Community-Engaged Learning and Service-Learning
Call to Action
Service-learning is an academic course where a service project or service experience is part of the overall grade. In the spirit of learning-by-doing, Cal Poly Pomona faculty, staff and students actively support and engage in service-learning activities that build meaningful and sustainable community partnerships.
What is service-learning?
- Service-learning is a pedagogy that provides students with structured opportunities to learn, develop and reflect through active participation and thoughtfully organized community involvement.
- It enhances the academic experience of students by relating academic content and course objectives to issues in the community.
- Service-learning integrates assessment and student reflection on the interrelationships between course content and community-based learning activities.
- Conducted in the community, it meets the needs of the students, faculty and community partners and fosters civic competence and engagement.
How do faculty benefit from service-learning?
- Integrates teaching and research to generate scholarship on teaching (teacher-scholar).
- Creates an environment to engage and motivate students.
- Promotes demonstrated knowledge of academic material and applications.
- Fosters faculty awareness and community involvement.
What is the official service-learning policy of Cal Poly Pomona?
- The official policy for CPP was implemented in May 2018. The official policy can be found here.
- COVID-19 Experiental Learning Summer 2021/Fall2021 Guidlines in Accordance with EO #88315133
Interested in creating or revising a service-learning course?
- For assistance with creating or revising a service-learning course, please email cce@cpp.edu or call (909) 869-4269.
Looking for a community partner to collaborate with?
- For a listing of official community partners, please visit the BroncoSERV page.
- For assistance with selecting a new community partner for your course, please email cce@cpp.edu.
Service-Learning/CEL Faculty Fellows Program
Applications are now open for the 2025-2026 Service-Learning Faculty Fellows Program! This training and implementation program is designed to assist faculty with integrating service-learning into a new course or integrate service-learning into a course that has not previously received S-designation. Deadline for applications including a letter/email of support is April 25, 2025. Learn more and apply via CCE’s Funding Opportunities.2024-2025 Service-Learning/CEL Faculty Fellows
Professor Kathleen Blakistone, Plant Science
Kathleen Blakistone, lecturer of urban agriculture at Cal Poly Pomona and USC, is co-creator of Moonwater Farm. Focusing on collaboration, communing, and creation, Moonwater Farm has established a participatory model of planning and programming that centers diversity, inclusion, equity, and dialogue for altering systemic inequities. It is a recent recipient of LA County’s Justice and Care Grant supporting non-clinical efforts to service vulnerable justice-impacted people that supports the board’s vision of “Care First, Jails Last.” As a master gardener, entrepreneur, and urban shepherdess, Kathleen actively engages with a community of soil stewards, food sovereignty leaders, and placemakers. She also sits on the board of Compton G.irls Club – a non-profit expanding the cultural experiences for female and gender non-conforming BIPOC youth.
Dr. Julie Lee, Agribusiness and Food Industry Management/Agricultural Science
Dr. Yunkyung (Julie) Lee is a dedicated scholar whose passion and experience greatly enhance the fields of applied economics through her research and teaching. Her primary research interest lies in the modeling and simulation of the market and welfare effects of food policy and agricultural technology. She adeptly integrates heterogeneous agents’ preferences within a multi-market framework, employing comparative statistics to provide nuanced insights into sector dynamics. She has developed relevant economic theories and applied them to various agricultural products to assess their economic viability in today's market.
Dr. Amanda Rodríguez-Newhall, Sociology
Dr. Amanda Rodríguez-Newhall is an Assistant Professor of Social Work and Sociology in the College of Letters, Arts, & Social Sciences. She holds an MSW and PhD in Social Work and Psychology from the University of Michigan (#GoBlue!). She is a community researcher who prioritizes partnering with communities to identify and address problems deemed salient by community members themselves. She utilizes community based and participatory research methods to support community empowered action and solution. At Cal Poly Pomona, she looks forward to working alongside the Center for Community Engagement to create opportunities for students interested in environmental justice to gain hands on experience working on and researching issues that matter to their communities.
Professor Rennie Tang, Landscape Architecture
Rennie Tang is a designer and educator based in Los Angeles. As a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at CPP, she coordinates and teaches the Design Foundations curriculum. Her research explores human movement as a shared language between all living beings and the development of kinesthetic design and pedagogical methodologies. Grounded by this theoretical framework she collaborates with visual artists, choreographers and sound artists. This research is also embedded within her work with K-12 schools which involves organizing community workshops that use movement, play and sensory attunement as methods for engaging school children with outdoor learning environments.Service-Learning In-Person Placement Guidelines
- Watch the recorded video of the Community-Engaged Learning Workshop on May 7, 2021, highlighting COVID-19 guidelines for in-person placements.
- COVID-19 Experiental Learning Summer 2021/Fall2021 Guidlines in Accordance with EO #88315133.
CSU-CEL New Taxonomy
The Chancellor's Office, Center for Community Engagement (COCCE) is in the process of aligning an understanding of community engagement across the system. The COCCE uses community-engaged learning (CEL)* as the umbrella term to identify a broad array of courses in which community engagement is embedded. This definition is the foundation for a larger data collection effort around these student learning experiences.
The CEL Tool will allow the CSU to capture meaningful data across the system to better support faculty and work towards appropriate recognition for this work. It also offers insight into curriculum design that may help shape and improve student learning.
Community-Engaged Learning in times of Social Distancing, Isolation and Quarantine
As we adjust to our new temporary reality in the face of COVID-19, there are many factors to consider when thinking about transitioning your Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) course to an online environment.
Remember this quick switch in teaching and learning is likely uncharted territory for many of us, including your students and community partners. High quality community-based learning isn't about logging a certain number of hours, it is about being responsive to community partner needs. Perhaps at this time, the ultimate way to be engaged in the community is in ways that are grass-roots and emerging as the situation unfolds.