The Learning Community (TLC) is committed to the success of students who identify with the Black and African American experience. The goals of this year-long program are to cultivate leaders, instill community consciousness, and promote academic and co-curricular success at LMU.
TLC provides a first-year cohort of students the opportunity to:
- Expand their ethnic and cultural awareness;
- Deepen their understanding of programs and resources present to facilitate academic success;
- Gain a greater understanding of the mission and traditions of LMU.
TLC partners with the following campus offices and resource providers:
- Academic Resource Center
- Burns Recreation Center
- Career and Professional Development
- Department of African American Studies
- Ethnic and Intercultural Services
- Office of Black Student Services
- Office of the President
- Office of the Senior Vice President for Student Affairs
- Student Employment Services
- Student Health Center
- William H. Hannon Library
Contact TLC
If you have any questions regarding The Learning Community, please contact us at the following:
Email: tlc@lmu.edu
Phone: 310.258.8754
Office: Malone Student Center 201
Meet the Director
Kwyn Townsend Riley
Director, Office of Black Student Services and The Learning Community
Email: Kwyn.TownsendRiley@lmu.edu
Kwyn Townsend Riley is an interdisciplinary scholar-practitioner and artist. She most recently served as the multicultural spaces coordinator in the Center for Multicultural Student Services at James Madison University. She also previously served as a Bayard Rustin Fellow in the Community Renewal Society in Chicago and as a graduate assistant in the Gwendolyn Brooks Cultural Center at Western Illinois University. Riley earned a master’s degree in college student personnel from Western Illinois University and a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Dayton. She is a proud member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, the Black Youth Project 100, and the Chicago Scholars Associate Board. Riley also serves on the PAN Directorate Board for the American College Personnel Association.
Riley has authored two poetry books and an award-winning poetry album as a decorated slam poet. CBS has recognized her as a “history-maker” for her social justice work and organizing. As a Black Queer feminist, she envisions a world where we all are free. Riley loves a chocolate frosty from Wendy’s, her family, and working with college students.