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Courses and Research

Overview of Courses and Research Opportunities at the Swearer Center

The Swearer Center’s mission reflects the belief that academic research, study, and community work can and should inform each other. One of the Center’s core responsibilities is to encourage and strengthen these connections. The Center provides a number of resources to support this work.

The following portraits provide instructive examples of how students and faculty have integrated these efforts:

  • Students have pursued varied paths to service through their education at Brown, often starting with experiences and coursework that introduce them to issues, academic disciplines and methods, and community context; and over time moving to integrated community and academic work that can contribute both to community impact and the contribution of new knowledge in the field.
  • Faculty have navigated the dichotomies between “theory” and “practice” in developing courses that integrate community work and learning, and in designing community-based research that advances scholarship in innovative ways.

As you review the portraits and develop your vision – for your education as a student, or for a course or research as a faculty member – we encourage you to meet with us to discuss your ideas and the resources that may be available.

Specific opportunities for students and faculty are as follows:

For Students

Advising and Coursework

Several opportunities for students to engage with the Providence community through coursework are offered each semester at Brown; however, courses often change and the Swearer Center’s involvement in these opportunities varies. Instead of providing a list of available courses, the Center’s intention is to help students think about how to use their education to develop their community engagement and leadership skills. To this end, the Swearer Center staff offers advice and support around connecting your education with community concerns. Staff also provides support to student thesis projects related to community concerns, and the Center regularly hosts presentations of student academic work related to social issues. See Royce Fellowship website for more information.

*First-year students: Connect with Brown faculty through the University-Community Academic Advising Program (UCAAP), a program designed specifically for first-year students.

Create Your Own Course

Academic Internships, GISPs, and ISPs: Visit the Resource Center to learn about designing your own Academic Internship, Group Independent Study Project (GISP), or Independent Study Project (ISP) that helps integrate community-based experiences with academic work.

Pursue an Independent Project: Fellowships and Funding

View fellowship opportunities and other funding sources that can support the integration of community work and course work.

Faculty Course and Research Partnerships

The Karen T. Romer Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award Program is designed to strengthen undergraduate education through supporting collaborative research, course development, and teaching activities between faculty members and students in all academic disciplines. The fellowship may be held either over the summer or during the semester.

For Faculty

Overview: Types of Assistance

As an office of the Dean of the College the Swearer Center’s work is driven by the Brown curricular philosophy, which seeks to build students’ knowledge of a range of academic disciplines, capacity for self-reflection and empathy, and ability to examine and articulate their moral convictions. We also believe that the intellectual resources of the university can be a unique and powerful asset for the community and that community knowledge can enrich the intellectual enterprise of the university.

The Center works with Brown faculty in a range of ways to advance teaching, learning and research: strengthening students’ understanding and abilities as outlined in the curricular goals; and supporting efforts to extend the expertise and skill of faculty and students to benefit local and global communities.

Faculty have found innovative ways to develop courses that integrate community work and learning, and design community-based research that advances scholarship. We encourage you first to review the accompanying portraits on how faculty have navigated the dichotomies between “theory” and “practice.” As you develop your vision for a course or research, we encourage you to meet with us to discuss your ideas and the resources that may be available. The Center offers assistance, expertise, connections, and funding to assist faculty with course development and community-based research through the following:

  • Classroom assistance in the form of community assistants (Brown students well-versed in the placement or project who serves as teaching assistants and/or help with developing and implementing courses); fellowship students (Brown students interested in Swearer fellowships that provide opportunities for work on research and projects that have facilitated the development of new courses or new areas of community-based research); and community fellows (community partners who serve a planning, teaching, or facilitation role in the community or classroom).
  • Consultation on course development, course construction and the integration of service
  • Financial resources to redesign a course through small grants
  • Consultation on identifying needs in diverse communities and organizations in Rhode Island and assistance mapping the many issues that confound Rhode Island, assistance ‘brokering’ community placements and orienting students and faculty to the community
  • Student support and orientation – if students in a course are going to engage in community work, staff can meet with students beforehand to provide an overview of the Providence community or facilitate a discussion of community context and what’s important to considering in entering a community that’s not one’s own.
  • Forums and workshops for the dissemination of community-based work.
  • Models and case studies of course integration and community based research.
  • Linkages – Staff can help connect faculty with relevant community organizations, leaders, and data.

If you are interested in learning more about how the Swearer Center can support you, please download our Faculty Guide.

Engaging and Supporting Students: Advising, Courses, Fellowships, and Independent Studies

There are many avenues for faculty to support students with an interest in community issues:

  • Serving as an advisor through regular academic advising, as a UCAAP advisor, or by informally advising students on how they might engage in the community and integrate their community interests with courses, concentrations, and careers.
  • Offering courses that deal with the context of community and societal issues or directly engage students in the community.
  • Serving as a faculty sponsor for student fellowships such as the Royce and Swearer Fellowships that support students pursuing work on a particular community or societal issue.
  • Sponsoring Independent Studies or Group Independent Studies through which students investigate a particular issue. If you are interested in learning more, please email Kerri Heffernan.

Course Development

Academic courses can provide students with context and disciplinary and methodological background critical to their ability to engage with societal issues, and can engage students in meaningful community work as a core educational component.

If you are interested in learning more, please download our Faculty Guide.

Community-Based Research

The Providence community faces many of the challenges common to urban areas across the country, many of which are the focus of Brown faculty research. Engaging in community-based research can advance knowledge in the field as well as provide data helpful to the community.

Campus and Community Forums and Other Projects

Community organizations often ask for ways to access the findings and recommendations that Brown faculty develop in the course of their research; and the Brown community itself can similarly benefit from learning more about the work of Brown faculty. The Swearer Center can provide assistance in designing and organizing forums to present relevant work to campus and community audiences. In addition, the Swearer Center has hosted visiting faculty fellows from other institutions, co-sponsored conferences and symposia, participated in student fellowship programs and supported other initiatives to share the academic resources of the University with local, national and international communities.