Community Engaged Scholarship

American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program (ACES)

Ethnic Studies

Ethnic Studies 135AC - Contemporary U.S Immigration

Instructor: Victoria Robinson
Semester: Fall 2015

Professor Victoria Robinson's 'Contemporary U.S. Immigration' course (Ethnic Studies 135) covers the topic of immigration in the United States, debunking common myths about immigration, revealing the truth about immigration, and following the history of immigration to present day. One notable subject in the discussion of present-day immigration is the program that President Obama has recently created: Deferred Action...

Engineering for Social Change

Engineering/International and Area Studies 157AC - Engineering, The Environment and Society

Instructor: Khalid Kadir
Semester: Spring 2015 - Spring 2017

Asian American Studies

Asian American Studies 132AC - 'Islamophobia and Constructing Otherness'

Instructor: Hatem Bazian
Semester: Spring 2015 - Spring 2018

Dr. Hatem Bazian's Asian American Studies 132AC ACES Course, 'Islamophobia and Constructing Otherness, ' was designed to help students understand and combat institutionalized racism, focusing on Islamophobia, its origins and progression, and the principle of "otherness": accepting and recognizing differences in others.

As part of the engaged scholarship...

Theater, Dance & Performance Studies

Theater Dance and Performance Studies 52AC - Reflections of Gender, Culture, and Ethnicity in American Dance

Instructor: Krista DeNio
Semester: Summer 2015

Music

Music 74AC/139AC - Hip Hop in Urban America

Instructor: Sara Lappas
Semester: Summer 2015

Rapping in Mandarin, Berkeley undergrad Vanessa Guo shared the stage with her teenage collaborator, Miyosha, and volunteer Juanita Greene at a lively, outdoor talent showcase last weekend in Richmond. The trio co-wrote the music and lyrics for “Dance with Me,” a hip-hop track about confidence and empowerment, through a partnership between the Richmond youth organization RYSE and a summer music course at Berkeley on the history of hip-hop in urban America....

Course Spotlight: Engineering, The Environment, and Society

This Spring, Dr. Khalid Kadir, will be teaching a new ACES course, Engineering 157AC / International and Area Studies 157AC: Engineering, The Environment, and Society at UC Berkeley. The course will challenge students to look beyond the technical elements of their work and recognize the deeply social and political nature of engineering questions. With help from Berkeley Ph.D. student and Chancellor's Public Fellow Lara Cushing, Dr. Kadir has established partnerships with local and regional African-American, Asian-American, and Latino community groups, through which...

International and Area Studies/Engineering 157AC: “Engineering, Environment, and Society”

About the Course Assignment

IAS/E 157AC: “Engineering, Environment, and Society” forefronts the political and social concerns that are of decentered in favor of the technical aspects of environmental engineering. Originally developed as part of the American Cultures Engaged Scholarship (ACES) program, the project developed for IAS/E 157AC allowed for students to explore alternative ways of centering the knowledge produced in the communities...

American Cultures Engaged Scholarship (ACES) Program

About ACES

The American Cultures Engaged Scholarship (ACES) Program started as a partnership between the American Cultures Center and the Public Service Center(link is external) in January 2010 to bring together the goals of the AC curriculum and community-based learning, supporting and deepening both. Generously supported by the ...

AC Course Spotlight Videos

The American Cultures Center is proud to offer wonderful opportunities such as Course Development Grants, and Teaching Awards that aim to celebrate your involvement within our courses. Below are spotlights of our faculty who teach various AC courses.

History Of ACES - UC Berkeley Engaged Scholars Initiative (BESI)

The Berkeley Engaged Scholarship Initiative video project was designed to assist in narrating the meaning of engaged scholarship in UC Berkeley research and teaching. BESI became the foundations for our ACES Program offered today. The final Video Project, features a series of interviews with UC Berkeley faculty discussing their research as it relates to questions of public, community, and accessibility.