Center for Service Learning and Community-Based Research
Dr. Laurie Grobman, Professor of English and Women's Studies, brought the concept of the Center for Service Learning and Community-Based Research (formerly known as the Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy at Penn State Berks) to Penn State Berks in Fall 2010.
The Center in the Community
To celebrate the predominant Latino/Hispanic community in Reading, on Friday, October 26, 2012, the Berks Historical Society (940 Centre Avenue, Reading, PA 19601) held the second Berks Roots Lecture, featuring Jonathan Encarnacion presenting “U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Latin America and Its Impact on U.S. Immigration.” In 2009, Dr. Grobman’s upper-level English course researched the Hispanic/Latino community of Reading and wrote Hispanics/Latinos in Reading and Berks: A Portrait of a Community in collaboration with the Hispanic Center of Reading and Berks. Cassandra Yatron, Penn State graduate and Program Assistant for the Penn State Berks Center for Service Learning and Community-Based Research, briefly spoke about her chapter on community activism in the Hispanic Latino community in Reading and Berks. The reception began at 5:30pm with the lecture starting at 6:30pm. The next lecture will occur on November 16th; Penn State graduate Dillon Kenniston will discuss his chapter, “The Criminal Justice System,” from Hispanics/Latinos in Reading and Berks: A Portrait of a Community .
News stories written and published about The Center's work since its start
- "Berks International Roots to be Subject of Program" Reading Eagle
- "Penn State Berks Students Clean up Local Streams, Remove Invasive Plants" BCTV
- "Penn State Berks Students Mix Studying, Research and Service to the Community" BCTV
- "Students Conduct Research and Volunteer with German Communities" Penn State Berks Newswire
- "Book Tells Story of Jewish Immigrants in Berks" Reading Eagle
- "Students Research History Through Photographs" Penn State Berks Newswire
- "Student and Community Collaboration Result in Written History" Penn State Berks Newswire
- "Penn State Berks Students, Jewish Community Work Together on Local History Book" BCTV
- "Student, Public Collaborate on Book about Area's Jewish Community" Penn State Live
- "Penn State Berks Students Learn About Poverty Through Service" BCTV
- "Penn State Berks Launches "Lab" for Learning Linked to Community Service" BCTV
- "College Launches Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy" Penn State Berks Newswire
- "The Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy" in the Blue & White, Winter 2010-2011 edition, page 16.
Books that students produced in courses that worked in collaboration with The Center
Jewish Reading and Berks County. For sale in Barnes & Noble and other local and national bookstores, as well as Arcadia's web site.
A History of the Jewish Community in Reading and Berks County. Being distributed at the Jewish Federation of Reading.
Woven with Words: A History of African Americans in Berks County. Currently on sale at the Central Pennsylvania African American Museum.