Writing Program/Center for Urban Research and Teaching (CURT) Initiative

The Writing Program and the Center for Urban Research and Teaching jointly sponsor symposia focusing on Writing for and with the Community. These symposia address questions and possibilities that concern the faculty's intellectual work (both scholarly and pedagogical). Joined by community leaders active in developing university-community partnerships, the faculty participants explore ways of developing community-based research projects and ways of integrating community service within the academic work of their courses. There are follow-up meetings during the academic year to consider further scholarly and/or pedagogical projects developed during the symposia. Symposia topics include:

 

(1) Writing and Service Learning (considering the central role in service learning that is played by written reflection, which helps the students move to critical understanding integral to the academic work of the course); 
 

(2) Writing and Community-based Research and Teaching (exploring ways of developing faculty and student research projects that evolve from partnerships with the community); and 
 

(3) Community-based Research and Publication (focusing on the development of community-based research initiatives for scholars in all disciplines).