Teaching Social Action Institutes, Bonner Foundation

Posted by Corella & Bertram F. Bonner Foundation on November 14, 2023

Our Teaching Social Action Institutes are designed to give faculty and staff the knowledge and tools to incorporate student-led social action campaigns by modifying a current course or co-curricular activity or developing a new one. Social action is a transformative experiential learning model where students in a college course launch their own campaign or join a community organization’s campaign. This fall, there are 12 courses using social action in the USA, and more than 25 courses have been taught in the past year.

Our next in-person Institute on Teaching Social Action is in the South at Rhodes College in Memphis on March 9-10, 2024. In addition, the Bonner Foundation is hosting two Zoom institutes, one in the winter and another in the summer. If interested, please sign up for one of the below cost-free Institutes:

Spring ’24 Teaching Social Action Institute will be held in-person in Rhodes College on March 9-10, 2024, and is hosted by Professor Austin Herrison. The training will run from 9am-5:30pm on March 9th, and 9am-12:30pm on March 10th, and our hope is to cover the food. Click here to apply; applications are due Friday, February 23.

Winter ‘24 Teaching Social Action Institute will be held on-line on January 3-5, 2024, hosted by the Bonner Foundation.The training occurs over three days from 12-4 pm EST. Click here to apply; applications are due by Friday, December 15.

Summer ‘24 Teaching Social Action Institute will be held on-line on June 14-16, 2024, hosted by the Bonner Foundation. The training occurs over three days from 12-4 pm EST. Click here to apply; applications are due by Friday, May 24th.

Fall ’24 Teaching Social Action Institute will be held in-person at the University of Michigan, hosted by Professor Arun Agrawal, with the Pathways Alliance at the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS). Meals will be provided. More information will be forthcoming soon.

As you will see on our website, students’ social action campaigns seek to change a rule, regulation, norm, policy, or practice of an institution, on campus or in the community. This social action model requires teachers to devote about one-half of the course to social action (i.e., issue development, building power, tactics, and campaign launch/implementation).

Please share this opportunity with faculty and staff colleagues at your institution and beyond, as it will help to achieve our mission, which is to have on every U.S. campus, every semester, a course where students learn social action by doing it. If you have any questions, please contact Scott Myers-Lipton, Director, Teaching Social Action Initiative, at smlipton@sjsu.edu.