Outside the Classroom

CAL Community Lab

The Program in Culture, Advocacy, & Leadership is dedicated to bridging what students learn in the classroom with what happens in the larger community—whether that community is in Nashville, elsewhere in the nation, or anywhere across the world. We do this by teaching students intentional, ethical, and purposeful community engagement, where leadership and advocacy are developed through partnerships based on service, mutual respect, and shared authority.

Our students work on a variety of practicum projects in conjunction with community partners dealing with a range of issues, including:

• Law and justice
• Sports and culture
• International relations and human rights
• Conflict and peace
• Global migrations and diaspora
• Entrepreneurial leadership and economic justice
• Popular culture and American values
• Environmental legacies and global solutions

…and many more.

You can see examples of how students integrate those areas with their CAL major here.

Coffee Equity Lab

The Coffee Equity Lab (CEL) empowers students to identify problems and create solutions toward a more sustainable future for all coffee actors by facilitating lectures, mentorship, competitions, and other educational/professional opportunities. 

Programming includes the Coffee Equity Design Challenge, an immersive learning and pitch competition in which students collaborate with industry partners to propose initiatives advancing justice and sustainability in the supply chain. Winning pitches have the potential to be developed in an industry setting where they can contribute to professional efforts in Nashville and beyond.

For additional information, contact Conley Ku.