Community service and social activism are key components to the field of Women’s Studies. WST340: Community Service Learning in Women's Issues is an advanced upper division seminar that is intended as a community practicum for Women’s Studies majors and minors as well as others interested in women’s issues in action. The course allows students the opportunity to put into practice the theories and knowledge they have gained as a result of studying women’s issues.
Students devote 40 hours of community service to their chosen agency throughout the semester. Their activities include running workshops, providing mentoring, promoting advocacy, fundraising, planning public events, researching archives, and developing program materials. In class, students engage in a number of reflective writing activities and plan a social change agent panel, which features their site supervisors and introduces the organizations to the CSULB campus community.
In the Spring 2008 semester, students worked with five community agencies:
Girls, Incorporated of Orange County;
Gay and Lesbian Center of Greater Long Beach;
Long Beach Domestic Violence Court Resource Referral Program;
Rosie the Riveter Preservation Program, run through Long Beach Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske’s office;
ADVANCE Women’s Program, which is part of the Villages at Cabrillo-U.S. Veterans Initiative.
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