Community Partnerships through Course Credit
R-PEACE supports various opportunities to earn course credit through working with the community, via the new CENL program at MtA.
Spring Courses 2021
CENL 1991: Community, Creativity, Identity (on-campus and in-town)
What does it mean to belong to the Town of Sackville (or any other community)? What might we point to that encapsulates that identity? How do we best express who we are as a community in the 21st century? Is creative process a key to our collective identity?
Blending just-graduated learners from High School, members from the Tantramar Seniors College, and MtA students, this course is an exploration of the themes related to community and identity, framed against creative practice and artistic process.
In exploring these themes, it engages in a place-focused, interdisciplinary and intergenerational dialogue about the ways in which Sackville forms a place for the creative expression of identity and community values. In exploring issues of identity and community, students will have opportunities to think through contemporary theoretical and practical models for what it means to belong to a place.
CENL 2001: Community Narratives (unscheduled, online)
How do you "read" or understand a community? How do you tell a community's story? This course facilitates community literacy through the analysis of the narratives that groups and institutions develop about themselves or others in order to perform certain functions of community. The word "narratives" is understood broadly and includes such factors as community programming, local events and practices, religious observances, material culture, natural and historical sites, local myths and practices, and family histories. Using a range of relevant critical tools, and focusing on local community contexts, students examine these cultural texts for the shared values and complex identities that they evidence.
Community Engaged Learning Courses
CENL 1001: intro to Compassionate Communities
This course explores the concept of the compassionate community as a model for how communities might address social injustices such as poverty, homelessness and loneliness in their midst. Drawing on tools from work in community engaged learning, the course gives students the critical and theoretical skills to understand the factors in community making (history, shared values, identity) and the preparations needed for establishing and maintaining community partnerships. The course has a particular focus on the local-Sackville, Port Elgin, Dorchester-and an applied component that directs students in the skills needed to make connections with local potential community partners and assemble the skills and competencies to discern mutually what sort of relationships and projects are best, given the needs of all involved.
[Note 1: This course is cross-listed as RELG 1001 and may therefore count as three credits in either discipline]
(Format: Lecture/Tutorial 3 hours) (Exclusion: RELG 1991 Compassionate Communities)
CENL 2001: Community Narratives
This course facilitates community literacy through the analysis of the narratives that groups and institutions develop about themselves or others in order to perform certain functions of community. The word "narratives" is understood broadly and includes such factors as community programming, local events and practices, religious observances, material culture, natural and historical sites, local myths and practices, and family histories. Using a range of relevant critical tools, and focusing on local community contexts, students examine these cultural texts for the shared values and complex identities that they evidence.
(Format: Lecture/Tutorial 3 hours)
CENL 2101: Community-engaged learning
Prereq: 3 credits from CENL/RELG 1001, CENL 2001; or permission of the Department.
This course involves sustained participation in a major ongoing community project. It introduces students to the field of community engaged learning and facilitates the exploration of models of community engagement. It provides an opportunity to develop the skills and values necessary to establish community partnerships, engage in community advocacy, and participate in non-profit organizations.
(Format: Lecture/Tutorial 3 hours)
CENL 3101: Community as classroom
Prereq: 3 credits from CENL/RELG 1001, CENL 2001; CENL 2101; or Permission of the department.
This course provides a deep survey of methods and theories of community engagement. It introduces students to the larger community of praxis of community-engaged learning, and centres students' participation in a major ongoing community project. Students assist in project design, assessment, and formulation of future projects.
(Format: Lecture/Tutorial 3 hours)
(Exclusions: Any version of UNST 3991/4991 with the same title Community as Classroom)
cenl 4001: Advanced Studies in Community Engagement
Prereq: Take 3 credits from RELG/CENL 1001, CENL 2001; CENL 2101; CENL 3101; or Permission of the department.
This course provides students with a focused learning opportunity in community engagement research. Topics will vary from year to year and will be connected with a focused, experiential learning opportunity.
[Note1: This course is cross-listed with RELG 4001 and may therefore count as three credits in either discipline]
Note 2: RELG / CENL 4001 may be taken for credit more than once if the topic differs]
CENL 4101: Practicum in Community-Engaged Learning
Prereq: 3 credits from CENL/RELG 1001, CENL 2001; CENL 2101; CENL 3101; or Permission of the department.
This capstone course applies community-engaged learning methods and practices to an actual case or scenario in the student's local community. Students develop a project in cooperation with a community partner that forms a response to an existing problem that the student and partner have identified. Students and partners reflect on and evaluate the response and evaluate its future implications for the community. The practicum involves a learning environment where students' expertise in their major area of study can be brought together fully with community-engaged learning principles.
(Format: Field course/experiential learning opportunity, 3 hours)
Independent Study
Independent study courses permit senior students, under the direction of faculty members, to pursue an interest in areas not covered in depth by other courses in their department. Please contact potential supervisors to pursue an independent study in your discipline.
Students in Sociology have worked with community partners such as Habitat for Humanity for course credit and a valuable opportunity to make a positive impact in the community. One student used their sociological research skills to collect family stories through interviews with partner families of Habitat Moncton and compiled these stories in a narrative format. As a result, the project investigated the connection between the ownership of decent, affordable housing and quality of life, allowing Habitat Moncton to gain a deeper understanding of the impacts of their homeownership program.
An Environmental Science student recently completed an independent study program with a climate change scientist for Natural Resources Canada in completing an environmental scan of the emerging scientific literature on climate change adaptation and mitigation in the Atlantic Region of Canada. The work has been contributed to the regional reporting and national database and digital library on Climate Change Action.
Another Environmental Studies student completed a summer internship with the Tantramar Planning Commission and the Town of Sackville in the research and development of an integrated community sustainability plan for the Town which was ultimately presented to the Mayor and Council and approved as a five-year strategic plan. This was one of the first environmental plans for a municipality in New Brunswick.
New Courses Coming Fall and Winter 2021-2022
CENL 2991 (Fall): Community Assets
What does it take to build a community? This course will examine both historic and contemporary community-building efforts, paying special attention to asset-based community development approaches that have been shaped by the university-community relationship in Sackville. By bringing the community together and focusing on the social and economic assets that are present within education, residents, associations, nonprofits, government, and the business community, we will learn of the power of community when we act collectively as co-producers of the community’s well-being.
cenl 1991 (winter): Community and Social Change
This course explores the history and contemporary realities of the concept of social change. It helps students to understand the systemic conditions that are at the heart of the many challenges with which communities contend. Through a series of inter-disciplinary case studies, students will examine a range of issues such as race, climate change, media literacy, poverty, food and housing insecurity, educational reform, and community sustainability. The course presents these conceptual tools as preparation for community organizing and volunteer work.
Geography & Environment Department R-PEACE Courses
GENV 3531 (3.00 credits) The Planning Process
This course examines community responses to the necessity and challenge of growth. Discussion focuses on the contributions of planning to the process of development and to the outcomes and opportunities which parallel this process. The course takes a specific place-based focus on Sackville and its unique university-community relationship, as well as community-based experiences with Town officials, Mayor and Council meetings and field-based experiences with local planning professionals. Instructor: Michael Fox
GENV 3801 (3.00) Place Matters
This course addresses the importance of 'place' in the development of human interactions with the environment. It examines the principles of place geography, including ecological and bioregional perspectives on the Sackville and Tantramar region; place-conscious learning and sustainability; place-making and local geographies; and the local community as a place for experiential learning. Classes and applied research will take place with the community as the classroom. Instructor: Michael Fox
GENS 3991-A Local Adaptation to Climate Change
This course introduces students to the science of the changing climate and human measurements and adaptations associated with its impacts in the Atlantic Region of Canada. Students explore its environmental and social implications, and examine its impact on daily life by reviewing current scientific data as it relates to vulnerabilities across the Sackville, Tantramar and S-E New Brunswick region. Topics include methods, strategies, and technologies that address climate change, using case studies of adaptive and mitigative programs in North America, with a special emphasis on the Atlantic Canada Adaptations Strategy Agreement and research projects focused on the Tantramar Region. Several community-based field experiences allow students to focus on actual mitigation and adaptation projects. Instructor: Michael Fox
GENV 3991-A Sustainable Community Development
This special topics course addresses the theory and practice of sustainable community development by engaging students in place-conscious teaching and learning pedagogies within a geographic framework. It explores the various conventional approaches to the ways in which we plan and build our communities and provides a rationale for alternative approaches and essential components for learning about sustainable community development in the age of transition towards a carbon-free and resilient community, using Sackville as a living laboratory. In response to recent developments that focus on the importance of understanding at the local level, students in this class will develop a deeper knowledge of the concept of Sustainable Community Development as a framework to meet current social and economic needs while ensuring adequate resources are available for future generations and a post-carbon world. Students engage in a range of specific issues and problems facing Sackville and the Tantramar Region and conduct research, analysis and actions aimed at addressing these environmental challenges. Professor: Michael Fox
GENV 4121 (3.00) Education for Sustainable Development
This course explores geographic and environmental education encompassing formal, informal, and traditional ideas and practices and the ways in which these may be integrated in planning for a sustainable society. It takes a critical approach to environmental education with an emphasis on developing and practicing sustainable perspectives on how people learn about, think about, and manage their affairs within the natural environment. Students undertake field-based experiences in local schools, including the outdoor environmental education facilities at the local elementary, middle school and regional high school wetlands centre. Professor: Michael Fox
GENV 4521 (3.00) Seminar in Community Planning Research
This course applies community planning theory and techniques to an actual case developed in concert with a local community agency or group. Students clarify client objectives, develop a research and analysis program, conduct fieldwork, analyze data, prepare recommendations, and present results to the client. Professor: Michael Fox
Independent Summer Research Grants
Students may apply for an ISRG (Independent Summer Research Grant) if they are in their third year of study. ISRGs are a great opportunity to spend time focused on a single topic in partnership with community organizations or researching community-based initiatives. These are supervised by a faculty member and are often connected with their research.
Recent projects have included photographic studies of the Sackville community, internships on community education and the collection of local stories, archival research on residential schools, and much more.
