Get Involved

Community Partners

TCNJ’s Center for Community Engagement partners with community-based organizations to create collaborative, mutually beneficial service opportunities. As part of these partnerships, TCNJ students and faculty work alongside partner organizations to address the causes of community-identified concerns while fostering unique educational experiences for students.

Explore our different types of partnerships below. If you’d like to express interest in partnering with us, complete this short form and you will be contacted by a CCE staff member!

Facilitate a Workshop

If you are interested in facilitating a workshop with the Center, please email Althia Muse at musea@tcnj.edu.

Become a Bonner Community Partner

A team of generally 3-5 Bonner Scholars contributes approximately 5-10 hours of service per person per week with an organization during the academic year (first week of September through the first week of December; first week of February through first week of May; holidays and fall and spring breaks excluded). Bonners should have regular and consistent service work with progressively increasing responsibility year-to-year and have a designated partner staff member to serve as mentor/liaison on site. First-year CEL and ACEL projects are expected components of a Bonner team and site and are developed in cooperation with CCE staff. To support student scholarship and CCE staffing, an honorarium of $3000 is paid to the CCE.

Become a FYCEL Community Partner

For more information on becoming a FYCEL Community Partner, please contact Megan Teitelbaum megan.teitelbaum@tcnj.edu.

Become an Community Engaged Scholarship Partner

A team of upper-level TCNJ students will work with your organization, CCE staff, and their course instructor to develop end-of-semester deliverables that meet the learning objectives of their course and meet a need of your organization. Students each dedicate 10 to 20+ hours of on- and/or off-site work towards their project over the course of the semester. Students often split into small teams to take on different aspects of a class project, or work individually.

For more information on planning an Introductory CEL or Advanced CEL course project, please contact Lori Johansson at johanssl@tcnj.edu.

Faculty and Staff

Faculty and staff participation in the Center’s work is vital to the success of our programming. We always encourage faculty and staff to engage with our office to find ways to collaborate and incorporate Community Engagement into their work and curriculum. There are many ways to get directly involved with the Center for Community Engagement both at the CEL Institute and Bonner Institute.

Facilitate First-Year CEL

Are you interested in facilitating a First-Year CEL Experience? If so, reach directly out to Megan Teitelbaum at megan.teitelbaum@tcnj.edu. Learn more about the course on the First-Year CEL page.

Teach Introductory CEL & Advanced CEL

Learn more about the program on the Introductory & Advanced CEL page.

Become a Bonner Faculty Fellow

Each academic year, the Bonner Institute partners with one faculty member to support and enhance the Bonner Community Scholars curriculum and impact. Fellows will collaborate with Bonner Institute staff over a 10-month term to:

Develop and implement an advocacy and social change curriculum for sophomore and junior Bonner Scholars
Support graduating Bonner Scholars in completion of their LEGACY capstone projects
Enhance and refine the four-year, student development curriculum for Bonner Scholars

To learn more about the Bonner Faculty Fellow role, please reach directly out to Althia Muse at musea@tcnj.edu.

Students

TCNJ’s Center for Community Engagement offers many opportunities for students to get involved in service!

Fulfill ACEL Requirement

Social Justice Minors have an ACEL requirement. Please visit our Social Justice ACEL Requirement page to learn about ways to fulfill this requirement. Please contact Lori Johansson at johanssl@tcnj.edu for more information.

Volunteer

Become a Bonner Volunteer: Choose a Bonner site to volunteer with on a weekly basis. Transportation is provided via our TCNJ Bonner Vans, and hours can be verified by Bonner staff if necessary.
Choose the way you would like to volunteer. Take a look at our suggestions in this How to Stay Involved PDF and Issue Resource Sheet.

Intern

Students interested in completing a credit-bearing internship with a local community agency can enlist the help of the CEL staff to learn more about community partners in the area that align with students’ goals and interests. Students should begin by talking to a faculty member in their field of interest and reaching out to the CCE for partnership help.
Apply to be a Summer Community Leader: The Summer Community Leaders program is a ten-week service experience integrated with a collaborative learning community. SCL members serve 30 hours a week building the capacity of a local non-profit partner while participating in weekly trainings, discussions, and guest lectures from faculty, staff, and community mentors. SCL members receive a living stipend and Segal Education Award.

Learn

Apply to become a Bonner Scholar: TCNJ Bonner Scholars is a selective group of engaged students who dedicate 300 hours a year to service, training, and enrichment as they grow as leaders and civically engaged community members.
Take a Collaborating Across Boundaries course. To learn more about CAB classes, please reach directly out to Monisha Pulimood at pulimood@tcnj.edu, Kim Pearson at kpearson@tcnj.edu, or Diane Bates at bates@tcnj.edu.

Donate

Another way to get involved is by financially contributing to the Center for Community Engagement. We fully appreciate your support of our programs and continued partnerships. If you would like to donate, please go to the Support TCNJ page  and use the designation “Bonner Community Partner Fund Account.”

We thank you for your contribution.