Community-Based Learning (CBL)

Every semester over 1,000 students from all five colleges participate in a form of community-based learning. Service learning courses, internships at local non-profits and community-based research actively engage students, faculty and staff with the greater community.

The Five College Committee for Community Based Learning is a group of faculty and professional staff from all five colleges who work together to improve the quality of engagement Five College students have in local communities and expand the number of community-based learning opportunities available.

Students seeking opportunities can browse CBL courses, contact any campus CBL office, and view other useful resources.

Community organizations seeking to learn more can download the Five College guide to finding students workers and volunteers, contact committee members and view publications about past CBL projects.

Five College Community Based Learning also works in coordination with the Five College Schools Partnership Program, a collaborative effort to support K-12 public education in western Massachusetts and, in particular, the professional development of public school teachers. Learn more about the Five College Schools Partnership Program.

After a group of committed staff and faculty began meeting to help promote and expand CBL throughout the region, the Five College Committee for Community-Based Learning was officially established in 2003 and has remained active since then.

Click on the buttons below to learn about the Holyoke Bound and Springfield Bound events.

Please follow the links below to find current community-based and service-learning courses at different campuses. Five College students can register for CBL courses on a different campus by following the process for cross-registration. Click here for more information. 

Amherst College Courses

Smith College Courses

UMass Amherst Courses

Current CBL Committee members

• Amherst College
  • Sarah Barr- Chair of Five College Committee, Director of the Center for Community Engagement
• Hampshire College
  • Javiera Benavente - Assistant Dean of Collaborative & Community Engaged Learning
• Mount Holyoke College
  • Maria Cartegena - Director of Community Based Learning Program
• Smith College
  • Denys Candy - Director, Jandon Center for Community Engagement
  • Nancy Jiminez Zigler - Assistant Director, Jandon Center for Community Engagement
• UMass Amherst
  • Joseph Krupczynski - Director, Civic Engagement and Service-Learning/Associate Professor, Architecture
  • Chris Felton - Community Partnership Coordinator, Civic Engagement and Service-Learning 

Five Colleges Staff Liaison 

• Five Colleges, Inc.
  • April Shandor - Academic Programs Coordinator