Office of Community-Based Learning
Our mission is to support, enhance and develop mutually-beneficial, reciprocal collaborations that enrich engaged teaching and learning while advancing community interests.
We envision a community transformed by faculty, staff, community partners, and students learning and collaborating together to achieve greater good.
Office Initiatives
- Develop and deepen community-based learning course offerings that support reciprocal and mutually beneficial partnerships between students, faculty, staff, and community organizations.
- Enhance and coordinate community engagement practices and collaborations across campus and community networks.
- Empower student civic engagement with innovative curricular and co-curricular programs that make a tangible difference in the community.
The CBL Approach
Community-Based Learning (CBL) is an educational approach that integrates learning and mentorship with community engagement through reciprocal community partnerships and critical reflection. CBL aims to benefit students, community partners, and the greater good. CBL typically occurs within a credit-bearing course or within similar structured learning activities.
Who We Engage
- Community Partners – Community organizations that are nonprofits, government agencies, community action groups, and more.
- Faculty – Instructors from any discipline on campus.
- Students – Students enrolled in a CBL course and participating in CBL cocurricular opportunities.
Sascha Goluboff
Director of Community-Based Learning and Professor of Cultural Anthropology
- Hopkins House 207
Alessandra Del Conte Dickovick
Associate Director of Community-Based Learning
- Hopkins House 204
Bethany Ozorak
Associate Director of Community-Based Learning
- P: 540-458-4130
- E: bozorak@wlu.edu
- Hopkins House 201
Office of Community-Based Learning
- P: 540-458-8386
-
Washington and Lee University
Hopkins House
120 W Nelson St
Lexington, Virginia 24450
Our Core Values
CBL is Collaborative and Asset-Based
W&L is proud to be designated as a Carnegie Community Engagement Classified institution.
CBL is Process-Oriented and Person-Centered
We believe in conducting our work in transparent, methodical ways. Our process matters as much as the results of our collaborations. CBL is highly relational work, and we acknowledge the complexity of the individuals with whom we engage. We value the experiences, expertise, and individual strengths of each faculty, campus administrator, community partner, and student with whom we collaborate.
Connect With Us
Whether you are a community partner, student, or faculty member, connect with us to discuss your community-based projects and learning ideas.
Making Space for Makerspaces
W&L students have access to cutting-edge tools and technology through W&L’s commitment to hands-on pedagogy.
David Marsh and Adrienne Jones to Serve as Scholars in Residence for the Office of Community-Based Learning
Marsh will work with Nature Camp in Vesuvius, Virginia, and Jones will collaborate with the Legal Aid Justice Center for the 25th Judicial District.
Washington and Lee’s Community-Based Learning’s Summer Internship Program Reaches New Heights
W&L’s Office of Community-Based Learning sent its largest-ever internship cohort into the local community this summer.
Sascha Goluboff Participates in the Sancho Panza Literary Society Summer Workshop
The professor of cultural anthropology and director of the Community-Based Learning Program experienced a 10-day residency at Trinity College in Dublin.
Connell Cunningham Jr. Named Scholar in Residence for the Office of Community-Based Learning
The visiting assistant professor of chemistry will serve a one-year term for the 2024-25 academic year.
The Lenfest Center Presents ‘Native American Peoples and Lands: Historic Connections to W&L’
The public talk will take place in Kamen Gallery on Sept. 27 and is part of the Lenfest Center’s Outreach & Engagement Series.
Snapshots of Summer
W&L students share their experiences getting to know the larger Lexington and Rockbridge community during the summer months.
Exchange of Ideas
A Spring Term Abroad course on social entrepreneurship and sustainability took students to Cuba for an eye-opening cultural exchange.
CBL Faculty Collaborative Generates New Community Connections
The 2023-2024 academic year at W&L saw the proliferation of several new course offerings for students through a new faculty development initiative offered by the Office of Community-Based Learning (CBL).
VITA Program Returns
Washington and Lee students are applying their accounting skills in the community as part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.
Meet a Colleague: Sascha Goluboff
Sascha Goluboff is a professor of cultural anthropology and serves as director for both the Community-Based Learning program and the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty.
Washington and Lee University Receives National Designation for Commitment to Community Engagement
W&L is one of 15 private colleges and universities to receive the 2024 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification.