LYCOMING COLLEGE SUMMER MAGAZINE 2023

Most importantly for me, this role aligns with the community centered approach that I emphasize

Directing the Office of Community Based Learning Caroline Payne, Ph.D., is associate professor and chair of political science at Lycoming College. She also serves as director of the Interdisciplinary Dominican Republic Program and associated Warrior Coffee Project, which provide opportunities for Lycoming students to gain valuable field experience in the Dominican Republic through participation in meaningful, long-term service-learning projects that help solve real-world community problems. In 2022, Payne assumed the additional role of director of the Office of Community Based Learning, where she brings her enthusiasm and breadth of knowledge for the same community-centered, needs-based approach that she’s successfully developed through her extensive work in the Dominican Republic. “Most importantly for me, this role aligns with the community-centered approach that I emphasize, speak about (TEDx), and publish on in academic and educational press outlets,” said Payne. “Developing an office with the CEAE to support CBL is an important academic strategy of the 2021 Strategic Plan, and Dr. Payne has worked for nearly a decade to champion a sustainable and reciprocal model of community development within the Warrior Coffee Project and the Interdisciplinary Dominican Republic Program,” said Susan M. Ross, Ph.D., dean of the College. “In bringing together an interdisciplinary team of Lycoming faculty and their student collaborators, Dominican community stakeholders, and members of the Williamsport retail community — including Alabaster Coffee Roaster & Tea Company and the Wegmans Williamsport grocery store — Dr. Payne has directly applied her theory of community-centered CBL (which she has outlined in her contributions to the Journal of Political Science Education and the TEDx program). We are pleased to have her applying her theory as both a CBL educator within her own coursework and as an institutional capacity builder with the CEAE.”

During a trip to the Dominican Republic in May

2023, Payne met with a women’s group about starting a women’s entrepreneurship project. (seated L to R) Rei Saar ’25, Sanjeeta Choun ’24, Payne, and Brittney Gross ’18

“CBL has long been an educational cornerstone for several Lycoming faculty, especially within the education and social sciences programs, and we are delighted to have Dr. Payne working to build capacity for both faculty engagement and Williamsport community partnership incorporation of this powerful pedagogical tool,” continued Ross.

Learn more about the Office of Community Based Learning at www.lycoming.edu/community-based-learning.

16 LYCOMING COLLEGE 2023 SUMMER MAGAZINE