The College of New Jersey

2000 Pennington Road, Ewing, NJ 08628

www.tcnj.edu

Forcina 337

609-771-2548

bonner@tcnj.edu

CAMPUS AT A GLANCE & KEY FACTS

The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) is a highly selective institution that has earned national recognition for its commitment to excellence. Founded in 1855 as the New Jersey State Normal School, TCNJ has become an exemplar of the best in public higher education and is consistently acknowledged as one of the top comprehensive colleges in the nation. TCNJ currently is ranked as one of the 75 “Most Competitive” schools in the nation by Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges and is rated the No. 1 public institution in the northern region of the country by U.S. News & World Report. TCNJ was named the #10 value in public higher education by the Princeton Review in 2009 and, in 2006, was awarded a Phi Beta Kappa chapter—an honor shared by less than 10 percent of colleges and universities nationally.

Academic Programs

A strong liberal arts core forms the foundation for a wealth of degree programs offered through TCNJ’s seven schools—Arts & Communication; Business; Humanities & Social Sciences; Education; Science; Nursing, Health, & Exercise Science; and Engineering. The College is enriched by an honors program and extensive opportunities to study abroad, and its award-winning First-Year Experience and freshman orientation programs have helped make its retention and graduation rates among the highest in the country.

Campus

Known for its natural beauty, the College’s campus is set on 289 tree-lined acres in suburban Ewing Township (map). The College has 39 major buildings, including a state-of-the-art library; 14 residence halls that accommodate 3,600 students; an award-winning student center; more than 20 academic computer laboratories; a full range of laboratories for nursing, microscopy, science, and technology; a music building with a 300-seat concert hall; and a collegiate recreation and athletic facilities complex. TCNJ has a full-time undergraduate enrollment of approximately 6,400 students (95 percent from New Jersey).

Community Engaged Learning is a signature program of The College of New Jersey chosen by the Strategic Planning task force on Excellence and Signature Programs. As a signature program, it contributes in a positive way to learning beyond the formal classroom experience.

TCNJ believes that educated and enlightened individuals must participate in a series of experiences that promote their scholarly growth, broaden their knowledge of all sectors of human inquiry, and emphasizes civic responsibility; these are the three pillars of general education. As part of their Liberal Learning education, TCNJ students “should understand how to accept responsibility for active and engaged citizenship in a complex and diverse society.” Getting involved is embedded throughout the curriculum.

BONNER PROGRAM AT A GLANCE

Type of Program: Bonner Leader

Year Began: 2004

Bonner Program Website: https://cce.tcnj.edu/

Application Deadline for 2021: March 2021

Where is the Bonner Program located: Center for Community Engagement, under Academic Affairs

Number of Bonner Students: 81

Highlighted Bonner Specific Programs:

The Bonner Community Scholars are a diverse group of students who share a common desire and commitment: to work as part of a team of students, staff and community members that strives to improve the quality of life in the Trenton area. At the beginning of the Bonner experience, Scholars choose to join one of several site-based service teams. Each one focuses on an area such as hunger, homelessness, housing, developmental disabilities, the environment, juvenile justice, the environment, immigrant services, prisoner education, urban education, and youth development. These teams work primarily with one or two community-partner organizations in the local area, giving students the opportunity to bring together their service and academic experiences in significant ways.
The Bonner Institute organizes the CEL program at the College and mobilizes all First Year students to complete the graduation requirement, a total of 1,600 per year.

CAMPUS-WIDE ENGAGEMENT AT A GLANCE

First-year Community Engaged Learning (FYCEL) experiences are designed to introduce students to community engagement activities and spark an interest in civic involvement. All first-year students are required to participate in a community engaged learning experience, students complete their FYCEL requirement by taking the course IDS 103, which is a two-week course that consists of three in-class sessions and one half day of service that addresses one of the unmet needs of the local or regional community. Typically, the FYCEL half day service experiences are planned by Center for Community Engagement (CCE) staff in collaboration with local community partners. The benefit of this model is that we ensure impactful experiences for both the community and students and we can build the capacity of our community partners by returning each week with a group of students to do a half day of service. However, in recent semesters due to COVID-19 restrictions, we’ve been unable to host service experiences for our FYCEL program in the same way. Instead of being assigned to a service experience, students are given a unique opportunity to identify their own service experience. Students are challenged to find a service experience that identifies a need in their community that they’re passionate about. While students are encouraged to come up with their own idea for service, we also share a variety of ideas including those that can be done virtually or by connecting with a local TCNJ partner.

Advanced CEL experiences build on the FYCEL experience to apply discipline-specific concepts and skills to address a community-identified need. ACEL experiences are course-based CEL activities in 200-level and above courses that complement the existing learning objectives of the course. Designed in close consultation between CELR Center staff and the course instructor, ACEL courses take course-specific skills and knowledge and apply them to address community-identified issues. ACEL experiences are generally 15-20 hours of community engagement, and a substantial course assignment is built around the CEL experience.

KEY CONTACTS

President:

Kathryn A. Foster

Bonner and CEL Program Staff: