Living Learning Communities

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Living Learning Communities

Overview

The Living and Learning Communities (LLCs) consist of students with art, wellness, civic engagement, and leadership interests. Each theme has its own Living Learning Community (LLC) where small groups of students live together in designated areas of the residence building and experience tailored programs in their LLCs. The LLC focuses on educational programs and our tentative events include skill-building workshops, seminars, guest-speaker lectures, off-campus excursions, and more. Each LLC has a faculty advisor helping with event organization and regularly meeting with residents for mentoring purposes.

Goals & Outcomes

Through the LLCs, Residence Life aspires to:

  • Provide students with a sense of belonging in a peer community united by a common interest
  • Foster students’ intellectual, personal, and social growth by providing them with opportunities to learn in a collaborative, engaging environment.
  • Integrate students’ academic, social, and residential experiences, providing a seamless learning environment in which students develop “connected knowing” outside of the classroom on disciplinary and interdisciplinary projects.
  • Challenge and support students to test their skills/knowledge through applications, experiences, reflection and synthesis outside the classroom. Examples of this include intellectual discussions, lectures, and trips.
  • Offer opportunities for faculty and staff to engage in university service and student mentoring outside of the classroom in their fields of interest or major.

Commitment

Residence Life expects LLC participants to:

  • Agree to the best of their ability attend LLC functions and actively participate in LLC events
  • Attend at least 4 LLC events per semester
  • Connect intellectually and emotionally with LLC peers through learning experiences and leadership development activities
  • Transform view of self and others by developing leadership qualities and applying them in the wider DKU Campus and Kunshan communities
  • Support each other in living learning, and leading
  • Connect to the larger DKU campus community by applying leadership skills
  • Use the tools gained through the LLC as a means of serving others

Brief Introduction to Specific Communities

The Arts Dock Living Learning Community aims to bring together students who share the passion and joy for arts. The types of art are various: visual art (photography, painting, architecture), literature (drama, poetry, creative writing), performance (theatre, music, spoken word) and cooking (blending, chocolate making) are all included in the art spectrum.

This leadership-oriented community brings together students who share interests in leadership development and personal growth. Students will work together to identify their leadership styles and abilities, learn to think critically about leadership as a subject, and cultivate a growth mindset. More importantly, students will benefit from exclusive opportunities to connect with successful leaders working across a diverse array of fields.

The Global Citizenship LLC allows you to experience and explore the diverse lifestyles, values, and institutions across the world. It connects you with the world outside of the campus and your nation, bringing you close to problems and challenges at a global level. As a community that promotes DKU’s educational philosophy of cultivating you into global citizens, it utilizes resources on and off campus to facilitate your experiences of and reflections on global citizenship.

The Wellness Crossroad Living & Learning Community offers a unique place for Duke Kunshan University students who have an interest in discovering physical, mental, and environmental wellness. This is an important initiative, as students can better learn how to engage in the active process of making choices and habits toward a healthy and fulfilling life.

How to Apply

The application for individual LLCs is a part of the regular room assignment application.

FAQs

Only first-year students.

Yes. For more information, please refer to “Admission of Residents” of each LLC syllabus.

Each LLC has one LCRA, who is an upper-class student. The LCRA helps lead the community, organize regular events, and guide residents to live and learn.

Yes. Each LLC has a designated living area.

Here you can explore your interest in art, leadership development, civic engagement, or wellness and health. You will be able to participate in different events and meet people who have shared interests. LLC equips you with a smoother transition and enrich your college life.

No. We select residents from those who applied. Each LLC generally contains around 25 residents.

The tenure of your LLC membership is a whole academic year.

LLCs select applicants based on answers in the questionnaire that is attached to the room application. We will try our best to match applicants’ interest with LLCs.

LLCs provides an immersive space for you to discover and build your professional interests, which are leadership development, artistic perception, global citizen awareness, and personal wellness care. You will get exclusive opportunities to get involved in various events organized by LCAs, get access to communicate with professionals, and make friends with share-minded people.

Arts Dock LLC

Welcome to the Arts Dock LLC! The Arts Dock Living Learning Community aims to bring together students who share the passion and joy for arts. The types of art are various: visual art (photography, painting, architecture), literature (drama, poetry, creative writing), performance (theatre, music, spoken word) and cooking (blending, chocolate making) are all included in the art spectrum. In this LLC, we would offer all types of experiences that can help students better understand art, develop their artistic skills, and learn how to integrate art into their daily lives as a means of a creative outlet. Activities include but are not limited to field trips to galleries and museums; tailored workshops for various art forms; relevant guest speakers; fashion gala and the Art November. Furthermore, there will be a Living Community Assistant who will offer resources, support and help connect the LLC residents with each other and the faculty advisor. Click here for the LLC syllabus.

Emerging Leaders LLC

Welcome to the Emerging Leaders Living Learning Community! We believe EVERYONE has leadership potential within them. This leadership-oriented community brings together students who share interests in leadership development and personal growth. Students of the Emerging Leaders LLC will work together to identify their leadership styles and abilities, learn to think critically about leadership as a subject, and cultivate a growth mindset. More importantly, students will benefit from exclusive opportunities to connect with successful leaders working across a diverse array of fields. Our activities are an organic combination of Leadership theories (such as the Social Change model) and experiential leadership practice. The form of activities includes but is not limited to workshops, guest speaker lectures, excursions, leadership retreats, and games. This community is a collaboration between Residence Life, Student Experience & Faculty Affairs. Specifically, we will have close collaboration with the Global Leadership Academy (GLA). Members of Emerging Leaders LLC will have easier access to GLA resources and opportunities for early application to GLA. All activities and experiences are designed to enhance each student’s professional skills and overall college experience, thereby empowering them to post-graduate success. Click here for the LLC syllabus.

Global Citizenship LLC

Welcome to the Global Citizenship LLC! The Global Citizenship LLC allows you to experience and explore the diverse lifestyles, values, and institutions across the world. It connects you with the world outside of the campus and your nation, bringing you close to problems and challenges at a global level. As a community that promotes DKU’s educational philosophy of cultivating you into global citizens, it utilizes resources on and off campus to facilitate your experiences of and reflections on global citizenship.

Global Citizenship has multiple facets. It can lie in a casual conversation with a foreign friend, the sharing of your culture in the school journal to an international community, the critical reflection on the effects of globalization, a donation to children in refugee camps, or visits to museums and historical sites as products of global connection. The activities in the Global Citizenship LLC, therefore, will be a conglomeration of field trips, guest lectures, peer sharing, social events, and any other forms of activities that connects you with different people and different parts of the world. Click here for the LLC syllabus.

Wellness Crossroads LLC

The Wellness Crossroad Living & Learning Community offers a unique place for Duke Kunshan University students who have an interest in discovering physical, mental, and environmental wellness. This is an important initiative, as students can better learn how to engage in the active process of making choices and habits toward a healthy and fulfilling life. In the Wellness community, students can achieve a deeper understanding of the benefits of working out, meditation, setting boundaries in relationships, separating school and play, and spreading love and kindness to themselves and others. Through regular LLC activities such as dinners, discussions, interactions with faculty, and guest speakers, residents will begin to explore a wellness-oriented lifestyle by exploring their relative interests and learning more about opportunities in the wellness environment. We will also offer various kinds of educational workshops, activities and field trips, from which students can develop a healthier mind of themselves and others and try to make a positive impact on the wellness environment. Office hours will also be available to discuss any problems students face in school or personally. Click here for the LLC syllabus.

Creating Opportunities to
Live, Learn, and Lead

Graduate Apartments Suite 1110
(+86) 0512.3665.7020
residencelife@dukekunshan.edu.cn