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This current study presents a unique approach to the examination of Hispanic film through the incorporation of a civic engagement project, the Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project (MSPP), into the curriculum. Students examined and assessed important global issues, and how they are portrayed in films from several Spanish-speaking countries, while simultaneously investigating nonprofits that address these same needs in the local community. At the end, through a class vote, students chose two nonprofits and awarded each with a $1,000 grant. The inclusion of the MSPP in the Hispanic film course offered students a shared experience and a chance to engage in a discussion of how fiction film can reflect, if not improve, their understanding of real world challenges. Qualitative survey results from students enrolled in the class reveal that combining film with community engagement not only improved their understanding of Hispanic cinema, but also empowered them to be more civic-minded and engaged as advocates of international social concerns in the area in which they live.

High impact educational practices are active learning strategies that benefit learning outcomes, increase student engagement, and support student retention. This study examines the retention and persistence impact of student philanthropy, an active learning approach that engages students with the community by incorporating a philanthropy component into college courses. Results from this study demonstrate that students who participated in one or more student philanthropy courses had a substantially higher four-year graduation rate in comparison to students overall. Participants also exhibited a greater number of completed credit hours compared to the general university population and a higher semester-to-semester retention rate. This affirms the value of student philanthropy as a High Impact Teaching Practice (HITP) that actively engages students inside and outside of the classroom, around the university campus, and in the community.

While the atrocities of the Holocaust have been well documented, this catastrophic event has been commonly studied through the lens of a single discipline. In a course co-taught by German and Spanish professors in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the liberation of WWII concentration camps, advanced students of German and Spanish at Northern Kentucky University engaged with this topic by analyzing, comparing, and contrasting the German-Dutch (Anne Frank) and Spanish-French (Jorge Semprún) experience. To deepen students’ cross-collaboration, the two classes engaged in a philanthropy project called the Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project. The class received a $2,000 grant, researched and advocated for local nonprofits that addressed topics related to the Holocaust, and collectively decided on the final grant recipient. This article discusses the course structure, objectives, and outcomes of a transdisciplinary approach to literature, along with student feedback about the experience.

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