Academic Civic Engagement
What is civic engagement at Pacific University?
Civic engagement addresses social, political, and environmental issues in the community through actions that can make a difference on those issues, including service, advocacy, awareness-raising, activism, action-oriented research, deliberative dialogue, electoral participation, and political involvement.
We often refer to the Social Change Wheel to describe the variety of activities that fall under the umbrella of civic engagement at Pacific University.
The Civic Learning Hub was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as a resource for faculty and students with civic learning outcomes in their courses. Modules can act as self-contained lessons to supplement other courses, the basis for self-directed learning, or a starting point for brainstorming other civic engagement activities. It is a work in progress and will continue to evolve even after the outbreak has subsided.
Core Requirement in Civic Engagement
Students can integrate civic engagement into their academic experience in many ways. In the College of Arts & Sciences, students have a core requirement for Civic Engagement (CE). You can satisfy the Civic Engagement (CE) Core requirement through the completion of a CE-designated course or a CE project. Students can apply for the Student Civic Engagement Mini-Grant to support civic engagement projects.
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for Civic Engagement
Upon completion of this requirement students will be able to:
- Apply disciplinary knowledge (facts, theories, experiences, etc.) to one’s own participation in civic life, politics, and government;
- Effectively communicate (e.g., express, listen, and adapt to others) in a civil manner (i.e., courteous and respectful regardless of differences);
- Demonstrate attitudes of social responsibility (i.e., individual and collective obligation to act for the greater good).
CE courses or student projects must:
- Be approved by the McCall Center for Civic Engagement
- Serve the common good
- Involve students in experiential learning outside the classroom and the teaching lab
- Engage students with the campus community or the broader world
- Include appropriate orientation, preparation for the project, and opportunity for thoughtful reflection
- Share the results of the project with the campus community through appropriate means devised in consultation with the McCall Center.
The McCall Center for Civic Engagement encourages faculty, students, and our community partners to strive for civic engagement experiences that also meet our ten principles for quality academic civic engagement.
Principles of Quality Academic Civic Engagement
The Center for Civic Engagement encourages faculty, students, and our community partners to strive for civic engagement experiences that meet our principles for quality academic civic engagement:
- Relevant Problem Solving
- Public Interest
- Meaningful Learning Opportunities
- Depth of Experience
- Reciprocity
- Respectful Collaboration
- Academic Integration
- Reflection on Experience
- Appropriate Assessment
- Public Citizenship
These principles have been approved by the Center for Civic Engagement Advisory Council. Further explanations are available in the complete statement of principles of academic civic engagement (pdf). These Principles of Quality Academic Civic Engagement are based on ample scholarly research investigating how civic engagement experiences improve learning outcomes and can be sustained in academic institutions and their surrounding communities, as well as on our experiences at Pacific.
Civic engagement course and project proposals are reviewed by the McCall Center for Civic Engagement and CE Faculty Committee with consideration of these principles. In addition, CE course designation and CE project proposals ask about learning objectives, partnership development, and demonstration of learning.
What "counts" as civic engagement?
Because civic engagement meets a core requirement for graduation, we must have some shared understanding of what civic engagement means at Pacific and what experiences will fulfill the academic intention of this requirement with integrity.
Civic engagement means identifying and actively addressing issues that have widespread relevance to the population at large, using the tools of a civil society to enact change and serve the common good. Civic engagement at Pacific includes service, advocacy, awareness-raising, activism, action-oriented research, deliberative dialogue, electoral participation, and political involvement.
The McCall Center staff engage regularly engage in conversations about what is considered civic engagement, often without clear answers. However, through a few examples below, along with the learning outcomes, principles of civic engagement, and Social Change Wheel above, the McCall Center seeks to emphasize civic learning that is essential to creating more equitable and sustainable society. Please contact the MCCE to discuss specific questions of civic engagement, since the determination as to what counts as civic engagement takes context and circumstance into account.
Examples:
Pro-social behaviors, but maybe not "civic engagement" | Good Examples of Civic Engagement |
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