What Undergraduates Have to Say
How Can You Participate?
CU Engage provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students -- from all academic disciplines -- to apply their academic training to partnerships with community groups and projects advancing social justice. Our courses focus on critical thinking and skill-building to support and equip students to become leaders in their communities. We give students the opportunity to connect and collaborate with community partners to address complex social problems. We offer research opportunities and cohort-based, small classes for undergraduate students and graduate students. Our instructional team supports students with individualized learning and mentorship.
The best part of participating in CU Engage Programs were the connections and partnerships that I made. I have access to a vast network of organizers as a result of my involvement in both Puksta and Aquetza.
The community that I have made, the friends, the connections, and mentors that I now have, are the most rewarding part of being a participant in multiple CU Engage Programs.
Doing both the INVST program and the Leadership Studies Minor (LSM), I felt that I was able to share my eco-social justice community-based approach to leadership with classmates from other pathways in my LSM class and identify the ways that our visions of leadership aligned and diverged. I think that was really interesting and made me feel like a more well-rounded leader in the end.
Join a program, minor or major in leadership, or simply take a course.
How Do Students Move Through the Programs?
We provide the flexibilty for students to move through our programs in a number of ways. Above are two examples of how two different students participated with CU Engage during their time as undergraduates at CU Boulder. Cynthia began as a high school participant in Aquetza. In her sophmore year, she joined the 2 year INVST Program. At the start of her junior year, she declared the Leadership and Community Engagement Major as a double major alongside her teaching credentials, and in her final year at CU, she was a counselor and mentor for high school Aquetza students. She is now teaching for Denver Public Schools.
Kieran took a sustainability course in her dorm's RAP (Residential Academic Program) her freshman year which led her to learn about and join the 2 year INVST Program in her second year. She declared the Leadership Studies Minor in her junior year, and during her senior year, she served as a Teaching Assistant for INVS 3931: Community Leadership Internship.
Research Opportunities
Community-Based Research for Graduate Students
Each spring semester, CU Engage invites applications for a new cohort of graduate student fellows in Community-Based Research (CBR). In CBR, university researchers collaborate with people directly impacted by an issue to formulate a research project or creative project that examines an issue of public concern. Guided by values of equity and participation, CBR teams draw on varied forms of expertise and collectively decide on goals and methods with the aim of producing public knowledge that builds capacity for the partner organization and/or contributes to social change. Please contact the CU Engage Office for more information about these courses and programs as well as other opportunities on campus and in the region.
Read the call for 2024-25 CBR Graduate Fellows here.
Learn about the 2023-2024 CBR Graduate Fellows here.
Undergraduate Participatory Action Research
Danielle Aguilar, the graduate student leading the 2024-2025 cohort of undergraduate PAR researchers.
The Participatory Action Research (PAR) Team in CU Engage examines how students of color experience a historically and currently predominately white institution.