Project Community

Project Community is one of the nation's oldest continuously-running service-learning courses. Each year approximately 400 students combine academic learning with meaningful service in the community. Students who elect Sociology 389: Practicum in Sociology choose seminars in our Criminal Justice, Education, Gender and Sexuality, or Public Health program areas. Examples of community work for students include teaching a creative writing class in a prison, tutoring at a local school, being a "fem-tor" for a teenage girl or volunteering in a hospital. Students who elect Sociology 325: Peer Facilitators are undergraduate student leaders within the Project Community program. After being selected and trained, they take on a number of leadership responsibilities that provide opportunities for personal and professional growth. In addition to the community component, requirements for the course include a weekly 90-minute seminar, readings and written assignments. These requirements, developed by Project Community faculty, staff and graduate student instructors, are integrated in a seminar by a peer facilitator enrolled in Sociology 325: The Sociology of Service-Learning, taught by our faculty sponsor. Project Community's unique design provides many opportunities for learning in the community and in the classroom.