INTEGRATING ACADEMICS & ACTION
If you’re interested in…
ARTS & SOCIAL CHANGE
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
ENVIRONMENT
You could…
 Take a course like DANC 004 The Arts as Social Change or DANC
073B Community Arts Internship
 Volunteer with an organization such as Asian Arts Initiative or the
Chester Children’s Gamelan Project
 Apply for summer internship funding through the Lang Center to
work at an organization like Chester Arts Alive
 Create your own project and apply for funding from Davis Projects
for Peace or the Lang Center. For instance: Michaela Shuchman
‘16 created a drama program, The Stage of Life, which introduces
Philadelphia middle school students various life skills through acting.
 Write a senior thesis like The Stories Bursting from Us: Sharing
Individual Experiences through Theater as a Means of Peace Building
in Northern Ireland by Samia Abass ‘11
 Take a course like POLS 019. Democratic Theory and Practice or
POLS 046 Lesbians and Gays in American Politics
 Volunteer with a local organization such as Chester Community
Improvement Project or with a Swarthmore student group like
College Democrats or College Republicans
 Apply for summer internship funding through the Lang Center to
work with an organization such as the Democratic National
Committee or Philadelphia City Planning Commission
 Participate in a workshop like Debating for Democracy and/or the
Organizing Skills Institute.
 Create your own project and apply for funding from the Lang Center.
For instance, Chester Youth Court Volunteers (CYCV) is an innovative,
restorative justice program that trains students in law and civics,
leadership skills, and youth court procedure.
 Write a senior thesis like Expanding Identities: Identity Transformations
in In-prison Higher Education by Hana Lehmann ’13.
 Take a course like ENGR 004A Environmental Protection or POLS
043B: Environmental Justice: Theory and Action
 Volunteer with a Swarthmore student group like Chester Youth
Garden Collaborative or Mountain Justice
 Apply for summer internship funding through the Lang Center to
work at an organization like Land Use Law Center or Serenity Garden
 Create your own project and apply for funding from Davis Projects
for Peace or the Lang Center. For instance: Project Pericles Fund
recipient, Power Push: Growing a National Movement for Climate
Justice, aims to connect current Swarthmore students to the growing
national student movement and to allow them to serve as visionaries
for that movement.
 Write a senior thesis like The Battle over Blair: Coalition-Building in
the Anti-Mountaintop Removal Movement by Hannah Jones ’12.
PEACE & JUSTICE
PUBLIC HEALTH
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 Take a course like PEAC 71B Research Seminar: Strategy and NonViolent Struggle or LALS 040 Social Movements in Latin America:
Gender & Queer Perspective
 Volunteer with a Swarthmore student group like Chester Youth Court
Volunteers or Swarthmore Labor Action Project
 Apply for summer internship funding through the Lang Center to
work at an organization like Sylvia River Law Project or California
Innocence Project
 Create your own project and apply for funding from Davis Projects for
Peace or the Lang Center. For instance: Leah Gallant ’15 received a
Davis Projects for Peace grant to provide an activist toolkit for the next
generation of organizers to fight mass incarceration with her project
called “Coding for Justice,” focused on computer science, political
advocacy, and social media literacy.
 Write a senior thesis like Training for Change: Moving from Theory to
Practice in Adult Education for Empowerment by Elown Corby ‘13.
 Take a course like ANTH 043E Culture, Health and Illness or ECON 175
Health Economics.
 Volunteer with a Swarthmore student group like Global Health Forum
 Apply for summer internship funding through the Lang Center to
work at an organization like Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS or
ERACE Cancer
 Create your own project and apply for funding from Davis Projects for
Peace or the Lang Center. For instance: Project Ké, the Lang Project of
Tyler Alexander ’17, is designed to improve Haiti’s healthcare system
by establishing a CPR standard for healthcare providers.
 Write a senior thesis like Where There Is No Service: Understanding the
Utilization of Maternal Health Services in Churu, Rajasthan by Aarti Rao
’14.
 Take a course like PEAC 039 Social Entrepreneurship for Social Change
or PEAC 049 Be the Change: Social Entrepreneurship in Principle and
Practice with Lang Visiting Professor, Denise Crossan
 Volunteer with a Swarthmore student group like the Social Innovation
Hub or SwatFinancial
 Apply for summer internship funding through the Lang Center to
work at an organization like EntrepreneurWorks, Good, or Ashoka
 Create your own project and apply for funding from Davis Projects for
Peace or the Lang Center. For instance: Nimesh Ghimire ’15 created the
Peace Innovation Lab, a creative space for people in rural communities
in Nepal to design and implement contributions to local peace building
and grassroots innovation efforts.
 Participate in SwatTank, Swarthmore’s business plan competition.
 Write a senior thesis like Microfinance in a Ugandan Community of
Internally Displaced Persons: Repayment Frequency, Impact, and the
Challenges of Program Development by Katherine Camillus ‘08
These are just a few examples. Visit our web page, “Paths to Social Responsibility” to apply this approach to other
interdisciplinary topics that are of interest to you, such as human rights, immigration, social class, urban studies,
and more! http://www.swarthmore.edu/lang-center-civic-social-responsibility/paths-to-social-responsibility