Summer ’26 Virtual Institute on Teaching Social Action – Jun 15-17

Posted by Bonner Foundation on May 12, 2026

We would like to invite you to apply to the virtual Summer ’26 Institute on Teaching Social Action on June 15-17, 2026. Today, many college courses teach about democracy and change, but few courses provide students the opportunity to learn by doing them. The Summer ’26 Institute meets this need by providing faculty the necessary training to teach social action.

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.