Facilitating experiential learning for students through special classes, co-ops, and research—advancing Drexel’s academic mission while contributing to the success of cultural nonprofit partners.
Experiential Classes
Interpretive Planning for Historic Sites & Museums—a Fall 2016 course offered by the Museum Leadership program in Westphal College of Media Arts & Design—introduced students to interpretive planning while helping Reading Terminal Market identify creative ways to celebrate its upcoming 125thanniversary. (Taught by Center Senior Fellow Page Talbott and Associate Melissa Clemmer.)
Event Planning for Nonprofits—offered by the Center for Hospitality & Sport Management this Spring, has 21 students enrolled to plan a full-scale event in partnership with International House of Philadelphia. (Taught by Paul O’Neill and Rosemary Trout.) “A Taste of Philly” will be free for the general public and offer food, music, and prizes, while highlighting IHP’s programs and services.
Hamilton’s Bank: An Applied History Course—offered by the History Department this Spring, with students from three colleges, is a seminar to assist the National Park Service in planning for the reopening of the the historic First Bank of the United States. (Taught by Center Director Rosalind Remer.)
Co-ops and Internships
The Center is supporting one full-time, paid winter/spring co-op to work at the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, to support digital media outreach.
A graduate practicum (Museum Leadership) in summer 2017 will enable a student to partner with the National Constitution Center to develop a special exhibition on women’s rights and suffrage.
Two to three paid summer internships to continue the National Park Service partnership will support the First Bank project.
Special Projects
In partnership with Drexel’s Division of Enrollment Management & Student Success and Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre, the Center sponsored a campus visit for almost 200 sophomores from Hallahan, Camelot, Freire Charter, Agora Charter, Olney, and Furness high schools. The students came to Drexel for a special performance of Hamlet, followed by an opportunity to talk with the actors.
Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre’s actors performed and talked with the highly engaged students, all of whom are reading or performing Hamlet in their classes. Following the presentation, students had lunch and toured Drexel. Future Dragons? We hope so!
The Center sponsored a special partnership between the Library Company of Philadelphia and Drexel’s College of Medicine Legacy Center Archives & Special Collections, to provide funds for a one-month research fellowship. The research fellow—a Ph.D. student at Emory University whose dissertation topic is “Fictional Illnesses: The Poetics of Diagnosis in America, 1785–1890”—will conduct research at both the Library Company and the Legacy Center.
Upcoming
- The Center for Cultural Partnerships is exploring potential partnerships across Philadelphia and is always happy to receive suggestions for new opportunities.
- We are currently assembling our advisory board.