Overcrowded lecture halls, weekly problem sets, and an abundance of readings are usually what come to mind when people think of Princeton courses. While this can be the case, some courses are different. They take students out of the Orange Bubble to places like New Jersey prisons and immigration courts — but also further afield, to Alaska, Cape Town, and more.
For most of Princeton’s history, students were limited in their opportunities to engage meaningfully with the informal University motto, “Princeton in the nation’s service.” But in 1999, the Community Based Learning Initiative (CBLI) allowed students and faculty to take the vision of the motto one step further. Today that program, now named the Program for Community-Engaged Scholarship (ProCES), continues to offer students opportunities to prioritize service and participate in the world beyond Princeton’s gates — not just as an extracurricular, but as part of their academic lives. These courses focus on studying community-based issues, and incorporate working with applicable programs to do tangible work addressing these issues.
“The program’s origins [lay] in student advocacy for more curricular experiential learning opportunities at Princeton,” said Tania Boster, the director of ProCES, in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.
Early participants in the courses felt that the participatory elements enhanced their learning.
In 2010, one CBLI course, WWS/MOL 320: Human Genetics, Reproduction, and Public Policy, sent Andrea Hagemann ’00 and a few classmates to a local school to teach students about cloning as an extension of their class work. Planning a presentation for younger students increased Tweeten’s understanding of the material she was studying in class.
“It helps us get everything clear in our heads,” she explained to the ‘Prince’ in 1999.
As evidence of students’ excitement about the new initiative, Hank Dobin, then the Associate Dean of the College, said that more than 125 students chose to do community-based learning projects or papers as part of their coursework that semester.
Early courses in CBLI spanned many departments and class years. These courses, such as FRS 114: Sustainable Development and the Environment and POL/AAS 336: Race and American Politics, included optional community-engaged components.
In 2018, CBLI officially changed its name to ProCES. Over time, the courses largely shifted from primarily offering optional opportunities to conduct community projects to incorporating community service into the mandatory framework of the course.
Now, ProCES courses are indicated in the registrar under requirements with “Community-Engaged Learning Component.”
“ProCES fosters sustained relationships that bring community-identified priorities and interests into conversation with the academic learning goals faculty identify for their students,” Boster said.
English professor D. Vance Smith, who is on the ProCES faculty advisory board, described feeling supported by the collaborative nature of the program.
“ProCES is very willing to listen to my ideas about how a community-engaged class could run. They are great about figuring out the details of such a course,” he said.
The ProCES course that he taught, HUM 352: Arts in the Invisible City: Race, Policy, Performance, is cross-listed under four areas of study: the Programs in Humanistic Studies, Theater, Urban Studies, and English.
The course explored the history of Trenton and the role of the arts in the city. Students spoke directly with local activists, policymakers, and artists in order to examine Trenton’s history. They also contributed to the development of a virtual memorial and restorative project led by Trenton artist Bentrice Jusu, allowing them to further engage with the community.
SPIA professor Heather Howard, another member of the ProCES faculty advisory board who teaches SPI 380: Critical Perspectives in Global Health Policy, noted, “Faculty couldn’t do it without resources provided to them from the ProCES program. There are already so many moving parts to a course and so they are a critical part of the process.”
Such resources include guidance on how to engage with community partners, assistance administering these partnerships, and funding.
ProCES also continues to evolve as the program moves through a period of transition. In an interview with the ‘Prince’ in 2023, Boster noted that the program was exploring ways in which it could approach community-engaged scholarship, including through grassroots community organizers, non-profit organizations, and NGOs.
ProCES classes today take on a variety of forms including service learning, community science, public humanities, practicing and applied arts, community-based research, and other collaborative modes and methods of knowledge co-creation.
This was underscored in a Fall 2016 freshman seminar, FRS 165: Is Your Zip Code Your Destiny? Exploring the Social Determinants of Health, taught by Howard. The course specifically focused on Trenton and what shapes its health outcomes, with each student choosing a particular topic and partnering with a local organization for in-depth research, which collectively formed a report to the Trenton Health Team.
Chosen topics included mental health, anti-tobacco efforts, and mapping levels of lead in blood in Trenton, according to Howard.
Professor Alberto Bruzos Moro, director of the Spanish Language Program and another member of the ProCES faculty advisory board, incorporated a similar focus on service learning into SPA 304: Spanish in the Community.
This course, cross-listed in Spanish and Latin American studies, explores the role of the Spanish language in the United States, addressing topics ranging from language and identity to political debates around Spanish and English.
In other ProCES courses that Moro has taught, he worked with partners at the Princeton Nursery School, the Arts Council of Princeton, and Futuro, a college-prep program for first and second-generation immigrants. More recently, he’s been working with El Centro, a Pace Center Center for Civic Engagement volunteering program that offers English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to adults in Trenton.
Due to the service component, Moro added that ProCES classes can also be extra work.
“Students have to commute to another city for this class,” he noted, “but many feel a sense of urgency and a desire to help — and that’s part of what makes ProCES so appealing.”
Charlotte Defriez ’26, a member of the ProCES Student Advisory Board, first stumbled upon ProCES in REL 204: Religion and Ethics in Environmental Justice Activism, which she took in the spring of 2024.
“The course introduced me to the field of environmental justice scholarship, while tying in my interest in religious theory,” she noted.
When Defriez’s class visited the Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal Farm to learn more about food sovereignty in New Jersey, they worked with Vincent Mann, co-creator of the farm and Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Ramapough Lenape Nation.
“Chief Mann gave us a guided tour of the farm, which tied into our semester-long reflection on the meanings of justice, land sovereignty, and food justice,” Defriez said. “I felt incredibly grateful and privileged to be welcomed into his space.”
In SPI 356: Asylum: Policy, Politics, and Practice taught by Professor Amelia Frank-Vitale, students in small groups of three to four worked on drafting asylum declarations for assigned clients who had already submitted initial asylum applications. This work was done with Project Rousseau, a New York City organization that helps families who are seeking asylum.
“Some days we have readings and other days we come in and speak to sociologists, anthropologists, or political scientists about asylum more broadly,” said Lucia Armengol ’26.
Students would regularly speak to their clients over the phone in order to get information for the asylum declaration.
“We have had two trips to New York to actually go meet with our clients in person because it's necessary to have the more difficult conversations in person,” Armengol added.
Myrah Charles ’26 who took SPI 413: The Criminal Legal System: Advocacy and Freedom with Professor Maya Dimant, described a similar multi-disciplinary approach to her ProCES course, where students would learn about the criminal legal system while also working in small groups towards the freedom of real clients.
“I think some of the most useful moments in class were when we had guest speakers come in and we could talk to them about their experiences in the legal field or ask questions,” she said.
Students got firsthand experience in the hurdles legal professionals and their clients face by working with clients to write compelling narratives for clemency petitions, going up against an often-unforgiving system.
“I remember we had to try to hunt down our client’s lawyer and she kept dodging our calls. Two of us took a train up to Jersey City in the rain to go to her office,” Charles added.
Students also visited their clients in prisons across New Jersey.
“The most life changing experience was traveling to prison several times to meet and speak to our client. You think you are ready to step into one of these buildings and you’re not. It’s heart-wrenching, especially when you think about how a lot of those people look like you or people you care about,” she said.
Their work culminated in a clemency application and speech in front of the New Jersey Conviction Review Unit and the New Jersey State Parole Board advocating for their client’s release from prison.
Charles said that through these speeches, audience members could see the tangible impact of the coursework on both students and their clients. “I remember almost starting to sob during my speech. It was an emotionally charged experience for everyone,” she noted.
Last year, ProCES celebrated its 25th anniversary by hosting keynote speaker events featuring scholar-practitioners from universities and community-based organizations. More than two decades after its establishment, however, ProCES still looks for ways to expand its impact on campus.
One example is Service Focus, a collaboration between ProCES, the Pace Center, and multiple campus offices that brings together students who have completed an eligible service-based internship or have taken or intend to take a service-based course for group discourse throughout their sophomore year.
The program continues to provide students with various pathways for civic engagement, leadership, and career development. It punctures the Orange Bubble, creating a space where community-engaged learning can thrive.
“It’s important to do this work, but it requires an attitude of humility, the willingness to listen closely, and a commitment to sustaining relationships even after the course or the program is over,” Smith said.
Elma Cesic is a Features contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please direct any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
Read More
To defend or expand? That is the question for one controversial Princeton development
Teresa Chen and Oliver WuOn the grounds Princeton Theological Seminary’s former Tennent Roberts Campus, a development of a new apartment complex has been proposed. Here at 108 Stockton Street, a conflict steeped in years of history plays out between the municipality, which is seeking to grow and to meet its affordable housing obligations, and the local Princeton residents who oppose it.
On the grounds Princeton Theological Seminary’s former Tennent Roberts Campus, a development of a new apartment complex has been proposed. Here at 108 Stockton Street, a conflict steeped in years of history plays out between the municipality, which is seeking to grow and to meet its affordable housing obligations, and the local Princeton residents who oppose it.
Princeton University Art Museum’s Student Advisory Board celebrates their first annual gala since reopening
Devon WilliamsThe Student Advisory Board’s annual Student Gala, this year entitled “Voyage,” filled the many halls and pavilions with food, music, activities, and conversation. This is the first year the Gala has been held in the new museum space — in past years, it has been taking place in Campus Club, with much of the school not noticing any relation to the art museum.
The Student Advisory Board’s annual Student Gala, this year entitled “Voyage,” filled the many halls and pavilions with food, music, activities, and conversation. This is the first year the Gala has been held in the new museum, although it has occurred in past years in Campus Club, often unnoticed by much of the school as related to the art museum.
Princeton University Ballet seeks to push boundaries in its latest piece and beyond
Synai FerrellFor the first time in the nearly 20 years since its founding, Princeton University Ballet is being led by Black women. The dance company has become a stronghold of female leadership in a profession where men often end up in charge, and is a draw for high school ballet dancers across the country. In PUB’s fall show, Sombra, the leaders brought to life themes of pain and struggle, experimenting with lighting and costuming, and showcasing the multifaceted nature of ballet.
For the first time in the nearly 20 years since its founding, Princeton University Ballet is being led by Black women. The dance company has become a stronghold of female leadership in a profession where men often end up in charge, and is a draw for high school ballet dancers across the country. In PUB’s fall show, Sombra, the leaders brought to life themes of pain and struggle, experimenting with lighting and costuming, and showcasing the multifaceted nature of ballet.