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About the Center for Community Engagement
Grounded in TCNJ’s mission to “empower its diverse students, staff, and faculty to sustain and enhance their communities,” as well as TCNJ’s commitment to the public purpose of higher education, TCNJ’s Center for Community Engagement develops lifelong learners who are prepared to lead lives that are critically informed through community and civic engagement.
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In 2004, the Bonner Center for Civic and Community Engagement was established to house the Bonner Community Scholars program. In 2006, the Bonner Center took on the coordination of TCNJ’s First-year Community Engaged Learning requirement (FYCEL) and began integrating the Bonner Community Scholars program with FYCEL management. During this time, the Bonner Community Scholars Program was reoriented towards cultivating and supporting a diverse student body through recruitment. Moreover, the program has since been organized into student-led teams addressing specific community needs in collaboration with community partners. Center staff now organize and lead FYCEL activities, and work closely with First Year Seminar faculty to incorporate FYCEL components into their curriculum. Since 2010, CCE staff have also supported Advanced CEL (ACEL) course components as well as a wide array of community engaged research and initiatives.
Now, our center houses two institutes: The Bonner Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, and the Community Engaged Learning Institute. Led by Althia Muse, Bonner Director, and Brittany Aydelotte, CEL Director, the center continues to build upon our 18+ years of collaboration with the city of Trenton, the wider Mercer County area, and our national and global partners.
The Bonner Institute at TCNJ has 90-100 Bonner Scholars annually, over 20 community partners, four full-time staff members, and two full-time AmeriCorps members.
To learn more about the Center for Community Engagement, please visit our website here: https:// cce.tcnj.edu/
