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Community-Engaged and Experiential Learning

Maryville College’s commitment to service is clear in its mission statement: “Maryville College prepares students for lives of citizenship and leadership as we challenge each one to search for truth, grow in wisdom, work for justice and dedicate a life of creativity and service to the people of the world.” The Center for Community Engagement office located in the Center for Campus Ministry (CCM) serves as the hub for civic engagement and service efforts on campus and in the community. Through programs, events, and resources, Community Engagement staff help faculty, students, and campus organizations make connections to service opportunities in the local community, assist with community-engaged learning and research ideas, and develop mutually reciprocal relationships and projects with local organizations. Representative service opportunities include:

  • After-school tutoring and recreational opportunities for children in need at the Boys and Girls Club, Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, and local schools
  • Tackling food security issues, including organizing food drives, assisting in food distribution and recovery, and providing emergency food to those who need it
  • Educating the local community on issues such as health care and tuition equality, and advocating for change on the local, state, and national level
  • Supporting adult literacy initiatives, including English as a Second Language (ESL) Participating in Alternative Break trips with a focus on a particular social issue and related direct service. Volunteering for one day service projects or community special events as individuals, clubs, classes, or student groups.

The Community Engagement office also coordinates three service-based scholarship programs at Maryville College. The Bonner Scholars program and the Brahams Scholars program are four-year scholarships that engage students in the community and promote social justice in order to empower the community, celebrate diversity, and recognize the dignity of those we serve. The Bradford Scholars program addresses literacy needs in Blount County with the needs of college students working to finance their college education.

In addition, the Community Engagement office provides management for the Community Work Study program at Maryville College. Students eligible for Federal Work Study assist with literacy initiatives in local schools and at the public library, as well as in other capacity building positions with area nonprofits. For information with any of these programs or finding service opportunities, contact the Director of Community Engagement at 865.981.8122.

Community-Engaged Learning

Maryville College has a long history among a robust network of agencies and organizations that work together to address community-based needs and utilize assets related to education, housing, health, hunger, interpersonal well-being, and the environment. Community- engaged learning involves addressing critical social issues and working collaboratively, with our community partners, towards the common good. Demonstrated through varied community-based research, scholarship, academic coursework, and service, Maryville College values the expertise, unique perspectives, and resources shared by our community partners.

Community-Engaged Courses

Community-engaged (CE) courses involve collaboration between faculty and students with our surrounding communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity. With community-engaged experiences, students find meaning and understanding and create impact in a real-world context; engage with diverse populations; apply new ways of thinking, work in teams, and solve problems; reflect, make connections, and challenge theoretical constructs; and build interpersonal and professional skills.

Seen in the course descriptions of Self-Service’s course listings, a course with a Community Engagement (CE) designation meets the following four criteria:

  1. connects a student’s disciplinary concepts with the community
  2. requires students to reflect critically and are assessed based on academic competencies
  3. integrates into the course and required of all students
  4. involves collaboration with community partner(s) with reciprocal value for students and community

Co-Curricular Community Engagement Opportunities

In addition to CE courses, Maryville College offers numerous opportunities for students to become involved in community-based experiences outside of the classroom. Further information about community engagement at Maryville College can be found in the Student Life section of the catalog.

Education Abroad

See separate section under Student Resources on Education Abroad for comprehensive information on international opportunities.

Experiential Learning

Experiential education emphasizes guided activity as a primary mode of learning. It often takes place outside the conventional setting of a classroom, library, or laboratory and typically does not take place at a study desk. While mastery of information, understanding of expert opinion and cognitive learning are not ignored, effective change and growth is stressed. By exposing students to unfamiliar tasks and environments, experiential learning encourages mental and emotional adjustments and promotes the development of new skills and attitudes. It has as a principal goal the creation of sense of achievement, personal competence, and self-reliance.

Experiential learning begins with concrete experience, but it does not stop there. It also involves an important element of reflection, an effort to develop a clear view of what one is doing and to assess its value. These observations and reflections should lead learners to new generalizations and concepts, fresh understandings of the world and oneself, and some enhancement of ability. Subsequently, new learning should be tested and refined in a different situation or additional experiences. At its best, experiential learning deepens the learners’ sensitivity to social and physical surroundings and encourages them to use senses and wits more fully. Thus it affords powerful opportunities for holistic learning.

An “experiential education” course has the following characteristics:

  1. It involves active and sustained participation by students.
  2. It is a kind of experience that students have not had before.
  3. It requires students not only to do something new but to stand back from the activity, assess its significance, and draw conclusions about it.
  4. It provides opportunities to test these conclusions (or in the case of a skill-oriented course, to demonstrate increased mastery.)
  5. It has as a major goal some modification in attitude or outlook, some change in personal perspective, and some deepening of insight regarding oneself and others or oneself and the world.

Within the guidelines, experiential education courses are quite diverse in type. They include exploring a creative process, developing new physical skills, living for a time in an alien setting, or trying out a field through a “hands-on” approach. Courses having to do with service projects, life-enhancing activities, or new leisure skills and interests are especially appropriate. Some experiential learning courses assess fees that vary with particular offerings each year.

Internships

Internships are available in all major fields and provide excellent opportunities to gain practical experience in field settings. Details on internships may be found in the section of this catalog headed Academic Procedures and Regulations (see Internships) and under the course listings for academic fields.

Mountain Challenge

The Mountain Challenge program takes students outdoors. Area mountains, lakes, rivers, and woods provide the setting. The seasons, each one distinct in its own right, provide the agenda. In the fall and winter it may be panoramic views of changing leaves high in the mountains or cold mountain mornings shared with fellow travelers. Spring and summer may bring trips to appreciate the wildlife and beautiful plant life of the mountains. The agenda might include hiking, rock climbing canoeing on one of the beautiful area lakes, or climbing the Alpine Tower. Whatever the situation, the Mountain Challenge program is a chance to face challenges head on, to struggle through some difficult and unfamiliar tasks, and to experience the thrill of achievement. The Mountain Challenge program is an opportunity for people to explore the self while exploring the outdoors.

Many of the events in the Mountain Challenge program require neither experience nor special equipment. The only requirements for these events are a willingness to try new experiences and a commitment to do ones best. Some events in the program do require experience and/or proper equipment. Experience can be gained through participation in other program events, and the College will supply needed equipment. Interested persons may sign up for Mountain Challenge trips at Crawford House.

Students who participate in five different Mountain Challenge events may register to receive one (1) hour of PHR activity credit. Up to three (3) hours of PHR credit can be earned through Mountain Challenge.

Various Mountain Challenge activities include:

  • Alpine Tower
  • Bicycle Trips
  • Caving
  • Camp 4 – Outdoor Fitness Activities
  • Hiking
  • Map and Compass
  • Mountain Trips and Expeditions
  • Outdoor or Environmental Related Service Projects
  • Paddling Trips
  • Rafting
  • Ropes Courses

The schedule for open trips has current information for upcoming activities.

Nonprofit Leadership Alliance

The Nonprofit Leadership Alliance program affords opportunities for a variety of internships in nonprofit organizations, organizations that focus on environmental interests, and international non-governmental organizations. Upon fulfillment of the prescribed set of requirements, Maryville College, in partnership with Nonprofit Leadership Alliance (a national alliance of colleges, universities and nonprofit organizations), credentials the student as a Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP).

Oak Ridge Associated Universities

Since 1990, students and faculty of Maryville College have benefited from its membership in Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU). ORAU is a consortium of 114 colleges and universities and a contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) located at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. ORAU works with its member institutions to help their students and faculty gain access to federal research facilities throughout the country; to keep its members informed about opportunities for fellowship, scholarship and research appointments; and to organize research alliances among its members.

Through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), the DOE facility that ORAU operates, undergraduates, graduates, postgraduates, as well as faculty enjoy access to a multitude of opportunities for study and research. Students can participate in programs covering a wide variety of disciplines including business, earth sciences, epidemiology, engineering, physics, geological sciences, pharmacology, ocean sciences, biomedical sciences, nuclear chemistry, and mathematics. Many of these programs are especially designed to increase the numbers of underrepresented minority students pursuing degrees in the science- and engineering-related disciplines. A comprehensive listing of these programs and other opportunities, their disciplines, and details on locations and benefits can be found in the ORISE Catalog of Education and Training Programs, which is available at https://orise.orau.gov/index.html. Further information is available in the Division of Natural Sciences.

Research and Field Work in the Natural Sciences

Maryville College is an institutional member of the Council on Undergraduate Research. Through several major research facilities, arrangements are made for superior students to participate in state-of-the-art scientific investigations and experience a professional research environment. The National Science Foundation supports a large number of summer undergraduate research programs, both on and off campus, in the areas of biology, chemistry, biochemistry, computer science, mathematics, and physics.

Close to the College campus, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory also affords Maryville students the chance to participate in a variety of short-term and summer research and study programs. Exceptional Maryville students may also conduct research in the University of Tennessee’s Biochemistry, Cellular, and Molecular Biology department on the Knoxville campus. The nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Cherokee National Forest also provide students with a rich resource for ecological and other field studies.

Washington Experiences

For the student who wishes to study or work in the nation’s capital, many options are available. Maryville College’s Career Center assists students in exploring a range of possibilities, including semester-long programs, summer internships, and work opportunities. Career Center staff members are available and experienced in working with students to identify programs related to their interests, regardless of major.