COLLEGE OF PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS
, PhD Dean
, EdM Administrative Dean for Enrollment Management
, BA Assistant Dean, Administrative Finance
Overview
The College of Public and Community Service is a college for people who are seeking to make a difference – in their own lives and in the lives of others. CPCS provides an empowering and effective education to people who are committed to working for social justice, and who want to promote positive development in their communities.
The College offers innovative and exciting educational opportunities at the undergraduate and graduate levels for students pursuing professional careers in public and community service, policy, advocacy, and organizing.
CPCS is distinguished by its competency-based system of education, by the innovative learning options it provides, and by its commitment to interweaving college and community to promote full participation in society through educational programs and professional practice.
A Different Kind of College for People Who Want to Make a Difference
For over 30 years, the College of Public and Community Service (CPCS) has been a recognized leader in education for social change. CPCS is a college for people who want to make a difference. It provides effective and empowering educational opportunities to students committed to working for change in their communities, workplaces, and professions.
Outcome-Oriented
The College’s undergraduate programs offer interested students a unique competency-based, outcome-oriented curriculum centered on the study of urban reality and positive social change. Its educational program is focused on helping students to develop deeper understanding about the type and nature of issues affecting urban life and supporting them in becoming effective professionals whose main focus is the enhancement of these communities.
Innovative
The College curriculum is designed to meet students where they are and get them to where they want to go. The College provides students with innovative learning options that allow them to find their best learning style and put them to work toward earning a degree. The College offers undergraduate students four basic methods of evaluation for competencies at the College: classroom instruction, project-based learning, evaluation of prior learning and directed study. Based on assessment of their skills and needs, students are able to tailor a learning plan drawing on these different modes of learning and evaluation to move through the curriculum. The curriculum encourages students to draw on their professional and community work and apply it directly to their academic study.
Empowering
Believing that both community and individual empowerment are enhanced the more community and college are interwoven, a central focus of the College’s practice is centered on developing recruitment initiatives, educational programs, and research that bring the College and the community together to work on the shared goals of community empowerment.
Diverse
In its practice and in the educational opportunities it provides, CPCS endeavors to function as an inclusive, democratic and participatory learning community which promotes diversity, equality and social justice. CPCS is a diverse learning community. The students who attend CPCS represent the diversity of the metropolitan community. They range in age from 18 to 80. A majority are from low-income areas; over 60% are women, and over 40% identify themselves as members of communities of color.
Undergraduate Programs
At the undergraduate level, CPCS provides a comprehensive Bachelor of Arts degree program that integrates general education, skill development and support, with majors focused on professions related to public and community service.
CPCS offers majors and concentrations in the following areas:
- Community Media and Technology
- Community Planning
- Community Studies
- Gerontology
- Human Services
- Labor Studies
- Legal Education
- Non-Profit Management Organizing
- Training and Development
- Youth Work