Community Engaged Scholarship

American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program (ACES)

Pedagogical Resources

Every year, the AC Center host pedagogical workshops to support its faculty in the development of AC courses, classroom assignments and the teaching to issues of racial and economic justice in diverse classrooms. In the past our workshops have been hosted by AC faculty members, the Wikipedian foundation, and campus departments such as the Media Resources Center.

Please use the navigation menu to explore information from our previous teaching workshops.

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...

Putting the “public” in the public university: the now and possible futures of community-university partnerships

About

From the classroom to the department and the broader campus, scales of learning and scholarship are necessary for intentionally designed partnerships with community organizations. The workshop was held on May 24, 2023, 9 am - 5 pm at the Tilden Room in MLK Student Union, UC Berkeley featuring advice from community-engaged scholars on best practices to advance the University's public mission.

Co-sponsored by: The American Cultures Center and Public Service Center

ACES Publications

About

The following is an archive of articles that have been published on the American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program, including links where you can read them. For any questions, please email americancultures@berkeley.edu.

The Problem(s) with Grading: Making a Case for Contract Grading

Event Description

Building on the groundwork of the Antiracism Winter Institute, the CDF Program co-sponsored and co-facilitated a follow-up seminar in late April centered on contract grading. The two-day workshop, The Problem(s) with Grading: Making a Case for Contract Grading, invited participants to explore two models of contract grading, Specifications Grading and Labor-based Contract Grading. On the first day, participants engaged in current research that explores how traditional grading methods structure...

Antiracism Pedagogy & Equity-Based Learning Winter Institute

Event Description

Since 2018, the CDF program has supported instructors in developing creative design assignments, assignments that are intentionally built to support faculty and students in ways that are adaptive, equity-oriented, and foster antiracism. In the CDF Winter Institute participants developed actionable strategies that build antiracist and equity-based education.

In conversation with CDF faculty, staff, and students, the Winter Institute discussed how within the current condition of remote instruction and the devastating effects of the...

Big Ideas (Cross-Disciplinary)

About 'Prison Abolition'

Ethnic Studies 181AC / Gender and Women’s Studies 181AC / Social Welfare 185AC

Instructors: Keith Feldman, Eric Stanley, Ianna Hawkins Owen, Erin Michelle Turner Kerrison

Semester: Spring 2025

This course introduces students to the long history of the prison in the American experience, and does so by engaging ideas, movements, and practices to craft worlds of care and mutuality beyond the harms that the prison produces and legitimates. Students engage a range of literatures through which to...

ACES Community Projects

About

The American Cultures Engaged Scholarship (ACES) Program offers students and faculty the opportunity to work with community organizations to develop cutting edge research projects associated with some of the nation's most pressing social issues.

The following are a collection of our growing ACES course offerings and previous student projects from these community-learning classes.

Previous ACES Community Partnerships

Since, January 2011, the American Cultures Engaged Scholars (ACES) Program has collaborated with over 50 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.

The ACES program appreciates the varied experience made possible by the participation of Community Partners, as differences among our Community Partners is what makes possible such diverse opportunities...

Aspirations of Antiracist Pedagogy: Community-Based Learning

Resource Page Summary

On April 10, 2024, the American Cultures Engaged Scholarship (ACES) Program held a Spring institute, titled “Aspirations of Antiracist Pedagogy: Community-Based Learning.” This page specifically discusses the lunch portion of the event where guest speaker Dr. Brandi Thompson Summers, from the Department of Geography at UC Berkeley, shared her expertise on community-based learning. Dr. Summers shared valuable insights on the opportunities this style of learning presents and the challenges it poses. She also discussed how to implement antiracist pedagogy...