Community Connections is a program that offers high-impact learning experiences to Beloit students across disciplines by bringing the college and community together to advance community-based learning, civic engagement, and career readiness.
In addition to facilitating volunteer opportunities and other community-facing initiatives, Community Connections partners with community stakeholders to develop community-based learning opportunities in the curriculum itself.
Need wheels? If you are volunteering or interning in Beloit, Janesville, or Rockford during the fall, spring, or summer and need transportation, we have a Community Connections vehicle available for use. For more information, please refer to the College Vehicles site.
Fall 2024 Community Connections Courses
Faculty in several departments are offering this fall courses with significant community-based learning components embedded in the course design:
Inspired by the 50 th anniversary of Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel The Dispossessed, this course explores science fiction as a genre fascinated by other worlds, other life forms, and other ways of thinking. Le Guin was Mackey Chair of Creative Writing at Beloit in 1992, and The Dispossessed is legendary for its focus on worldbuilding, gender politics, ecology, physics, anarchism, and Chinese philosophy. To celebrate this legacy, students in this Community Connections class will partner with local high schools and libraries, meet with book clubs and senior groups, moderate a public faculty roundtable, curate a public exhibit, or create related video content. Aside from The Dispossessed, the class will examine earlier traditions of “scientific romance,” influential Afrofuturist fiction, recent climate fiction (“cli-fi”), and other modern and postmodern works that question the limits of gender, race, sexuality, humanness, and intelligence. Course readings and assignments will address both fiction and critical essays. Along the way, students will pursue their own creative projects in worldbuilding, based on research and critical analysis. NOTE: This class requires a significant community outreach project and extensive collaboration with peers. Students are invited to email the professor if they have specific creative or community interests that will contribute productively to the class. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or consent of instructor. (W, E)
A seminar offered every fall to consider current issues in health and medical care in the United States and other countries. As the capstone course for the major, students reflect on career-relevant knowledge and experience by applying and articulating what they have learned while navigating their undergraduate education. (CP) Prerequisite: junior or senior standing (junior standing requires instructor consent).
Students in this class work with the Archives and Collections of the Beloit Historical Society to research topics in the history of the City of Beloit. After learning the best practices and skills for working with rare and often fragile items, students research collection items, the people and places associated with them, and how they fit in the history of the City, the State of Wisconsin, and the United States as a whole. Students develop and design projects to showcase their research, whether in the form of exhibits (physical or virtual), lesson plans, or articles written for websites or newsletters. Prerequisite: one previous college-level History class or permission of the instructor.
Impact Beloit Community and Civic Engagement (1). In this course, students deepen their understanding and role in the community by working with local organizations and businesses that serve the city of Beloit. Students will also learn about different approaches to community development and social change by examining strengths and assets of non-profit, for-profit, government, and grassroots institutions. This is a community-based learning course, integrating fieldwork and reflection. Each student is assigned a placement with a community partner where they are supervised by experienced community leaders and assist in supporting the mission of the institution. Students spend approximately seven hours a week (90 hours a semester) at their placement. Students reflect on their experiences at their site placements and the role of individuals and institutions in communities through supporting readings, materials, and activities used during weekly class periods. Applications can be found at http://forms.gle/gjCWkBvD7ygpUFAaA. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or above. Students must apply and provide references to be admitted into this course.
Students examine topics regarding the presence and experiences of Latinxs in the United States today and in the past in order to dispel myths and gain a better understanding of the Latinx population in Beloit, WI. As they do, they train on how to conduct oral histories—a method of gathering, preserving, and interpreting voices and memories—of Beloit’s Latinxs. They learn of migratory patterns and hear stories that challenge the narrative that has been constructed about Latinxs. Students also have the opportunity to interview their elderly family members to learn more about their own family history. In addition to completing interviews, students transcribe the oral histories before they are archived with the Beloit Historical Society and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Prerequisite: Spanish 240 or consent of instructor. Meets the E and C requirement.
Impact Beloit Community and Civic Engagement (1). In this course, students deepen their understanding and role in the community by working with local organizations and businesses that serve the city of Beloit. Students will also learn about different approaches to community development and social change by examining strengths and assets of non-profit, for-profit, government, and grassroots institutions. This is a community-based learning course, integrating fieldwork and reflection. Each student is assigned a placement with a community partner where they are supervised by experienced community leaders and assist in supporting the mission of the institution. Students spend approximately seven hours a week (90 hours a semester) at their placement. Students reflect on their experiences at their site placements and the role of individuals and institutions in communities through supporting readings, materials, and activities used during weekly class periods. Applications can be found at http://forms.gle/gjCWkBvD7ygpUFAaA. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or above. Students must apply and provide references to be admitted into this course.
This community-engaged course is an introduction to studying queer theory and LGBTQ+ identities and histories, with a special focus on the United States in the 20th and 21st century. We will explore this topic through discussions of readings of queer history and theory and screenings of LGBTQ+ films. To better situate ourselves in living LGBTQ+ communities, this course will also divide students into three teams placed in local organizations to develop mutually beneficial projects: (1) a team that will work with Beloit Family Services to develop LGBTQ+ advocacy programs for Rock County; (2) a team that will work with the Beloit International Film Festival to curate a series of LGBTQ+ films for the public; and (3) a team that will work with the Beloit Historical Society to collect oral histories of local LGBTQ+ residents.
This course examines the physical, social, and cognitive changes that occur between conception and older adulthood. A wide range of issues will be addressed, such as the contributions of genetics and the environment, gender differences, family and interpersonal relations, career development, retirement, and death. Includes at least 15 hours of field experience. (3B) Offered each year. Prerequisite: Psychology 100.
Time: TR 10:10-11:25am in SC 249
One of the college’s original community-based learning courses, the Duffy Community Partnerships Seminar (Sociology 285), is on hiatus. For a similar course, see PRAX 286 Impact Beloit: Community and Civic Engagement or contact the instructor, Suzanne Goebel, in Career Works.
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Fostering Bonds and Literacy
In Prof. Sylvia Lopez’s Intro to Latinx Studies (SPAN 270), a Community Connections course, students have the opportunity to volunteer with local organizations to connect with Beloit’s Latinx and Spanish-speaking members.
Are you a member of the Beloit community with questions about other Community Connections opportunities? Contact Impact Beloit staff to explore the possibilities.
