Santa Clara University

Philip Boo Riley
Local Religion Project
LRP: Community-based Religious Studies
May 1, 2006

Immigration, innovation, and globalization make Silicon Valley an ideal lab for the study of contemporary religion. This project has four goals related to learning how to use this lab: to engage Santa Clara’s Religious Studies Department’s teaching scholars from different specializations in sustained and creative collaboration to develop the department’s new initiative, the Local Religion Project; to create innovative model courses and pedagogies that engage students in community-based learning with local congregations and organizations; to create undergraduate research and internship programs to foster greater civic engagement among undergraduates students majoring in religious studies; and to develop resources and models for community-based learning and research on Silicon Valley’s religious landscape. These goals will be realized through an intensive faculty seminar that draws on consultants, colleagues, and research to develop innovative courses, integrated education campus programs in partnership with community leaders, web resources to support studies of religion in the Valley, and a conference and publication on community-based studies of local religion.

• To develop an initiative the religious studies department at Santa Clara University began in 2003 to support teaching and research on Silicon Valley’s rich religious landscape, the Local Religion Project (LRP).
• Engage faculty in the religious studies department in the systematic development of LRP as a resource for student learning
• Create model courses in which the multifaceted community-based learning possible through LRP informs both pedagogy and curriculum.
• Create community-based research opportunities that increase civic awareness and engagement among undergraduate students majoring in religious studies.
  

• Click to view the full proposal as a PDF.