Provisional University Bulletin (2026-2027)

Brandeis University’s Community Engaged Scholars Program is an academic program that builds connections between the curriculum and co-curriculum, creates a cohort of undergraduates committed to community service and civic engagement, and elevates community-connected teaching, learning, and research as a central commitment of the University. In addition to expressing Brandeis’s foundational commitment to civic engagement, this program will promote a critical analysis of diversity, equity, and inclusion in a wide range of institutions.

Knowledge

Students in the Community Engaged Scholars Program will be supported in making connections between their studies, in any major or minor, and their community and civic engagement activities. Consequently, students who participate in the program will:

1. Identify connections between their academic interests and important real-world challenges and opportunities;
2. Learn about Waltham and other places/locations of their choice;
3. Articulate theories of change and foundational practices of community engagement and locate their own community service and/or civic engagement experiences vis-à-vis these theories and practices;
4. Reflect on different modes of service, engagement, and/or leadership, and develop insight into their own service, engagement and/or leadership styles (including from the perspective of their respective disciplines).

Skills

Students completing the Community Engaged Scholars Program will develop skills that are central to community service and civic engagement, as well as policy analysis and advocacy, including the ability to:

1. Locate urgent social challenges in relevant historical, social, and political contexts, including previous and ongoing collective efforts to create a more just and equitable society;
2. Support community-based organizations with core functions, such as community asset mapping (and needs assessment); grant writing; budget development and management; program documentation, assessment, and evaluation; risk management; volunteer empowerment;
3. Conduct policy analysis and advance advocacy through techniques including active listening, community organizing, communications and public speaking, campaign development, movement building, community engaged/action research and lobbying;
4. Articulate how their disciplinary perspectives (e.g., from the Creative Arts, Humanities, Sciences, and/or Social Sciences) — and their intersections — align with specific practices of community service and/or civic engagement.

Social Justice

The Community Engaged Scholars curriculum provides tools for those committed to the Brandeis ideal of putting knowledge and practice in service of social justice. Students in the Community Engaged Scholars Program will come away with a strong understanding of how to:

1. Engage with communities and community-based organizations respectfully and ethically, honoring their expertise and leadership;
2. Build long-term and sustainable collaborations with communities and community-based organizations to create a more just and equitable future;
3. Develop and articulate their personal values, ethics, biases, and beliefs as they relate to their identities;
4.   Recognize systems of power, privilege, and oppression and how structural, cultural, and relational contexts shape these systems.

Upon Graduating

The Community Engaged Scholars Program is meant to prepare students for lifelong civic engagement irrespective of their major or minor. It will provide students with the knowledge, skills, and resources necessary to serve as ethical, respectful, and responsible agents of service and of social change in their local, national, and global communities. Students who complete the program will receive a notation on their transcript in recognition of their accomplishments.

Sara Shostak, Chair
Cameron Anderson
Rachel Kramer Theodorou
Jonathan Krones
Jon Levisohn
Michelle Puls

The Community Engaged Scholars Program (CESP) is open to all Brandeis undergraduates who entered Brandeis prior to June 1, 2023. Eligible students who are interested in participating in the program are encouraged to speak with the Program Advisor in their first or second year at Brandeis and to take the Foundations course early in their Brandeis studies.

A minimum of four courses and 150 hours of community engagement are required, as detailed below. Successful completion of the Community Engaged Scholars Program requirements will be recorded on the transcripts of graduating seniors.

1. CESP 10a Foundations of Community Engagement (4 credits)
2. Community Engagement Capstone: Connecting Theory and Practice (4 credits)
3. Approved elective (4 credits), linked in subject matter to the student’s specific area of engagement
4. CESP 20a Special Topics in Community Engagement (2 credits), or an additional approved elective that a) centers on theories of social change; or b) provides training in skills that will support students’ community engagement (including research, advocacy, arts, engineering, etc.); or c) includes community engagement as part of its pedagogy.
5. 150 hours of Community and Civic Engagement, Advocacy and/or Service, tracked through CampusGroups.

Electives

Elective courses used to satisfy the CESP requirements may double count with any major, minor, or Brandeis Core requirement. These courses must be approved by Megan Moran, the CESP advisor.

Note: No grade below a C- will be given credit toward the program.  No course taken pass/fail may count toward the program requirements.

Students who complete the program will receive a notation on their transcript in recognition of their accomplishments. 

CESP 10a Foundations in Community Engagement
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Introduces students to the theory, practice, and ethics of community-connected service, learning, and research. The goal is to recognize opportunities for impact across a continuum of civic action. Through this work, students will find ways to consider themselves agents of social change, capable of innovative projects in a wide range of community organizations. The course will be led by faculty and complemented with guest lectures/discussions with community based practitioners. Usually offered every year.

CESP 20a Special Topics

Introduces students to faculty research, teaching, and community engagement opportunities at Brandeis. Brandeis faculty will present on an array of special topics (e.g., environmental sustainability, healthcare, youth organizing, creative technology, and engagement) within community engaged practice, research, and learning. Students will examine topics around equity and social justice, community action, partnership and engagement, and community based participatory research. This course will be facilitated by faculty from fields of sociology, health sciences, global studies, education, film/media, etc. Course readings, videos/other media, and field excursions will be used to facilitate weekly discussions. Students are expected to actively contribute and participate in class discussions and activities to enhance their learning experience. Usually offered every year.

CESP 98a Independent Study

Instructor permission required. Usually offered every year.

CESP 189a Community Engagement Capstone: Connecting Theory and Practice

Prerequisite: CESP 10a. Yields half-course credit.

Students will reflect on what they’ve learned from their community-engaged experiences, complete a final project that supports a community partner in a significant way, and consider how they will pursue civic engagement in their lives after Brandeis. Note that students must take both CESP 189a and CESP 189b the following semester to fulfill the CESP Capstone requirement. Usually offered every year.