Courses with a CBLR attribute have the following Learning outcome:By the end of the semester, the student will be able to integrate scholarly information from readings, labs, lectures and/or classroom discussions with knowledge gleaned from their community engagement experiences |
Community-Engaged Learning courses offered in Fall 2026 include:
BIOL 310 – Aging and Age-Related Disease: In this course, we will study aging as a developmental process defined by changes in the anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry of the brain as well as age-associated changes in behavior. We will also examine the biological basis of neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, associated with the brain’s aging process. The basis for our learning will be the formation of questions, discussions and review of the current literature, and field experiences with aging populations.
CS 425 – Human-Computer Interaction: This course covers topics in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), including identifying users’ needs, rapid prototyping, visual design, and the evaluation of existing systems. Students learn principles and methods that will help them recognize and create usable interfaces. Students apply these methods to evaluate real-world systems, measuring how they impact productivity, and more broadly experience.
EDUC 150 – Foundations of Education: The course examines the historical, sociological, and philosophical foundations of education. Topics include learning, curriculum, current educational issues, and the relationship of education to society. Emphasis is on current literature, primary source materials, interviews, and classroom observations. The class requires a high degree of participation and preparation, and a minimum of 10 hours of observation in a public school.
EDUC 250 – Curriculum and Instruction: This course, designed for students interested in the field of teaching, focuses on curriculum design and construction, and the conceptual and practical knowledge of teaching methods. The use of technology for instruction and accommodations for students with special needs are addressed. The course includes a field experience with 24 hours of observation and opportunities for practice teaching at a local high school.
ENG 357 – Writing and Community Engagement: This course explores how community-engaged writing, research, teaching, and activism are used to build and maintain cultural communities and enact social change in various contexts. In collaboration with the Landis Center, we will contribute to writing that community partners engage in to achieve their goals, arriving at a deeper understanding of the social dimensions and public consequences of community-engaged writing and research.
EGRS 451 – Engineering & Society: This seminar focuses on how engineering impacts society as well as how society impacts the practice of engineering. Students apply the knowledge they have gained from both engineering and non-engineering courses to evaluate these impacts. Students play an active role in leading sessions, presenting results, organizing class participation, and discussing project results. This is the capstone seminar for the Bachelor of Arts in Engineering.
FAMS 140 – Media and Mass Incarceration: In this course, held primarily inside Northampton County Jail in Easton, we will learn about the basics of mass incarceration in the United States and the ways in which media has contributed to, reified and changed the discourse around mass incarceration. The course introduces students to basic, but critical concepts of the criminal justice system and similarly, basic concepts, and methods central to film and media studies. Through required weekly screenings, readings, writing, regular discussion and peer presentation, we will analyze the above to gain a better understanding of our community in the Lehigh Valley.
FYS 141 – Mathematics of Social Justice: Alexander Hamilton said, “The first duty of society is justice.” Today there is vociferous argument about the prevalence of justice. To what degree is society just? Are there practical ways to make it more just? This course considers the importance of understanding data and applying mathematics to ask these questions and to explore meaningful answers. Using mathematics that everybody is taught, we’ll try to make sense out of conflicting opinions, so as to discover the importance of quantitative literacy for all citizens in a democracy.
FYS 179 – Leveraging Social Entrepreneurship to Alleviate Poverty: Market-based social entrepreneurship as an approach to addressing poverty, unfreedoms and the lack of localized agency among the poor in economic development has seen a rise in prominence. This is often attributed to the failures of national governments, multi-lateral agencies, and conventional philanthropy to respond dynamically to the challenges posed by changing global and technology landscapes. These failures also reflect a reliance on an outmoded development paradigm that is both inattentive and unresponsive to the modern needs of low-income people to be primary owners of their development experiences, a possibility made more realistic because of globalization and technological change. In essence, as first noted by Adam Smith and reported in Amarta Sen, freedom of exchange and transaction is in itself part and parcel of the basic liberties that people have to celebrate, and as Sen himself points out, “the freedom to participate in economic interchange has a basic role in social living.”
MATH 301 – Case Studies in Math Modeling: A course which engages students in the creation of mathematical models to answer questions about a variety of phenomena. Students work in small teams on a sequence of projects which require the formulation, analysis, and critical evaluation of a mathematical model and conclude with the submission of a written report by each student.
PSYC 230 – Lifespan Development I: This course uses a biopsychosocial perspective to examine theories of development from the prenatal stage of development to late life. We will examine processes underlying physical, cognitive, neurological, social and personality development over the lifespan. Classic and current research is highlighted to show how evidence is generated in developmental science. Practical application is emphasized.
PSYC 342 – Practicum in Psychology: An experientially based course in which students apply their knowledge from academic course work to a field setting and explore research relevant to their field activities. The internship site matches the student’s interest (e.g., human service agency; personnel department, etc.). Field supervision/seminar.
REL 105 – Death and Dying in Global Perspective: This course introduces students to religion in the topics of death and dying. It investigates the psychological aspects of facing death and dealing with dying persons; cross-cultural religious and philosophical interpretations of death (as new life, resurrection, rebirth, etc.); and medical, ethical, and legal issues such as physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. This course will especially investigate themes of dying, death, afterlife, eschatology, reincarnation, memorialization, and the paranormal as they relate to the study of religion as a human phenomenon. The course uses videos, guest speakers, readings, class discussions, and individual reflection papers to gain an understanding of the multiple meanings death has in our world.