Cornell's Community Learning and Service Partnership has joined the Einhorn Center for Community Engagement, with plans to expand a program that pairs employees and students for learning goals chosen by staff members.
Known as CLASP, the program brings together roughly 40 employee-student partnerships each semester, according to a Cornell announcement. It moved to the Einhorn Center this summer after most recently being housed in Global Development in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Ruth Bonous, then a lecturer in the College of Human Ecology, founded CLASP in 1990. UAW Local 2300 has partnered with it since the beginning to help employees access the learning opportunities.
Employees set the goals for weekly partnerships
Staff members are matched with undergraduate or graduate students based on interests and schedules. English for Speakers of Other Languages is the most requested subject, followed by computer skills. Other goals include preparing for the GED, learning an instrument and improving health and wellness.
The largest employee groups come from Cornell Dining and Building Care. Participants also work in Statler Hotel housekeeping, the College of Veterinary Medicine, Transportation and Grounds.
“Both the employee and the student are bringing skills and experience to the partnership,” said program liaison Sasha Endo. “They are both mentors and mentees to each other simultaneously.”
Einhorn Center Executive Director Basil Safi said the center plans to develop a new student organization over the coming year to help broaden student and employee participation and create opportunities outside coursework.
English lessons grew into a friendship
During fall 2025, hotel administration student Chloe Kritas met weekly for an hour with Oksana Sikora, a cook at Morrison Dining who moved to the United States from Ukraine and wanted to communicate more comfortably in English.
Sikora heard about CLASP from a coworker. Kritas enrolled in the affiliated Introduction to Adult Learning course to gain teaching experience, drew on class lessons and consulted her father, an English teacher.
Their meetings used vocabulary games, flashcards, worksheets and sentence-building exercises tailored to Sikora's interests. Sikora said the practice helped her feel more comfortable talking.
As they discussed their lives along with the lessons, the partnership became a friendship. Sikora knitted Kritas a Christmas stocking.
Kritas said the experience inspired her to apply for a Fulbright fellowship to teach English in Indonesia.
Endo said other employees have used CLASP to build professional skills and take on responsibilities, while students have discovered teaching interests or reconsidered career goals. Christine Charles, UAW Local 2300's second vice president, said she hopes the move will extend those opportunities to more union employees.
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