applied sustainability students at a local farmers market

Studio Courses

Our four years of integrated Social Innovation Studio Courses are designed to help you make connections, challenge your perspectives, and apply your learning while doing hands-on work to benefit the community.

The Social Innovation Studio Courses make it possible for you to have an impact in the local community as part of your coursework. Throughout these courses, you’ll cultivate the ability to see multiple perspectives, examine your assumptions of others, make connections between the classroom and field experiences, and apply what you’ve learned to new, complex situations.

These courses are woven into your time at Champlain as a part of a four-year, innovative Capstone experience. Starting on day one, you’ll be focused on integrated thinking and learning as you are welcomed as a member of our community.

Social Innovation Curriculum

Major Area of Study Social Innovation Studio Champlain Core Complementary Focus
Primary curriculum includes discipline-specific content, skills, and methods Learning by doing: Suite of inquiry-based experiential learning opportunities, collaborative projects, internships, etc.

  • Project Design
  • Contemporary Social Challenges
  • Digital Technology & Interactive Media
  • Social Change Leadership
  • Micro-Internships
  • Internships
  • Study Abroad Internship
  • Community Challenge Capstone
 Champlain’s interdisciplinary curriculum to build skills, methods, context, and theory Focused content includes minors, threads, and for certain programs, a concentration

  • Research Projects
  • Center for Community and Social Justice Fellowships
  • Neuropsychology Lab
  • a student volunteer pours coffee while chatting with the community
    Year One: Making Connections
    • EHS 100: Making Connections
      This one credit, pass/fail project-based course is focused on integrating classroom concepts and real world problems. Student teams work with a community partner on a pressing concern. Our small, seminar-style classes allow you to interact with students from different majors within the School of Social Innovation, encouraging you to meet your peers and learn from their perspectives.

    A previous project in EHS 100 was a Fair Trade Cocoa Campaign on Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace; students collaborated with the Peace & Justice Center in Burlington to raise awareness about Fair Trade policies, politics, and human exploitation in developing nations where Fair Trade policies are not observed.

  • students uses a bullhorn; reads from notes
    Years Two & Three: Experience-based courses

    During your sophomore and junior years, you’ll take courses designed to give you hands on experience, including project-focused, internship, and study abroad courses.

    Recent Year Two and Year Three projects include:

    • A flood response comparison two Vermont cities: Barre & Montpelier
    • A Neuropsychology research study of how various scents affect the brain and emotion
    • A partnership with Step Out VT, a non-profit aiming to help formerly incarcerated women by providing them with life skills through entrepreneurial training and resources a project
    • A community needs assessment for LGBTQ+ older adults in collaboration with area Senior Centers
    • A Public Education campaign to raise awareness of Human Trafficking, in partnership with Red Sands Project & Give Way to Freedom.
  • student wrapping saplings
    Year Four: College Capstone

    Each previous SoSI Studio Course builds up to your Capstone class, which helps you navigate the transition from student to professional.

    • EHS 410: The College Capstone
      Your senior Capstone class includes a field-based, hands-on project in which you articulate critical questions and possible solutions to a challenge that professionals in your field face. The Capstone is a personalized opportunity for you to celebrate the cumulative contributions of your time at Champlain and bring that work forward into your career.