Funding for Teaching

What is Community-Engaged Teaching?

Community-engaged methods differ from approaches that emphasize one-way applications of academic expertise to community problems. Community engagement is a method, a strategic approach to teaching, scholarship (research, creative work) and service to address public problems through collaborative community partnerships, where community partners are involved in courses that: 

  • Are reciprocal, mutually beneficial 
  • Share risk, benefit, responsibility
  • Can be local, national, and/or global 
  • With diverse entities (e.g., non-profit, government, private sector)
On this page:

Funding for Community-Engaged Teaching

Community-Engaged (CE) Teaching Funds are designed to support instructors to be innovative in developing and promoting their community-engaged teaching. CCESL has combined multiple funding opportunities into a single, universal application. These funds support:

  • Community-engaged class projects

  • Development of community-engaged courses

  • Institutional capacity building (e.g., bringing together instructors who teach similar courses to develop collaborative ideas for community-engaged activities)

  • Community-Engaged Student Assistants

  • Professional development (e.g., scholarship of teaching and learning for community-engaged teaching)

Appointed faculty, adjunct faculty, postdoctoral and graduate student instructors may apply. Visit our Public Impact Blog to view more stories of community engagement.

Resource to aid in community-engaged teaching: Community-Engaged Learning Syllabus Rubric 

The application is open for the 2024-2025 academic year. Appointed faculty, adjunct faculty, postdoctoral and graduate student instructors may apply. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Learn More & Apply
I wanted to give students a resource for enacting radical democracy from within admittedly less than democratic institutions. The result was a sustained engagement with voter registration and education in combination with theoretical readings and discussions about the limits and possibilities of democracy...After participating in voter registration and education, nearly everyone in the class said that they will commit to being more actively engaged in democracy, including at minimum paying much more attention to elections and political news. Community-Engaged Teaching Fund Recipient
person presenting from a poster

Signature Faculty & Students Program

The DU Signature Faculty and Student Program recognizes faculty with records of excellence in mentoring undergraduate signature work in order to support their capacity to mentor collaborative, community-engaged signature work that addresses DU Grand Challenges issue areas. DU’s Office of Public Good Strategy and Research will make two awards in AY 2024-2025. 

The 2024-2025 application is now closed.

Adding the Community-Engaged Attribute to Your Course

Did you know that you can add a “community-engaged” attribute to your courses that will appear in the Class Schedule? Tagging your course with the attribute helps:

  • CCESL in tracking (and advocating for) the breadth of engaged class on campus
  • Students in planning (they can even do a search for engaged classes specifically), and
  • You gain attention for your work and we can recognize your contributions!
Learn More

Demonstrating Community Engagement

Have you received funding, attended a training, participated in programming, or otherwise been connected with CCESL? We encourage you to indicate your affiliation with CCESL when you update your faculty materials in Watermark Faculty Success (formerly Activity Insite). Including this connection not only showcases your engagement and professional development but also demonstrates the broader impact of your work through CCESL’s support.

Learn How

Contact

Note: CCESL programs, including this one, undergo an antiracist, anti-oppression review at least annually. In 2020, the review process led to revision of the program description and application materials; changes in the composition of review committee to include 1-2 community members; the addition of training for grant reviewers as well as information sessions for potential applicants.