“I offer community-engaged learning opportunities in many of my classes so that students can experience real-world applications of the concepts that we study in class. Community-engaged learning also allows students to gain first-hand knowledge in the professions that sociology students pursue, including education, research, and social services.”
Sociology Professor, Dr. Diane Bates, incorporates community-engaged learning projects at every level she teaches, from first-year seminars to advanced research courses. In Dr. Bates’s Advanced Community Engaged Learning (ACEL) courses in Sociology and Environmental Studies, students leverage their disciplinary knowledge and skills to collaborate with community partners, engaging in projects such as conducting observational research on how people actually use public parks, conducting and analyzing survey data for how to develop stronger ties between the campus and its neighboring community around environmental issues and designing and conducting evaluations of social service programs. Dr. Bates serves as Faculty Fellow to TCNJ’s Center for Community Engaged Learning and Research and is the author of Superstorm Sandy: The Inevitable Destruction and Reconstruction of the Jersey Shore. Dr. Bates is currently working on a book about the history of Trenton.