Community Engagement, Minor

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The Minor in Community Engagement is an interdisciplinary program designed to provide students with the skills and creativity to solve problems in their own communities, and to develop students' own sense of self collective efficacy. The Community Engagement program allows students to build their civic agency, their interpersonal, leadership and advocacy skills, as well as their academic skills in critical analysis, appreciation for diversity, and an enhanced understanding of community issues and challenges. The program is ideal for students who seek academic and hands-on opportunities to make a measurable difference in improving the quality of life for citizens in the community and region.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Demonstrate an appreciation for diversity
2. Demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively
3. Demonstrate an enhanced understanding of community issues and challenges
4. Demonstrate the ability and confidence to take initiative to become involved citizens
5. Understand knowledge relating to community engagement principles
6. Demonstrate an ability to critically analyze problems occurring within society

**Spring 2026 – New Course**

Italy's Financial Influence: A Journey through Culture, Society, and History

Experience the beauty of Italy in spring while exploring the roots of modern business in this immersive, three-credit study abroad course. Journey through Rome and Florence indulging in world-famous cuisine—pizza, pasta, espresso, and gelato—while tracing the footsteps of Luca Pacioli, the “Father of Accounting.” In 1494, Pacioli documented the Venetian system of recording business transactions, laying the foundation for today’s global business practices.

This course blends cultural exploration with academic insight, examining the evolution of economic transactions from the Renaissance to the present. Visits to iconic landmarks may include the Colosseum, Vatican, Michelangelo’s David, and the Bank of Italy. Learn about the connections between Pacioli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo, and how their era shaped the business world.

Rome and Florence serve as your “home away from home” while you stroll the Tiber and Arno Rivers, climb the Spanish Steps, toss a coin in Trevi Fountain, and explore the Ponte Vecchio. You also window shop the high fashion windows of Florence as you take in other iconic and cultural sights to round out your historical journey.

The course includes opportunities for historical immersion, community service, and countryside excursions. Join us for an unforgettable journey that combines global travel, cultural immersion, and the fascinating history of modern business practices. Learn, explore, and grow as a global citizen.  

Open to multiple majors and fulfilling Central’s international education requirement, this course may count as an accounting elective. Scholarships may be available through multiple sources. 

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate the differences and similarities of business and accounting practices between the United States and Italy;
• Articulate the historical development of accounting standards;
• Compare the differences in educational and licensing requirements among public accountants in Italy and the United States;
• Explain how accounting thought was developed and disseminated from Roman recordkeeping to the origins of double entry bookkeeping first in Italy as practiced by the merchants of the time;
• Demonstrate competency in Excel, oral, and written communication

Courses

• CEN 300- Global Community Engagement
• IS 300 - Global Community Engagement
• Accounting students may have a course substitution (AC 390) approved.
• Prerequisite AC 211 and/ or permission of instructor

Program Directors

Prof. Cheryl Crespi
Accounting
860.832.3239
Crespi@ccsu.edu

Prof. Michelle Kusaila
Accounting
860.832.3251
Mkusaila@ccsu.edu

More information can be found in the Study Abroad Catalogue