Recent Projects Showcase
College Going Culture
Writing Partners
Middle school students and university service learners enrolled in an online Sociology class exchanged a total of 6 letters throughout the semester and eventually met after being pen pals since the beginning of the school year in a program highlighted in a May 22, 2014 blog post.
Engineering in Action
Over the fall semester, unversity engineering students worked in collaborative teams with high school students to teach concepts of aviation for Teacher for a Day, such as how to read coordinates. The students also visited 6 different elementary schools to teaching different engineering topics.
Geology Rocks!
Geology Rocks! brings fun and creative activities to 3rd through 5th graders at local elementary schools near San José State. CommUniverCity and geology professor LeAnne Teruya work together to bring this project to an after school program called Think Together at Horace Mann Elementary School and Lowell Elementary School.
Community Planning & Engagement
La Avenida Community Streetscape
CommUniverCity is working with the Alum Rock East Santa Clara Business Association on a Fall 2025 semester project led by Professor Gordon Douglas and his course in Urban Design in Planning (URBP 231). Professor Douglas’s projects will include stakeholder analysis and community outreach, which includes site visits and analysis.
Community Leadership Program
A Spanish 8-session program for neighborhood leaders focused on collaboration, communication, and project-specific challenges and opportunities was highlighted in a blog post from February 15, 2016, which referenced Margaret Mead´s quote about the power of small groups to change the world.
Community Planning
This edition of Community Planning project (Spring 2022) is the GUADALUPE RIVER PARK USER SURVEY. URBP Master’s students will spend 2 months surveying the Guadalupe River Park users and will present findings to the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy.
Years ago, CommUniverCity took a somewhat unusual direction for a university-community partnership based on service-learning, shifting the center of gravity for evaluating impact from the academic to the community side.
Record Clearance Project
A total of 8 million California residents have criminal convictions on their record, hindering their ability to find work or housing. Through the Record Clearance Project, San José State University students aid in clearing felony and misdemeanors records.
Growing Sustainability
Garden Club & Garden Education
University students lead garden education workshops going over plant life cycles, food webs, pollination, human impacts on the environment, and how to care for plants. After school, children participate in composting, planting seeds, harvesting produce and reap the benefits of all their hard work.
Environmental Education
Environmental Education-Workshops for children that help them learn about the local environment and complement their science, math, and literacy skills. The creation of this program is aimed at improving environmental literacy of elementary students in CUC service area schools.