Recognition
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching selected 76 U.S. colleges and universities for its new Community Engagement Classification. Trinity College was cited in two categories: Curricular Engagement – “for teaching, learning and scholarship which engage faculty, students and community in mutually beneficial and respectful collaboration;” and Outreach and Partnership – “application and provision of institutional resources for community use with benefits to both campus and community and collaborative interactions with community and related scholarship for the mutually beneficial exchange, exploration and application of knowledge, information and resources.”
Faculty Development Workshop
40 faculty members from Trinity College and 5 other Hartford Consortium for Higher Education schools attended a half day workshop entitled Writing, Mapping and Community Action. Participating were Tom Dean, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center at the University of Connecticut at Storrs, who discussed how writing can help faculty discern the different kinds of intellectual challenges students experience as they engage in community-based projects; and Trinity presenters Rachael Barlow and Dan Lloyd, who discussed the use of “google mash-ups” (web-based maps with special information added by the user) in class projects.
Community Partners Lunch
Over 60 CLI community partners, Trinity faculty and students attended a lively and informative luncheon to share their community projects with each other. Each “CLI grouping” provided a quick synopsis of their project and everyone appreciated the opportunity to learn about the collaborations among their colleagues, both at Trinity and in the community. The luncheon also provided the opportunity for our community partners to network with each other and with faculty and students at the college.
A Sampling of CLI Final Project Presentations
Over the years, CLI final project presentations have become more numerous and innovative. Here is a sampling of presentations from the Spring ’07 semester:
*Trinity students, who completed a project on school choice with Professor of Educational Studies Jack Dougherty, presented their research to the School Choice Committee of the Hartford Board of Education.
*Students in Latinos in Education, taught by Professor Andrea Dyrness, presented their research findings at the Mi Casa Community Center on Park Street. They examined the experiences of migration and the educational values and aspirations of members of Hartford’s Latino community
*Students in Naogan Ma's Community Learning Colloquium, along with children from the Boys and Girls Club, hosted a performance entitled Tributes: Creating the Beloved Community, at the Vernon Social Center. Tributes, through scripted readings, helps young people learn about a variety of historic figures who have contributed to the world community.
*Students from Kathy Gersten’s Education Through Movement class, joined by 3rd, 4th and 5th graders from the Parkville Community School, presented their performance project for the semester to children’s parents and teachers and members of the Trinity community at the Koeppel Sports Center. This year’s performance was entitled Save the Trees.
*The final project/performance for Eric Galm’s class Topics in World Music: Music of Latin America and the Caribbean, was an outdoor festival open to the community in front of the Austin Arts Center. The event featured performances by area musicians, along with the Trinity Samba Ensemble. Students from the class set up informational displays demonstrating their projects with the local musicians.
The Community Learning Colloquium
In December of 2006, the CLI Advisory Group announced the launch of the Community Learning Colloquium, providing students an academic avenue to continue their community learning projects after their course has ended. Colloquia carry ½ credit and require a faculty sponsor. There can be more than one student in any colloquium. This new option has become very popular, with over 40 students taking advantage of a colloquium in the Spring ’07 semester. Students from Professor Dan Lloyd’s Mapping Communities class continued their work with a Hartford organizing group; students from Naogan Ma’s first-year seminar continued their work with the Boys and Girls Club on Tributes; students from Dina Anselmi’s senior seminar, Risk and Resilience, strengthened their understanding of issues from the seminar by continuing their work at Family Life Education.
A Sampling of Community Learning Courses
*Communities and Conflict: Understanding and Reversing Prejudice and Discrimination (first-year seminar taught by David Reuman.
Students examined the causes of prejudice and discrimination using literature, film, social science readings, and
participating in projects with organizations in the community that work to reduce prejudice and discrimination. The class partnered with the National Conference for Community and Justice, participating in Conversations on Race; and with True Colors, an organization combating homophobia, gender bias and racism. This project partnered Trinity students with the Gay/Straight Alliance at the Hartford Preparatory Academy.
*50 Stories for 50 Years (independent study tutorial taught by Cindy Butos)
In a collaboration with the Photography Department at the University of Hartford’s School of Art, Trinity and U of H students teamed up to interview and photograph 50 residents at the Avery Heights Nursing Home. The interviews and photographs were published as a bound volume to celebrate Avery Heights’ 50 anniversary. Besides learning interviewing techniques from long-time Hartford Courant reporter Henry McNulty, Butos saw another benefit to the project stating “students are around people their own age all the time and their eyes are opened by getting to know people who’ve lived long and vital lives.”
*Science and Asthma: A Global Perspective (first-year Interdisciplinary Science course taught by Alison Draper).
In this year-long course on asthma and its global implications, students first carried out a community project in collaboration with the American Lung Association and the City of Hartford’s Department of Public Health focusing on helping children learn how to manage their asthma. The focus of the second semester was exploring the implications of asthma around the world, particularly in Hartford’s Peruvian population and in Peru. At the end of the second semester, students traveled to Peru. The Hartford and Peruvian experience enabled students to examine health care inequities both locally and globally.
CLI in the News
Professors Jack Dougherty and Diane Zannoni worked with a group of students from the class of ’07 to study the relationship between grade-school test scores and home prices in West Hartford’s 11 elementary school districts. Results of the study were presented to the American Educational Research Association and were featured in a New York Time’s article this past summer. In addition, The Trinity Tripod reported on the project in its September 25, 2007 edition, quoting Trinity graduate Jeff Harrelson ’07 describing the process as “the most fulfilling experience of my undergraduate career.”
Upcoming Events
The second community learning brainstorming lunch of the semester will be held on Monday, December 3rd at noon (place to be determined).
The Community Learning Initiative is guided by an advisory group that includes:
Dina Anselmi
David Henderson
Joe Barber
Dan Lloyd
Cindy Butos
Theresa Morris
Jack Dougherty
Clare Rossini
Hebe Guardiola-Diaz
Jim Trostle
For more information on CLI contact:
Dina Anselmi
LSC 207 x2236
Dina.Anselmi@trincoll.edu
Elly Jacobson, Associate Director for Urban Academic Engagements
70 Vernon St. x4275
Elinor.Jacobson@trincoll.edu
Or visit our website at :
/UG/UE/CLI/Mission.htm