Community-Based Learning (CBL) Faculty Fellowship

The CBL faculty fellowship is a one-year program for University of Richmond professors and instructors. During their CBL fellowship year, faculty explore community-based pedagogy and community engagement in the classroom. Each fellow develops a course with a CBL component that they will teach during the academic year and learn from their other fellows about the challenges, joys, and benefits of taking a community-based approach to teaching.

The CCE provides funding for the fellowship, leads workshops on community-based course design and community engagement within academia, provides resources for further exploration on community-engagement, organizes a tour to learn more about Richmond, and assists with the development and deepening of community partnerships.

Professors and instructors from across the University are welcome to apply. Historically, cohorts have drawn from a diversity of disciplines and positions, creating a unique space for interdisciplinary conversations and University community-building.

Topics covered

The CBL Faculty Fellowship covers a variety of topics, and the content for each fellowship year is tailored to the participants in that cohort. Generally, here are some topics we examine during the fellowship year:

  • Overview of Richmond history, issue areas, and the current nonprofit landscape
  • Introduction to CBL pedagogy and modes of community-based learning
  • Tools for building effective community partnerships
  • Syllabus design for community-based learning courses
  • Reflection tools for deeper student learning
  • Elements of a successful CBL class

If you're interested in learning more about community-based learning, here are a few readings and resources we recommend to our CBL fellows:

Fink, L. D. (2003). Creating significant learning experiences. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Hooks, B. (2017). Teaching to transgress: education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge.

Howard, J. P. F. (1998). Academic Service Learning: A Counternormative Pedagogy. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 1998(73), 21–29. doi: 10.1002/tl.7303

Jacoby, Barbara. Building Partnerships for Service-learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2003. Print.

Randy Stoecker. (2011). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDmjvs_BEa4.

Impact and assessment

What was most valuable to faculty about participating in the fellowship program? Here's what a few faculty members had to say:

"Bringing high impact practices into the classroom and developing cross-campus relationships with people outside my department. Without the CCE, I wouldn't be engaging nearly as much with folks outside of Gottwald and Geography." - Kristine Grayson, Biology

"The opportunity to work with [the CCE] and other faculty fellows who are deeply interested in community engagement and improving how we serve our students, our community and each other." - Tom Mullen, Journalism

"Having the time and space to think about pedagogy and about the philosophy and logistics of revising my courses. Connections to other faculty; meeting them, hearing about their ideas and work." - Nicole Sackley, History

2019-20 Community-Based Learning (CBL) Faculty Fellows

Alicia Diaz, Theatre and Dance
DANC 319: Collaborative Arts Lab: Dance, Humanities, and Technology

Sylvia Gale, Bonner Center for Civic Engagement
FYS 100: Storytelling and Social Change

Shannon Hooker, Modlin Center for the Arts
ARTH/MUS/THTR 345: Philanthropy in the Arts

Vivian Leung, Geography and the Environment
Coastal Hazards

Kristjen Lundberg, Psychology
PSYC 449: Prejudice and Intergroup Relations

Michael Marsh-Soloway, Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
SDLC 105, 110, 111, 112, 113: Self-Directed Language Acquisition Program

Camilla Nonterah, Psychology
PSYC 299/WGSS 279: Women's Health

Stephanie Spera, Geography & Environment
GEOG 280/ENVS 300: Special Topic: Weather, Climate and Society

Bob Spires, Graduate Education
EDUC 517: Foundations of Education

Past CBL Fellows

2017-2018 CBL Faculty Fellows

Lauranett Lee, Public History
Introduction to Public History and Public History Capstone Course

Tom Mullen, Journalism
News Writing & Reporting and FYS: Civic Journalism & Social Justice

Melissa Ooten, WGSS
FYS: Slavery in the Contemporary Imagination

Karina Vazquez, LALIS
Spanish in the Community

2016-2017 CBL Faculty Fellows

Elizabeth Baughan, Classical Studies
Introduction to Archeology

Olivier Delers, Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
SSIR: Reading to Live

Kristine Grayson, Biology
Integrated Biological Principles II

Meredith Harbach, Law
Civil Procedure

George Hiller, School of Professional & Continuing Studies
Understanding Language and Culture: Latin Americans/ Latinos

Amy Howard, Bonner Center for Civic Engagement
FYS: Community

Erik Johnson, Economics
Urban Economics

Todd Lookingbill, Geography and the Environment
Landscape Ecology

Julie McConnell, Law
Children's Defense Clinic

Tom Mullen, Journalism
Civic Journalism and Social Justice

Kimberly Robinson, Law
Education Law and Policy

Ernesto Seman, Leadership
Leadership in the Humanities

Dean Simpson, Classical Studies
The Classical Elements of the English Language

Andy Spalding, Law
Corporate Compliance

Martin Sulzer-Reichel, Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Insiders/Outsiders: Arab Encounters with the West

Shital Thekdi, Management
Statistics for Business and Economics

Carrie Wu, Biology
Introduction to Biological Thinking: Biological Invasions

2015-2016 CBL Faculty Fellows

Kim Gower, Leadership
Justice and Civil Society

Jeannine Keefer, UR Libraries
20th Century Architecture and the City of Richmond

Maia Linask, Economics
International Trade: Causes, Consequences, and Controls

Francoise Ravaux-Kirkpatrick
Citizen Camera

Sydney Watts, History
Social Utopias

2014-2015 CBL Faculty Fellows

Carol Brown, Law
Housing Law

Lidia Radi, Modern Literatures & Cultures
Women, Temptation, and Virtue

Kimberly Robinson, Law
Law and Educational Equity

Nicole Sackley, History
The Historian's Workshop

Monika Siebert, English
America in the World, the World in America

Joe Troncale, Modern Literatures & Cultures
What is Art For?

2013-14 CBL Faculty Fellows

Monti Narayan Datta, Political Science
Human Rights and Modern Day Slavery

Thais M. Diaz Montalvo, Latin American and Iberian Studies
Spanish in the Community

Jan H. French, Anthropology
Human Rights in America

George L. Hiller, SPCS
Understanding Culture and Language II

Elizabeth Schlatter, University Museums
Museum Studies: Exhibiting Russian Jewish History in Richmond

David Stevens, English
Writing in Richmond

Shital A. Thekdi, Management
Statistics for Business and Economics

Douglas L. Winiarski, History and American Studies
Richmond: City of the Dead

2012-13 CBL Faculty Fellows

Olivier Delers, Modern Literatures and Cultures
French-English Translation

Mary Finley-Brook, Geography and the Environment
Latin American Geographies: Transnational and Local Connections

Craig Kocher, Office of the Chaplaincy
SSIR: Living a Life of Consequence: Self Discovery and Social Change

Monika Kukar-Kinney, Marketing
Database Marketing

Nicole Maurantonio, Rhetoric and Communication Studies
Memory and Memorializing in the City of Richmond

Betsy Mullen, Journalism
News Writing and Reporting

Jonathan Whitaker, Management
Consulting Process and Practicum

Eric Yellin, History and American Studies
Introduction to American Studies

2011-12 CBL Faculty Fellows

Amit Eynan, Management
Operations Management

Della Fenster, Mathematics and Computer Science
SSIR: Science In Context

Nuray Grove, Modern Languages and Cultures
English Communication in Cultural Context and Academic Writing in English as a Second Language

Rick Mayes, Political Science
Global Health, Medical Humanities, and Human Rights

Tom Mullen, Journalism
FYS: Civic Journalism and Social Justice

Jennifer Nourse, Sociology and Anthropology
Medicine and Health from a Global/ Anthropological Perspective

David Salisbury, Geography and the Environment
Mapping sustainability: Cartography and Geographical Information in an Environmental Context

Mary Kelly Tate, Law
FYS: A Meditation on Wrongful Conviction

2010-2011 CBL Faculty Fellows

Todd Lookingbill, Geography
Geography of the James River Watershed

Laura Browder, American Studies/English, and Patricia Herrera, Theatre and Dance
Documentary Theatre

Scott Nesbitt, Digital Scholarship Lab (with Ed Ayers)
Mapping American History (FYS)

Val Venderzyk, Accounting
Accounting Systems

Laura Browder, American Studies
Immigrant Histories

Catherine Bagwell, Psychology (with Rick Mayes)
SSIR: Children and Mental Health

Mavis Brown, Education
Educating Diverse Learners

2009-10 CBL Faculty Fellows

Holly Blake, Associate Dean, Women's Education and Development
WILL/WGSS Senior Seminar

Jeni Burnette, Psychology
Applied Social Psychology

Jonathan Dattelbaum, Chemistry
Biochemistry

Paula Lessem, Biology
Emerging Infectious Diseases

Elizabeth Outka, English, and Kevin Pelletier, English
Literature of War

Jeff Pollack, Management
Introduction to Entrepreneurship

Andrea Simpson, Political Science
>No Place to Go: Women, Dependency, and Homelessness

Carol Wharton, Sociology and Women's Studies
Homes and Neighborhoods

2008-09 CBL Faculty Fellows

Ronald Bacigal, Law
Criminal Process

Doug Bosse, Management
Strategic Management

Jennifer Erkulwater, Political Science
The Politics of Poverty and Place

Jane Geaney, Religion
Orientalism, Racism, and Religion

Elisabeth Gruner, English
Introduction to Children's Literature

Gill Hickman, Leadership Studies
Leading Change

Scott Johnson, Rhetoric and Communication Studies
Topics in Research: Interviewing Methods

Sungmoon Kim, Leadership Studies
Justice and Civil Society

Lewis A. Litteral, Management
Statistics for Business and Economics I

Joan Neff, Sociology/Anthropology/Criminal Justice
Senior Seminar in Criminal Justice

Tom Shields, Leadership Studies
Justice and Civil Society

Carlos Valencia, Latin American and Iberian studies
Spanish in the Community

Thad Williamson, Leadership Studies
Leadership and Governance in the Contemporary American Metropolis