Sponsored by the Department of Sociology and the Swearer Center, the Engaged Scholarship Certificate (ESC) allows undergraduate students to investigate public, civic and/or social justice issues that they are passionate about by integrating academic study with community-based learning, research and action.
Swearer Center for Public Service
Engaged Scholarship Certificate
Structure
The ESC can complement any single concentration. In addition to engaging directly with communities, organizations and practitioners outside of the academic setting, students pursuing the ESC engage in intensive interdisciplinary inquiry into their chosen public, civic and/or social justice issue (such as educational equity, environmental justice, or criminal justice reform). After completing a mandatory foundational seminar, each student will propose three experiences—a capstone, a community-based practicum, and a three-course interdisciplinary elective sequence—that are connected to the problem they have chosen as their area of interest.
- Foundational Seminar (1 credit): SOC 0310: Theory and Practice of Engaged Scholarship (One section of SOC 0310 is currently offered each Fall and Spring semester, typically on Wednesdays between 3:00-5:30 p.m.)
- Interdisciplinary Electives (3 credits):
- One Community-Based Learning and Research (CBLR) Course that relates to the student’s stated public, civic, and/or social justice issue.
- One Issue Area Course that addresses the student’s stated public, civic, and/or social justice issue.
- One Critical Perspectives Course that relates to the student’s stated public, civic, and/or social justice issue and examines the broader ethical, political, and social context of that issue area. Students are strongly encouraged to consider Race, Power, and Privilege-designated courses or other courses that address issues of structural inequality, the root causes of social problems, and the production of knowledge and difference in the context of discourses on race, power, and privilege.
Sample courses and student pathways through the ESC can be found in the ESC Student Handbook. However, these sample courses and pathways are not comprehensive. When declaring the ESC in ASK, students may propose other courses as electives (e.g., a course that is engaged but does not carry the CBLR designation or an independent study course that meets the criteria for any elective category). Students are encouraged to email or meet with Swearer Center staff to discuss their ESC Program Plan, including any proposed course substitutions or transfer credits from a course at another institution.
There are no defined expectations around grading options and the ESC. Students may elect their ESC courses to be graded on a basis of either A,B,C/No Credit or Satisfactory/No Credit.
- Practicum (0-1 credits): The ESC practicum is a significant practice-based experience (e.g., internship, fellowship, volunteer role, etc.) with a community organization or project, during which students also complete a series of reflective assignments. In most cases, the practicum will be completed as a non-credit-bearing experience. However, it may be fulfilled through a credit-bearing course, such as the Brown in Washington, D.C. Practicum course. View a list of past Engaged Scholars' practicums. (A Brown University log-in is required.)
- Capstone (0-1 credits): The ESC capstone will provide students with a culminating learning experience through which they reflect back on their certificate work and demonstrate achievement and competency with respect to key learning outcomes articulated in their ESC declaration. ESC students will have two options for fulfilling the capstone requirement:
- Credit-Bearing Option (Engaged Research): Students who elect this option will pursue an engaged course involving research or other project-based work with a community partner organization. Students may select an upper-level course—including potentially a concentration capstone/honors thesis course—or propose an independent study (Departmental Independent Study Projects or Group Independent Study Projects) aligned with their research interests and, with the agreement of the instructor, pursue a project with a collaborating non-academic partner.
- Non-Credit-Bearing Option (ePortfolio/Reflection Essay): Students who elect this option will create an electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) of representative ESC work. The ePortfolio will consist of papers, projects, and/or other artifacts developed in courses and the ESC practicum. It will be accompanied by a reflective essay that responds to a series of prompts about the student’s community-engaged learning experiences.
View a list of past Engaged Scholars' capstones. (A Brown University log-in is required.)
The ESC will require four to five courses, depending primarily on whether a student elects a credit- or non-credit-bearing capstone.
Eligibility
The College Curriculum Council has provided an overview of undergraduate certificates at Brown, as well as detailed guidelines for students who wish to pursue a certificate, including the ESC.
Students may formally declare their intention to pursue the ESC if they meet the following criteria:
- have an approved concentration on file in ASK;
- have completed or are currently enrolled in at least two courses that will meet requirements for the ESC. In most cases, one of these courses will be the required ESC foundational seminar, SOC 0310: Theory and Practice of Engaged Scholarship, which ideally will be taken during a student’s third, fourth, or fifth semester at Brown, although it is open to students at every semester level;
- have included a written statement in ASK discussing their rationale for pursuing the ESC and the relationship between it and their declared concentration;
- are enrolled in at least their fifth or sixth semester, and it is no later than the last day of classes in their antepenultimate (typically the sixth) semester. (See Brown’s Academic Calendar for more details.);
- are not pursuing another certificate at Brown;
- are pursuing only one concentration at Brown; and
- have no more than one course in their ESC Program Plan that overlaps with their declared concentration. Students are encouraged to have the credit-bearing capstone option in that course when feasible. *
*Sociology concentrators can count the ESC foundational seminar, SOC 0310: Theory and Practice of Engaged Scholarship, or SOC 1950: Senior Seminar as the one course that overlaps with their concentration.
Students who are not eligible to declare the ESC may still enroll in the foundational seminar (SOC 0310: Theory and Practice of Engaged Scholarship) and/or meet with Swearer Center staff, including the Swearer Center Peer Advisors, to discuss their interests and other opportunities for pursuing engaged scholarship at Brown.