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The American Cultures Center

  • About
    • Our About page has resources and videos that discuss the history and intent of the AC requirement. Our Spotlight page features some AC faculty discussing the AC courses that they teach. 

      • Overview
      • AC Podcast
      • AC 30th Timeline
      • History of AC
      • AC Anniversaries
      • Past Events
      • Video Library
      • Press Releases
      • Publications
      • Reports
      • Newsletter
      • Curriculum Snapshot
      • Contact Us
      • Teaching in Troubled Times
  • Students
    • Hey Students! Take advantage of our programming by taking courses offered across campus, being a member of our Student Advisory Board or applying for the Student Prize for projects you have developed in your AC courses.

      • Overview
      • Courses
      • FAQs
      • Spotlight on AC Courses
      • Student Prize
      • How to Satisfy the AC Requirement
      • Student Advisory Board
      • Student Projects
  • Advisors
  • Faculty
    • The American Cultures Center is proud to offer faculty exciting opportunities such as the possibility to receive a grant to continue, or create an American Cultures course, be awarded for excellence in teaching, and even become a Chancellor's Public Scholar! 

      • Overview
      • Teaching Resources
      • Course Development
      • Faculty Grants
      • Assessing Anti-Racism Pedagogy
      • Library Support
      • Teaching Awards
      • Teaching in Summer Workshop Series
      • Teaching with Wikipedia
  • Community Engagement
    • The American Cultures Engaged Scholarship (ACES) Program provides opportunities for students, faculty and community organizations to collaborate on cutting edge research projects associated with some of the nation's most pressing social issues. 

      • Overview
      • ACES Courses
      • ACES Graduate Learning Community
      • ACES Partnerships
      • ACES Projects
      • ACES Publications
      • May 24, 2023 Event: Putting the “public” in the public university: the now and possible futures of community-university partnerships
  • SSSJ Program
    • Animated collage of communities of color organizing for housing, mutual aid, and land repatriation

      The Staff as Students of Social Justice (SSSJ) Program is an opportunity for campus staff to learn first-hand from leading scholars and American Cultures instructors about the intersections of race, ethnicity, and gender, explore subjects of personal interests, and connect with faculty, students, and fellow staff colleagues.

      • Overview
      • Aspirations of Material Anti-Racism: What’s Next?
      • Fall 2022
      • Summer 2021
      • Spring 2021
      • Fall 2020
  • Creative Discovery Fellows
    • The Creative Discovery Fellows program fills a critical gap on our campus, by helping instructors incorporate digital tools into the curriculum and supporting students to use them effectively, in ways that are personally meaningful and also serve the public good.

      • Overview
      • About the Program
      • Creative Project Support
      • Faculty Spotlights
      • Featured Student Projects
      • Research and Evaluation
      • Resources
      • The Problem(s) with Grading: Making a Case for Contract Grading
      • Case Studies
      • Creative Projects as Political Possibility
      • Antiracism Pedagogy & Equity-Based Learning Winter Institute
  • HSESI
    • Image of a row of a racially diverse group of California high school students

      The UC Berkeley High School Ethnic Studies Initiative (HSESI) is a collaboration between The American Cultures Center, Department of Ethnic Studies, and History-Social Science Project developing curriculum materials to support the 2025-26 school-year rollout of the California Ethnic Studies high school graduation requirement.

      • Overview
      • Teaching Ethnic Studies K-12
      • Get Involved

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Introduction to the ACES Program

Community Engagement

  • ACES Courses
  • ACES Graduate Learning Community
  • ACES Partnerships
  • ACES Projects
  • ACES Publications
  • May 24, 2023 Event: Putting the “public” in the public university: the now and possible futures of community-university partnerships

Topics

  • Community Engaged Scholarship topic page
  • Course Development topic page
  • Faculty Grant topic page
  • Teaching in Troubled Times topic page
  • Videos topic page

About the ACES Program

Launched in January 2010, the American Cultures Engaged Scholarship (ACES) Program developed as a partnership between the American Cultures Center and the Public Service Center (http://publicservice.berkeley.edu(link is external)). This program aims to transform how faculty’s community-engaged scholarship is valued, to enhance learning for students through a combination of teaching and practice, and to create new knowledge that has an impact both in the community and the academy.
Today, ACES courses continue to be developed, providing opportunities for students to participate in collaborative projects with community partners, engage in experiential learning, create meaningful collaborative research environments with partners outside of the university, support reflective engagement on broad social issues and interests, and explore the possibilities and challenges of collaborative scholarship for both community partners and academic communities.
ACES courses work with community organizations building student and faculty research into...environmental justice, prison abolition, Indigenous movements... and social justice.
Gibor Basri, first Vice Chancellor for Equity & Inclusion

2022-23 ACES Program

About 

The 2022-23 Community Engaged Scholarship and Teaching applications cycle is now closed. If you have any questions, please email victoriarobbi@berkeley.edu.

Undergraduate Student Opportunities

ACES Courses

ACES courses transform how faculty’s community-engaged scholarship is valued, to enhance learning for students through a combination of teaching and practice, and to create new knowledge that has an impact both in the community and the academy. To see a list of ACES courses being offered this semester, please visit our ACES Courses page.

ACES Student Community Projects

ACES courses allow students and faculty to work with community organizations to develop cutting-edge research projects associated with some of the nation's most pressing social issues. Please visit our ACES Student Community Projects page for examples of projects students have developed in ACES courses with community partners.

Graduate Student Opportunities

ACES Graduate Learning Community

In 2019, the ACES Program launched a learning community for graduate scholar-activists, a learning community that comprises workshops that discuss community engagement and scholar-activism and the opportunity for graduate students to build community together while exploring the importance of and connection between their academic studies, teaching, and research and their community relationships and social justice efforts.  Learn More.

Community Partnership Opportunities

Community Partners

Since January 2010, the ACES Program has collaborated with over 60 community partners to offer students opportunities to learn about histories of oppression, racism and social justice in the U.S., by engaging with community organizations and experts on these very issues as part of their AC class and the university's public mission.Read More

Artist In Residence (AIR)

The ACES program appoints an Artist-in-Residence for ACES to work with Berkeley faculty, fellows, community partners, and students, in the integration of new media supporting the courses and collaborative relationships that constitute the engaged scholarship program of the AC Center.  Learn more.

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The American Cultures Center
360 Stephens Hall, MC #1050 
Berkeley, CA 94720-1050

  • Phone: (510) 664-7065
  • americancultures@berkeley.edu

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