Civic Engagement

Civic engagement has become an essential learning goal for institutions throughout higher education. AAC&U believes that recent educational innovations to advance civic engagement, such as thematically linked learning communities, community-based research, collaborative projects, service-learning, mentored internships, reflective experiential learning and study abroad are all helping students advance on this essential learning goal.

AAC&U works with campuses to develop curricular and cocurricular programs that help faculty and students connect scholarship to public questions, consider alternative frameworks for judgment and action, draw meaning from experience, critique theory in light of practice, and evaluate practice in light of new knowledge. AAC&U seeks to prepare today's students to become effective global and local citizens as they venture into an unequal but interdependent and diverse world.

For additional information, please see Global Learning and Diversity, and Women.

Developing a Moral Compass: What Is the Campus Climate for Ethics and Academic Integrity?
Civic Responsibility: What Is the Campus Climate for Learning? (2009)
The Handbook of Practice and Research in Study Abroad: Higher Education and the Quest for Global Citizenship (2009)
AAC&U Board Statement on Obama Election (November 2008)
Student Political Engagement (Peer Review, Spring/Summer 2008)
Civic Identity: Locating Self in Community (Diversity & Democracy, Volume 11: No. 2, 2008)
2008 Annual Meeting (Liberal Education, Summer 2008)
Civic Engagement at the Center: Building a Democracy through Integrated Cocurricular and Curricular Experiences
Should Colleges Focus More On Personal and Social Responsibility? (2008 Campus Climate Survey Results, pdf)
Bringing Theory to Practice (Peer Review, Summer 2007)
Bringing Theory to Practice
(Liberal Education, Winter 2007)
Student Leadership: Making a Difference in the World (Diversity Digest, Volume 10: No. 6, 2006)
The Civic Work of Diversity (Diversity Digest, Volume 9: No. 1, 2005)
Educating for Personal and Social Responsibility (Liberal Education Summer/Fall 2005)
Educating for Citizenship (Peer Review, Spring 2003)
The Drama of Diversity and Democracy (pdf)
Browse All AAC&U Titles

FACING THE DIVIDES: Diversity, Learning, and Pathways to Inclusive Excellence in Houston, Texas - October 21-23, 2010. Register by September 27 for best meeting rates.
CREATIVITY, INQUIRY, AND DISCOVERY: Undergraduate Research In and Across the Disciplines in Durham, North Carolina - November 11-13, 2010. Register by October 18 for best meeting rates.
GLOBAL POSITIONING: Essential Learning, Student Success, and the Currency of U.S. Degrees - AAC&U Annual Meeting in San Francisco, January 26-29, 2011.
GENERAL EDUCATION AND ASSESSMENT 3.0: Next-Level Practices Now in Chicago - March 3-5, 2011.
ENGAGED STEM LEARNING: From Promising to Pervasive Practices in Miami, March 24-26, 2011.

Caryn McTighe Musil, Senior Vice President, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global initiatives

Chris Burke, Administrative Assistant, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global initiatives