Living Learning Communities

Do you want to get the most out of your CBU experience? Do you want to participate in a Living Learning Community that aids in the learning you do in the classroom and helps you explore Memphis and life outside the classroom?

Designed for General Studies students or those whose majors do not pair with another LLC, the Freshman Experience LLC provides a broad exploration of personal and community identity through engagement with the CBU campus and Memphis to prepare you for involved citizenship and to help you find your place and voice on campus as you begin degree and career planning. In addition to living in an academically and socially supportive atmosphere, members of the Freshman Experience LLC will take ENG 111 or another General Education course taught by the Community’s Director together in the LLC classroom and have the opportunity to participate in many academic, service, and social activities, including trips to local festivals and events, film and book discussion groups, and explorations of Memphis. Moreover, students will live on the same floor and have opportunities to participate in informal study groups and take advantage of all the Living Learning Center has to offer.

When you graduate from Christian Brothers University, you will be asked to take the following Lasallian Graduation Pledge: “I pledge to explore and take into account the social justice and environmental consequences of any job I consider and will try to improve these aspects of any organization for which I work. I will further the Lasallian tradition by continuing to learn and by serving others to build better communities and a better society.” At its core, the pledge asks you to place the common interest over the private, environment over profit, community over self, and justice over inequity. The Freshman Experience LLC will help you begin your educational and personal journey as a college student, introduce you to CBU’s Lasallian tradition, and give you the opportunity to grow in mind, body, and spirit as a student and young adult.

For more information or details, please contact Dr. Karyna McGlynn at (901) 321-3351 or email kmcglynn@cbu.edu.

The Honors Living Learning Community is an opportunity for Honors Program students to take classes, participate in extracurricular activities and live with other Honors students. Most Honors Program freshmen take English 231 Honors World Literature together their first semester at CBU.

Research shows that a contributing factor to quality undergraduate education is the powerful residential life experience that can be created by living learning communities. In the Honors LLC, students will develop strong friendships with other Honors students while enjoying an academically, socially and culturally enriching living environment.

The community is open to qualified students of all majors who are members of the CBU Honors Program. For questions or details, call Connie Beck at (901) 321-3259 or email cbeck1@cbu.edu.

This community is composed of upperclassmen and freshman students majoring in the sciences or engineering. The hall is based on a learning community concept, where freshman students can participate in free tutor-facilitated study sessions for chemistry, calculus, precalculus and beginning physics courses.

Any freshman engineering or science major who plans to enroll in calculus and/or chemistry their first year is welcome to apply. Preference is given to engineering or science upperclassmen with a 3.0 GPA or better.

Students in this LLC also help choose fun, free extracurricular activities to do together like taking engineering tours of power facilities, design tours of the new Kroc Center, and salsa dancing in Downtown Memphis for the South Main Street Arts District’s Trolley Night.

For more info or details, call Dr. Jose Davila at (901) 321-3572 or email jdavila@cbu.edu.

The School of Business invites all CBU Business majors to join this Living Learning Community. The Business LLC is more than just a place to live, it is a community tailored to provide students opportunities to connect and socialize with other students in various activities relating to business and to help the students grow more comfortable in business situations.

The primary purpose of the Business LLC is to provide enhanced knowledge in all business areas including strategy development, promotions and integrated communications, branding, research, facility management, and leadership. Students will get the opportunity to participate in activities that will require they work together to succeed, watch production processes of local businesses, and interact with leaders from non-profit organizations.

This Learning Community provides tangible experiences and personal connections to further the overall mission of our School of Business, which states: The School of Business at CBU enacts the Lasallian mission of the University by providing our highly diverse student populations and the local business community with a learning environment that emphasizes teaching, practical scholarship, and moral, intellectual, and social development for each individual.

Business degree concentrations are available in Accounting, Management, Marketing, Finance, Sports Management, International Business, Management Information Systems, Hospitality & Tourism, and Banking.

For more information or details, please contact Professor Jenny Cowell at (901) 321-4259 or email jcowell@cbu.edu.

This interdisciplinary community is open to students of any major or class level with an interest in the environment, urban-community studies, or getting to know Memphis in new ways. Sustainability seeks to make communities more vibrant and just and government and businesses more efficient in a manner that helps protect the environment and our resources so that future generations can enjoy the same quality of life that we do.

Students in this Learning Community will engage with CBU’s Lasallian mission while meeting with business leaders, government officials, and community organizers who make sustainability a focus in their life’s work. All students in their first year of membership in this Learning Community (regardless of class level) will take the Fall semester gateway Introduction to Sustainability HUM 210 class (which can count as a Social Science General Education credit for most students). Freshman in this Learning Community also take together a specially-themed, reserved section of English 11 Composition with an “Understanding and Writing Place” theme that counts as a second class toward the Sustainability Minor Field for those students pursuing it.

Through the year students will participate in a number of program activities such as swamp canoeing, hiking and biking trips, local festivals, movies, farmers’ market picnics, and working with professionals in the growing Sustainability field.

Students who want to continue for a second year in this Learning Community may pursue the Sustainability Studies minor field, which can be attached to any major, or do a 3-credit Sustainability Internship or Community Service Project with local organizations such as the Federal Express Environmental Program Office, Memphis/Shelby County Government Office of Sustainability, Livable Memphis organization, Shelby Farms Conservancy, GrowMemphis, Caritas Village, or Lichterman Nature Center. They serve as mentors to new Learning Community members by continuing to participate in Sustainability program activities.

For more information or details, call Dr. Ben Jordan at (901) 321-4406 or email bjordan1@cbu.edu.