Donelan Office of Community-Based Learning, Teaching, and Engaged Scholarship

Teaching, learning and research is brought to life through relationships with the community.

Students, faculty and community partners can engage in a range of research opportunities, community-based projects and direct service opportunities that meet community-identified goals.

Our Work

The mission of the Donelan Office of Community-Based Learning, Teaching, & Engaged Scholarship is to engage faculty, staff, students and community partners in teaching, learning and engaged research that address pressing community issues. In the Jesuit tradition, and through service and research guided by principles of social justice, mutuality and reciprocity, we promote participatory experiential learning and research opportunities that foster the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources and include those affected by the issues throughout the process. Central to our practice is dialogue, reflection, co-learning and long-term commitments to participation.

Opportunities to Engage

Featured Project

Professor Bridget Franco and her students talk about her innovative class, Filmmaking in Spanish, which connects students with Spanish-speaking community partners.

For Community Partners

Community partners can connect with the Donelan Office for short- and long-term volunteering opportunities, through research opportunities, and/or through short and long-term projects. Contact our office to learn more. 

Explore

For Students

Browse current Community-Based Learning (CBL) courses, learn more about our leadership program, the CBL Intern Program and more through Ignite. In CBL courses, academic learning is brought to life through a range of research opportunities, community-based projects and direct service opportunities that meet community-identified needs. The CBL Interns are a select group of student leaders who have previous experience in CBL and who have a desire to build community with other students passionate about civic engagement.

Visit Our Ignite Page

For Faculty

The Donelan Office promotes an integrative teaching and research approach that combines academic learning in the classroom setting and research with engagement in the Worcester community. Faculty members, in conjunction with the Donelan Office, develop learning and research partnerships that meet course and scholarly objectives as well as the interests of local community organizations. These partnerships are focused on either service and/or research projects collaboratively developed with a community partner.

Visit Our Ignite Page

Our Jesuit mission calls us to be good neighbors, active community members and critically engaged, inside and outside of the classroom and research laboratories. Community-engaged teaching and research enable us to connect what happens on campus with the greater world and work collaboratively to address our world’s most pressing problems.

Dr. Isabelle A Jenkins, Director of the Donelan Office

Learn More About the Program

  • "The Most Amazing Day I’ve Had at Holy Cross"

    Read More

  • How College and Community are Creating a New Kind of Knowledge

    Read More

Contact Us

Isabelle Jenkins '10, MDiv, PhD (she/her/hers)

Director
Email: ijenkins@holycross.edu
Office: Smith 323  |  Telephone: 508-793-3007

Kya Roumimper Ascani (she/her/hers)

Associate Director
Email: kroumimperascani@holycross.edu
Office: Smith 322
Telephone: 508-793-3515

Kathryn Hauver '22 (she/her/hers)

Assistant Director
Email: khauver@holycross.edu
Office: Smith 326  
Telephone: 508-793-3950

Diane Girard (she/her/hers)

Administrative Assistant
Email: dgirard@holycross.edu
Office: Smith 333
Telephone: 508-793-3890  |  Fax: 508-793-3945

About the Donelan Office

The Donelan Office of Community-Based Learning, Teaching, and Engaged Scholarship was established with a $1.2 million endowment from Trustee and alumnus Joseph P. Donelan II '72 to facilitate connections between academic learning and community engagement. Since its opening in September of 2001, thousands of students have participated in the program, enriching their intellectual experiences in the classroom with first hand experience in the Worcester community.
Learn More About Joe Donelan '72
Learn More About the City of Worcester