Community Engaged Scholarship

American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program (ACES)

Integrative Biology

Integrative Biology 35AC & 190 - 'Human Biological Variation'

Instructors: Leslea Hlusko and Tesla Monson
Semesters Offered: Spring 2015 - Present

One of the world’s top ten most widely read websites, with approximately 550 million unique visitors per month, Wikipedia articles are often the number one hit when using a search browser. However, Wikimedia’s race and gender trouble are well-documented. While the reasons for the gap are up for debate, the practical effect of this disparity is not: content is skewed by the lack of...

ACES Student 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.

English

Amy Lee English 31AC

 In Amy Lee’s English 31AC course on Climate Change fictions, students studied how contemporary literature shapes the way we view and understand climate change, narrates its impacts, and envisions the future. Students interned at two organizations, HEAL Food Alliance and the West Oakland Indicators Project (WOEIP). At their internships, students examined the ways in which race, gender, and class structures distribute the effects of climate change unevenly across communities. At HEAL, they developed popular education materials and...

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

College Writing

'Researching Water in the West,' cross-listed as College Writing 50AC and 150AC Instructor: Pat Steenland Semester: Spring 2015 - Present In College Writing (CW) 50/150AC, students learn of a history that is absent from the popular narrative of California 'water wars,' — the Paiute Native Americans who for hundreds of years developed a sophisticated system of irrigation canals that made the valley bloom. Their history was erased from the site's history by people who waged economic and land wars to control water rights. A primary goal in this class is to...

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...

Anthropology

Anthropology 2AC - 'Introduction to Archaeology'

Instructor: Jun Senseri
Semester: Fall 2014 - Spring 2016

In Professor Jun Sunseri's ACES Course, Anthropology 2AC, 'Introduction to Archaeology,' students learn about the methods, goals, and theoretical concepts of archaeology by closely examining the impact of archaeology on and the history of the construction of various communities: the Native Americans, Latin Americans, and Euro-Americans. This course also explores professional and ethical problems affecting the practice of...

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....