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Community-based
learning at Occidental, in which students apply what they learn in the
classroom to community projects, embodies the four cornerstones of the
College's mission: excellence, equity, community and service. The Center for
Community Based Learning serves as a resource for such efforts, and acts as
a clearinghouse for students, faculty, and staff who are working toward
solutions to pressing issues in the community - locally, regionally,
nationally, and globally. |
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Occidental College has, for the third consecutive year, been named to the President’s Higher Education
Community Service Honor Roll With Distinction for exemplary service
efforts and service to disadvantaged youth. In 2008, over 1,260
Occidental students – nearly two-thirds of the student population –
contributed more than 10,000 hours of service.
Politics Professor Caroline Heldman was selected for California Campus
Compact Carnegie Foundation Faculty Fellows: Service-Learning for
Political Engagement Program, in 2007-08. Professor Heldman’s Disaster
Politics class takes students to New Orleans during the Winter break, where
students learn from textbooks as well as from directly experiencing
post-Katrina issues of race, economics and politics.
Occidental
College was selected in December 2008 as a community engagement institution
by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, becoming
one of a handful of liberal arts colleges to be so designated for its
commitment to mutually beneficial collaboration with its surrounding
communities.
Physics Professor Adrian Hightower, ECLS Professor Gabrielle
Foreman, and Politics Professor Caroline Heldman received grants from
Project Pericles for their Civic Engagement Courses, (funded by the
Teagle Foundation, in 2007-08). Professor Hightower’s Energy Conversion
and Resources class engaged his students with community organizations
interested in efficient uses of energy, and at the end of the class
presented their recommendations to their community partners. Professor
Foreman’s Black Activism and the Archive class evolved, through
interactions with two community partners (Southern California Library
and Los Angeles Community Action Network), into a Community and Culture
class. The culmination of the class was a “reverse tour,” with about 20
community organizations and schools participating in workshops and
orientations to how to access college resources.
Karina Vanderbilt, involved with CCBL community projects and currently
part of CCBL’s student staff, was awarded the prestigious 2008 Strauss
Fellowship, for $10,000.00.
Funds will be used in support of a program to introduce discussions
about food insecurity and other social justice issues at Franklin High
School. Working with Franklin students, Oxy students, and community
members, Karina hopes to facilitate a community commitment to end local
food insecurity.
>>Click here to see
more accomplishments.
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Since
its creation in 2001, Occidental’s Center for Community Based Learning (CCBL)
has provided leadership and developed resources to
institutionalize
community based learning at Occidental College. To accomplish this goal, the
center engages with students, faculty, other campus offices, and community
partners, as well as state, national, and international networks. The goal
of community based learning is to enhance student learning and faculty
engagement by connecting academic study and civic education through
reciprocal, mutually beneficial relationships with the greater community.
In
2002, CCBL founded the Northeast Education Strategy Group, a network of
public district and charter schools, and community organizations. The
network involves principals, teachers, parents, students and college
professors, staff, and students working together to create long-term change
in the area. The main focus of this group is on college access and equity,
as well as other issues affecting education such as crime and safety.
Click here for more on
CCBL's academic civic engagement based on community organizing practices.
Click here to see our current
Brochure.
Click here to view CBL Course Evaluations 2004-2009. |