Civic Engagement

While it is not required, we encourage people to include Civic Engagement in their Second Year Seminars. 

What is Civic Engagement?

Service-learning and civic engagement are not the same thing in the sense that not all service-learning has a civic dimension and not all civic engagement is service-learning. For definition’s sake, civic engagement is the broader motif, encompassing service-learning but not limited to it. One useful definition of civic engagement is the following: individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern. Civic engagement can take many forms, from individual voluntarism to organizational involvement to electoral participation. It can include efforts to directly address an issue, work with others in a community to solve a problem or interact with the institutions of representative democracy. Civic engagement encompasses a range of specific activities such as working in a soup kitchen, serving on a neighborhood association, writing a letter to an elected official or voting. Indeed, an underlying principal of our approach is that an engaged citizen should have the ability, agency and opportunity to move comfortably among these various types of civic acts.

Source: Michael Delli Carpini, Director, Public Policy, The Pew Charitable Trusts.

And how do I do it?

Think of Civic Engagement as an umbrella.  Under that umbrella is community service and service learning.

Here is a fantastic link to syllabi of over 30 disciplines.  You'll probably find yours there.

http://www.compact.org/syllabi/syllabi-index.php

Civic Engagement