Ninah Jackson ’25 has been deeply involved in prison education since taking an Inside-Out class at State Correctional Institution (SCI) Coal Township in the fall of 2023. Since the course, Jackson has gone on to co-organize the Ella Baker-Kwame Ture Prison Study Group and conduct an honors thesis on the ideological, political, and intellectual dimensions of prison education.  Inside-Out Course Jackson first heard about Inside-Out through word of mouth, through Endia Scales ’24, who asked Jackson to join Professor Vanessa Massaro’s Cultural Geography course because “she didn’t want to be the only Black student in the class.” Jackson was unsure […]

When Professor Tom Solomon first learned about the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, he didn’t approach it with a plan. He approached it with possibility. It was a conversation with Professor Carolynn Davis, a Bucknell faculty member deeply involved in prison education, that first sparked his interest. She held an information session for faculty, and the idea of teaching inside a prison stood out. The concept felt important, even urgent. It didn’t take long for that curiosity to deepen. A phone call with Lori Pompa, the program’s founder at Temple University, helped clarify what was at stake. In just thirty minutes, […]

One of Bucknell’s current classes is an Inside-Out class, which is a Sociology 100 course that meets every Tuesday from 12:00-4:30 at Muncy State Correctional Institution in which 7 Bucknell (outside) students and 8 Incarcerated (inside) students meet. This class is a Community Engaged Learning(CEL) course that allows for students to gain unique perspectives while engaging with members of the community who they might not otherwise. Two of the students were asked to give their reflection on the class, which is written below.  Cloey Rentschler (Freshman, Neuroscience major) I never thought I would be stepping into a correctional facility, for […]

One of our amazing Community Engaged Learning(CEL) professors here at Bucknell is Dr. Karen Altendorf, who is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Sociology. Professor Altendorf works diligently to provide three CBL courses, which give her students a variety of experiences and opportunities.  The first course, being offered this semester, is a Sociology 100 Inside-Out Course, in which Professor Altendorf takes 7 outside (Bucknell) students to Muncy State Correctional Facility (SCI) every week to meet with 8 inside (incarcerated) students. The main focus of the class, as stated by Professor Altendorf, is, “We are really focusing on perspectives and broadening them […]

The Center for Community Engaged Leadership, Learning, and Research recently submitted an application to receive the Carnegie Foundation’s Classification for Community Engagement. This national designation recognizes higher education institutions’ commitments to working with their local communities. The Carnegie Foundation defines Community Engagement as “collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.” To determine whether Bucknell will receive the Community Engagement Classification, the Carnegie Foundation examines not just the Center for Community Engaged Leadership, Learning, and Research, but how […]

For the past three years, the Center for Community Engaged Leadership, Learning, and Research (CCELLR) has been working on a project called the Kindness Campaign. The Kindness Campaign originated in 2020, with the local Evangelical Hospital speaking with Susquehanna Valley regional United Way about starting a positive youth kindness campaign, which they would fund. That year, the campaign lasted for a week with its biggest highlights being at a Bucknell men’s basketball game, where the campaign was shared with the community, merch was given out, and really the core of this campaign was started.  Stacey Piecuch, the Assistant Director for […]

On March 19th, the Center for Community Engaged Leadership, Learning, and Research hosted its annual Empty Bowls event, which raises funds for a weekly hot-meal program in Milton, Community Harvest.  Attendees purchase a ticket for the event, and with their ticket comes a ceramic bowl made by students at 7th Street Studio and a bowl of soup provided by Chartwells. On top of that, Empty Bowls also had an auction featuring local art and donations from local small businesses, the proceeds of which also go to the Community Harvest Food Program. At each dining table, there were also resources with […]

The following are two reflections from the engaged spring break experience of the half-credit CEL course “Food, Faith, and Justice”. The course explores the following questions: why are people food insecure in Baltimore in 2025? How is the community responding (through direct service, grassroots organizing, policy, research, and advocacy)? How do we fit in? And how do we build hopeful, resilient. thoughtful communities of response? To read reflections from more students, please click here. A Journey Toward Belonging Shaheryar Asghar ’28, participant Yesterday felt different; it was a day where coming to Baltimore no longer felt like an adjustment — it […]

For more information on “Freedom First” and the performer, Keith Lamar, a poet on death row, who will perform via bluetooth speaker during the concert. here is a NYT piece that explains both very well: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/11/arts/music/keith-lamar-death-row-freedom-first.html