For Faculty & Staff

Community engaged learning connects community engagement to academic coursework and is designed to enhance student learning through mutually beneficial, classroom/community collaborations.  The Center for Careers, Life, and Service supports faculty and staff in developing curricular initiatives with a diverse group of community partners that operate within about a 60 mile radius of campus.

How can we help?

Feel free to contact Julie Lascol, Associate Director of Community Engaged Learning, or peruse the options below for more about how we may be of assistance.

student painting a mural on a cinder block wall

Explore and Design a Community Engaged Learning (C-EL) Course

Let us help you brainstorm ideas and share community-engaged learning opportunities, provide access to resources and funding, or help facilitate  the building of community relationships and partnerships.

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Fund a C-EL Course

Whether you are planning or implementing a community engaged course or are working to complete or sustain a project started in a class, the Center for Careers, Life, and Service and the Academic Dean’s office both have funding resources that may help.

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Formalize and Implement a C-EL Course

Let us help you formalize community and academic expectations, finalize funding sources and coordinate partnerships and logistics as you teach your course.

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Assess and Sustain Community Engaged Projects

Let us help provide resources for reflection and feedback, create a plan for transitioning projects from one semester to another or to transition it into a co-curricular endeavor, or make other changes to either sustain an initiative or bring it to a close.

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Locate General Resources

When teaching a community engaged class you don’t have to recreate the wheel.  We have a wide array of resources that might help.

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Explore What Others Have Done

Want to know more about what others have done? Maybe knowing more might spark your imagination or help you identify someone with a valuable perspective or insight?  We have a number of examples of community engaged courses that your colleagues have offered at Grinnell.

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Social Justice Tour

The service and social innovation staff in the CLS have designed a tour for people who are interested in becoming active in the civic life of Grinnell and who want to learn more about becoming socially just collaborators in community action.

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Community Engaged Class Transportation

While many of our community partners are within walking distance of campus, others are located in our surrounding communities where transportation to and from a site is required.  The CLS partners with Facilities Management to help accommodate these service transportation needs.

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Critical Considerations for F-1 Students

F-1 students may typically participate in charitable or humanitarian service, like serving food at a soup kitchen, reading to children at a public library, or visiting the elderly.  However, many other scenarios of off campus community engagement fall into a category that is off limits or requires practical training authorization. Before planning your class please consult with Julie Lascol or with someone from the Office of International Student Affairs (OISA).

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How We Move Forward Together: Essie Justice Group

By Gina Clayton-Johnson, January 22, 2024, for Convergence Magazine

Gina Clayton-Johnson, pictured above with students at Saints Rest, was the recipient of our 2017 Grinnell College Innovator for Social Justice Prize. She recently shared the following about a piece she’s …

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The Principles for Equitable and Inclusive Civic Engagement

by Kip Holley, The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University

Executive Summary

Civic engagement is more than collection of meetings, techniques, and tools. It takes place in an environment made up of …

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The role of social movements in systems change

Author: Skoll Centre, Topic: Systems Change, Interest: Systems Change Observatory

This month, the Systems Change Observatory (SCO) explores how social movements support systems change. Jessica Jacobson and Dr Sudhir Rama Murthy spoke with Charmian Love, Skoll Centre Social Entrepreneur in …

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Contact Us

Phone
(641) 269-4940
Address

John Chrystal Center
1103 Park Street
Grinnell, IA 50112

Hours

Monday 8:00am–5:00pm
Tuesday 8:00am–5:00pm
Wednesday 8:00am–5:00pm
Thursday 8:00am–5:00pm
Friday 8:00am–5:00pm
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