Community Engagement and Public Service Activities

Students in ACC 3110 voltunteer to prepare income tax filing documents for low income community members primilary in the greater Denver area. Additionally, some remote assistance is provided for rural communities. This course is only offered in the spring semester.

*Currently suspended due to COVID-19

Student athletes read in both English and Spanish to kids from kindergarden to second grade. Access to classrooms, both in person and digital, is provided by zoom. The event is promoted by Denver Public Library with the goal of encouraging reading to young children, making reading fun and exposing young childreen to reading and imagination.

MSU Denver encourages students and community members to become informed and active voters. MSU Denver provides support and education in the registration process, ballot initiatives, voting location and understanding results. This happens at various events and locations throughout the year on a regular basis.

A Creative Collaboration between Access Gallery Artists and Metropolitan State University of Denver Communication Design Students

In Fall 2020, 12 students in the Community-Based Design service-learning course at MSU Denver collaborated in a creative exchange with four Access Gallery artists with the goal of creating campaigns—a series of communication pieces that seek to educate and inform the public by celebrating the creativity of people with disabilities. Through shared discussion about contemporary disability and civil rights issues, Access Gallery artists identified topics that were important to them and their art- and design-making practice. Over the course of several weeks, Access Gallery artists made artwork that responded to their selected topic(s). At the same time artists and students were participating in discussions that informed approaches to campaign messaging, presentation, and design. Students were responsible for facilitating a systems approach to campaign deliverables that included branded messaging applied to various formats including posters, billboards, bus shelters, and public space communications, stickers, yard signs, and social media. As part of this course’s service-learning designation, students are to “interpret and communicate the learning experience to a wider forum and disseminate information to audiences beyond the classroom.” This exhibition at Access Gallery provides that opportunity. Community-Based Design students and faculty are thankful for the creative exchange and knowledge-sharing with Access Gallery artists and staff over several weeks of working together.

A gala benefiting We Don't Waste, a food rescue organization. This is an annual event occuring in every September. This is the major fundraiser of the year for this nonprofit organization. Our students perform a variety of tasks including food preparation, cooking, serving, cleaning and event management. 

Students from the Skills and Methods of Teaching Dance Technique course engaged in a collaborative Service Learning Project in partnership with Girls Athletic Leadership Schools (GALS) of Denver and the Center for Visual Art, MSU Denver. This project culminated in students teaching a series of classes in jazz, hip hop, tap, contemporary, and modern dance for GALS students in connection with a visual art project. Students in this course were also placed at dance studios across the Denver Metro area to work with instructors in observing and assisting with their dance classes.