American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program
2015-2016 Chancellor’s Public Scholars
Application
The American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program supports the development of new or revised American
Cultures courses that emphasize public scholarship and engage students in community-based projects.
The American Cultures Engaged Scholarship (ACES) Program
Launched in January 2010, the ACES program is a partnership between the American Cultures Center
(http://americancultures.berkeley.edu) and the Public Service Center (http://publicservice.berkeley.edu). This
program aims to transform how faculty’s community-engaged scholarship is valued, to enhance learning for
students through a combination of teaching and practice, and to create new knowledge that has impact both in
the community and the academy.
The American Cultures (AC) requirement—the only campus-wide breadth requirement on the UC Berkeley
campus—was passed by the Academic Senate in 1989 and instituted as a campus requirement in 1991 to help
students gain a deeper understanding of the diverse cultures of the United States through an integrative and
comparative framework. These goals are extended through community-focused and collaborative research and
teaching.
*Applications Due by 12noon on January 23, 2015, to Victoria Robinson at victoriarobbi@berkeley.edu*
We welcome all proposals, and especially encourage proposals that address K-12 education, environmental
justice, the arts, public health, and/or suggest collaborations with partners in Richmond or with previous ACES
community organizations. If you are interested in discussing these options, please contact Victoria Robinson.
Expectations for 2015-2016 Chancellor's Public Scholars:
 UC Berkeley faculty selected to serve as 2015 Chancellor’s Public Scholars are expected to develop
new or revised American Cultures courses to be taught in Fall 2015 or Spring 2016.
 Proposed courses must clearly meet the curricular expectations of the American Cultures program and
funds will not be released until the course is approved by the American Cultures faculty subcommittee.
 Attend an intensive all day ACES Institute 9:00am-3:00pm on either Friday, February 27th or Saturday
February 28th (to be confirmed based on teaching schedules). The ACES Institute is designed to
provide faculty with the opportunity to develop, broaden, or deepen their research and teaching of
community-engaged scholarship.
 Attend 1-2 cohort meetings in both Spring 2015 and Fall 2015 semesters for faculty and students to
address developing needs and ideas.
 Conduct ACES pre- and post- assessment in courses.
Benefits of Participation:
 Intensive training and consulting from ACES staff
 A faculty grant of $3,000 for each course
 Up to $1,500 to pay for costs related to the course’s community project
 Logistical support for the implementation of the course from one Student Fellow (undergraduate or
graduate student) who serves as a Chancellor’s Public Fellow. Students participate in all ACES
trainings and receive a $1500 stipend. (Please note, there are no funds through ACES to pay for a GSI
or readers for the course.)
 The possibility of course continuation funds to support the course in subsequent semesters
 Opportunities to present research and best practices at the Imagining America conference or oncampus seminar
 Explore and deepen your own community-engaged scholarship
 Benefit from relationships developed with an interdisciplinary cohort of faculty
 Enhance your capacity to build and sustain long-term relationships with community partners
 Mentor undergraduate and graduate students in the development of community-based partnerships
American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program
2015-2016 Chancellor’s Public Scholars
Application
Program Timeline
Applicants will be expected to participate in the following activities unless noted as “optional”:
January 23rd, 2015, at 12noon Deadline to submit applications to Victoria Robinson, ACES Program
Director, victoriarobbi@berkeley.edu
February 13th, 2015: Acceptance Letters Issued. All applicants will be notified by e-mail of their status in
the program. The department chairs of accepted applicants will receive a formal letter notifying them of
participation from Vice Chancellor Cathy Koshland and Vice Chancellor Gibor Basri.
February 16th – 20th, 2015: Selection of Chancellor’s Public Fellows. Successful faculty applicants will
interview and decide on the student fellow for their course. ACES staff will support faculty in this process.
 Students are nominated by faculty in their course proposals, and will be invited by ACES staff to be
part of the program for faculty selected for the cohort.
 ACES staff will inform students of the program’s responsibilities/expectations, while faculty will share
the specific responsibilities for the course with potential Fellows during an interview.
 Faculty will decide on the appropriate Fellow for their course.
February 27th or 28th, 2015 9:00am-3:00pm: In the ACES Institute we will explore the concept of engaged
scholarship and examine actual examples of real projects across disciplines at UC Berkeley. You will find
answers to these questions and more: What are the components of a community-based project? What is
Service-Learning/community-based research/engaged scholarship? How do we organize such a project?
How could the work my students do in the course advance my research goals?
Spring 2015: Continued development of community-based component of the course. Final course syllabi
for Fall 2015 courses will need to be submitted to, reviewed and approved by the American Cultures
Senate sub-committee. Grants will be released upon successful review.
Summer 2015 (optional): Faculty, students and community partners will have the opportunity to discuss
academic engaged scholarship at the Imagining America Summer Institute.
Summer 2015: With the support of the Chancellor’s Public Fellows and ACES staff, finalize course syllabus
and community project(s).
Fall 2015: Final course syllabi for Spring 2016 courses will need to be submitted to, reviewed and
approved by the American Cultures Senate sub-committee. Grants will be released upon successful
review.
Fall 2015/Spring 2016: ACES courses will be offered. With support of ACES staff, faculty will conduct preand post-assessment and evaluations with students and community partners. Faculty will participate in 12 cohort meetings.
December 2015: Final meeting and celebration of ACES 2015-2016 cohort
December 2015 (optional): Scholars can apply for course continuation funds.
American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program
2015-2016 Chancellor’s Public Scholars
Application
Application Process and Selection Criteria
We encourage applications from Senate or non-Senate faculty who are interested in developing, as a
component of an existing or new AC course, learning goals which are reached through community-based
scholarship and integrated in a significant manner within the course curriculum. In this competitive application
process the faculty selection committee seeks applications in which the proposed course:
1.
Addresses theoretical and analytical issues relevant to understanding race, culture, and ethnicity.
Integrates and compares these issues within the larger context of U.S. society, history, culture, economy,
or environment.
2.
Integrates a compelling community partnership project that recognizes the larger community as a
knowledgeable partner in both the course and the research, which will be produced.
3.
Demonstrates the possibility of creating sustainable campus-community partnerships that can last over
multiple years.
We welcome all proposals, and especially encourage proposals that address K-12 education, environmental
justice, the arts, public health, and/or suggest collaborations with partners in Richmond or with previous ACES
community organizations. If you are interested in discussing these options, please contact Victoria Robinson.
By January 23rd, please submit the following to Victoria Robinson at victoriarobbi@berkeley.edu:
Application Materials
1) Cover Letter: The American Cultures requirement asks the instructor to provide a comparative and
integrative analysis of race, ethnicity and culture in the United States, a dynamic analysis which straddles the
past, present and future. Demonstrate in your proposal how this course relates to the AC requirement,
especially if you are proposing a new course. How will the community-based scholarship build on that intent?
What specific goals do you hope to realize for your own scholarship; your community partner; students
enrolled in your course? Please submit a letter of no more than three pages in length.
2) Course Details: Please provide all information on the next 2 pages.
3) Letter of Approval from the Department Chair: Please submit a letter of support from your Department
Chair, confirming the Department’s commitment to offering your ACES course during Fall 2015 or Spring 2016.
American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program
2015-2016 Chancellor’s Public Scholars
Application
Course Details
A.
B.
C.
Course
a. Please describe the existing course and attach a current course syllabus. Alternately, please provide a
description of the proposed AC course.
b.
What is the course’s current or proposed size?
c.
During which semester to you plan to offer your course? __Fall 2015
d.
Please comment, if appropriate, on the relationship of the course to your department’s current
curricular goals.
___Spring 2016
Community Partnership
a. Please describe (250 words or less) the community-identified needs that you hope to explore in the
course. How have you determined that these are the appropriate needs to address?
b.
How do you envision partnering with a community organization?
c.
How will this partnership contribute to student learning, and what impact do you hope it will have in
the community?
d.
If you have ideas of who your community partners may be, please share that information.
Scholarship
a. How do you hope your participation in this program will benefit your research and/or facilitate your
career goals?
b.
How might you disseminate work produced because of your participation?
American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program
2015-2016 Chancellor’s Public Scholars
Application
D.
Budget: Please provide a detailed budget breakdown for the use of course community partnership funds
(up to $1,500). Information should include consideration of spending that enhances community
partnership activities in the course; and is used to develop new or redesign existing course materials that
focus on community engaged scholarship. Please note that these funds cannot be used to replace or
supplement regular departmental supplies and budget expenses.
Item
Description
Cost
Total
E.
Chancellor’s Public Fellows: Undergraduate and/or graduate students support the development and
implementation of the community-based component of the course. (Please note, there are no funds
through ACES to pay for a GSI or readers for the course, and this role is not meant to handle the
responsibilities handled in those roles.) Please identify any students that you would like to have selected to
support your course. Student Fellows must be available through the semester in which you teach your
course in order to be eligible, and will be invited to participate in the program after faculty have been
selected.
Student Name
Email
Undergraduate or Graduate?