Shalom Staub named director of UCLA Center for Community Learning

Following a national search, Shalom Staub has been selected as director of the UCLA Center for Community Learning, effective September 1.

In an announcement to Undergraduate Education, Dean and Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education Patricia Turner said that Staub will “engage undergraduates, faculty, administrative colleagues, and community partners to expand and enrich community-engaged learning, internships, and other community-based curricula, integrating the teaching, research, and service interests of faculty with the needs and priorities of community partners.

Prior to UCLA, Staub served as Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and Civic Engagement at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he spearheaded the college’s community engagement initiatives across multiple divisions and coordinated the college’s broader civic learning and community engagement programs. While at Dickinson, Staub was also a contributing faculty member to the departments of Sociology, Religion, Judaic Studies, Middle East Studies, and Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. An accomplished mediator, he also led Dickinson’s Conflict Resolution Resource Services.

Staub also brings valuable experience from the government and non-profit sectors. He served as executive director of the Pennsylvania Heritage Affairs Commission, and later founded the Institute for Cultural Partnerships, a non-profit organization that did innovative work connecting cultural traditions with community development, working with both refugee and new immigrant populations as well as long-established communities.

“I am honored to lead the Center for Community Learning into its next chapter,” Staub said. “I am excited to work with campus colleagues, students and community members in order to strengthen partnerships through which UCLA can fulfill its civic mission. I particularly look forward to building opportunities for students to connect their passion for community service with engaging curriculum and collaborative work with community partners to support positive social change.”

Staub holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in anthropology from Wesleyan University and a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. His training as an ethnographic researcher has grounded his work across a diverse range of institutional and community contexts. Most recently, Staub’s research has focused on the design of civic and community engagement pedagogies in undergraduate education.

“Civic engagement is a central element of UCLA’s Centennial vision,” Turner said. “We look forward to Dr. Staub’s vision and leadership in positioning civic engagement as a cornerstone to undergraduate education at UCLA in the years to come.”