Public Scholarship and Engagement Announces Newest Cohort of Community Engaged Learning Faculty Fellows 

Public Scholarship and Engagement is thrilled to welcome our second cohort of Community Engaged Learning Faculty Fellows. This program signals a growing commitment to strengthening this type of experiential learning for UC Davis students. 

The cohort-based program is organized around monthly meetings and mentorship to support individuals working to fully integrate this learning approach into existing courses and new curricular experiences. Fellows come from a variety of disciplines, some planning to modify existing curriculum while others will develop an entirely new course. Proposed courses this year focus heavily on equity and justice, a theme which many fellows believe necessitates engagement to help students better understand how these issues impact communities, and bring in community members knowledge and perspectives. To learn about previous fellows involved in this program, check out our profiles of Dr. Milmon Harrison from the Department of African American and African Studies and Dr. Valerie Eviner from the Department of Plant Sciences

“We are excited to welcome this next cohort of Community Engaged Learning Faculty Fellows, and we look forward to supporting them as they develop or adapt their engaged courses. Additionally, these Fellows now join previous years of Faculty Fellows in a growing community of UC Davis faculty supporting publicly engaged scholarship,” said Associate Vice Provost for Academic Programs Tessa Hill, who will facilitate the group meetings for the Fellows. 

While community engaged learning courses may take different forms, they all address a specific need, problem or common concern, include collaboration with a community partner that is connected with course content and disciplinary perspectives, and require ongoing and documented student reflection. This six-month program will address questions surrounding public engagement and student learning outcomes, including how can students be prepared to engage responsibly and thoughtfully with community partners, and how can mutually beneficial relationships be built with community partners?

The 2021 cohort includes:

• Jesus Barajas: Department of Environmental Science and Policy, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
• Beth Ferguson: Department of Design, College of Letters and Science
• Laci Gerhart-Barley: Department of Evolution and Ecology, College of Biological Sciences
• Thomas Maiorana: Department of Design, College of Letters and Science
• Lisa Soederberg Miller: Department of Human Ecology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
• Diane Ullman: Department of Entomology and Nematology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

“This year’s cohort continues to demonstrate the commitment by our faculty to provide meaningful experiential learning opportunities for our students in partnership with public agencies, non-profit organizations, and community groups,” says Vice Provost Rios. “This is the type of investment that ensures progress towards our long term goal of creating a culture of engagement at UC Davis.”

About Public Scholarship and Engagement

Public Scholarship and Engagement (PSE) is building and supporting meaningful relationships between communities and UC Davis scholars that work together to solve today’s problems and tomorrow’s challenges. We envision a university unbound that seeks to serve the public, equitably and inclusively, resulting in reciprocal and mutual benefit to California’s communities and beyond.