University designation reflects breadth of global opportunities and bold vision for Marist's next century.
University designation reflects breadth of global opportunities and bold vision for Marist's next century.
University designation reflects breadth of global opportunities and bold vision for Marist's next century.
University designation reflects breadth of global opportunities and bold vision for Marist's next century.
The Community is Your Classroom
The Center for Civic Engagement & Leadership (CCEL) connects students to their community by providing volunteer opportunities, internships, student employment, and Community-Based-Learning classes. Students contribute to local initiatives and they develop crucial skills that will serve them well beyond the college classroom. Faculty draw upon the CCEL's host of community partners to provide students with hands-on projects that supplement their traditional classroom learning.
A strong sense of community is one of the key pillars of Marist College. Marist students are given the resources to harness their interests and create a significant social impact on the local community and beyond.
The Center for Civic Engagement & Leadership links academics to social action. By working with faculty across campus, we are able to offer Community-Based-Learning classes, such as Introduction to Professional Writing, Interactive Media, Communicating in the Spanish-Speaking World, and The Ethics of Food. In addition to fostering innovative teaching, we pride ourselves on exposing students to vital community organizations and new career paths.
The Center for Civic Engagement & Leadership promotes the principle that civic engagement and Community-Based Learning (CBL) empower students to connect their academic work to their wider interests. Participation in CBL provides students with the problem-solving tools and confidence needed to generate positive change in their communities. As defined by Janet Eyler and Dwight E. Giles (1999), CBL provides "...a form of experiential education where learning occurs through a cycle of action and reflection as students.” Combining academic coursework with hands-on activities and deep reflection has been shown to achieve real outcomes for the community and deeper understanding and skills for students. These experiences enhance awareness and, in turn, lead to more effective social change.
Each summer, a cohort of highly motivated Marist students remain on campus to participate in the Marie and Rupert Tarver Summer Internship program, which enables undergraduates to work on a community improvement project in collaboration with a local non-profit organization. Participants receive a substantial stipend, tuition credits, and on-campus housing for the duration of the program. As an integral component of the program, interns affiliate with an approved nonprofit organization in the Hudson River Valley and complete agreed-upon goals and objectives during the summer term. Tarver Interns work with faculty and their nonprofit partner to design their internship project and identify the key issues that their work will address.
Melissa A. Gaeke, PhD, is the Director of the Center for Civic Engagement & Leadership and Senior Professional Lecturer in Political Science at Marist College. She holds a doctorate in Public Administration from the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy.
Her interests include engaging students in activities that teach them about civic engagement and working with nonprofit organizations to build their capacity to access resources and connect with stakeholders. She has worked to create and support civic engagement programs for more than 20 years.
Learn more about Dr. Gaeke >
Fontaine 201
Melissa.Gaeke@Marist.edu
(845) 575-2914
Seventy-three percent of students who participate in CCEL courses plan to engage with the community even when the course ends.
Eighty-one percent of students feel that the Community-Based Learning component helps them to better understand the required class lectures and readings.
We promote over 150 nonprofit internship opportunities in and around Poughkeepsie, as well as gap-year programs such as Teach for America and AmeriCorps.
