As a first-year master’s student at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Anamay Viswanathan, MS ’25, wanted to understand why some New York State farmers were adopting methods of regenerative agriculture while others were more resistant. So he did what any aspiring social science researcher would do: he interviewed them.
“I thought of the farmers as clients, and I treated the interactions as data-gathering exercises,” he recalled. “In hindsight, I realize that this was a great community-building opportunity. My research is about more than just the data the farmers are providing me. It’s about creating a partnership with those people.”
Viswanathan’s realization came courtesy of a six-week pilot course in community-engaged learning that he and 11 other Cornell SC Johnson College of Business graduate students completed in April. It was the first course at the College explicitly designed to train MA and PhD students in the principles of community-engaged learning and in methods for teaching those principles to others. Topics ranged from critical reflection and cultural humility to philosophies of teaching and learning.
Amy Somchanhmavong, associate director of global community-engaged learning programs at the Einhorn Center for Community Engagement co-designed and taught the program.