Community Engaged Learning
Community Engaged Learning (CEL) at NJCU
Our motto is “Enter to learn, exit to serve.” At NJCU, students work with deeply committed faculty to evaluate areas of needed reform in Jersey City and neighboring communities, then reflect on their role in contributing to these reform efforts, during students’ university experience and beyond.
Community Engaged Learning (CEL) connects students to the broader community by integrating them into project-based learning outside the classroom.
Through varied environments, contexts, and experiences, members of our urban metropolitan university come face to face with community issues so they can begin to evaluate areas of needed reform and reflect on their place in these endeavors.
Core Principles of Community Engaged Learning (CEL) at NJCU
- A strong interplay in planning takes place such that the community and agencies tasked with supporting specific populations are equally responsible for outlining the experiential opportunities for students;
- Situations are anticipated and prepared for that will cause a need in students for personal reflection and growth;
- Exposure to opportunities for identifying a pathway to a career, and to professional mentors, are also anticipated and prepared for by the NJCU community and community partners alike;
- Key partners and populations may require that learning-driven activities take place over an extended period of time and over the course of multiple opportunities for engaged learning; and
- Interdisciplinary approaches to CEL are often an appropriate faculty response in designing student experiences.
Community Engaged Learning (CEL) Courses at NJCU
These courses are developed with the support of the Center for Community Engagement, whose mission is to create and foster a commitment to lifelong service within the NJCU community by encouraging students, faculty, and staff to engage in meaningful service projects that make a positive impact in communities of limited means in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, the United States, and the world.
Useful Links
Robert Quinones
Assistant Director of
Community Engagement
Gilligan Student Union Room 111
Phone: 201-200-3299
Fax: 201-200-2329
Rquinones@njcu.edu