engaging in CEL, including students’ cognitive/affective development and empowerment around community goals.
Clarissa Peterson, Professor of Politics and African & African-American Studies, presented on her Fall 2024 course, POLS290 Voting While Black, which utilized a dynamic & multipronged approach to promoting voter education, registration & turnout in Chattanooga.
Lucia García-Santana, Associate Professor of Spanish, presented on her Fall 2024 course, SPAN350 Words in Action: Latin American & Latinx Poetry in Community Engagement, which partnered with Z.E.A.L. and used the ABC model for critical reflection.
Eric Ezell, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies (Earth and Environmental Systems), presented his Fall 2024 course, ENST Equitable Environmental Education, which engaged multiple community partners (e.g., Friends of South Cumberland State Parks, Cumberland Forest School) around issues of access, opportunity, and belonging in nature for marginalized learners.
Max Dahlquist, Assistant Professor of Geology (Earth and Environmental Systems), presented on his Spring 2025 course, GEOL299 Natural Hazards, which has worked with Thrive Regional Partnership to identify, explore & educate around flood & landslide hazards in the local region.
The session closed with a number of valuable resources:
- Support from OCE staff, including conversations with Robin Michaels about potential/available community partners, and sessions with Lydia Reinig on helping students build skills around mutual respect & conscientious dialogue (email them!)
- Conversations with the four CEL Fellows, who welcome brainstorming, resource-sharing, and reflection on their experiences (email them!)
- Faculty resources for CEL courses, including how to designate a course as CEL (contact Amy!)
An excellent book, The Craft of Community Engaged Teaching & Learning, that is available in our CfT library (check it out!)