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Community-Engaged Education & Social Change

MA in Community-Engaged Education & Social Change

Community-engaged education bridges the divide between academia (PK–16) and activism by exploring how schools and communities can partner with one another for mutual benefit. The Master of Arts program in Community-Engaged Education & Social Change trains educators who understand the critical intersections across learning, teaching, and local community.

Designed for students interested in nonprofit, educational, and public-service careers, this experiential degree program allows you to participate in community-campus partnerships to exercise alternative and critical pedagogies. The program’s unique curriculum offers opportunities for important self-reflection and newfound awareness of local knowledge, assets, and alternative education projects. The program also examines current scholarship on the process of community-building and social change through texts, guest speakers, and community internships.

Program Highlights
  • One of the only Education master’s programs in Southern California that addresses civic engagement, social change, and activism.
  • You will work with the director of the program to tailor your program emphasis around your unique interests and goals. Students have used the program to focus on various interests, including women’s health, LGBTQ+ rights, youth mentorship, refugee resettlement, and undocumented students.
  • At the end of the program, you will engage in a hands-on practicum experience.
  • Graduates of the program will be prepared to work in a variety of nonprofit and educational organizations that promote and support relationships between the community and formal/non-formal educational entities.
  • Available to undergraduate students at the Claremont Colleges, the program’s Accelerated Degree option saves students time and money by letting undergraduates take courses applicable to both the bachelor’s and master’s degree.

Program At-a-glance

  • 32 units

    required units

  • MA in Community-Engaged Education & Social Change

    degree awarded

  • In Person

    modality

  • Spring, Summer, Fall

    program start

  • 11 months | full time*

    estimated completion time

Request info Apply now

Frank Frias

Director of Admissions & Recruitment

909-607-3240

Featured Students

Learn More About Life at CGU

Faculty

  • Torie Weiston-Serdan

    Clinical Assistant Professor

    Research Interests

    Critical mentoring; critical youth work; non-profits and social enterprises; diversity and equity; non-profits and philanthropy; youth-serving non-profits; culturally sustaining pedagogy; abolitionist teaching; Black Feminism in education; learning and teaching

    View profile
  • Portrait of Delacy Ganley

    DeLacy Ganley

    Dean, School of Educational Studies
    Professor of Education

    Research Interests

    Culturally relevant education; resiliency and achievement of marginalized populations; intersection of families, community, and school; language acquisition; social capital theory; systems theory

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  • Eligio Martinez

    Eligio Martinez

    Senior Research Fellow

    Research Interests

    P-20 education pipeline; college access and retention; community colleges; boys and men of color; middle school education; Chicana/o and Latina/o Students

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  • Portrait of Thomas Luschei

    Tom Luschei

    Professor of Education

    Research Interests

    International and Comparative Education; Economics of Education; Teacher Quality, Teacher Policy, and Teacher Distribution; Education Policy across the Americas; Bilingual Education Policy and Practice

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  • Portrait of Deborah Faye Carter

    Deborah Faye Carter

    Associate Professor of Higher Education

    Research Interests

    Higher education; transition to college; college student outcomes; access to college; race in education; mentoring, equity, and diverse learning environments in STEM

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  • Portrait of Mary Poplin

    Mary Simpson Poplin

    Senior Research Fellow
    Professor Emerita

    Research Interests

    Highly effective teachers in Los Angeles area; effective teaching methods; students, schools and poverty; differences between Judeo Christian and secular thought; Mother Teresa (worked with her in 1996)

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  • Portrait of Linda Perkins

    Linda Perkins

    University Professor
    Director, Applied Gender Studies

    Research Interests

    Women and African-American higher education, history and contemporary issues on women in higher education, especially Black women, global gender issues.

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  • Portrait of Dina Maramba

    Dina C. Maramba

    Professor of Education

    Research Interests

    Equity and diversity issues in higher education; theory and practice in student affairs; college student development; access and retention; first-generation college students; Asian American and Pacific Islander populations; minority serving institutions

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  • Guan Saw

    Guan K. Saw

    Associate Professor of Education

    Research Interests

    Educational inequality; diversity and inclusion; STEM education and workforce; college access and success; sociology of education; educational psychology; educational evaluation and policy analysis; quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods; health disparities

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  • Lourdes Aguelles

    María de Lourdes Argüelles

    Professor Emerita, Education and Cultural Studies

    Research Interests

    Contemplative studies; alternative ways of living, learning, and dying; immigrant and refugee studies

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Curriculum

Accelerated Degree Option

Undergraduate students from the Claremont Colleges can petition to transfer in up to 12 units of “community-engaged themed” coursework from the Claremont Colleges. Credits are applied to the CEESC’s “Programmatic Choices” (and thus are not used in lieu of CEESC required courses). Students must have earned a B or better in the class for it to be transferable. Petitions related to transferable courses are reviewed by the dean of the School of Educational Studies and/or the coordinator of the CEESC program.

Application Guidelines

Requirements Summary
Item Description
Application Fee $80
Official Transcripts Yes
Letters of Recommendation 3
Statement of Purpose Yes
Resume Yes
Other Requirements English proficiency exam

Key Dates & Deadlines

CGU operates on a priority deadline cycle. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit complete applications by the priority dates in order to assure maximum consideration for both admission and fellowships.

Once the priority deadlines have passed, the University will continue to review applications for qualified candidates on a competitive, space-available basis. The final deadlines listed are the last date the University can accept an application in order to allow sufficient time to complete the admissions, financial aid, and other enrollment processes.

Spring 2024
Priority Deadline – November 1, 2023
Final Deadline (International) – November 15, 2023
Final Deadline (Domestic) – December 1, 2023
Classes begin – January 16, 2024

Summer 2024
Priority Deadline – February 1, 2024
Final Deadline (International) – March 1, 2024
Final Deadline (Domestic) – April 1, 2024
Classes begin – May 13, 2024

Fall 2024
Priority Deadline – February 1, 2024
Final Deadline (International) – July 5, 2024
Final Deadline (Domestic) – August 1, 2024
Classes begin – August 26, 2024

Application Checklist

Online application

The Claremont Graduate University online application is hosted online by Slate Technolutions via a secure web server. You will create a username and password so that you can return to continue your application over several sessions and check your status after submission. After you submit your application, it is made available for review by our faculty and staff.

Begin your application

$80 Application fee

The application fee is non-refundable.

Official transcripts (undergraduate/graduate)

Applicants must submit a sealed, official transcript from every undergraduate and graduate institution that has granted the applicant a degree. Electronic transcripts sent to admissions@cgu.edu are also accepted. For undergraduate coursework, applicants are required to submit proof of a completed bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university. Unofficial copies of transcripts are accepted for review purposes, but official copies will be required upon admission.

Applicants currently earning a degree that will be completed prior to attending CGU are required to submit a transcript showing work in progress for evaluation purposes. Once the degree has been granted, a final official transcript documenting the degree conferred must be submitted to CGU.

International applicants are advised to review the International Transcript Guidelines for additional information on submitting international transcripts.

Resume

Applicants must submit an up-to-date copy of their resume.

English proficiency exam (international applicants only)

A valid score on one of the following examinations TOEFL, IELTS, Pearson PTE scores is required of all non-native English-speaking applicants. The examination is not required for the following applicants:

  • Citizens or permanent residents of countries where English is the sole official language of instruction, e.g., Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Canada (except Quebec), England, Ghana, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, Scotland, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad, Tobago, Uganda, and Wales (see the CGU Bulletin for a complete list of accepted countries).
  • Applicants who hold an undergraduate or advanced degree, or will have earned such a degree prior to enrolling at CGU, from an institution in the US or in countries where English is the sole official language of instruction (see above).
  • Applicants who have successfully completed an academic English pre-master’s or intensive graduate bridge program from a nationally recognized, regionally accredited four-year college or university in the United States in the last two years, with submitted evidence of successful completion, and subject to curriculum approval.

CGU’s school code for the TOEFL exam is 4053.

International applicants are encouraged to visit our International Applicants page for more information, including score requirements.

Statement of purpose

Please submit a five-page, double-spaced personal statement that answers the following questions:

1. Who are you?
2. What is your research interest?
3. Why are you pursuing this graduate degree?
4. What is your professional and academic background?
5. Why CGU?
6. Why the School of Educational Studies?

Three letters of recommendation

When filling out the online application, please enter references acquainted with your potential for success who will submit a written recommendation on your behalf. In most academic departments, references from faculty members who can speak to your academic ability are preferred; applicants with substantial work experience may request professional references. Please do not enter family members as references.

You will be required to input information for your recommenders (whether they are submitting online or not) in the “Recommendations” section of the online application. Please follow the directions in this section carefully before clicking on “Recommendation Provider List” to input the names and contact information for each recommender. You will have an opportunity to indicate if the reference writer will be submitting online. These reference writers will receive an email from CGU with instructions on submitting an online recommendation.

Recommenders who are indicated as offline will not receive an email from CGU with instructions to submit. These reference writers can submit via traditional mail and should use the supplemental New Student Recommendation Form. Recommenders can also email their letter of recommendation to the Office of Admissions at admissions@cgu.edu.

Download the Recommendation Form

Cost & Aid

Tuition and Fees

ESTIMATED TUITION (CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS, NON-RESIDENTS, INTERNATIONAL)
Program 32 units
Tuition per unit* $2,020

*Based on 2023-2024 tuition rates.

 

STUDENT FEES (PER SEMESTER)
$245 Student Fee
$150 Technology Fee
International Student Services Fee*: $661 fall semester, $776 spring semester
**Applies to all international students (F-1 visa only) who are registered in coursework, doctoral study, or continuous registration. The fee is assessed each fall and spring semester for annual ISO accident and sickness plans and administrative fees. Subject to change.

For estimates of room & board, books, etc., please download CGU’s Cost of Attendance 2022-2023 .

Review General Costs

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