Community Engagement Opportunities for Faculty

Faculty are at the heart of our commitment to civic and institutional responsibility.

The UCEC

Led by Montclair faculty, and composed of both faculty and staff, the University Community Engagement Council works to ensure the university's community engagement iis purposeful, connected, and enduring. 

The council keeps community engagement tied directly to the university's mission of teaching, research, and scholarship,  so that both the university and the community genuinely benefit.

CETL Fellowships

Consider becoming a Montclair Community-Engagement Teaching and Leadership Fellow.

The CETL fellowship offers faculty a two-year professional development program that deepens your practice in community-engaged teaching, research, and scholarship. Montclair University’s Office of Community Engagement and Partnerships administers the program, which is funded by the Leshowitz Urban Initiative Fund. As part of our commitment to civic and institutional responsibility, the CETL Fellows Program is one of the reasons why Montclair State has earned the designation as a Carnegie Foundation Community-Engaged Campus.

What You'll Gain

As a fellow, you'll work alongside fellow faculty, community partners, and program alumni to build meaningful, lasting connections between the University and the communities we serve.Over two years, you'll develop expertise in:

• Community-engaged pedagogy, including service-learning

• Community-based and participatory action research

• Partnership-building that strengthens civic and community infrastructure

How It Works

Year 1: Supported by a second-year fellow, you’ll learn core concepts, connect with a community partner, and develop an IRB-approved project in teaching, research, or applied work.

Year 2: Implement and complete your course curriculum or research project while mentoring an incoming first-year fellow. Finish by submitting a conceptual paper or article to a conference or journal. You might also create or revise a community-engaged course, designed in collaboration with community partners.

Fellows receive a $1,100 per annum stipend. Throughout their fellowship, cohorts meet monthly as a full group and regularly in pairs or small groups, with collaboration supported through Canvas.

You can read about current CETL fellows and past participants (pdf) to get a sense of the work that others have done in the program. 

Who Can Apply?

To qualify for admission to the CETL Fellows Program, you should be a full-time or fractional member of Montclair State University’s faculty or staff who has a regular (and predictably longitudinal) role in course instruction, research and/or applied community-based project-work.

Ready to deepen your community-engaged practice? Start by completing an initial application.

Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning Fellows

 Academic Years 2023 – 2025

Dr. Teresa Fiore
Full Professor of Italian and Inserra Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies
Department of World Languages and Literatures
Email: fiorete@montclair.edu
 

Teresa Fiore is the Inserra Endowed Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies at Montclair State University (Department of World Languages and Literatures). She is the author of the pluri-awarded book Pre-Occupied Spaces: Remapping Italy’s Transnational Migrations and Colonial Legacies (Fordham UP, 2017) and of numerous articles on migration to/from Italy and (post-)colonialism linked to 20th- and 21st-century Italian literature, theater, music, art, and cinema that have appeared in Italian, English, and Spanish both in journals and edited collections, as well as museum catalogs. The recipient of several fellowships (De Bosis, Rockefeller, Fulbright, NEH), she has held Visiting positions at Harvard, Yale, NYU, and Rutgers University. Fiore directs a program of interdisciplinary events about Italian culture in a transnational perspective that has forged numerous collaborations on and off campus. With institutional partners, non-profit organizations, and community centers, the program has fostered humanities-based debates and educational initiatives of broad impact over a decade (montclair.edu/inserra-chair). She is collaborating with a nascent community-based museum in Sicily focused on the 1943 Landing of the Allies and also developing a teaching and research agenda on the topic of adoption with the plan of partnering with foster care associations to provide concrete forms of engagement for the students.

Dr. Yasir S. Ibrahim
Associate Professor
Department of Religion
Office Location: 449 Dickson Hall
Email: ibrahimy@montclair.edu
 

Dr. Yasir S. Ibrahim, Associate Professor, received a PhD in Religious Studies from Princeton University in 2004. His research interests include the study of modern religious reform, Islamic ethics and legal theory, and the comparative study of religion, especially views on war and peace in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He teaches courses such as Islamic Religious Traditions, Jihad, Just War and the Prospect of Peace, Religions of the World, and Religion and Culture. His publications include articles in the peer-reviewed Journal of the Middle East and Africa, The Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies, and The Journal of Ecumenical Studies. 
As a CETL Fellow, Dr. Ibrahim is developing partnerships with community organizations in order to provide opportunities for students to conduct community-engagement projects as part of their class activities.

Esperanza Brizuela-Garcia
Associate Professor of History
Department of History
Office Location: Dickson Hall 423
Email: brizuelagare@montclair.edu
 

Dr. Brizuela-Garcia was born in Mexico City, Mexico. She received her undergraduate degree in History from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She graduated with an MA in Area Studies (Africa) and a Ph.D. in History from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Her research interests include historiography, Philosophy of History and intellectual history of Africa. She teaches courses in African history, historical methodology, history of science, digital and public history. She co-authored the book African Histories: New Sources and New Techniqes for Studying African Pasts (Pearson, 2011). Her current projects include an investigation of the contribution of Ghanaian nineteenth century thinkers to the intellectuals currents of the Black Atlantic, and the evolution of constitutionalism in Ghana during the colonial period.

Michael Allen
Adjunct Faculty, Anthropology
Email: allenmic@montclair.edu
 

Michael Allen is adjunct faculty in the Anthropology Department and MSU’s Red Hawks Rising: Dual Enrollment Program. He teaches courses in anthropology and urban humanities. He completed Ph.D. coursework and field research at Rutgers University where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. In July 2023, he was a resident in the New York Public Library Center for Educators and Schools Summer Residency. His interests include memory, trauma, and commemoration, post-war reconstruction, politics and aesthetics, and political economy and the builtenvironment. He is an enrolled tribal citizen of the Cherokee Nation (Oklahoma).

Dr. Tina Huesing
Adjunct Professor
Department of Management
Office Location: Feliciano School of Business, Room 510
Email: huesingb@montclair.edu
 

Tina Huesing is an Adjunct Professor in the Management Department of the Feliciano School of Business. She earned her PhD in Values-Driven Leadership at Benedictine University in Illinois. Her research is mainly focused on global leadership and leadership for sustainability. Her research and teaching are based on positive organizational scholarship and her work experience in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and New Zealand. In all contexts she experienced business as a force for good, creating positive impact in the community in which it operates and beyond. Enlightened businesses drive projects that help the world achieve its Sustainable Development Goals and work on restoring the environment. Dr. Huesing is integrating community-engaged learning in her class on business ethics and social impact. Students learn to better understand the important role business has in a community, and community partners use the students’ insights to improve the services they offer.