Bernardo Solano Recipient of Excellence Award
Combining Classroom and Community:
Professor Bernardo Solano Winner of the
2009 Faculty Award for Excellence in Community Engagement
by Christina Gonzales Salgado
Center for Community Service-Learning
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- Solano taking a break
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- Solano getting his picture taken
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- Solano (right)
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- Solano working
Each year, the Center for Community Service-Learning recognizes and honors one Cal Poly Pomona faculty for contributing to the integration of community service-learning into the curriculum, for developing meaningful interactive civic engagement opportunities, and for his/her efforts to institutionalize community service-learning at Cal Poly Pomona. This year, Professor Bernardo Solano of the Theatre department has been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Faculty Award for Excellence in Community Engagement.
Professor Solano has sustained a six-year partnership with the Pomona Unified School District through his Pomona Peer Theatre program. He has had a lasting impact on both the youth of Pomona and the students of the Cal Poly Pomona campus. This program is a three-quarter course sequence that creates the opportunity for CPP students and Pomona high school students to co-create plays that deal with secondary school student issues. Professor Solano meets with both groups twice a week, providing guidance on acting, directing and story development. Professor Solano has formalized this partnership through the creation of the TH 425 Community Based Theatre course. Students enrolled in his class are connected to various community organizations and create performances based on their experiences. Solano also spearheaded the Theatre for Education and Community option in the department which is unique in the California State University System.
Solano is a nationally recognized leader in Community Based Theatre, and an associate artist with the award-winning Cornerstone Theatre Company. Community Based synthesizes community voice and theatre by engaging communities in dialogue which then becomes the content for the performance. The interactions between the members of the theatre company and the community residents build transformative relationships.
With an international reputation to add to his repertoire, Professor Solano has authored and directed a play series with the University of Zimbabwe’s Theatre department. Through Community Based Theatre techniques, Professor Solano gathered the interviews of Pomona bus riders and their knowledge of Zimbabwe. The production was entitled “The Bus Stop Journals, Pomona.”
You are invited…
Professor Solano is being honored at the 4th Annual Campus-Community Mixer on Tuesday, April 21st from 4pm to 6pm in the Ursa Major Room of the Bronco Student Center. The event is free and all are invited to attend open to all. Please RSVP to (909) 869-4269 or clgonzalez@csupomona.edu.
