Learning at WISR:
A Tradition Of Innovation, Community Improvement & Social Change

The Western Institute for Social Research in Berkeley is a California State-approved university offering BA, MA, and PhD programs. WISR's mission is to help each student design an individualized program of study, with extensive faculty contact and guidance. Find this longtime OPEN EXCHANGE lister in our Schools category.

WISR is, by intention, a multicultural, community in-volved university. We enroll mature adult students, and most are pursuing, or preparing for, careers of innovation, activism or leadership in community service agencies, in the field of counseling, or in community health programs, schools, colleges and mental health programs.

Learning at WISR emphasizes inquiry and action—the kind of knowledge-building that grows out of people's life experiences and community involvements.

Consider as one example the action-research project of a student who works with a large, multipurpose agency serving homeless families. She interviewed homeless mothers and service providers in other agencies serving homeless. Her concern was: how do these clients experience the rules imposed by the agencies serving them? She learned that although the rules are well-intended, the homeless mothers often experience the rules established by the service providers, who have considerable power over them, as a re-traumatizing event, as one that reminds them of an experience with say, a battering partner. Consequently, sometimes these mothers take their children and flee the very places that have been created to shelter them. This project was a relatively small-scale and exploratory one, but the student learned much more than she thought she would. Further, the homeless mothers interviewed experienced the interviewing process itself as very empowering and esteem building. Other service providers became curious about her interviewing efforts, and then wanted her to interview them and their clients. She has begun to consider such follow-up actions as having some mothers discuss these issues directly with service providers, or helping her in conducting some interviews. This project is a good example of how learning at WISR goes hand in hand with leadership, creativity and community improvement efforts.