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Motivation to Teach Social Action:
I taught a Social Action course in Spring 2025 on my own, without the support of the Institute; it was successful in some ways and has room to improve in other ways. I see the value in participating in the Institute to receive training directly from Dr. Myers-Lipton. Beyond that, I am also the director of community-engaged learning initiatives at CNU--I feel I have a lot to learn from the institute, but also a lot to contribute to the discussion. The community partners we work with are often trying to survive--they don't have the capacity to engage in social action on behalf of their organizations. That's a major place where I feel our university and our students can contribute to the public good. But I want to do this work with proper training--the institute is a perfect opportunity for that, and I would be grateful to join.
Course Description:
This capstone course draws on coursework and experiential learning in the minor. Students will identify a community need; develop a partnership with a community agency which has a global, national or community mission and provide semester long service hours; create a project proposal of research and innovative action; and complete and present a reflective paper on the project. This service-learning course requires a minimum of 40 service hours and counts for 40 hours toward Service Distinction.
This is the course description in the catalog — I update it each semester to reflect who the community partner is and what projects we will work on.
Taught By:
Brooke Covington
Assistant Professor & Academic Director of Center for Community Engagement
English
Christopher Newport University
Read profile here.