Faculty Resources for Community-Engaged Learning

What is community-engaged learning? from University of San Francisco on Vimeo.

Find out more about Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) at USF

Suggested steps for developing a CEL course

If you are interested in developing or revising a community-engaged learning (CEL) course, we encourage you to follow these steps:

  1. Talk with your department chair to determine whether there’s a need/interest in integrating your proposed CEL course into the department curriculum. 
  2. Review USF’s Community-Engaged Learning Dimensions and Student Learning Outcomes, which you will need to integrate into your course.
  3. Connect with the McCarthy Center to participate in a course consultation, CEL workshop, and/or the Community-Engaged Learning and Teaching Fellowship, described below (optional, but highly recommended).
  4. Draft your community-engaged learning course syllabus and proposal.
  5. Submit syllabus and proposal to the Community-Engaged Learning Course Review Committee via Curriculog.

Community Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT) Fellowship

The McCarthy Center annually facilitates the CELT Fellowship, a faculty learning community designed to foster learning about community-engaged principles, pedagogies, and practices; cultivate supportive and reciprocal relationships with peers and community partners; facilitate critical dialogue about the nature of community engagement and social justice; and generate high-quality community-engaged learning opportunities for students. The CELT Fellowship is a year-long commitment that entails the following:

  • Six 2-hour sessions that convene over consecutive weeks during fall semester
  • A group community engagement or service activity 
  • Networking happy hour with community partners 
  • Three 90-minute sessions during spring semester
  • Up to 40 pages of reading in advance of each fall session
  • Completion of two short (2-3 page) written reflections
  • Creation or revision of a community-engaged course syllabus OR draft of a course proposal

Participants in the CELT Fellowship are eligible to receive up to $1000 for completion of the program and creation or revision of a community-engaged learning course syllabus.  For more details about the program, including session dates and times, please contact Star Plaxton-Moore at smoore3@usfca.edu.

Professional Development Resources

Course Consultations

McCarthy Center staff members are available to meet with faculty regarding community-engaged course development, planning, implementation, and assessment. We also help faculty identify and connect with community partner organizations that align with their course content and outcomes. Contact Star Plaxton-Moore at smoore3@usfca.edu for more information.

Professional Development and Enrichment

We host workshops each academic year to introduce faculty to community-engaged teaching and learning.  We also provide enrichment programming to allow faculty to do a deeper dive into specific aspects of community-engaged teaching and scholarship. All events are open to faculty across disciplines and are promoted broadly through campus outreach.

Faculty Development Videos

Faculty Award for Community Engaged Learning

The Provost’s Office presents an annual Faculty Award for Community-Engaged Learning, which “recognizes the work of full-time faculty in developing community-engaged learning opportunities for USF students. The awardee shall be a full-time faculty member who has demonstrated a commitment to engagement through the integration of community-engaged learning into the curriculum; innovation in employing a reflective teaching methodology to connect community and public service experience with academic study; and demonstration of leadership that promotes community-engaged learning on campus.”

  • Brandi Lawless, Communication Studies
  • Keith Hunter, Organization, Leadership, and Communication
  • Kathleen Coll, Politics
  • Dhara Meghani, PsyD
  • Paul Zeitz, Mathematics
  • Hana Bottger, Architecture
  • Evelyn Rodriguez, Sociology and Critical Diversity Studies
  • David Holler, Rhetoric
  • Helen Maniates, Teacher Education
  • Kevin Lo, Organization, Leadership, and Communication
  • Stephanie Sears, Sociology
  • Evelyn Ho, Communication Studies
  • Amie Dowling, Performing Arts and Social Justice
  • Monika Hudson, Entrepreneurship
  • Seth Wachtel, Architecture
  • Dayle M. Smith, Management
  • Linda Walsh, Nursing
  • Chris Brooks, Computer Science
  • Jeffrey Paris, Philosophy
  • Richard Kamler, Fine Arts