Elon University Joins Multi-campus Collaborative Initiative Funded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Elon University Joins Multi-campus Collaborative Initiative Funded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Elon University has been selected to participate in a collaborative, community-based humanities and civic engagement initiative launched by the Bringing Theory to Practice project.

A multi-campus collaborative initiative (a “collaboratory”), Partnerships for Listening and Action by Communities and Educators (PLACE) is supported by a two-year, $800,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), which serves as the host and partner to Bringing Theory to Practice (BTtoP).

The PLACE Collaboratory brings together a network of partnerships between academic institutions and their surrounding communities involving 11 colleges and universities from diverse sectors and regions. The partnerships will focus their work on civic engagement and public humanities, which engages diverse groups to reflect on heritage, traditions and history, and how the humanities are relevant to current civic and cultural life.

Elon is one of five colleges and universities in North Carolina to participate in the PLACE Collaboratory and is joined by Greensboro College, Guilford College, N.C. A&T State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The partnership will focus on civic engagement among undergraduate students with deep involvement with community partners.

Stephen Bloch-Schulman, associate professor of philosophy, will lead Elon’s efforts for the initiative and Mary Morrison, director of the Kernodle Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement, is serving on a regional steering committee for the PLACE Collaboratory...