Bridgewater College Center for Engaged Learning to open Oct. 14

Bridgewater College will officially open its new Center for Engaged Learning with a reception on Oct. 14.

The Center for Engaged Learning, located at Third and East Broad streets, unites three important institutional initiatives at Bridgewater – the Zane D. Showker Institute for Responsible Leadership, the Kline-Bowman Institute for Creative Peacebuilding and the new Institute for Teaching and Learning. In addition, several existing programs under the office of academic affairs, including the Foundations in Liberal Arts (FILA) general education program, the Center for Cultural Engagement, study abroad, endowed lectures and convocations and the Flory Honors Program will also find a home in the Center for Engaged Learning.

“The mission of the center is to initiate, facilitate and promote the integration of classroom learning and student engagement,” said Dr. Jamie Frueh, a professor of history and political science and director of the new center. “Student engagement is defined by enthusiastic, creative participation in practices that apply knowledge and skills to challenges outside the classroom. The center will organize existing and new programs to build a culture of responsibility to – and active participation in – local and global communities.”

Frueh said the center will also cultivate a vibrant academic environment that is characterized by members who “embrace active lifelong curiosity, peaceful problem solving and the responsibilities of leadership.” He said the center will work to build new norms of engagement by “creating more opportunities for students to experience and appreciate the joys of a liberal arts education.”

Frueh said the center brings together core academic curriculum and extra-curricular programs that enhance and intensify the academic experience.

Bridgewater has named the following individuals as directors who will report to Frueh:

Anne Marsh, coordinator for the Center for Engaged Learning and director of Study Abroad; Dr. Robert Andersen, director of the Kline-Bowman Institute for Creative Peacebuilding; Dr. Randall Young, director of the Zane D. Showker Institute for Responsible Leadership; Dr. James Josefson, director of the Institute for Teaching and Learning; Dr. Brandon Marsh, director of the Flory Honors Program; Dr. Stanley Galloway, director of convocations; and Joanne Harris-Duff, director of the Center for Cultural Engagement.

Bridgewater College is a private, four-year liberal arts college located in the Central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Founded in 1880, it was the state’s first private, coeducational college. Today, Bridgewater College is home to more than 1,800 undergraduate students.