The Summer ’26 Institute will be hosted by Bobby Hackett, President of the Bonner Foundation, and Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton, Professor Emeritus from San José State University, who developed a social action course in 2006, and has taught it 30 times. Checkout our website to learn more about teaching social action.

Faculty from all disciplines are encouraged to apply; however, we want to restrict participation to those faculty who are committed to implementing this experiential social action course model in the 18 months following the Institute.

Apply here for the Summer ’26 Institute by June 1, 2026.

Here is what Dr. Cassandra Stimon, Associate Professor of Social Work from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, has to say about the training:

“The Institute was one of the most effective uses of my time in my 30+ years in higher education. The Institute provided a structure and the tools to implement social action in an organized and meaningful way as a part of the educational experience. I left the Institute invigorated, armed with new knowledge and tools. I wondered where the Social Action Institute had been all of my higher ed life.

The Summer ’26 Institute will run from Monday, June 15-17th from 1-5:30 pm EST. There is no charge for the Summer ’26 Institute. If the date doesn’t work for you, we have four other in-person Institutes scheduled for the Fall and Spring (Alabama, NYC, Indiana, and Virginia) and a virtual Winter Institute as well.

Our no cost Institutes train faculty and staff to develop social action syllabi for a course or workshop series that engages students in leading “policy change” campaigns. The key component of this experiential and transformational learning model is that students choose a campaign to work on and attempt to enact a policy change on campus or in the community by making demands of a decision-maker during the semester the class is taught. Click here to learn more about this model.

Here is what Dr. Arun Agrawal at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability has to say about the Institute:

“I have personally gone through the Institute and found it incredibly helpful in developing a social action course, that I then taught at the University of Michigan the following semester. Teaching social action has been one of the highlights of my career, as it provides students with concrete tools with which to organize social action campaigns. I highly recommend it!”

We are building a movement to spread this pedagogy with a public purpose by training and building a community of practice among faculty and staff across the country and around the world. We would be honored if you join us.

Learn more and apply here.

Here is what Dr. Cassandra Simon from the Social Work Department at University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa had to say about the Tennessee ’24 Institute:

“The Institute was one of the most effective uses of my time in my 30+ years in higher education. The Institute provided a structure and the tools to implement social action in an organized and meaningful way as a part of the educational experience. I left the Institute invigorated, armed with new knowledge and tools. I wondered where the Social Action Institute had been all of my higher ed life.”

Our no cost Institutes train faculty and staff to develop social action syllabi for a course (or workshop series) that engages students in leading “policy change” campaigns. The key component of this experiential learning model of teaching social action is that students, during the semester the class is taught, choose a campaign to work on and attempt to enact a policy change on campus or in the community by making demands of a decision-maker. Students can launch their own campaign or join a community organization’s campaign and create a “student-wing” in collaboration with the community organization. Click here to see the Fall 2024 courses using social action.

We hope you apply to the Florida ’25 Institute. Here is the application link.

The Florida ’25 Institute will run from Saturday, February 8th, 8:45 am-6:15 pm, Sunday, February 9th, 8:45 am-1 pm; food will be covered during the Institute. Applications are due on Friday, January 10, 2025. If you have specific questions about the Florida ’25 Institute, you can contact Scott at smlipton@sjsu.edu or (510) 508-5382.

If February 8-9th doesn’t work for you, please consider applying to one of our upcoming 2025 Institutes, both virtually (Jan 6-8 & June 9-11), and in-person (Tennessee, March 8-9, UK, April 25-26 & Oregon May 17-18). Click here to apply.

Here is what Arun says about the Institute on Teaching Social Action:

I have personally gone through the Institute and found it incredibly helpful in developing a social action course, that I then taught at the University of Michigan the following semester. Teaching social action has been one of the highlights of my career, as it provides students with concrete tools with which to organize social action campaigns and actions for undertaking social action for change. I highly recommend it! It really is a fantastic, generative opportunity.

If you cannot join us in Seattle on September 7-8th, we are hosting additional Teaching Social Action Institutes at the U. of Michigan (Oct. 5-6), virtually in the Winter (Jan 6-8), Rollins College in Florida (Feb 8-9), Rhodes College in Memphis (March 8-9), and virtually in the Summer (June 9-11). You can apply to these upcoming Institutes here.

Our no cost Institutes train faculty and staff to develop social action syllabi for a course (or workshop series) that engages students in leading “policy change” campaigns. The key component of this experiential learning model of teaching social action is that students, during the semester the class is taught, choose a campaign to work on and attempt to enact a policy change on campus or in the community by making demands of a decision-maker. Students can launch their own campaign or join a community organization’s campaign and create a “student-wing” in collaboration with the community organization. Click here to see the Spring ’24 student campaigns on our updated website.

Our no cost Institutes train faculty and staff to develop social action syllabi for a course (or workshop series) that engages students in leading “policy change” campaigns. The key component of this experiential learning model of teaching social action is that students, during the semester the class is taught, choose a campaign to work on and attempt to enact a policy change on campus or in the community by making demands of a decision-maker. Students can launch their own campaign or join a community organization’s campaign and create a “student-wing” in collaboration with the community organization. You can see the Spring ’24 student campaigns here (which include links to the related course students were taking that semester).

Here is what Dr. Arun Agrawal, from the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), says about the Institute on Teaching Social Action:

“I have personally gone through the Institute and found it incredibly helpful in developing a social action course, that I then taught at the University of Michigan the following semester. Teaching social action has been one of the highlights of my career, as it provides students with concrete tools with which to organize social action campaigns and actions for undertaking social action for change. I highly recommend it! It really is a fantastic, generative opportunity.”

We hope you apply to the Pennsylvania Institute on Teaching Social Action! If for some reason the October dates do not work, please consider applying to one of the other upcoming in-person or virtual Institutes. If you have any questions, please contact us. If you have specific questions about the content of the PA Institute, you can contact Scott at smlipton@sjsu.edu or (510) 508-5382.

We would like to invite you and your colleagues to apply to our virtual Summer ’24 Institute on Teaching Social Action on June 12-14, 2024 hosted by the Bonner Foundation. If this doesn’t work, you might want to apply to our in-person Fall ’24 Institute at the University of Michigan, the on-line Winter ’25 Institute, or the Spring ’25 Institute in Memphis.

These institutes are designed to give faculty and staff the knowledge and tools to incorporate student-led social action campaigns into a current or new course (or co-curricular activity). The key component of this model is that students in a course choose a campaign to work on and attempt to enact a policy change on campus or in the community by making demands of a decision-maker. This spring 19 social action courses are being taught across the nation in a variety of disciplines.

Click here to apply for the Summer ’24 Institute; applications are due on Friday, May 23. We have 34 faculty (and a few staff) accepted, and we would love to have you, as well.

If you can’t make it this summer, please consider applying to the Fall ’24 Institute at the University of Michigan on October 5-6 hosted by Dr. Arun Agrawal with the Pathways Alliance at the School for Environment and Sustainability, the virtual Winter ’25 Institute on January 6-8 hosted by the Bonner Foundation, or Spring ’25 Institute on March 8-9 hosted by Dr. Austin Harrison from Rhodes College.

We hope you apply! Please share this opportunity with faculty and staff colleagues that you know. If you have any questions, please contact Bobby Hackett at rhackett@bonner.org.

Session Titles at a Glance: (NOTE: the link for each item below is available at the Wiki link above)

#1:         Community-Engaged Learning in Higher Education

#2a:       Community-Based Research

#2b:       Community-Engaged Scholarship

#3:         Community-Engaged Learning As High-Impact Practice

#4:         Developing Sustained Relationships and Projects with Community Partners

#5:         High-Impact Community Engagement Practices for Course Projects

#6:         Course Development for Community-Engaged Learning

#7:         Critical Perspectives and Inclusive Voices

#8:         Engaging Students as Colleagues

#9:         Roles of Centers in Promoting Institutional Engagement

#10:       Leveraging Community Engaged Learning for Partners & Publications

Our long-term goal is to mainstream this model for teaching active democracy. The world needs more citizens who have developed their knowledge and skills in bringing about positive change through real world experience. While not all of the student campaigns are successful, many have been and those that haven’t succeeded have still taught valuable lessons to those who led them and those who were engaged in one form or another.

Dates and Times: JUNE 6 – 8, 2023, 12:00 PM TO 4:00 PM EST EACH DAY

APPLICATION

There is no cost to join the Summer ‘23 Institute on Teaching Social Action. However, we want to restrict participation in the institute to those faculty, staff or students who are committed to implementing this experiential social action course model. Please note that preparing and supporting students to launch their social action campaigns generally takes at least half of the course content and assignments. Some courses are directly on social action and change, while others address a societal issue (e.g., climate change, housing, poverty, etc.) around which students develop their campaigns. From experience, the social action campaign dimension of these courses takes up roughly half of the course work (readings, assignments, and in-class teaching and group work).

Application Deadline: May 15, 2023

Learn more.

In addition to the Institute, there are several other ways to participate in the Teaching Social Action Initiative:

• Join the Teaching Social Action Group to receive updates about our collective social action work;
• Attend our virtual “monthly meetups” of our Community of Practice, where we explore best practices and lessons learned from folks who are currently teaching it; the next meetup is Friday, April 7th at 3:30-5 pm EST: (Passcode: action);
• Attend the National College Summit on Social Action on Thursday, May 11th at 8-9:30 pm EST to hear from students around the nation discuss their campaigns.

3-DAY SUMMER INSTITUTE DESIGN

During the three-day institute, participants will draft a syllabus and develop a teaching and a plan for supporting student campaigns which are launched mid-semester. The institute sessions will be led by Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton, Professor of Sociology at San Jose State University, with support from Bobby Hackett, President of the Bonner Foundation. We will use a flipped classroom model, where participants will be asked to prepare for live webinar sessions by reading textbooks CHANGE! A Student Guide to Social Action and CHANGE! A Guide to Teaching Social Action and watching a series of short video presentations on the following topics:

• An Overview of Teaching Social Action
• Organizing Your Class
• Issue Development & Choosing Campaigns
• Change Theory & Building Power
• Research & Group Dynamics
• Strategy & Tactics
• Campaign Kick-Off
• Campaign Plan & Evaluation

Participants will work with a syllabus template which includes guiding questions. We will discuss the pros and cons of revising a course to incorporate social action campaigns or develop a new course that complements an existing course, concentration, minor, major, or certificate program. We will also share the process and lessons learned from prior student campaigns. We welcome participants who want to explore developing a co-curricular social action workshop series embedded into a fellowship or co-curricular or integrated program.

Over the three-days participants will meet each day for two 90-minute Zoom sessions (12:00-1:30 pm and 2:30-4:00 pm EST) for discussions about your goals, course models, teaching approach, and sharing examples and exercises using a Mural Board that will help you plan your social action course or workshop series.

At the conclusion of the three-day summer institute, we will invite participants to join a year-long support and networking community of fellow practitioners who are teaching or learning how to teach social action using this experiential, real-world model. The Teaching Social Action Group is hosted by the Bonner Foundation on the Bonner Learning Community Platform to give faculty, staff, and students a forum for asking questions, discussing active student campaigns, sharing successes and challenges, and announcing future opportunities for training, education, and reflection.

Our long-term goal is to mainstream this model for teaching active democracy. The world needs more citizens who have developed their knowledge and skills in bringing about positive change through real world experience. While not all of the student campaigns are successful, many have been and those that haven’t succeeded have still taught valuable lessons to those who led them and those who were engaged in one form or another.

APPLICATION

There is no cost to join the Teaching Social Action Summer ‘22 Institute. However, we want to restrict participation in the institute to those faculty, staff or students who are committed to implementing this experiential social action course model. Please note that preparing and supporting students to launch their social action campaigns generally takes at least half of the course content and assignments. Some courses are directly on social action and change, while others address a societal issue (e.g., climate change, housing, poverty, etc.) around which students develop their campaigns. From experience, the social action campaign dimension of these courses takes up roughly half of the course work (readings, assignments, and in-class teaching and group work).

Therefore, we ask that you review the information on this model shared on the following links:

• Teaching Social Action initiative page on Bonner Foundation website
• Sociology 164 – Social Action taught by Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton
  • Syllabus and readings
  • Videos of Sociology 164 student campaigns
• Introduction to Social Action
  • Mural Board presentation
  • Campus Compact Webinar Session recording

The formal application to join the summer ‘22 cohort asks you to respond to the following questions on this application form.

• Name, Title, Department, Email, School
• Course Title
• New or Revised
• Course Description
• What interests you about participating in this course development program?
• Have you taught social action before? If so, please describe. If not, have you had any experiences that will help you in teaching it?
• Based on the focus of your course, what policy issues issues do you think your student might choose to address in their campaigns?

Click here to submit your application.

If you have specific questions about the model or our webinar series, please contact Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton, Sociology professor at San Jose State University, who will be facilitating the webinar series at smlipton@sjsu.edu.

In her research, Liz conducted a review of the literature, pointing to ways that Community Engagement Professionals are largely missing from the current scholarship. Existing community engagement research tends to focus on students, faculty, and increasingly on community partnerships. The little research on staff that does exist focuses on conceptualization and professionalization the Community Engagement Professional role with no current research examining the critical practices related to CEPs.

Liz developed an electronic survey that was administered to self-defined CEPs who responded to an invitation emailed across three online platforms, including the Bonner Network Staff Listserv and a national higher ed listserv for community engagement. To develop the survey questions she drew on her own experience as a Community Engagement Professional, Welch & Saltmarsh’s article “Current Practice and Infrastructures for Campus Centers of Community Engagement” (2013), Lina Dostilio’s The Community Engagement Professional in Higher Education: A Competency Model for an Emerging Field (2017), and the Bonner Foundation’s Bonner Pipeline Project Core Competencies Framework.

Read more.

With input from the Bonner Network and votes within the Bonner Learning Community (BLC), this year’s theme is Uncharted: Reimagining Our Work. Despite the challenges of the past year, we will celebrate, reflect on, and learn from the innovation and resilience that our national network of Bonner Programs have shown in working for equity, justice, and positive change on so many fronts. All-group and workshop programming will highlight the remarkable ways that students’ roles, administrators and faculty have engaged with communities and works for social action; the unique ways that people have worked to link community engagement with diversity; racial, ethnic, gender, economic, and other factors of equity and inclusion; and the valuable impacts that this work has had on us and on pressing social issues.

Learn more and register.

Please register your team by April 30, 2021.

This session will be led by Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton, a Sociology professor at San Jose State University, who has taught his social action course in the fall and spring semesters for more than a dozen years. He published CHANGE! A Student Guide to Social Action as a textbook for students that follows his model for teaching social action by having students develop and launch campaigns during the semester the course is taught (or continue a previous semester’s campaign). Currently, he is writing a companion guide for teaching a social action course that Routledge will publish in January, 2022.

Please join us on April 16 at 12 pm EST on Zoom.
Meeting ID: 820 6042 8090

• CHANGE! Student Guide to Social Action, preface, Ch 1-2.pdf  (Routledge, 2018).

• CHANGE!, Teaching Guide, Selection, Ch. 1-4.pdf (Routledge, Jan. 2022). Scott has removed a lot of it to keep it brief, but there is enough here to give you a taste of what this social action teaching guide will have to offer when it’s published next year.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email Bobby Hackett (rhackett@bonner.org) or Scott Myers-Lipton (smlipton@gmaill.com).

We want to invite you to apply to join the 2020-21 Social Action Course Development Program.  What distinguishes this approach to teaching social action is that students learn and put into practice the skills of social action by launching a campaign during the semester the course is being taught.

This program will bring together faculty and staff for a structured training and professional learning community led by Scott Myers-Lipton who teaches at San Jose State University.  This course development program will feature monthly Zoom workshops from late October to early May during the 2020-21 school year. We will also use the Bonner Learning Community platform for sharing materials and online discussions and feedback.

Scott will cover the nuts and bolts for launching a social action class (credit-bearing or co-curricular) using the model developed by Scott.  We will use his book — CHANGE! A Student Guide to Social Action — as a primary resource as we focus on such topics as issue development, leadership, recruitment, target analysis and power mapping, strategy and tactics, event planning, media outreach, facilitation, decision making, fundraising, negotiation, and evaluation. You can read more about this model here: www.bonner.org/social-action/.

If you are interested in participating, please respond to these questions in an email to rhackett@bonner.org and smlipton@gmail.com:

• • What interests you about participating in this course development program?
  • Have you taught social action before?  If so, please describe.  If not, have you had any experiences that will help you in teaching it?

For those of you who cannot participate but want to learn more, we encourage you to visit the social action resources on the Bonner Resource Wiki and also access the  “How to Teach Social Action” Webinar Series on the Bonner Learning Community platform.

Interested? Contact Scott Myers-Lipton at smlipton@gmail.com.