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The Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning (CCESL) leads the campus in embracing the University of Denver's commitment of "being a great private university dedicated to the public good."  Our mission is to educate, engage, and equip the campus community to accomplish tangible, public work that improves the lives of people in our communities.  We value the public good, inclusive excellence, and, as part of higher education's civic mission, building community capacity and engagement.

What makes us unique?

The CCESL staff works with students, faculty, on-campus partners, and the community through a community organizing framework.  Community organizing is about people working together for systemic social change.  It is about developing collective self interest by working with others and taking action on issues the community cares about through true democracy, where the power is with the people.

Community organizing is not about the short-term mobilization of bodies, protests or rallies.  It is about achieving long-term change through building powerful, public relationships; influencing and negotiating with government, corporations and institutions; achieving direct representation; and holding decision makers accountable to the people through public actions.

We are committed to developing active citizens as identified in our student learning outcomes.

Our Goals

Learning:

  • We will develop students into engaged citizens who actively participate in the public life of their communities;
  • We will provide curricular and co-curricular opportunities for DU students to learn and work in communities.

Scholarship:

  • We will write, publish and present our work to regional, national, and international audiences;
  • We will support faculty in community-based learning and public good scholarship efforts at DU;
  • We will connect university stakeholders with efforts that address critical community issues.

Community:

  • We will convene faculty, students and staff around critical community issues; increase and deepen public good scholars and service-learning capacity;
  • We will provide opportunities for DU students to produce real, tangible work with people who are different than themselves.

Visiting CCESL

We are located at 2050 E. Evans Ave. in Driscoll South, Suite 22. Visitor parking is available in the Evans parking structure at High Street and East Evans Avenue, adjacent to CCESL.

 

Charla Agnoletti

DU Student

Our mission with the Engaged Community Initiative is to engage the student population at DU with meaningful community work that motivates individuals to acknowledge themselves as the creators and sustainers of a strong, vibrant community.

DJ Close

DU Student and Puksta Scholar

By educating students about the differences between volunteering and service learning, I hope to create sustainable community relationships between Greek organizations and the Denver community.

 

Anne DePrince

Anne DePrince

Associate Professor, Department of Psychology

In 2005, I received a Public Good Grant that allowed me to continue research and partnership-building efforts.  My research depends on strong community partnerships; in that context, I have been involved in discussions at CCESL about engaged scholarship."