Overview
Five centers of learning at Elizabethtown College – the Center for Global Understanding and Peacemaking, the Center for Community and Civic Engagement, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, the Teaching and Learning Design Studio, and the Bowers Writers House – add depth and uniqueness to our academic program and broaden the institution’s appeal to a wider audience.
The Center for Global Understanding and Peacemaking provides a variety of opportunities for our undergraduate and graduate students both in and out of the classroom, at home and abroad. The Center for Community and Civic Engagement creates civic engagement experiences to provide opportunities to more fully explore the meaning of our motto “Educate for Service” in today’s increasingly global society. The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning is a resource center and educational forum for developing new modes of learning for our students. The Young Center provides our students with internship and capstone project opportunities, as well as through the speakers it hosts, the resources it brings to our classrooms, and the lectures it offers on our campus. The Bowers Writers House is an interdisciplinary venue for presentation, performance, expression and study.
Center for Global Understanding and Peacemaking
The Center for Global Understanding and Peacemaking advances curricular and co-curricular programs to enhance global understanding and non-violent conflict transformation. The Center also brings together two interdisciplinary programs, International Studies and Asian Studies and is the home of the Ware Colloquium for Global Citizenship and Peacemaking, an endowed program that includes the Ware Lecture on Peacemaking and the Ware Seminars on Global Citizenship.
The Center creates opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to develop into global citizens who are knowledgeable about global issues, empathetic towards people of other cultures and nationalities, and committed to the values of peace, human dignity, and social justice.
The College’s approach to global citizenship is distinctive, owing to our particular mission and heritage. In keeping with the Brethren faith of our founders, Elizabethtown’s mission declares that “the College affirms the values of peace, nonviolence, human dignity, and social justice and seeks to make those values manifest in the global community,” consistent with our motto to “Educate for Service.” The Center’s mission affirms the values of the College and frames international engagement as a commitment to peace, service, and cultural understanding.
Every year, the Center organizes a variety of trips, activities, lectures, and events to enable students to more fully explore the practice of and their commitment to peace. The Center’s Ambassador-in-Residence manages external and international partnerships. Since spring 2007, the Ware Lecture on Peacemaking has brought world leaders, including several Nobel Laureates, to campus to engage students, faculty, and staff on issues of global peace and justice.
For more information, please visit the Center for Global Understanding and Peacemaking website at www.etown.edu/centers/global.
Center for Community and Civic Engagement
Educate for Service. Engage with Purpose.
Our Mission
The Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) strengthens Elizabethtown College’s commitment to learning through service by connecting education with meaningful action. Through hands-on experiences, reciprocal partnerships, and real-world learning, the CCCE fosters collaborative opportunities that create positive change—on campus, in the community, and beyond.
Ways to Engage with the CCCE:
- Community-Based Learning
Collaborate with local organizations through academic courses that integrate classroom knowledge with real-world problem-solving and community impact.
- Community Service Work Study
Students eligible for Federal Work Study can participate in paid service with local nonprofits—gaining valuable career experience while addressing community-identified needs.
- Monthly Service Trips
Participate in half-day volunteer experiences with local partners—transportation provided—focused on supporting community priorities and building reciprocal relationships.
- Fall & Spring Break Service Trips
Travel with a team to serve communities beyond the local area while building leadership skills, expanding perspectives, and engaging in shared, immersive service.
- Campus-Wide Service Events
Join the Etown community for signature events like Into the Streets and Spring Day of Service, bringing together students, faculty, staff, and partners for collective action.
- Civic Engagement & Voter Education
Access resources to stay informed, register to vote, and participate fully in civic life—locally and nationally.
- Bonner Leader Program
A four-year, paid leadership program for students committed to sustained service, social justice, mentorship, and creating long-term community change.
For more information, please visit the Center for Community and Civic Engagement website at www.etown.edu/community.
Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies
The Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies is an internationally recognized scholarly institute that fosters the research and interpretation of Anabaptist and Pietist groups and connects the college to an international network of scholars. Integral to the academic life of Elizabethtown College, the Young Center’s faculty members teach undergraduate courses and conduct research on the life, culture, and beliefs of Anabaptists and Pietists, primarily in the North American context. Interpretive programs open to the public include evening lectures and seminars during the academic year, exhibits, and occasional summer conferences.
Located on Elizabethtown College’s Lake Placida, the Young Center is named for Dr. Galen S Young, D.O., and Jessie M. Young and includes the Bucher Meetinghouse, named for long-time college trustee Rufus P. Bucher, and the Bowers Interpretive Gallery, named for Kenneth Bowers and Rosalie Erb Bowers. The Young Center holds a unique collection of Amish-related publications and a small, rare book collection that is housed in Hess Archives with the High Library.
The Young Center brings visiting scholars to campus for a semester of research and writing through the Snowden Fellowship and the Kreider Fellowship. Doctoral fellowships are also available for doctoral students who are researching or writing about topics related to Anabaptism and Pietism. Fellows come to the Young Center from diverse disciplinary backgrounds from across the nation and around the world.
The Young Center works with Johns Hopkins University Press to publish Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, a book series for which Senior Scholar Steven M. Nolt serves as editor. The Center also partners with Ohio State University Libraries to publish the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities.
Each year the Center presents the Dale Brown Book Award for the book designated by a panel of independent judges as the best new book in Anabaptist or Pietist studies. The Center also sponsors the annual Durnbaugh Lectures, which feature a distinguished scholar who advances Anabaptist and Pietist studies.
For more information, please call (717) 361-1470 or visit the Young Center website at www.etown.edu/centers/young-center.
Teaching and Learning Design Studio
The Elizabethtown College Teaching and Learning Design Studio, located in Nicarry 114, promotes and supports a relationship- and learner-centered culture of instruction, guidance, and scholarship, with focus on evidence-based pedagogies from the scholarship of teaching and learning that foster student academic engagement, advance the College’s mission, and cultivate innovative teaching. Its core functions are: promoting a campus-wide mindset of innovation, growth, and pedagogical inquiry; championing interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration and diversity in all its dimensions across curricular and co-curricular activities; diversifying the College’s modality of teaching and learning through use of leading-edge technology and course redesign; and creating and promoting new technological assets, providing necessary training, and assisting faculty with the creation of blended, online, and adaptable courses and curricula that are suitable for an ever-changing world. The Studio supports the integrated professional development of faculty, staff, and students by providing opportunities and resources applicable to all stages of the career trajectory. The Studio recognizes and celebrates teaching successes; promotes the sharing of best practices in pedagogy; conducts workshops; offers individual and programmatic consulting; and supports the activities of College Schools, Centers, and Programs. The Studio also houses a library of teaching and learning resources.
For more information, please email studio@etown.edu.
Bowers Writers House
Because written communication – whether it be fiction, poetry, drama, essay, or nonfiction – colors the way people visualize the world, each academic program at Elizabethtown College relies on effective writing to inform, educate, enlighten, and entertain. Our college has a firm commitment to fostering effective writing and encouraging intellectual dialogue that crosses academic boundaries. Illustrative of this commitment is Elizabethtown College’s creation of Bowers Writers House, designed to provide thought-provoking opportunities for the faculty, staff, and students from our 40+ majors as well as members of the Lancaster County community.
Since 2010, Bowers Writers House has offered an interdisciplinary variety of programming, involving scholars from all genres of study. In these eleven years, we’ve hosted over 280 historians, mathematicians, musicians, genetic scientists, linguists, poets, actors, playwrights, and national and international activists and humanists. And in those years of activity, Bowers Writers House has seen over 320 events and over 2,000 visitors. We look forward to contributing to the on and off-campus communities of Elizabethtown College for years to come, including a variety of summer programming for 7-11, and 14-17 year-olds. Bowers Writers House is where “creativity meets curiosity”!
For more information, please call (717) 689-3945 or visit the Bowers Writers House website at www.etown.edu/centers/writershouse.
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