First-Year Civic Engagement: Sound Foundations for College, Citizenship and Democracy

First-Year Civic Engagement: Sound Foundations for College, Citizenship and Democracy Edited by Martha J. LaBare Featuring New Writing from: Betsy O. Barefoot Thomas Ehrlich John N. Gardner Elizabeth L. Hollander George Mehaffy Caryn McTighe Musil John H. Pryor The New York Times National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition University of South Carolina

First-Year Civic Engagement: Sound Foundations for College, Citizenship and Democracy Edited by Martha J. LaBare Featuring New Writing from: Betsy O. Barefoot Thomas Ehrlich John N. Gardner Elizabeth L. Hollander George Mehaffy Caryn McTighe Musil John H. Pryor The New York Times National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition University of South Carolina

Acknowledgments Thanks to Martha J. LaBare for her editing; all of the colleges doing such innovative work around the first-year experience and civic engagement; AASCU (American Association of State Colleges and Universities) for the American Democracy Project; Tracy Skipper of the National Resource Center for The First- Year Experience and Students in Transition for her expertise and guidance. This monograph did not involve the reporting or editing staff of The New York Times. Copyright 2008 The New York Times Knowledge Network 08-0140

CONTENTS iv Preface Martha J. LaBare, Editor 1 Introduction Civic Engagement: The Transforming Theme for the First College Year John N. Gardner, Executive Director, Policy Center on the First Year of College 5 Chapter 1 Preparing Undergraduates To Be Citizens: The Critical Role of the First Year of College George Mehaffy, Vice President for Academic Leadership and Change, American Association of State Colleges and Universities; Director, American Democracy Project 9 Chapter 2 Learning for Political Engagement Thomas Ehrlich, Senior Scholar at The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching 13 Chapter 3 Campus Compact: Fostering the Civic Engagement of College Students Elizabeth L. Hollander, Senior Fellow, Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, Tufts University; former Executive Director, Campus Compact 16 Chapter 4 Civic Learning: Aligning Planets and Educational Goals Caryn McTighe Musil, Senior Vice President, The Association of American Colleges and Universities 19 Chapter 5 The Role of Newspapers in the First Year of College Felice Nudelman, Director of Education, and Don Hecker, Training Editor for Staff Editors, The New York Times 21 Chapter 6 Assessing Change in Civic Engagement: A Longitudinal Perspective John H. Pryor, Director, Cooperative Institutional Research Program, Higher Education Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles 23 Chapter 7 Institutional Structures and Strategies for Embedding Civic Engagement in the First College Year Betsy O. Barefoot, Co-Director and Senior Scholar, Policy Center on the First Year of College 26 Chapter 8 Action Steps to Move the First-Year Civic Engagement Agenda Forward John N. Gardner, Executive Director, Policy Center on the First Year of College 29 First-Year Civic Engagement: Case Studies 30 Allegheny College 32 Antioch College 34 California State University, Chico 36 California State University, Fullerton 38 Chandler-Gilbert Community College 41 Chapman University 44 The College of New Jersey 47 Colorado State University-Fort Collins 49 Concordia College 51 Fort Hays State University 54 Franklin Pierce University 57 George Mason University-New Century College 60 Hampden-Sydney College 63 Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne 65 Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) 68 Lehigh University 70 Mars Hill College 72 Mercer University 74 Michigan State University 76 Pace University 79 Penn State University, Lehigh Valley Campus 82 Pitzer College, Claremont, California 85 The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey 87 Robert Morris College 89 Salt Lake Community College 91 Suffolk University 93 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 96 Trinity University 99 University of California, Los Angeles 101 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 103 University of San Francisco 105 University of Wisconsin-Madison 108 Weber State University

PREFACE Martha J. LaBare, Editor This monograph has grown from the vision and collaborations of faculty, administrators, scholars, and national higher education leaders who act on their belief that American colleges and universities share a mission to educate citizens for democracy. Our authors take seriously the responsibility to help students, beginning in their first college year, to develop the core skills they will need to exercise their moral and civic responsibilities. They demonstrate how civic engagement brings our first-year students into active participation in their new environments. They show how civic engagement provides opportunities for our institutions to link learning goals across curricula and co-curricula, college and community, theories and practice. John N. Gardner, our leading innovator and scholar on students first college year, frames the volume, with his call to re-center and renew the first year with the idealism and aspirations of civic engagement and, in the last chapter, with his action steps for doing so. All the authors of chapters 1 8 have worked with their national organizations for years to advance service-learning and civic literacy and engagement: the Policy Center on the First Year of College, the University of South Carolina s National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the American Democracy Project, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Campus Compact, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the Higher Education Research Institute. Case study authors from 33 institutions twoand four-year colleges and research universities present a variety of programs, in and out of the classroom, on campus and in their communities. The term civic engagement is used by some in higher education interchangeably with service-learning, particularly when service-learning has a requirement for reflection; others distinguish civic engagement from service-learning by requiring inclusion of the U.S. Constitution and U.S. history in the curriculum as necessary grounding for informed and conscientious citizenship. Other operating definitions fall somewhere in between. This monograph does not adopt a single definition. Its authors express or imply their definitions in their work. Civic engagement programs consistently require students to demonstrate intellectual inquiry, critical thinking, active and experiential learning, reflection, commitment. AAC&U s Greater Expectations report (2002) urges institutions to help students interpret education as an informed probing of ideas and values and to help them become empowered, informed, and responsible learners. The report urges us to help students learn about the values and histories underlying U.S. democracy and the interrelations within and among global and cross-cultural communities and to foster responsibility for society s moral health and for social justice and active participation as a citizen of a diverse democracy. 1 Institutions own formulations vary, as case studies in this monograph show: Cal State Chico s Civic Learning Outcomes are (1) public problem solving; (2) interpersonal participation skills, especially across differences; (3) knowledge of civic and community issues; (4) knowledge of community values; (5) a sense of responsibility for the common good. Franklin Pierce University s Deliberative Dialogue Initiative helps students to develop critical thinking skills; learn collaborative skills; become actively involved in the community; explore issues that challenge us to integrate our rights as individuals with community responsibility; and understand the evolution of concepts such as free choice, beliefs, values, independence, and autonomy in the context of community standards. One dimension of Salt Lake Community College s multiple assessment surveys political attitudes, tracking variables on keeping up-to-date on political affairs, registering to vote, and attention to media coverage on government and politics. Suffolk University s Media Literacy course connects themes, goals, and service-learning through developing students ability to access diverse sources, analyze media texts, evaluate media messages, communicate effectively, and participate in civic projects. At Concordia College, where using servicelearning is a means for bringing students to civic engagement, Duncan and Kopperud have invented CARC Civic Engagement and Contemplation, Action, Reflection, Commitment. First-Year Civic Engagement (FYCE) builds on the work and scholarship of many, and especially on four monographs and a teleconference: An American Democracy Project Initiative of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and The New York Times Knowledge Network. Democracy and Civic Engagement. A Guide for Higher Education. Knowlton, Steve R. and Betsy O. Barefoot, eds. (1999). Using National Newspapers in the College Classroom. Resources to Improve Teaching and Learning (Monograph 28). Columbia, SC: National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition and The New York Times. Perry, James L. and Steven G. Jones, eds. (2006). Quick Hits for Educating Citizens. Successful Strategies by Award-Winning Teachers. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition. Promoting the Public Good: Fulfilling Higher Education s Civic Mission, Teleconference #1 of the 2004 Teleconference Series. March 4, 2004. Video and Teleconference Resource Packet.

Zlotkowski, Edward, ed. (2002). Service-Learning and the First- Year Experience (Monograph 34). Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. FYCE is co-published by The New York Times and the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, providing a resource for next-level work. The monograph is produced and distributed by The New York Times as a service to the higher education community. A preview presentation on this monograph at the June 2007 conference of The American Democracy Project gave an overview of the chapters resources and case studies from three institutions. Participants responded as we hope will readers of this monograph: with shared enthusiasm for first-year civic engagement programs, lively discussion of goals for programs, and eager exchange of structures and strategies. To facilitate access to resources, the monograph has its own Web site, [http://nytimes.com/college/collegespecial2/], which lists contact information for case study authors and Web sites for chapter authors organizations. The site posts links to supplemental materials for the cases (valuable models syllabi, assessment materials, etc.) and will later post new cases. I am grateful to all the contributors to First-Year Civic Engagement: Sound Foundations for College, Citizenship and Democracy and especially to Tracy Skipper, Editorial Projects Coordinator for the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, and The New York Times, for their leadership and collaboration on this project. WORK CITED National Panel Report, Association of American Colleges and Universities (2002). Greater Expectations. A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College. Washington D.C.: Association of American Colleges and Universities. 1 These are the goals most directly related to the teaching and learning of civic engagement. See the report s Executive Overview (x-xii) for The Learning Students Need for the Twenty-First Century.

INTRODUCTION Civic Engagement: The Transforming Theme for the First College Year John N. Gardner, Executive Director, Policy Center on the First Year of College As of this writing, it is 46 years since I was a first-year college student, and one very different from most of those we teach today. I was (and am) white, male, hailing from New England, Protestant, a son of affluent parents. I was in my first college year a full-time, unemployed, residential student at a small, very traditional (and proud of it) liberal arts college on the banks of two beautiful rivers in Ohio. I spent many hours that first fall rowing on a crew team. In some ways, that experience alone was transformational, making a life-long impact on my character development and instilling in me self-discipline, respect for the mindbody-health connection, and reverence for good leadership. That fall provided another transformational experience. One of my professors dared to suggest that I emulate him and take a walk each day to the local bus station where The New York Times came in on the 11:22 a.m. Greyhound from Pittsburgh. He was not urging me to take a daily constitutional stroll (although there would have been nothing wrong had that been his point), but rather suggesting that my thinking and ultimately behavioral choices might be influenced if I joined him in reading an outstanding national newspaper. I have been doing it ever since, for forty-six years. And it has been transformative. So I felt more than a little amazement when The New York Times first reached out to me in 1997 to help it in its efforts to create the next generation of readers for newspapers in general and national newspapers in particular. That effort led to the readership programs brought to the academy by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. And it led to many more steps, including this monograph and an earlier monograph, Using National Newspapers in the College Classroom (1999), published by the University of South Carolina s National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and The New York Times. My wife, Betsy Barefoot, was the co-editor of that volume, with Steven R. Knowlton. I had the privilege of contributing a chapter. Now eight years later, I am still working on the challenges of improving the first year, still reading The New York Times daily, and still looking for that what s next? to improve the first year. Reading the chapters and case studies for this latest National Resource Center/New York Times endeavor confirms for me that I have found that what s next? for the first-year movement: a question that I hope others will take up as a challenge. What would happen if colleges and universities intentionally introduced students, especially first-year students, to the concepts of civic engagement and public service? What I want to do in framing this monograph is to reflect on the eight chapters by national leaders in higher education and civic engagement and the 33 case studies reports from the field and situate them in the larger context of the efforts of so many educators and institutions to improve the beginning college experience. In this introduction, I explore the ideals and benefits of first-year civic engagement: why it is good for the students, our colleges, and our communities local, national, and global. In the monograph s closing chapter, I share some thoughts on where and how to integrate civic engagement into our institutions missions and plans, curricula and co-curricula, and especially into students first college year. The First Year Then and Now For a moment, back to my own first year. Way back then, my college, Marietta, did not have a first-year experience in the way we use that terminology today. It did not take broad responsibility for student learning; that was students responsibility. To the contrary, the college was even proud of its attrition rate. I remember the president telling the entering freshmen in 1961 that each student should take a look at the students on either side because they would not be there four years later when the rest of us graduated. And the look on his face suggested that this attrition was not a problem, but rather a measure of institutional quality. Four decades later, we are all still in the pursuit of quality, but we are measuring it differently, thank goodness! As a new college student, I was defined by that sixteenthcentury term freshman. Many of us were still fresh and the majority of us were men. And the majority of us had a year to do the freshman year. We were not offered a collection of programs to enhance student success and retention. There was no freshman seminar at Marietta, nor learning communities, nor Supplemental Instruction, nor any of the many interventions that colleges, including Marietta, have today, many of which I have helped design. And we certainly didn t have a focus on civic engagement, at least not by design. In one of the four years I was at Marietta,

we had the great flood of the Ohio. In 1963, many of the college s students mobilized to help the riverfront merchants sandbag and save their properties. Beyond this effort, most of us were not particularly involved with the local community during our time at Marietta. By the end of my college years, in 1965, some of us were volunteering to serve our country in the escalating war in Vietnam. I decided to go to graduate school, rather than attend seminary, or work for a defense contractor, or get married all ways to earn a draft deferment. But the draft got me anyway, and I was introduced to civic engagement of a sort never envisioned by my college. My introduction came from my Air Force squadron commander, of the 363rd Tactical Hospital at Shaw AFB, South Carolina. I had been on my new base not even 48 hours when he called me into his office for a formal interview and informed me that he had reviewed my records: Gardner, except for the physicians, you have more education than anyone on this squadron. The Air Force needs college teachers and so I want you to do some college teaching. I informed him that I had never done any college teaching and had never intended to do any. He was dismissive and informed me that the Air Force believes in the importance of performing public service and that s all there was to that. Two weeks later, I found myself in a college classroom, this time as a part-time adjunct instructor. Soon I was loving it and within several months had an epiphany: I had found my vocation a way not only to earn a legal living, but also to be paid to read, write, talk, and help people the four things I love to do the most. I often reflect on how different my college experience might have been had Marietta then taken responsibility for getting me civically engaged, as it does now, especially with its Leadership students. So I return to my question: what if by design, our colleges introduced students to civic engagement? Some of us faculty want to repeat for students what was done for and to us. Some of us want to do it differently. I want to do it differently to ensure that we intentionally introduce students to civic engagement and public service. The First-Year Experience Now Today we use the term first-year experience to mean a particular programmatic intervention to improve the retention and success of new college students. When I use this phrase, I use it not in the narrower context of one program, and certainly not to describe one particular program, the first-year seminar. When I write about the first-year experience, I am talking about the totality of everything a campus does to, with, and for its new students. The first-year seminar, though, as part of the first-year experience, is related to our focus on civic engagement. Found in some form in 94% of the accredited, undergraduate degrees (Policy Center on the First Year of College, 2002), the first-year seminar provides the opportunity for faculty leadership, a support group of fellow students, and a desirable introduction to the formal learning processes of students and the programs of the institution. It has become one of the most ubiquitous delivery mechanisms for integrating students into their new college community. The seminar is an ideal site for integrating civic engagement. Why the First Year Matters To make the case for first-year civic engagement, we need first to make the case for paying more attention, effort, time, resources, and credit, to the beginning college experience. From an educational, human, and societal paradigm, we see a number of compelling reasons for the importance of the first year. The first year of college is the foundation for students undergraduate careers. The decisions and activities of the first year determine students success at the beginning of college and build a foundation for success in the remaining years. These decisions and activities include: (a) learning how to learn in college, collegiate study, test-taking skills, and critical thinking; (b) appreciating the liberal arts and general education; (c) choosing a major (and perhaps a career); (d) developing time management; understanding economies of time ; increasing the levels of time, attention, and energy given to college work; (e) earning a good grade point average, so essential to maintaining financial aid, satisfactory progress, athletic eligibility, family support, and self-respect; (f ) developing positive attitudes towards faculty and mentors, learning to interact with them outside of class (a key behavior in facilitating retention); (g) developing positive attitudes towards the campus (the basis of levels of student satisfaction); (h) developing relationships that will last a lifetime and influence values and life choices; (i) deciding which groups to affiliate with (with important impacts on behavioral choices); (j) making choices about behaviors that endure long after college behaviors affecting areas as diverse as overall health and wellness (e.g., drinking and eating habits, engaging in sexual activity) and civic engagement (e.g., service, voting, being politically active). The first college year provides the opportunity to introduce students to the kinds of thinking and experiences that the institution values including, importantly, civic engagement. It also provides an important baseline for assessing how effective higher education initiatives are in instilling the values institutions espouse. Understanding the entering characteristics of students provides a basis for measuring long-term change and value-added education. The Case for Requiring Civic Engagement in the First Year As George Mehaffy writes in this monograph, the first year is a time of experimentation and discovery. Students begin college

open to new experiences. Civic engagement initiatives channel this growth to educationally and socially meaningful outcomes. Given the rapidity with which many college students make affiliation choices, we need to connect students to the community early in the first term, make civic engagement an early competitor for their time, resources, and loyalty, and make their colleagues in civic engagement some of their first new friends. Let s listen to our students: First-year students report very mixed satisfaction levels with opportunities for community service and the relevance of coursework to everyday life: we can and should be doing better. Monograph chapter author John Pryor reports that in Your First College Survey, conducted by UCLA s Higher Education Research Institute with the participation of a national cohort of 144 institutions and 38,538 first-year students: 1. 49.8% of respondents were very satisfied or satisfied with their opportunities for community service, but 42.7% were neutral, and 7.5% were dissatisfied. We can do better! 2. 51.2% were very satisfied or satisfied with the relevance of coursework to everyday life, but 37.1% were neutral and 11.8% were dissatisfied. Dissatisfied students are bored students, more prone to drop out. We can do better! There are troubling degrees of first-year student academic disengagement. This is manifested by students frequently or occasionally coming to class late (63.1%), or not coming to class at all (32.7%); turning in assignments that do not reflect their best work (42.5%) or late (15.7%). Most disturbingly, 43.5% of students reported that they frequently felt bored in class. Only 24.1% reported that they frequently felt that their classes inspired them to think in new ways. Surely, we can do better. Many students engage in other activities. This sample yielded the findings that 39% studied or did homework less than six hours per week, 30.8% six to ten hours a week, and only 30.2% invested eleven or more hours a week. We can provide incentives for higher levels of engagement. We have much power and imprimatur, and we can do better. The case for incorporating civic engagement in the first-year experience is strongest for me when I look at what students expect to do upon coming to college versus what they actually do. More expect there is some chance or a very good chance (74.6%) to engage in community service during the first year, but fewer actually do (61.5%). We need to meet and raise! their expectations. We need to require civic engagement. The beginning college experience, especially the curriculum, can lead most students to experience something intellectually that they would not, if left to their own devices, have chosen. We call this general education. And even though at most institutions, the required common elements of the general education curriculum have been greatly diluted over the last three decades, students are still forced to invest significant intellectual time in subject matter they might initially regard as irrelevant. Required immersion into their communities may actually serve as a countervailing force, placing students in what is definitely the real world. The very fact that on most campuses there are so few common, required academic experiences argues for a unifying ideal across the first year. We can implement this with mandatory, course-embedded civic engagement. We have vastly reduced the common experiences that historically were sources of student bonding and connectedness with the institution. (To discover this for yourself, pick up any course catalog and do a search for the verbs will, must, and shall. You will find very few. At best, all students are required to apply, pay fees, register, but little else.) It is no wonder that we face challenges of retaining students in a structured environment where we take so few opportunities to create common, shared experiences, particularly those that might link the curriculum and the co-curriculum and students to the college and the community. Late adolescence/early adulthood is a period for testing out future adult citizen behaviors, the practice of ethical skills, group affiliation choices, intellectual habits of inquiry. We should use course-based civic engagement to encourage all of these. For traditional-aged college students living on campus, civic engagement in a course setting forces contact outside the normal confines of youth culture. As first-year students create their new home, civic engagement forces them to cross social, cultural, and generational divides and gain valuable learning. Students gain wider experience and an opportunity for informed engagement with their new community. Civic engagement looks beyond a focus on job preparation. For many of us in the academy, this consumer model for higher education has generated dismay, frustration, and even denial. For many students, higher education has become a mere means to an end, that of improved employment opportunities and making more money. Many of our classes reflect this conflict: professors see higher education as an end in itself; students have a more utilitarian approach and see the class as a means to grades, credits, degree, job, the good life. A central theme of civic engagement asks professors to connect teaching and learning to benefits for both students and society; it asks students to broaden their horizons, discover new ideas and contexts, and apply their knowledge. Civic engagement provides a context/structure for the important out-of-class contact between students and faculty/staff and with community members. The challenges of out-of-class educational interaction have never been greater. Many students commute. Even today s residential students stay in touch with family members and past associates with great ease, and many work. Civic engagement offers new connections and mentoring based in the classroom and beyond the classroom.

Requiring civic engagement demonstrates how much we value it, for students and for democracy. Certainly new college students are even busier than they had anticipated. To meet college costs, many must work more hours than they had anticipated. For some, college is more difficult than anticipated and requires more study time. Integrating civic engagement into first-year curricula establishes its place in the competition for students time. I believe that within our curricula, we must encourage, inspire, and require a significant investment of students time in civic engagement. Surely we can and must do better. A New Call for the First-Year Experience For almost three decades, first-year experience programs have focused on students success as they begin college. The diversity of our programs serves many different kinds of students in many types of institutions. The evolution of our programs brings us to a readiness for renewed idealism and focus, and I believe requiring civic engagement in the first college year can center us, with great benefit to our students, institutions, communities, and country. For higher education, civic engagement has to be the new what s next in the first year. The first-year movement needs a set of more aspirational goals and desired outcomes from the foundation of the college experience. Higher education operates with both ideals and practicalities. Too often institutions see the first year too narrowly in a retention model, a revenue model. That paradigm argues that the significant loss of new students through attrition is a business/ financial loss and that this loss can be stemmed by having all employees adopt more business-like attitudes and practices toward the care and feeding of new students. I see civic engagement as the rallying cry to move us beyond this business model to renewed ideals for the first college year. As a central theme and an organizing structure for curricula and co-curricula, it challenges students to think critically about realworld issues, encourages active learning, and asks them to reflect on values. Civic engagement returns us to the original purpose of American higher education: development of leaders and civic improvement. From the societal perspective, what could be more important? Every society has systems and pipelines for leadership preparation: the church, the military, the practice of certain occupations. Starting with the Colonial college, this important regenerative task has also been the work of higher education. In America, especially now, higher education assumes this role. Civic engagement in first-year instruction suggests that higher education is about moving this next generation of college students into the important roles of improving communities for the greater good of all, not just for individual benefits. Opposing a more utilitarian and less intellectual, even anti-intellectual, view of the purposes of college, higher education can tend to the development of societal leaders who are intellectual, rational, philosophical, and civic-minded. We can re-claim the ideals of higher education. We must do this beginning in students first year. Civic engagement can continue to strengthen the historic and mutually beneficial bonds between campus and community. Especially in communities where town/gown relations may have become strained over time, civic engagement offers great promise for improving those relations. Many communities hope college students will be future residents and use their energy and talents for the betterment of the community. It s high time we gave back, some would argue. We of the academy are always asking for money, from local, regional, state, and national communities. Leaders at many levels cabinet-level officers, deans, department chairs, individual faculty have all had to become fund-raisers. We are perceived in some quarters (particularly in state legislatures) to have insatiable appetites for resources. We are perceived by some to have an entitlement mentality. Civic engagement gives us a wonderful opportunity to give back to the very communities we are constantly soliciting. First-Year Civic Engagement: Now and Next This monograph s chapters and case studies present resources and models that can help us do better. We can and must move our programs for the first year of college from a retention or business model to a center of ideals for academic excellence and civic life. George Mehaffy s chapter leads and introduces the chapters by other higher education and civic engagement leaders. Betsy Barefoot s chapter introduces and analyzes the case studies. The case studies show what can happen when colleges and universities intentionally introduce first-year students to the concepts and practice of civic engagement. Following those, my closing chapter proposes action steps to make civic engagement the new what s next for the first year. With idealism and purpose, we can do better! WORK CITED Policy Center on the First Year of College. (2002). Second National Survey of First-Year Academic Practices. (http://www.firstyear.org/survey/survey2002/index.html)

CHAPTER 1 Preparing Undergraduates to Be Citizens: The Critical Role of the First Year of College George Mehaffy, Vice President for Academic Leadership and Change, American Association of State Colleges and Universities; Director, American Democracy Project The aim [of education] must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals who, however, see in the service to the community their highest life achievement. Albert Einstein, address at a convention at the State University of New York in Albany, October 15, 1936. In School and Society 44 (1936). Published as On Education, in Out of My Later Years, 36. Introduction Whether students are 18 or non-traditional, older students, the first year of college is a significant point of demarcation. For the 18-year-old, the first college year represents a break from home and family, as well as a dramatic break from the K-12 school routine. For the non-traditional college student, the first year often means a departure from (or often, an addition to) a previous life of work and/or family obligation. For both types of students, however, the first year of college offers both experimentation and discovery, and sometimes loneliness and introspection. It is, for many students, a tumultuous time. Because the first year is so fraught with change, many institutions devote specific attention to helping students adjust and adapt to the new and sometimes bewildering context of college. First-year initiatives typically focus on students adjustment, study skills, relations with roommates, campus activities, and alcohol and drug education. These and other topics common to first-year programs can be framed as learning to be a good citizen. Such focus makes the first year of college the perfect time to address the critical issues of civic engagement. This is a critical time, both for students and for the institutions they attend, to begin the often complex work of becoming knowledgeable, engaged citizens. Students have moved beyond familiar surroundings and become members of a new community, yet their role in their new community is not yet established. What a marvelous time to talk about community, about rights and responsibilities, in the college community and the larger society. A focus on civic engagement during the first year offers students a way to build connections to communities and helps them practice the skills required of citizens in a democracy. Why Focus on Civic Engagement? Thomas Ehrlich described civic engagement as:... working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and nonpolitical processes. 1 Civic engagement is the lifeblood of our democracy. Without knowledgeable citizens willing to be active participants in civic life, our communities and our democracy are threatened. For these to remain strong, the principles of democracy and the ways that ordinary Americans should act as citizens must be taught to and practiced by each new generation of Americans. Certainly the times we live in demand greater citizen engagement. We must be knowledgeable about an increasingly complex, and sometimes ominous, set of issues, including pandemics, global warming, terrorism, and the viability of the nation-state. The national problems we confront are more insistent: political polarization, capitalism v. democracy, health care, the growing divide between rich and poor, the role of science v. religion. Not only must we be more knowledgeable about these issues; we must also be willing to become engaged in those issues as we vote for candidates, participate in advocacy groups, contribute time and financial resources to support organizations, and engage in other acts of citizenship. In a democracy, we must have an educated and engaged citizenry if we are to address these issues effectively. Yet as John Dewey noted,...we have taken our democracy for granted; we have thought and acted as if our forefathers had founded it once and for all. We have forgotten that it has to be enacted anew in every generation. 2 And Americans are less involved today in the work of citizenship than ever before. In the past 10 years, a series of reports have documented declining levels of participation. The Civic Health Index, released in September 2006, noted steep declines over the past 30 years in indicators of political participation. 3 In 2000, the Saguaro Seminar noted: Without strong habits of social and political participation, (America is) at risk of losing the very norms, networks, and institutions of civic life that have made us the most emulated and respected nation in history. 4 The National Commission on Civic Renewal lamented that America was turning into a nation of spectators. 5

The preparation of citizens was one of the original purposes of higher education in the United States. Our early colleges typically were created for religious purposes, for career preparation, and for civic leadership. How do we continue this tradition and build on it? Why Focus on Civic Engagement in the First Year of College? Higher education must focus on civic skills because the ages of 15-25 are critical years for the development of habits of citizenship. Developmental psychologists report that civic habits and skills developed between 15 and 25 persist long into adulthood, shaping behavior for many years to come. The U.S. Department of Labor s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an upward trend in the college enrollment rate for recent high school graduates since 2001. Over 65% of high school graduates from the class of 2006 enrolled in colleges or universities in fall 2006. Colleges and universities are a natural venue for shaping civic skills and habits in a significant portion of our citizenry. 6 It is appropriate to focus on civic engagement in the first year of college, even when so much else is going on. In a four-year curriculum, it makes no sense to discard one quarter of the opportunity available to influence students. The first year of college can be chaotic, but it is also when students develop study habits and behaviors that persist throughout college. The first year is when students begin to make decisions about majors and develop connections to their institution and community, or think about dropping out, stopping out, or transferring. A focus on civic obligations during this crucial time can shape the direction of students college years, and perhaps their careers. Perhaps most importantly, the first year is when students are taking much of their general education content. Those same courses provide students with the greatest opportunity to develop analytical and reasoning skills, develop historical understandings, and learn to work with others who are different. These introductory courses can help students learn to situate themselves within a larger world, to understand their place in a community of others, and to connect their experiences to those of others. For these reasons, the first year of college is when civic engagement should be introduced and integrated. For the institution, introducing civic engagement in the first year can provide an organizing theme. Building those connections for students helps them become engaged in their studies, and engagement often predicts both success and retention. Making the first year of college more coherent and more comprehensible to students is an institutional success strategy, as well as a strategy for ensuring greater student success. Creating Civically Engaged First-Year Students What does it take to create civically engaged graduates, starting with students first year of college? Three critical features are: institutional intention (leadership, culture, policies); programs and activities (curriculum and co-curriculum); and measuring results (institutional and course/program results, using local and national tools). In designing our programs and courses to nurture first-year civic engagement, we must intentionally address knowledge, skills, experiences, and reflection. We must teach democratic values and traditions and, if not in every course or program, somewhere in the students experience we must teach U.S. history and issues. Students must learn and practice the skills of civic engagement: identifying public problems, deliberating, listening, working as a team, understanding others perspectives, compromising, finding solutions; opinion or solution, doing individual or group work on or off campus, exercising leadership, participating actively in democracy; creating explicit connections to civic obligations. These skills are critical to students effective and sustained learning. They offer first-year students practice in the academic skills and habits of mind that can make them successful students. Indeed, civic engagement learning matches the goals of many transition-to-college programs, teaching students critical thinking and problem-solving, collaboration, time management, shortand long-term planning, and letting them examine the relationship between theory and practice, diversity issues, and their own identities in their new communities. These skills are also integral to service-learning and to civic engagement. Sometimes we use those terms interchangeably. The distinction that I make with civic engagement is the conscious practice of the skills of citizenship necessary for successful democracy, and our campuses need to model these from the time students first arrive. Institutional Culture: The Civically Engaged Campus What kind of campus community and institutional culture do students encounter in their first year? We must do more than offer courses and programs for students civic engagement; we must welcome them to a civically engaged campus. Such campuses have critical characteristics in common: the mission and other public statements; designed to educate citizens and promote civic engagement, with goals, strategies for realizing the goals, and ways to measure results; skills, experiences, and reflection; including debating issues with civility, advocating, persuading, compromising, organizing; different from themselves;

and to engage in democratic processes on and off campus; and service in the local community and the larger world. Such an environment establishes an ethos of civic engagement. It models individual and organizational commitment. It offers students theory and practice, meaningful application of learning, and the expectation that they reflect deeply on their experiences and life choices. This is the stage to set in students first year. How Can Civic Engagement Become Part of the First Year of College? The American Democracy Project, a joint effort of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and The New York Times, has worked for the past four years on issues of civic engagement in higher education. We have learned that building civic engagement calls for careful planning and attention by institutions seeking this outcome. A deliberate, explicit commitment to focus on civic engagement is required and that often involves conversations about what the term civic engagement means, what it would look like in the experience of first-year students, and how programs and courses could encourage students to become informed, engaged, and active citizens. In this monograph, a number of talented authors will address those issues. Let me anticipate some of the content in the chapters that follow. Tom Ehrlich, a senior scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and a wonderful colleague in the American Democracy Project, sees civic engagement as an evolution from volunteerism to political engagement. In his chapter, he argues that political engagement is hardest for students to achieve, and they often seem to prefer the less conflict-prone world of volunteering. Yet, the critical issues this nation faces are ultimately political questions that must be resolved through political processes. The good news, Ehrlich reports, is that there are ways that faculty can help students develop openness to new ideas and the capacity to evaluate arguments and justifications for their own positions and the positions of others. There are ways for colleges to help students develop judgment based in political knowledge and understanding, political skills and a strategic sense for how to use such skills, and the capacity to withstand setbacks and disappointments. From her long history as the leader of Campus Compact, an organization of college and university presidents focused on reclaiming the civic mission of higher education, Liz Hollander challenges us to think about the entire experience of first-year students as we construct programs. Research suggests that both traditional academic programs and student life programs can be effective in fostering civic engagement and that reaching all first-year students (the 100% solution) is an appropriate goal. Hollander provides insights into special programs and resources that campuses can use to encourage civic engagement among first-year students. Felice Nudelman, Director of Education at The New York Times and Don Hecker, Training Editor of Staff Editors, discuss the information sources and civic literacy of the Millennials, the new generation of college students, who in the digital age have interests and habits new to most of their professors and mentors. The authors explore how first-year students are engaged in understanding current events and analyzing issues, and they look at the role of the press and other media in students civic education. Caryn Musil describes some of the core civic skills that campuses need to teach as part of a focus on civic engagement. Her organization, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), has been a national leader in defining and championing liberal education outcomes. Musil shows that some of the skills and attributes normally described as the outcomes of liberal education are in fact also civic skills: being open-minded, using critical thinking to analyze complex situations, and concern for the rights of others. Her taxonomy helps us develop first-year programs that can be bases for lifelong civic engagement. One often-overlooked area of civic engagement planning is assessment. Assessment needs to be summative and formative and use multiple means; a range of examples are embedded in the chapters and case studies here. In his chapter, John Pryor of the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) describes assessment strategies and some of the existing and emerging tools for measuring progress in civic engagement. HERI has worked for many years with one of the oldest surveys of incoming first-year student attitudes, the 40-year-old Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey at UCLA, which provides powerful insights into the political attitudes and behaviors of students coming to college. He shows how institutions can use the CIRP Freshman Survey, the Your First College Year (YFCY) survey, and alumni surveys to gain a longitudinal perspective. The monograph concludes, appropriately, with chapters by Betsy Barefoot and John Gardner, two profoundly influential leaders in the first-year experience movement. Barefoot has an impressive collection of case studies that illustrate how such programs are created and organized. Gardner examines the intersection of civic engagement and the first year, arguing that the two issues are mutually reinforcing. His thoughtful perspectives, gleaned from a long career focused on the first year of college, provide a fitting conclusion to this monograph. Conclusion The role of colleges and universities in preparing the next generation of citizens is vital if we are to remain a strong democracy. If colleges and universities accept this role, they must begin early, in the first year of college, for the work of preparing citizens is not done in a small group of courses or in a single year. Citizenship preparation, to be most effective, must become a pervasive commitment of the institution, reflected in the academic programs, student life, and campus culture. Beginning the work of citizenship preparation in the first year of college offers students new world views and new ways of thinking of themselves and their contexts, and these new insights and understandings may in turn affect their careers, their lives. But there is another reason to embrace the work of citizenship

preparation. At its heart, this work is simply good educational practice. It engages students in thoughtful and important work, connects them to a larger world, and gives them skills that they will use in all dimensions of their lives. It provides a powerful explanation for why they are in college and for the purpose of their studies. It raises profound moral questions about how we live and work together as human beings in a global society. It challenges them to consider not only how the world is, but how it might be. It offers intellectual and moral complexities that force them to confront their own inadequacies. And it inspires them to move beyond themselves to consider others. For undergraduate students, and for our nation, there can be no more important educational outcomes. 1 Preface, page vi Civic Responsibility and Higher Education, edited by Thomas Ehrlich, published by Oryx Press, 2000. 2 Teachers College Record Volume 3 Number 26, 1937, p. 235-238 http://www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 13522, Date Accessed: 6/1/2007 3:01:41 PM 3 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533441,00.html 4 http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/saguaro/primer.htm 5 http://www.civiced.org/archives/fall98/cc_nccr.html 6 http://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm; accessed 6-3-07

CHAPTER 2 Learning for Political Engagement Thomas Ehrlich, Senior Scholar, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Overwhelmingly these days, when we talk about politics at all, we talk just with those who think as we do liberals talk with liberals, conservatives talk with conservatives. Students are no different in this respect from the rest of us. They find a group of like-minded students, and stick with them. In some ways, of course, this strategy makes good sense shared perspectives suggest a broad platform for friendship. But this is a bad strategy for undergraduate learning about political or public-policy issues, for students following that strategy will rarely be challenged about their political views in ways that help them to examine their judgments, and in the process, to grow in wisdom. Educating students to be actively engaged in civic and political affairs is an essential goal of higher education in the United States, a goal consistent with the academy s core value of open inquiry. We need to assume leadership in educating our students in and out of the classroom in the values, skills, and knowledge needed for democracy. We need to help students develop their openness to new ideas and their capacity to evaluate their own positions and the positions of others. Research shows that the potential for promoting this capacity is particularly high among first-year students. Since 2003, colleagues at the Carnegie Foundation and I have been engaged in the Political Engagement Project (PEP), an intense study of how students learn about politics and how to facilitate that learning. By politics, we mean not just partisan political activity but also public policy-making through informal and nongovernmental institutions as well as efforts to influence public officials or formal government entities. Our new book based on the study is Colby, Beaumont, Ehrlich, and Corngold, Educating for Democracy: Preparing Undergraduates for Responsible Political Engagement, published by Jossey-Bass. We came to this work as a natural progression from an earlier book we wrote, Colby, Ehrlich, Beaumont, and Stephens, Educating Citizens ( Jossey-Bass, 2003). In that study, we examined 12 campuses that do a particularly good job of educating for civic engagement and moral responsibility. All of these colleges and universities are marked by a high degree of what we call institutional intentionality. They have their campus act together in terms of civic engagement. From the outset of the first-year experience on these campuses, students are made aware of the high expectations that the faculty and administration have for them in terms of gaining the knowledge, skills, and motivation to become civic leaders in their communities. Students learn these expectations and take the initial steps toward meeting them in reading and responding to materials received before admission, in summer readings sent before the start of the first year, in first-year convocations, in numerous other reinforcing experiences in the curriculum and the co-curriculum, and in what we call the campus climate or culture. As a result, the identities of most students at these campuses were significantly shaped in terms of moral responsibility and civic engagement, two strands that are closely intertwined. We found much in that prior work to encourage us. Surveys show that students are far more likely today than previously to come to college having already participated in community service; campuses across the country report an explosion of service-learning courses and extra-curricular service activities. In that sense, civic engagement in colleges and universities is booming. But when we looked closely at what the students were actually doing in both their curricular and extra-curricular civic efforts, we found that the overwhelming majority were engaged in nonpolitical activities. Students were individually working to clean up a park, tutor a child, serve in a soup kitchen. These are all important tasks, ones communities need. And they were often connected to academic learning through structured reflection. But the students were too rarely asking, What would it take to ensure that my community no longer needs a soup kitchen? Or to improve its schools or parks? Students all too seldom were involved in real discussions and debates about systemic change, about the kinds of public policy-making that in our democracy requires political dialogue and debate. Educating for Democracy: Political Engagement In Educating for Democracy we set forth the key goals and pedagogies of education for political engagement (structured reflection, research and action projects, outside speakers, and external placements); spell out the specific purposes these pedagogies serve; and offer guidelines for using them, warnings about challenges they present, and suggestions for overcoming those challenges. Our study does not focus just on first-year students, but there is much

in it of particular interest to those working with first-year students. Moreover, my Carnegie colleagues and I are collaborating with eight AASCU campuses in the American Democracy Project (ADP) with a view to reaching most of the students on those campuses with lessons learned from our study, and the primary focus of those campuses is the first-year experience. We identified more than 50 curricular and extra-curricular courses and programs specifically aimed at educating for political engagement. From the data and information we drew from surveying students both before and after they participated in these initiatives, from interviews with faculty and students, and from examining materials used by the faculty and papers prepared by the students, we learned a great deal about educating for political engagement. There is some good news. First and most important, these offerings are succeeding in promoting greater political engagement among participating students. Students show significant gains in terms of knowledge and understanding, skills, motivation and values, and action and involvement after participating in civic education experiences. Second, these courses and programs are not creating significant changes in students partisan identification (e.g., Democratic or Republican) or political ideologies (i.e., where they would place themselves on a liberal-conservative continuum). These findings support the legitimacy of this work in educational institutions and reflect the fact that faculty involved work hard to maintain an atmosphere of open inquiry and expose students to many and varied viewpoints. They do not seek to indoctrinate students into any particular ideology. We did find in our study, however, that sometimes reasoned discourse is not enough to ensure protection for minority views on a campus or in a classroom. Students holding minority views may not fully grasp the process of reasoned discourse, and faculty need to teach them how to make the best possible case for their position. In a number of the courses in our study, students are assigned to advocate particular policy positions as a way to enhance their reasoning skills and also to recognize how important it is to understand deeply those views with which one disagrees, if only to be able to respond persuasively to critics who argue for those views. Goals and Strategies for Education for Political Engagement The overarching goal in our work has been to educate for political engagement that reflects wise judgment based in sound political knowledge and understanding, expertise in a wide range of political skills and a strong strategic sense for when and how to deploy those skills, along with steadfast resolve, including the capacity to withstand setbacks and disappointments. That is an ambitious agenda. An undergraduate can make only a start toward these goals, of course, but we have seen substantial evidence that the college years can be times of real progress toward achieving them. It should come as no surprise that students who come with little interest or experience in politics experience the biggest gains. In our study, these students gained the most from the courses and programs compared with those with strong backgrounds. But even those students who came to college already excited and knowledgeable gained in understanding, skills, and motivation. Our study singles out five clusters of strategies for particular attention research and action projects, outside speakers, discussion and deliberation, external placements, and structured reflection. These are all strategies that are already widely used on most campuses. We explore adapting those strategies for political learning in rigorous ways that also enhance other academic goals. We provide rich examples of how these five approaches can be employed in a wide variety of settings and subjects, along with illustrations of the challenges faced and how best to overcome those challenges. In this chapter, I focus on one set of challenges: How to avoid drowning in hot water when you talk about politics in your courses or in other campus settings. I use one of the five strategies, engaging political speakers, by way of primary illustration. The Imperative of Open Inquiry My colleagues and I ground our work in what we call the imperative of open inquiry. This imperative makes college education for political engagement very different from other sources from which students learn about politics most often the media, politicians, public-policy makers, and others who attempt to influence them. In fact, demonization of the political opposition is so woven into our society that it s no surprise that students fear being harshly judged if they speak up for an unpopular view. Moreover, faculty as well as students are often unaware of the values and beliefs that are implicit in their approach to an issue. Academically based education for political engagement must be non-partisan, unbiased, open to multiple points of view, grounded in deep knowledge and serious deliberation, and civil in tone. It can be passionate, of course, but the passion must be grounded in reason and evidence. In other realms, it is enough to say that you care deeply about some issue. But in the academy, that caring must be backed by reasoned analysis. Education for political engagement is legitimate only if it is consistent with core values of the academy: intellectual integrity, mutual respect and tolerance, willingness to listen to the ideas of others, commitment to rational discourse, procedural impartiality, and civility. Those values are essential to the central task of higher education, and it is critical that students learn them in their first year of college. These values become accepted not when they are imposed externally, but rather when they are adopted as norms of behavior because faculty and administrators see that they are practiced as part of the everyday expectations of academic life. What does this mean for educating students? Most fundamentally, we are suggesting that faculty help students develop two key abilities: (1) an openness to new ideas and (2) the capacity to evaluate arguments and justifications for their own positions and the positions of others. Again, the potential for promoting this capacity is particularly high among freshmen. A key way to teach these goals is to model them, and faculty should certainly be encouraged to do so. This means that when teaching for political engagement, it is important to provide multiple perspectives whenever possible, though not necessarily equal time for all viewpoints.

What about academic freedom? It is, of course, a core value of the academy, and faculty must determine the goals and content of their courses and make judgments on whether and how to address controversial issues. But academic freedom carries with it academic responsibility, and a central commitment to intellectual quality reasoned justification of claims, presentation of evidence, consideration of plausible alternative explanations and objections is part of what we mean by open inquiry. Civility is also a core academic value, but it is one too often assumed without much discussion. Incivility on campus is generally not premeditated, but rather arises in casual asides, jokes, and comments meant to lighten up or personalize a class or talk. It is well to remind faculty and students to consider how others might take such comments. Bringing Political Speakers to Campus Among the scores of speakers who come to college campuses to talk about politics or public policy issues, some are elected or appointed government officials; some are political activists, leaders of social movements or important interest groups; some are experts who share their views on public policy issues from nonelected or non-governmental positions. They provide teachable moments that can be used to encourage students to reflect seriously on the competing perspectives, ideals, and arguments that emerge from their talks and that sometimes surround their visits. Most seek to educate students, and many also seek to motivate them politically. Speakers are often invited to give campus talks or addresses as part of special university programs, both academic and co-curricular, and these campus-wide speakers can be usefully connected to educational programs that address political engagement. Other speakers are invited to give informal, and often more interactive, talks in particular courses and programs. These speakers are also very rich sources of political learning. Engaging students with invited speakers can convey political knowledge, stimulate political motivation, and help establish a campus climate in which politics is seen as important and exciting and where being open-minded is valued. On most campuses, the administration is closely involved in inviting speakers, but it is also useful for students to take an active role in helping to select the types of panels and events and the particular speakers they think will be most interesting and important for the campus community. Even a speaker who is not particularly well known can bring a wealth of experience in politics or in work that connects with key political and policy issues. Indeed, our conversations with students made it clear that local or less highly visible political figures can sometimes have a greater impact on students than those who are more prominent. These relatively low-profile speakers often seem more like real people to students and are easier for students to identify with than larger-than-life figures. This is especially so when they tell stories of their political work in spheres of action that feel familiar or accessible to students, thus helping students see that they too could take action of that sort. Engaging Students Politically A number of challenges are present in teaching for political engagement. Although lack of civility can certainly be a problem, we found a much more serious issue is often that students become so fearful of offending each other that they refuse to clash intellectually in strenuous arguments and debate. They think it is enough if each states his or her own views, and all listen politely without real engagement. A corollary of this all-too-common phenomenon on college campuses is a troubling relativism, a judgment that all points of view should implicitly be taken as equally valid. Perhaps this phenomenon is better described as a permanent suspension of judgment. In all events, this kind of disengagement on the one hand and relativism on the other is deeply dangerous. Remaining always open to new ideas and new approaches is an essential part of learning in college, but college should also be a time when students arrive at political judgments they are willing to defend and act on. Faculty can model this kind of shaping by their own actions, though it is obviously important to distinguish faculty members roles as teachers and as private persons. It is perfectly reasonable that they should express their own views, though in the courses and programs that we studied, we found differences among faculty members about whether it was useful to disclose their personal judgments on public policy and other political issues being discussed in class. Some felt that the expression of their views would stifle debate, even though that expression was accompanied by strong encouragement to challenge those views and express other opinions. Others found it much more straightforward to state their judgments and the reasons behind those judgments, while recognizing the legitimacy of differing opinions. What about the arguments that the campus is too politically homogeneous? We looked hard at this issue. In brief, a recent study by the Higher Education Research Institute suggests that across all campuses in all parts of the country there are more liberal than conservative faculty. But we also concluded that wide variations exist within the faculty. The sciences, engineering, and business faculties are generally more conservative, and the humanities faculties, along with some of the social sciences, are generally more liberal. Moreover, faculties at some faith-based institutions are more conservative, and faculties in the California Bay Area are more liberal and so forth. In short, the imbalance is less (and it is more unevenly distributed) than some critics suggest. In my own experience, the potential for problems is much more significant at the graduate level in the arts and sciences than among undergraduates, for graduate students are effectively apprenticed to a single faculty member while undergraduates are generally exposed to a much broader range of perspectives. Recommendations In Educating for Democracy, we suggest some proven approaches for engaging students, for encouraging them to be motivated to make political engagement a part of who they are and what is important to them. We realize that passion for a cause is important to political engagement as are analytic abilities, and the two are

often in tension. Political participation frequently involves emotion-laden rhetoric personal testimony, mass protests, and so forth. Students need to gain an appreciation of the diversity of expression these modes represent even though they are not part of academic discourse. And they need to understand the value of open inquiry most immediately on the campuses of which they are a part, but also in the daily practice of living their lives especially, though not exclusively when they are considering matters of public policy. And they need to begin this appreciation, understanding, and learning in their first year of college. In the face of these challenges, we must remember that open inquiry is a kind of acquired taste, and students need to be exposed to multiple, overlapping, and reinforcing occasions when open inquiry is practiced. There is no magic bullet, no single wand that when waved will work for all students in all circumstances. Faculty can do much to promote the value of open-minded inquiry within the classroom. At the very least, they can examine their assignments and what they say in class through the lens of open inquiry. A strategy some faculty use is to ask students to conduct research on and present the strongest arguments they can marshal for two or more quite different positions on contentious issues. Such an assignment requires students to bring a degree of sympathy to positions they do not hold. Some of the faculty and administrative leaders of courses and programs in the Political Engagement Project teach students to take on explicitly the role of moderator or overseer of the discussion s tone as well as productivity. For each class, for example, Professor Rick Battistoni at Providence College assigns one student to be the discussion moderator and another to be what he calls a vibes watcher, who encourages students to speak when they appear reluctant to express minority views. Students take turns playing these roles, and many commented to us on the special value of having a vibes watcher. The very act of creating and using a role like this in discussions calls attention to the process and character of productive deliberation. Faculty should also pay particular attention to assessment when teaching for political engagement. Sometimes students believe their academic work has been evaluated based on the political views it expresses, rather than its quality, even when this is not true. For this and other obvious reasons, it is essential to make assessment criteria explicit and to provide as much feedback as possible based on those criteria. ********* The task of preparing college students to engage in political affairs, defined in ways that meet their own concerns and interests, requires leadership from those of us at institutions of higher education. With John Dewey, I believe that democracy and education are inexorably intertwined. This is not simply because our citizenry must be educated to deal honestly with each other and to choose responsibly our political leaders and hold them accountable. Much more important, a democratic society is one in which citizens interact with each other, learn from each other, grow with each other, and together make their communities more than the sum of their parts. To help translate that goal into effective educational programs is our common task, and we dare not fail.

CHAPTER 3 Campus Compact: Fostering the Civic Engagement of College Students Elizabeth L. Hollander, Senior Fellow, Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, Tufts University; former Executive Director, Campus Compact Over the last two decades, the resources to support students civic engagement have expanded exponentially, on our campuses and through our national associations. The growth of Campus Compact, an organization of college and university presidents, is one marker of how American campuses are reclaiming the civic mission of higher education. The organization is a resource for institutions and practitioners who want to create civic engagement opportunities for students, with institutional intentionality and with developmental models for student learning. Its Web site (http://www.compact.org/) provides essential readings on theory and practice and models for curricula and co-curricula and collaborations of institutions and communities. Campus Compact started in 1985 when the presidents of Georgetown (Tim Healy), Stanford (Don Kennedy) and Brown (Howard Swearer) came together with Frank Newman (then president of the Education Commission of the States) to respond to the critique of college students as the me generation. These leaders did not believe that college students were self-centered and lacked idealism. They believed, instead, that students needed more campus-sponsored opportunities for public and community service. They hoped to find 100 college presidents who agreed with them. Campus Compact s Presidents Declaration of the Civic Responsibility of Higher Education has now been signed by over 500 college and university presidents. 1 The Declaration challenges higher education to become engaged, through actions and teaching, with its communities to renew our role as agents of our democracy a task both urgent and long-term. It recognizes the importance of this mission: This country cannot afford to educate a generation that acquires knowledge without ever understanding how that knowledge can benefit society or how to influence democratic decision making. We must teach the skills and values of democracy, creating innumerable opportunities for our students to practice and reap the results of the real, hard work of citizenship. 2 In 2006, Campus Compact published A More Perfect Vision: The Future of Campus Engagement 3, looking forward from our two decades of work. More than 40 presidents, faculty, CAOs, community service staff, students, community partners, and funders address key issues for the 21st century: embedding civic and community engagement into higher education at all levels, bridging the opportunity gap by improving educational access and success, and educating students for global citizenship. In 2007, Campus Compact membership stood at nearly 1,100 campuses. Two- and four-year, public and private institutions in 32 states 4 have statewide Compact offices, and several others are being organized. The 2005 Campus Compact annual survey of campuses estimated the combined value of the service provided by students on these member campuses to be $5.6 billion. Campus Compact has developed a powerful network of thousands of campus leaders, including presidents, senior administrators, staff, and faculty. State directors regularly bring campus service and service-learning directors and educators together; sponsor conferences, faculty workshops; and presidential meetings; award grants; and recognize and disseminate best practice. They also lead state-based efforts to support the civic mission of higher education. The Campus Compact national office at Brown University maintains a Web site with myriad model programs, including a host of first-year models. 5 The national office also offers publications and a consulting corps to assist campuses in developing their civic engagement programs. This office regularly gives awards that recognize best practice and outstanding faculty and students. Broadening Conceptions of the Civic Mission In the 20 years since the founding of Campus Compact, our concept of the civic responsibility of higher education has broadened. Early on, the emphasis was on engaging students in co-curricular service activities. This, however, did not fully educate students for active citizenship. Many were not voting, nor did they feel they could make systemic change in their society. To deepen civic education and ensure better preparation and deeper reflection about the challenges facing society, many institutions embedded civic action in the curriculum. Faculty ownership of civic education was, and is, considered essential to weaving it into the fabric of higher education. The concept of the engaged campus has extended beyond

educating students for active citizenship, to include the concept of the campus acting as a good citizen. Many campuses now recognize their responsibility, and self interest, to foster the social and economic well being of their host communities. They provide scholarships for neighborhood youth, partner with local K-12 education systems, invest in local development, and open physical facilities to local residents. Engaged campuses also encourage community-based research that serves local needs. Colleges and universities are in a much stronger position to educate their students to be active citizens when they themselves walk the walk. The First Year of College A Time for the 100% Strategy The most thoughtful campuses understand that civic education is a developmental process. They plan for their first-year civic engagement programs to be a base for students ongoing development and to develop different kinds of civic skills. 6 With institutional intentionality 7, they design a constellation of programs to reach 100% of their first-year students. For some students from middle- and upper-income, homogeneous communities, college service experiences are the first, and often shocking, recognition of the other America. Processing that reality and gaining understanding of the large divide between rich and poor, and what one can do about it, require well-crafted opportunities for reflection and learning. It also requires program design for opportunities to understand the community assets available in even the poorest communities, and the importance of truly reciprocal and respectful community engagement. An example of how a developmental approach is manifest in a student s life is seen in Kymber Lovett, a student at James Madison University in Virginia. A social work major, she was surprised by the service-learning requirement in a first-year course. She worked in a Boys and Girls club her first year. In her sophomore year, the college service center asked her to supervise other student volunteers. In her junior year, she took a health policy course and lobbied the state legislature to adopt legislation to give health care coverage to poor children. In her own words: It was at this point that I realized that there is a need to question the structures in place in our communities when they are not meeting our needs. I had never thought to ask why so many children that I worked with at the Boys and Girls Club were not reading at their grade levels or why they did not have health care services. But once I started asking, I realized that there were opportunities that I had as a member of the community to work to make changes. (unpublished speech at the founding of Virginia Campus Compact) The First College Year in the Context of the Engaged Campus As the civic engagement movement in higher education has spread and deepened, so has the quality of civic engagement in each student s first year. More campuses have come to see civic engagement in the first year as laying the foundation for civic engagement throughout the college experience. Campuses are also viewing the first year as an opportunity to introduce students to the community to which they have come, as well as to the campus. Content and coursework differ with each college s is mission, but students experiences are shaped by programs developmental approach. Three examples from the many highlighted on the Campus Compact Web site follow. Tusculum College has a campus-wide service day that is integrated into the required first-semester freshman year seminar, Our Lives In Community, as well as other courses taught at the beginning of each fall. This is followed by a sophomorelevel course, Citizenship and Social Change: Theory and Practice, required of all students and involving a group service project of around 15 hours. This is then followed by students choice of one of three service-learning courses: an intensive immersion course, a semester-long service-learning course, or a Civic Arts Project that requires the student to design and implement a service project in collaboration with community members. All of this is linked to a curriculum focused on education as preparation for citizenship. 8 Another example is DePaul University s Discover Chicago program, which now reaches 1,700 first-year students. 9 This program provides optional experiential immersion courses that start the week before other regular classes and extends throughout the quarter. Each class is capped at 22 students and has an upper-class student, staff, and faculty member assigned to it. Subjects cover everything from the computer game industry to architectural preservation to immigration, all based in the City of Chicago. A service day is held on the last day for all participants, followed by a convocation at which the university reinforces the importance of the values inherent in the program, that is, the value of knowing the community where students have come to study and what it can teach them, and their obligation to serve. (First-year students who do not enroll in Discover Chicago classes must take Explore Chicago, a traditional class with a Chicago topic and three field trips during the quarter. These classes are capped at 30 students. ) DePaul emphasizes development with its Ladder of Social and Civic Engagement, which builds richer and more complex experiences. This ladder provides opportunities to become engaged with Chicago s communities through curricular, co-curricular, and employment experiences. Students can elect a minor in Community Service Studies (six courses focused on community engagement/social justice/social reform, four of which are service-learning), as well as DePaul s University Internship Program, which offers a track that is focused on employment at nonprofit organizations. Strategies for building citizenship skills are not limited to doing service work, although this is the most common approach. Campuses are also concerned about developing the capacity to see and negotiate differing points of view in civil discourse. Increasingly, as well, the concept of citizenship has broadened to a concept of global citizenship. Civic engagement in the first year, then, becomes a combination

of strategies, a 100% strategy to develop some civic skills in all students, and an indepth experience for students who seek to do more. Elon College in North Carolina, for instance, builds a global studies program into students freshman year, with a required international simulated conference, challenging students to research positions and be able to articulate them in a conference environment. This approach helps students to make connections between classroom knowledge and real-world dilemmas and to develop the competencies and habits necessary for responsible civic leadership. 10 Elon also has a residential life option for students who want to build the service experience into their residence experience, an increasingly common model. Promise for the Future The civic engagement movement in higher education is exciting because it is increasingly clear that educating students for their civic responsibilities is also a strategy for increasing learning, increasing connection to the campus and the community, and developing leadership skills. An engaged first-year experience can even increase students happiness, as educators have found at DePaul. Because of extensive networks like Campus Compact, no administrator or faculty needs to start from scratch. The growth of this movement and twenty-first century digital resources mean that a great body of experience and program designs are easily available. 1 http://www.compact.org/resources/declaration/declaration_2005.pdf 2 http://www.compact.org/resources/declaration/declaration_2005.pdf 3 http://www.compact.org/20th/papers 4 California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia. 5 http://www.compact.org/resources/program_models; service learning syllabi: http://www.compact.org/syllabi/; a national calendar of learning and presenting opportunities: http://www.compact.org/calendar; and regular policy alerts: http://www.compact.org/policy/ 6 See the chapter herein by Caryn McTighe Musil. 7 See the chapters herein by George Mehaffy and Thomas Ehrlich emphasizing institutional intentionality for civic engagement. 8 http://www.compact.org/resources/program_models; click on Program Models Database and then enter Tusculum 9 See also this monograph s case by IUPUI on its Discover Indianapolis course. 10 http://www.compact.org/resources/program_models; click on Program Models Database and then enter Elon, click on Promising Practice: Teaching Civic Leadership Skills through Simulated International Conferences.

CHAPTER 4 Civic Learning: Aligning Planets and Educational Goals Caryn McTighe Musil, Senior Vice President, The Association of American Colleges and Universities As if the planets had finally aligned, the timing could not be better for seizing the moment in higher education to lay claim to its crucial civic mission and tie it firmly to its essential academic purposes. Linking those twin missions irrevocably needs to be established for students during that important first year in college. The Context for Purposeful Learning A large number of students now arrive on campus having already invested some time during high school years performing community service. As of 2005, over 3.3 million college students had served as volunteers. 1 Catching that wave a decade or more ago, student affairs professionals began setting up the infrastructures of community centers to organize student involvement locally. Trying to catch up, faculty began to incorporate opportunities for students within credit-bearing academic courses to embed service-learning, community-based research, and policy-oriented projects. Campus chief executive offices had always had a public outreach to communities local and beyond, but those offices are now integrating that mission more consciously with the help of student and academic affairs in intriguing new ways. For the first time, it is now possible to begin to align all of this activity into more meaningful, purposeful civic learning for students. We are also seeing some emerging evidence that three powerful educational reform movements U.S. diversity, global learning, and civic engagement are just beginning to examine common conceptual frameworks and pedagogies to explore how to maximize the educational and civic impact of their collective work. Such collaborations hold great promise for enriching the overall quality of each of these separate reforms while also helping higher education achieve its oft-stated goal of producing responsible, informed, and empowered local and global citizens. Beginning at the Beginning It is important for the academy to act boldly, from the very first year of a student s college experience, to counter what seems to be a prevailing view among young people that threatens to derail all this forward motion. While they value service, students don t seem to look to higher education to provide civic and intercultural knowledge and experience. In fact, they rank these qualities at the bottom among 15 possible college outcomes. 2 The steep challenge on the academy s side will be to persuade them differently. Part of the reason students don t look to higher education for civic learning is captured by a high school student in a recent Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) focus group. She said, Civic responsibility and leadership are qualities that individuals are born with. Benjamin Barber counters her assumptions when he asserts, We may be born free, but we are not born citizens we have to acquire the traits that enable us to participate effectively in the world. 3 Colleges and universities now more openly agree with Barber and are figuring out just what those traits are that make good citizens and how to orchestrate a student s achieving those capabilities while at college. The chart below, which I created in 2003, 4 offers a broad sweep of how to reconceptualize some of the civic work that is sponsored through higher education and the levels of knowledge that students will need to acquire if they are to move from the exclusionary scope of civic disengagement to the most comprehensive generative scope of civic prosperity. Within these phases and faces of citizenship, the kind and quality of civic interaction and learning are inextricably tied to the kind and quality of academic civic learning a student is challenged to acquire. To move students along the civic learning continuum, colleges need to offer opportunities beginning with students first year to explore intellectually many of the dimensions of civic learning, to experience first-hand what the challenges are for people not yet well served either by democracy s promise or by the world promises embedded in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 5 and to practice the complex skills of deliberative democracy in public efforts to create more just societies. Students need, for instance, to learn from the start that there is more than one way of looking at something and that much can be learned by taking seriously the perspectives of others. It is one of the elemental insights of a strong college education. This kind of learning should be integrated into almost any first-year course. While many students arrive on campus aware that many people suffer deprivations, and may themselves be from such communities, first year is an ideal time to learn more about theories explaining how such deprivations came into being and what forces perpetuate these inequalities. History, sociology, ethnic studies, women s studies, biology, political science, and English are just a

few of the disciplines where such learning could easily be embedded in first-year courses. Questions about power and deprivation might also influence students choices of majors or careers. As students negotiate increasingly multicultural campuses, developing stronger intercultural competencies serves them well from the onset. It is also a necessary part of their ever-expanding ability to engage in interdependent but highly stratified local and global societies as they progress over time toward a commitment not just to civic engagement but to communal civic prosperity for everyone. Research tells us that such intercultural learning actually accelerates students cognitive and moral development, making it all the more compelling to intentionally build such goals into first-year experiences. 6 Setting High Expectations and a Vision for Life Long Engagement A recent report, College Learning for the New Global Century, by the AAC&U, confirms that higher education has come to a consensus on the four pillars of essential learning outcomes for the century. They include: (1) knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world; (2) intellectual and practical skills; (3) personal and social responsibility; and (4) integrative and applied learning. Civic learning threads itself through all four aspects. AAC&U has also promoted the idea of the civic learning spiral that involves six dimensions: self, communities and contexts, knowledge, values, skills, and public collective action. 7 We have suggested that this functions more like a braid than a ladder in that the six dimensions intersect with and inform one another in deepening students civic learning intellectually and in practice. Such turning of the spiral through all six dimensions can occur in one course, over several courses, in co-curricular life, and over time. The best first-year experiences will give students an opportunity to make at least one turn of that civic learning spiral as they explore who they and their communities are, acquire the civic knowledge needed to understand power and stratification, define and refine their core values, practice their democratic skills, and begin to practice working in concert with others to have a social impact. The planets are aligned, the students are ready, the research that affirms the value of civic learning for the common good is prolific, and the world is in desperate need of students ready to grapple with urgent issues that will determine our shared futures. First-year intentional, experiential pathways to civic learning can provide the threshold knowledge students require to become the citizens everyone is longing for. 1 College Students Helping America by the Corporation for National and Community Service (2006). http://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/06_1016_ RPD_college_full.pdf 2 Key Findings from Focus Groups Among College Students and College- Bound High School Students by Peter Hart on behalf of AAC&U (2004). http://www.aacu.org/advocacy/pdfs/hartfocusgroupresearchreport.pdf 3 Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age by Benjamin Barber (1984). 4 Educating for Citizenship by Caryn McTighe Musil for Peer Review (2003). http://www.aacu.org/peerreview/pr-sp03/pr-sp03feature1.pdf 5 Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly (1948). http://www.un.org/overview/rights.html 6 Making Diversity Work on Campus: A Research-Based Perspective by Jeffrey Milem, Mitchell Chang, and Anthony Lising Antonio (2005). http://www. aacu.org/inclusive_excellence/documents/milem_et_al.pdf 7 Purposeful Pathways: Helping Students Achieve Key Learning Outcomes by Andrea Leskes and Ross Miller (2006). An AAC&U publication.

Faces/Phases of Citizenship Face/Phase Community is Civic Scope Levels of Knowledge Benefits Exclusionary only your own civic disengagement one vantage point monocultural a few and only for a while Oblivious a resource to mine civic detachment observational skills one largely monocultural party Naïve a resource to engage civic amnesia no history no vantage point acultural random people Charitable a resource that needs assistance civic altruism awareness of deprivations affective kindliness and respect multicultural, but yours is still the cultural norm the giver s feelings, the sufferer s immediate needs Reciprocal a resource to empower and be empowered by civic engagement legacies of inequalities values of partnering intercultural competencies arts of democracy multiple vantage points multicultural society as a whole in the present Generative an interdependent resource filled with possibilities civic prosperity struggles for democracy interconnectedness analysis of interlocking systems intercultural competencies arts of democracy multiple interactive vantage points multicultural everyone now and in the future

CHAPTER 5 The Role of Newspapers in the First Year of College Felice Nudelman, Director of Education, and Don Hecker, Training Editor for Staff Editors, The New York Times It is the first year of college, and every first-year student finds each day brings a new world and new marvels. For each new student the experience is a profoundly individual one. Students see their own experiences as unique; it is educators and mentors who see and encourage the commonalities. By including newspapers in curricula and co-curricula, educators can nurture reading habits, create shared readings and discussions, and establish a culture of engagement. Newspapers can help students make connections to their courses, their campus, their studies, their lives, the contemporary world Habits of Mind, New Connections The first year of college will establish the pattern and habit of involvement that brings success in students college careers (and beyond, the optimist hopes). This is when individual students develop the living connection with their peers, the faculty and the institution itself. This is a time to encourage, if not impose, structure. Reading a nationally circulated, high-quality newspaper creates a shared environment based on contemporary events and issues. As with many other experiences of first-year students, the regular reading of a newspaper is likely a new habit. Newspapers are chroniclers of current events. Some of those events will be familiar to students, but others will not. The newspaper leads its novice readers from the familiar to the new, encouraging an understanding outside their own bubble. But the newspaper also enriches and enlarges that more focused world of the individual. The newspaper is the natural extension of the textbook, providing the new chapters on events that develop after the book is printed. And as students use their growing academic learning to examine the larger world with greater sophistication, the newspaper provides them with timely information on national and global issues, matters of law, and social and political topics. Readers find debates about the environment, the evolving scientific landscape, government rulings, corporate ethics, civil liberties, terrorism, and a wide array of constitutional issues. As students are exposed to diverse arguments, they learn to intellectually challenge and defend ideas, to sift through conflicting presentations in the search for conclusions. They become more critical thinkers. Engaged Readers and College Success In Bowling Alone, Robert D. Putnam posited the importance of associational activity in an effective democracy, and he found a direct connection between newspaper readership and good citizenship. The newspaper helps students develop patterns of civic responsibility by providing a front row seat from which to explore current events and issues; informed awareness leads to engagement. Through the newspaper, students gain a critical knowledge of issues and needs. Novice newspaper readers grow into skilled analytical readers. They also become more skilled as writers since they are introduced in the newspaper s pages to sophisticated and creative exposition and analysis of issues. Newspaper-reading students find common ground with their peers and faculty in their growing ability to discuss the critical issues of the day. They see connections between what they learn in the classroom and the world around them. This makes that all-important first year of college more coherent and more comprehensible and instills in students greater self-confidence. Here, then, is a powerful tool to promote student success, and through a body of successful students, to promote institutional success. Generating Civic Engagement with Newspapers: Cases Within this monograph are some excellent examples of how the newspaper and news information can be integrated into firstyear courses and activities. These colleges demonstrate the value and importance of the newspaper in creating a culture of civic engagement. Allegheny College uses The Times to create a cohort of engaged first-year students, many of whom have not read a newspaper before entering the college. They hone their verbal and analytical skills by first leading a discussion in class and then moving beyond discussion to the exploration and analysis of long-held beliefs. Their newfound awareness encourages them to explore the world beyond their bubble, to reflect on their role in the community. At The Richard Stockton College, students utilize The Times to research environmental issues for their Environmental Citizenship course. A key component of the course is engagement with the community through council meetings, issue briefs, and events on campus. Because the newspaper is integrated into the course, students

become more informed and participate at a higher level. An example of student engagement fostered by a culture focused on intellectual inquiry is represented by the Fort Hays State University Times Talks initiative. Each week a student or faculty member volunteers to lead a presentation and discussion on a topic of interest using Times articles as the springboard. The co-curricular program has become a staple at FHSU. Indianapolis University-Purdue University, Indianapolis assigns reading of local newspapers to explore issues in its Discover Indianapolis First-Year Seminar. These programs are a few examples of the resources that newspapers and news information bring to building a civically engaged freshman year experience. Our so-called millennials are the largest college generation since the 1960s and the most racially and ethnically diverse. They are digital natives, experiential learners and adept users of many forms of media. So the question is whether the habit of reading newspapers will take hold with this generation of students. The answer, from current research about the millennial generation (Magid, Pew), points in a positive direction: the students are receptive to reading the print edition of the paper and are at ease navigating between print and Web without seeing them as competitive. The print edition provides a serendipitous learning experience; students find articles that are relevant to them and their educational goals and new connections as they turn the pages. They find articles about the environment in the business section, stories about the nature of leadership in the science section and articles that focus on citizenship and community throughout. They also discover new interests, their eyes and curiosity caught by a headline, graph, or picture. They find reference to the newspaper s Web site and additional and interactive features. Many read newspapers online, but in doing so, they are usually seeking information in already established areas of interest, and they are not participating in a shared-reading community. They may not be part of the Conversation the intellectual community that questions causes and authority and its own beliefs. William V. Costanzo writes of how television s moving images and radio s interviews and editorials rarely digest large amounts of data or address intricate arguments. In The Writer s Eye*, he asserts, For more comprehensive coverage and multiple perspectives, we need newspapers, magazines, or some other printed form of media. We need more time to select and read the details (8). Newspapers on campus can create a lively intellectual community and engagement with issues on and off campus. In the first year of college, newspapers can establish a shared culture of informed students and engaged citizens. *Costanzo, William V. The Writer s Eye. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.

CHAPTER 6 Assessing Change in Civic Engagement: A Longitudinal Perspective John H. Pryor, Director, Cooperative Institutional Research Program Higher Education Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles The Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) has had a long-standing interest in measuring civic engagement. The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) is the largest and longest running study of higher education in the United States and has measured issues such as civic engagement for more than 40 years. The most-well known survey in the CIRP is the Freshman Survey, which is used to measure the attributes of incoming first-year students. This survey provides baseline information on incoming students, in order to more fully understand the changes that occur during college. Two other surveys in the CIRP are designed as follow-up surveys and are given at the end of the first year of college (Your First College Year) and as an exit survey for seniors (College Senior Survey). Both of these follow-up surveys assess the college environment and level of engagement of students with various aspects of college as well as the gains that students have made in their college careers. Institutions can assess civic engagement during the first year of college using the Your First College Year (YFCY) survey in conjunction with the Freshman Survey, or as a stand-alone instrument. Approximately 40% of the YFCY is a direct post-test to measures examined in the Freshman Survey, with the rest of the instrument measuring other aspects of the first-year experience, such as transition to college and satisfaction with the college experience. An advantage of using the YFCY paired with the Freshman Survey is that HERI can match individual answers longitudinally, providing institutions with the opportunity to directly assess the impact of civic education initiatives. For example, one of the factors that can be derived from YFCY data is informed citizenship. This factor includes six items: three that examine self-reported change in the understanding of both global and national issues and the problems facing the student s community and three items that measure the importance and prevalence of keeping up to date with political affairs and reading a newspaper (Hurtado et al., 2007). Thus, reading a newspaper more frequently is correlated with being more informed about local, national, and global events. While the Freshman Survey and YFCY can provide important data to help institutions make decisions about student characteristics and needs and about program development, the national dataset provides us with important insight into the college-going population in America. In 2005, we reported that civic engagement among incoming first-year students had increased, possibly in response to several global natural disasters (e.g., Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean tsunami) that had occurred in the year before college entry (Pryor, Hurtado, Saenz, Lindholm, Korn, & Mahoney, 2006). Many of these measures continued to show gains or remain stable with the class entering in 2006. More than four out of five incoming first-year students (82.1%) reported in 2006 that they had engaged in volunteer work as seniors in high school, and the percentage who reported a very good chance that they would volunteer in college was at a high in 2006 at 26.8% (Pryor, Hurtado, Saenz, Santos, & Korn, 2007). In addition, students show a resurgence in the importance of helping others in difficulty, a figure which rose to 66.7% in 2006, the highest it has been in 20 years. Becoming a community leader is a more important goal for students now than ever before, as 35.2% rated it as being very important or essential. Service experiences in college may also have long-term effects on students. Recently, HERI conducted research with students post-graduation. The project examined their civic activities of students 10 years after they had entered college, in 1994. The study found (among many results) that participation in servicelearning while in college was associated with increased civic leadership, charitable giving, and political engagement in students several years after leaving college (Astin et al., 2006). Thus, institutions wishing to examine civic engagement during the first year of college will find useful tools in the CIRP Freshman Survey and the Your First College Year Survey. Both instruments assess civic engagement, and, used longitudinally, provide a powerful method of evaluating the change that occurs during the crucial first-year of college.

References Astin, A.W., Vogelgesang, L.J., Misa, K, Anderson, J., Denson, N., Jayakumar, U., Saenz, V., & Yamamura, E. (2006). Understanding the Effects of Service-Learning: A Study of Students and Faculty. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA. Hurtado, S., Sax, L.J., Saenz, V.B., Harper, C. E., Oseguera, L., Curley, J., Lopez, L., Wolf, D., & Arellano, L. (2007). Findings from the 2005 Administration of the Your First College Year (YFCY): National Aggregates. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA. Pryor, J.H., Hurtado, S., Saenz, V.B., Lindholm, J.A., Korn, W.S., & Mahoney, K.M. (2006). The American Freshman: National Norms for Fall 2005. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA. Pryor, J.H., Hurtado, S, Saenz, V.B., Santos, J.L, & Korn, W.S. (2007). The American Freshman: Forty-Year Trends, 1966 2006. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.

CHAPTER 7 Institutional Structures and Strategies for Embedding Civic Engagement in the First College Year Betsy O. Barefoot, Co-Director and Senior Scholar, Policy Center on the First Year of College College and university educators generally agree that education for citizenship is one of the many purposes of higher education. But that is often where the agreement stops. Some educators consider the application of learning to real-world problems a secondary, rather than primary, goal of higher education. Others would argue that while a focus on civic engagement might be appropriate for upper-level students, first-year students are not prepared, either by experience or maturity, to address these issues effectively. The 33 case studies in this monograph provide real evidence to support a different view. They explore the many benefits that accrue to institutions and their external communities from civic engagement, and they offer examples of how to make education for citizenship a meaningful part of the first college year. While these cases are rich with important detail, this chapter will summarize and categorize them in terms of how they link with existing institutional structures. Admittedly, the process of categorization is somewhat artificial because of the inherent overlap of courses and programs. For instance, although first-year seminars and learning communities are presented as discrete categories, many learning communities include a first-year seminar. These case studies describe civic engagement activities embedded in discipline courses, honors programs, first-year seminars, learning communities, and extra-curricular initiatives. At a few colleges and universities, the theme of civic engagement permeates the entire institutional fabric, interwoven with programs and practices throughout the undergraduate experience. Taken together, these initiatives are a testimony to the creative abilities of college and university educators to engage students in rich and meaningful curricular and extra-curricular experiences experiences that intertwine learning with civic responsibility and service to others. The faculty, staff, and administrators who support these efforts with their time and resources are themselves exemplars of social responsibility and willingness to collaborate with colleagues and community citizens. Civic Engagement in First-Year Courses A significant number of case studies explore ways that first-year courses can be linked with or centered on civic engagement. While a number of these courses can be categorized as first-year seminars, others are discipline-based offerings in various departments or core experiences in an honors program. Discipline Courses California State University, Chico, has integrated civic engagement into first-year writing. Through a sequence of assignments focusing on civic learning, students use writing to inquire into key issues of our time. Lehigh University also uses first-year English to introduce students to civic engagement. The second semester of the two-semester writing requirement introduces students to the skills of civic discourse and to their responsibility to participate in American democracy. Robert Morris College brings environmental science and English students together to work on the three-acre Eden Place Nature Center, formerly an illegal dumpsite in Chicago. While environmental science students study issues related to land use and wildlife, English students design marketing materials and write letters requesting community support. Through the Madison Academic and Athletic Exchange (MAXX) at the University of Wisconsin, students in English 100 work with high school athletes as they consider the role of athletics in American higher education. Pace University has acquired support through Project Pericles, funded by the Eugene M Lang Foundation, to center civic engagement in a number of core curriculum technology courses, and Concordia College places service within a single core first-year course, Global Studies 118. A Focus on Special Populations Some institutions include a civic emphasis within discipline courses that focus on a particular language or population. Through its community-based Spanish Language and Culture Program, Pitzer College places new students in the homes of immigrant Mexican families for a few hours per week during a semester. The interaction of students with native Spanish speakers increases crosscultural understanding and helps build long-term relationships between students and community participants. Weber State University includes a service focus in its Communication 2110 course: students work with a local school district program that targets atrisk elementary and secondary school children. Hampden-Sydney College, one of the few remaining all-male institutions in the U. S., engages honors students in a servicelearning experience at a nearby regional jail. Through a twosemester, first-year honors course, Social Documentary: Image, Text, and Context, students spend significant time teaching basic

photography techniques to inmates and engaging with them to find common ground. This course culminates with an exhibit of photographs taken by students and inmates. As one of its 10 interdisciplinary honors freshman clusters, the University of California, Los Angeles offers a cluster on aging. Frontiers in Human Aging: Biomedical, Psychosocial, and Policy Perspectives is designed to help students develop a broad perspective on the process of aging. As part of the course, students work in different community agencies in the Los Angeles area. Over the past five years, more than 700 students enrolled in this course have provided service to older adults. First-Year Seminars The first-year seminar is a nearly ubiquitous course type in American higher education, and many colleges and universities consider it the ideal location for civic engagement activities. The courses explored in the case study examples can be characterized as special topic first-year seminars those that either link with a particular discipline or are designed to focus on an interdisciplinary topic. Penn State - Lehigh Valley, the University of San Francisco, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Mercer University, Franklin Pierce College, Suffolk University, Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis, Trinity University, and Allegheny College describe unique seminars with a civic engagement focus. Organizing themes for the seminars include diversity, homelessness, environmental issues, political engagement, concerns of a particular city or region, and media literacy. Civic Engagement and Learning Communities First-year learning communities, defined as two or more linked courses across the curriculum, are increasing in number and variety at many colleges and universities across the U.S. Because learning communities, by their very nature, span different courses in the curriculum, they become an ideal setting for the implementation of a broad, interdisciplinary focus on civic engagement. Some learning communities only link courses, but others also include a residential component. The Michigan Scholars Program at the University of Michigan is one of the nation s best known living/learning communities. Its mission is to integrate diversity, civic engagement, and intergroup dialogue in all activities, both in and out of class. Other notable learning communities with a strong civic engagement focus are also featured in the monograph. They include programs at California State University - Fullerton, the University of San Francisco, Colorado State University, and George Mason University. Out-of-Class Civic Engagement Experiences Researchers who study student adjustment in higher education routinely observe the importance of out-of-class activities to the student experience, and several institutions document their efforts to address civic engagement through extra-curricular events and service activities. Fort Hayes State University offers a weekly Times Talk, a brownbag luncheon featuring articles and topics from The New York Times and the local Hays Daily News. These weekly events are open to faculty, staff, and students, as well as members of the local community. Similarly, Indiana University- Purdue University, Fort Wayne sponsors weekly FYE conversations, out of-class opportunities for faculty and students to engage on a variety of topics related to civic issues, with support for faculty for integrating activities into courses. Chapman University includes a focus on civic engagement in its peer-led academic orientation. Though shared summer readings, student blogs, student-filmed interviews, and even musical performances about world issues, the importance of civic engagement is made clear to each cohort of new students. Michigan State University joined with the city of East Lansing to create YouVote, an effort to provide registration and candidate information to students and community citizens. And at Salt Lake Community College, the Thayne Center for Service and Learning coordinates a wide variety of civic engagement activities. More than 1,500 students each year participate in service-learning classes, community work-study, and student-led service opportunities. Civic Engagement as an Institution-Wide Goal The civic engagement initiatives previewed so far are linked to courses, learning communities, or imbedded in out-of-class activities. A few institutions, however, have been successful in infusing civic engagement throughout the institution. The mission of Antioch College states that [students ] work is marked by scholarly rigor and civic engagement. Antioch s connected curriculum infuses civic participation and the development of reflective skills. This comprehensive focus on civic engagement spans both the undergraduate years and the College s signature cooperative learning structure. Texas A & M University, Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) also finds many ways to include students at all levels in a variety of civic activities. Through their self-described concentric circles of engagement, TAMU-CC involves various campus divisions, committees, and community groups in building a commitment to civic learning. Mars Hill College offers its honors students the opportunity to participate in a four-year LifeWorks Civic Engagement Certificate Program that includes significant levels of service. At Chandler-Gilbert College, a twoyear institution in the Phoenix metro area, faculty, student affairs professionals, and librarians recently gathered to find ways of implementing a campus-wide programmatic theme, SEE Your World. The acronym SEE represents Social, Environmental, and Economic issues. In reviewing the various cases describing the infusion of civic engagement in higher education, the influence of external nonprofit agencies or statewide systems on institutional commitment to civic engagement cannot be ignored. The California State University System, for example, has pledged to integrate civic engagement across its campuses. Both the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) through the American Democracy Project and the Carnegie Foundation through the Political Engagement Project (PEP) have also been major support-

ers of these initiatives. The Eugene M. Lang Foundation through Project Pericles has instituted a national initiative whose mission is to assist colleges and universities in educating students for civic and social responsibilities. And the U.S. Department of Education also provides grants through the National Workplace Literacy Program. But while external funds can help begin civic engagement programs, they will not be sustained without the strong commitment of institutions along with their faculty and staff. Strategies Across Structures No civic engagement program employs all strategies, but across our case studies, strong programs create a picture of effective practices. Their collective methods suggest these strategies to adapt as appropriate: across a university system, across colleges within a university, across departments within a college. Connect your program to mission statements and strategic plans. lence, informed discourse, and citizenship in a democracy. and the institutional mission. Use civic engagement to link study across disciplines, the classroom with cooperative and experiential education, the first year with the sophomore year (and beyond), and residential life with curricula. Include media and technological literacy in civic engagement projects. Begin with student orientation. Provide opportunities for honors work. your course or program to foster students development and the practice of habits of mind and engagement. community, and by extension, the public sphere. Acknowledge the importance of place; help students understand context, history and their fellow citizens indeed to think of themselves as fellow citizens, locally and globally. broader social and historical forces. Include U.S. history and the founding documents of the nation. Embed a focus on diversity because diversity is inherent in democracy. Focus on areas of interest: jury service, immigration, cultural identities. staff members expertise, passions, and community connections. Serve students and families in local school systems, a local food pantry, disaster relief, a prison population. Work with the community in defining community needs. courses and student activities, including athletic programs, in the field, in living-learning programs. environmental activism, voter registration, campus causes). room. Use a common book to create a focus on civic issues across campus. Encourage students to write to the press and to authorities or other change agents. Encourage and reward faculty and staff for pilot programs and new pedagogies. quantitative and qualitative, and longitudinally with national and local instruments. Use assessment to raise and address questions for further development of curricula and pedagogy. known. High visibility creates connections with other students and with on- and off-campus supporters (and potential supporters). The Case Studies Detailed information about the various programs previewed in this chapter can be found in the case study section at the end of the monograph. Included in each case study are details about program creation, evolution, and current implementation. Case studies also include information about how program directors assess the impact of civic engagement on various outcomes including retention, student satisfaction, and learning. They also give links to supplementary materials, posted on their Web sites.

CHAPTER 8 Action Steps to Move the First-Year Civic Engagement Agenda Forward John N. Gardner, Executive Director, Policy Center on the First Year of College I have been working since 2003 with more than 350 colleges and universities to move first-year improvement efforts to a plan for excellence rather than one focused on retention and revenues. I have worked with colleagues at the Policy Center on the First Year of College and at hundreds of campuses to develop a set of standards of excellence for the first college year that can be used for both aspirational and measurement purposes. Basically, this is a process for institutional self-study and strategic planning to produce an action plan to improve the beginning college experience. I believe very strongly that in moving beyond boutique programs designed to serve retention goals; we can and should make civic engagement a cornerstone of comprehensive institutional plans to promote educational excellence. The authors of the first six chapters provide theoretical and conceptual frameworks for civic education, demonstrate its value to the first college year, and show us resources and strategies for mission-centered programs. Chapter 7 offers readers an introduction to the wonderful variety of ways institutions are already embedding civic engagement in the first-year experience. To conclude the monograph, I would like to offer a series of action steps that educators can adopt to move the civic engagement agenda forward on their own campuses and toward the ultimate goal of having civic engagement play a central role in the nation s higher education for the first college year and beyond. These steps are grounded in my years of work with the first-year experience, now re-focused to implement the ideals and practice of civic engagement in the first year. 1. Focus on purpose. In working with any campus on the topic of improving the first year, my starting place is always the purpose of the first year: what is (are) your institution s purpose(s) overall and for the first year in particular? 2. Review the institutional mission statement. Many institutions have missions that explicitly espouse values of service and citizenship. Review your institutional mission statement to identify statements that underscore these values and expressly link civic engagement initiatives to those statements. If the values of service and citizenship are not currently part of the institutional mission, lobby to have these values embedded. 3. Develop a mission and philosophy statement for the first-year experience. It should be one that emerges from the institutional mission statement and highlights the role and importance of civic engagement in the first college year. 4. Consider including a focus on civic engagement in your next reaffirmation of accreditation. The regional accreditors such as SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) and HLC (the Higher Learning Commission) have new strategies for re-accreditation that allow campuses to pick elements for special assessment and action-planning for improvement. Make civic engagement such a focus. Institutional self-studies present the opportunity to move civic engagement from the periphery to the center. Highly integrated, mandatory experiences have high status and an exponentially greater impact on students. 5. Embed the emphasis and commitment to civic engagement in the institutional strategic plan. This is a simple strategy. The strategic plan is one of the best clues to what the institution values and where it is trying to move. If it isn t in the plan, it isn t very likely to happen. 6. Create a standing committee on civic engagement. One of the best ways for an external observer to detect what a campus values is to ask for a list of the standing committees. These are the real working groups of the campus that make happen what the institution really cares about. 7. Develop a common message about the importance of civic engagement. It is especially important to embed this institutional value in the print and media messages sent to prospective and incoming students. 8. Involve student affairs units. These units can work with their co-curricular groups, such as social and service fraternities and sororities, to require civic engagement activities, including learning through reflection. 9. Make civic engagement a catalyst for strengthening and demonstrating the quality of academic and student affairs partnerships.

10. Embed civic engagement throughout multiple delivery modes and systems, such as: (a) First-year writing and rhetoric courses, stressing the power of the written word to analyze complex issues and to effect change. Rhetoric courses are grounded in a historical model of engaged citizenry. (b) First-year speech and communications courses, stressing the power of the spoken word to effect change. (c) The first-year seminar. Civic engagement will fit well with the course s inherent interests in integrating faculty, student affairs staff, and students, and in paying attention to holistic development needs of students, helping students to make friends, learn how to interact with faculty and staff outside of class, and get oriented to the external host community. (d) Learning communities. Civic engagement is an ideal form of active-learning pedagogy that can integrate multiple courses in the learning community. (e) Residence hall programming. Many colleges now offer special residence hall theme options, service being one of them. These theme options frequently require students to execute a contract to produce co-curricular deliverables and are excellent vehicles for civic engagement. (f ) Orientation. Orientation, intentionally or unintentionally, is a mirror of what the institution values. If civic engagement is a high institutional value, then there is no better time to introduce it than in orientation. This sets the tone for what is expected and what will follow. 11. Perform an inventory of campus-wide civic engagement activities already under way and then hold a campus-wide summit meeting to showcase these and focus on how to ramp up for the future. Most campuses already have some initiatives under way. Too often these are not coordinated and are even unknown to each other. An early step in moving forward has to be taking stock of what you are already doing. The next steps are instituting procedures for better coordination, communication, synergy, and sharing of resources. 12. Consider whether there should be a czar of service/civic engagement. What if more colleges had a cabinet-level position for advocacy and coordination of civic engagement? Effective, integrated civic engagement requires vested responsibility and accountability. 13. Build assessment into the design and execution of civic engagement activities. You need to know what students are learning, how they are reacting. Analysis of this information provides the basis for continuing improvement. 14. Incorporate civic engagement across the disciplines, to create real traction. The work by Professor Edward Zlotkowski and his American Association for Higher Education-published series Service Learning in the Disciplines is particularly instructive and inspirational. 15. Provide the professional development that faculty deserve and require to incorporate civic engagement in their teaching. Pedagogies of civic engagement must be a priority for the offerings of teaching/learning enhancement centers for faculty development. 16. Form intentional alliances. Who are the natural allies both within the institution and external to the institution? (a) Proponents and practitioners of service learning (b) Campus and state chapters of Campus Compact (c) The American Democracy Project (ADP) of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) (d) Your development office (because many affluent donors believe there is no higher calling than civic engagement and that this is the most important role of higher education) (e) Proponents and practitioners of leadership studies both in the curriculum and co-curriculum (f ) Units/individuals encouraging more active pedagogies, such as those in faculty development and teaching/learning centers (g) Units/individuals charged with improving town/ gown relations (h) Proponents/practitioners for assessing value added educational experiences (i) External community members and organizations that would be natural recipients of benefits of civic engagement (j) Faculty who want to increase student engagement, activism, and perceived relevancy of higher education (k) Educators who seek new structures and platforms that could be vehicles for promoting and improving partnerships between academic and student affairs professionals (l) Educators who want to reduce student boredom and dysfunctional behaviors (m) Those who advocate the reform of the Greek letter social system and see civic engagement as a redemptive force (n) Alumni and trustees who have come to realize the value of civic engagement in their own lives and careers (o) All those who are trying to promote greater student participation in the political processes so essential to a vibrant democracy

Conclusion I wish to be very clear that what I am calling for is a dramatic ramping up of civic engagement in the first year of college. The times require this. The students need this. Our campuses, communities, and country need this. The first year is the foundation for the college outcomes we wish to derive for our students, our communities, and our democracy. Therefore, the introduction to and integration of civic engagement needs to be accomplished in the first year of college. Several hundred universities in the American Democracy Project (ADP) have discovered and practice this. Many initiatives, innovations, and best practices from the past two decades provide us with resources for this work: Campus Compact, ADP, Political Engagement Project (PEP) of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, programs of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), and models of statewide systems requirements (e.g., California). We have on our campuses sites of opportunity and models of best practices: first-year seminars, learning communities, service-learning programs, co-curricular programs, and the many more listed above. Civic engagement in the first year is the natural fulcrum for meaningful and transformational education. This monograph, especially in its case studies, makes it clear that we know how to do this. Now it is just a matter of having the will to help these initiatives achieve their natural and powerful educational potential. We can do better! What are we waiting for?

First-Year Civic Engagement: Case Studies 30 Allegheny College 32 Antioch College 34 California State University, Chico 36 California State University, Fullerton 38 Chandler-Gilbert Community College 41 Chapman University 44 The College of New Jersey 47 Colorado State University-Fort Collins 49 Concordia College 51 Fort Hays State University 54 Franklin Pierce University 57 George Mason University-New Century College 60 Hampden-Sydney College 63 Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne 65 Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) 68 Lehigh University 70 Mars Hill College 72 Mercer University 74 Michigan State University 76 Pace University 79 Penn State University, Lehigh Valley Campus 82 Pitzer College, Claremont, California 85 The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey 87 Robert Morris College 89 Salt Lake Community College 91 Suffolk University 93 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 96 Trinity University 99 University of California, Los Angeles 101 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 103 University of San Francisco 105 University of Wisconsin-Madison 108 Weber State University

CASE STUDY ALLEGHENY COLLEGE Civic Engagement in Freshman Seminar: All the News That s Fit to Print Eric Pallant, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Science In the opening session of my All the News That s Fit to Print class, 15 first-year students list their primary source of news. The range of answers is ample and appalling: The Intelligencer (Doylestown, PA), The Daily Show, WB, Yahoo, their friends, nothing. At least they re honest. FS 101: Descriptive Communication and Inquiry is an introduction to language, both written and oral, required of all first-semester first-year students, though topics vary across disciplines and sections. I have taught this first-year seminar to incoming students since 2002, using the daily edition of The New York Times as sole text. My goals are to create civic literacy, develop wider horizons, promote critical thinking, improve writing, and encourage reflection. Course Dynamics and Objectives, Interwoven I begin by elucidating differences between The Times and other news sources. The Times is global, rather than primarily regional like The Plain Dealer or The Chicago Tribune. Its array of stories extends beyond The Wall Street Journal s focus on business. The Times addresses the journalistic question why? a query given only limited space in USA Today and on TV broadcasts. Most importantly, it provides depth and analysis. Next, I direct students to the top right column of the first page, where according to The Times editors the most important story of the day can be found. Then, I walk students through the regular features of the paper, e.g., Index, Quote of the Day, International, National, Op-Ed. During subsequent classes I select two stories per class (we meet three times per week for 50 minutes). I come armed with half a dozen provocative questions and open the floor to discussion. After two weeks, I make two changes to the class sessions. First, each student in the class signs up for a day when she or he will lead discussion on an article. In order to give the discussion leader an opportunity to select an article, study it thoroughly, and prepare questions for classmates, we debate articles from a paper published a day or two prior. Students responsible for leading discussion email the page and title of their story to the class the day before we meet. The second change I make is the venue. We move from a standard seminar room to the college s coffeehouse, where we drink coffee and sit in overstuffed chairs. The atmosphere changes from the formal air of a classroom to the casual, let-it-all-hang-out ambiance of a living room. Conversations heat up. Comments are directed to other students, not just to me. As the class morphs from a faculty-driven course to one led by students, my role shifts toward explaining how to disassemble the articles we discuss. I ask students questions such as, How did the author hook you? and What words did she choose to keep you reading? This parsing of objectivity and a journalist s passion begins to seep into student consciousness. As it does, their skills as critical thinkers and writers learning their craft take off. One of the objectives of All the News That s Fit to Print is that students learn to read and discuss The New York Times beyond the confines of class. That first happens when we move from classroom to coffeehouse. Next, on good days, when discussion becomes so heated it cannot be contained within 50 minutes, it leaps into hallways after class. By mid-semester, students report they are approaching their friends, waving the newspaper, initiating discussions in the dorms and dining halls. Class discussion inevitably causes students to question longheld beliefs. The Times teaches them that many of the topics they once thought were uncomplicated race, poverty, environment, technology, fashion are more complex than when they first formed their early adolescent opinions. To encourage their introspection, I ensure that discussion in class covers the full array of perspectives on a topic, right to left on the political spectrum, so to speak, and that their arguments stick to the facts presented in The Times stories. To initiate critical thinking and reflection, one assignment requires students to describe their favorite sections of the paper and compare their preferences to their academic and post-graduate goals. Often a disjunction appears, and I use the disparity between what students love and what they think will be their vocation as an opening for discussion. For example, one student came to college to be an engineer until he recognized that he loved writing and his favorite section was Sports. Now he is an English major and covers sports for the college newspaper. Students have also reflected on their experience in letters to the President of Allegheny College and to the editors of The New York Times.

(See http://webpub.allegheny.edu/employee/epallant/coursehome/course_index.htm) Assessment Quantitative assessments are distributed in all classes at Allegheny College. Responses to two questions speak to the efficacy of The New York Times as source material. Eighty-seven percent of students reported on the standard course evaluations that the readings were effective. The same percentage said they learned very much in the class. For three years, the final assignment of the semester was a letter, using a letter to the editor as a model, written to Allegheny s president. The President has used his discretionary budget to purchase newspapers for the campus, making them available for free from several newsstands. I wanted students in All the News That s Fit to Print to tell the President how they regarded his investment. Without exception, students wrote about how much they had learned after only one semester of taking The Times and then offered thanks for the President s support. In 2006, I changed the final assignment from a letter to the President to a bona fide letter to the editor. In fact, early in the semester I promised an A to any student who succeeded in getting a letter published. One student earned an A for her letter about the ethics of face transplants. More satisfying than her publication, however, was the number of students who sent multiple letters. Another student said of her first-year experience, Being an informed citizen in a democratic society is a responsibility, one that requires effort. Nearly all the first-year student Times readers report their effort is more pleasure than work, with many requesting the opportunity to repeat the class as TAs during their later college years. Because only three can serve at a time, the circle of first-year students in the coffeehouse is typically surrounded by a group of upperclass students eager to maintain their engagement by listening to our daily conversations. One first-year student summed up the experiences of many of her peers. Reading The New York Times, she said, has helped me become a better informed college student. I feel like I have a greater understanding of how the world works, and I ve thought more deeply about issues than I ever have before. Supplemental Materials The complete syllabus for the All the News That s Fit to Print class can be found on Dr. Pallant s home page by clicking on the Classes link. http://webpub.allegheny.edu/employee/e/epallant/ I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information Eric Pallant, Ph.D. Professor of Environmental Science Department of Environmental Science Allegheny College 520 N. Main St. Meadville, PA 16335 Phone: 814-332-2870 Fax: 814-332-2789 Email: epallant@allegheny.edu II. Institutional Description a. Allegheny College, Meadville, PA b. Four-year c. Private d. Residential e. 2,000 FTE undergraduates, 590 first-year students f. All students are residential including all first-years.

CASE STUDY ANTIOCH COLLEGE Civic Engagement in Connected Curriculum Janice Kinghorn, Associate Professor of Economics and Associate Dean of the Core Program Eli Nettles, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Associate Dean of Faculty David Kammler, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Antioch s mission shapes its students civic engagement: An Antioch education is shaped to the mold of human experience. This is a radically democratic education: every theory, every belief, every ideal is re-examined and subjected to the test of experience. We ask our students to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Their work is marked by scholarly rigor and civic engagement. They come to know the world by analyzing it and living deeply within it. They come to know justice by studying it and practicing it. They become humanists in the broadest, deepest sense of the word: citizens and scholars capable of meaningful action, continuous growth, and enlightened leadership. Connected Curricula In 2005, the college undertook an initiative we refer to as our Connected Curriculum : a broad and visionary plan to place Antioch once again at the forefront of experimental education. The goals of this renewal included improved retention, increased civic engagement and deliberate participation in the community, and more rapid development of meaningful reflective skills. At the heart of the Connected Curriculum is a belief in the power of integrated learning, Integration in the Connected Curriculum is multifaceted, and it intentionally links academic disciplines, civic engagement, and cooperative education. At every level and during both work and study terms, students are expected to be, at some level, informed participants who are actively engaged within their communities. Every first-year student enters the Core Program, enrolling in a 15-credit learning community program, taught by four faculty during the fall and spring terms. These programs immerse students thoroughly in the liberal arts, satisfy the general education requirements of the college, and provide a structured environment in which the students learn how to become engaged and effective citizens. Following the successful completion of the Core Program, students enter the Upper-Level Curriculum: a three-year, year-round program of alternating terms of work (cooperative education) and study (16-18 credits of connected and integrated courses) with increasing performance standards, which ultimately culminates in a Senior Project in an individualized major. Civic Engagement in the Classroom: Water Matters and Citizenship Over the past year, Antioch s Core Programs have used a variety of models for bringing civic engagement into the classroom and then reconnecting it to the outside world. This case study will describe two of them. The Core Program, Water Matters, used a long-term class project to connect classroom learning with civic engagement, while the program Citizenship focuses much classroom learning directly on issues of civic engagement. Both models seem to be highly effective in teaching our students not only how to be informed about an issue but also how to become engaged in various communities around these issues. Additionally, students learned how to educate others about the issues they explored. In the spring of 2006, Water Matters, focused on issues of fresh water through the lenses of environmental chemistry, freshwater ecology, literature, and creative writing. This Core examined water issues around the globe, paying special attention to basic sanitation, potable drinking water, and water use and management. This course had a number of smaller in-house projects coupled with local and regional field trips designed to connect students to community water issues such as nearby stream contamination, severely aging infrastructure, and wetland degradation. The Water Matters term-long civic engagement project culminated in WaterFest and the inaugural Eric and Kay Johnson Global Water Symposium, a two-day seminar on freshwater issues, well attended by the Antioch community and the general public. Activities included PowerPoint presentations, poster sessions, and literature readings by students and a number of distinguished guests, as well as distribution of Water Journal, a compilation of student creative and scientific works from this Core Program. Discussions and presentations on local, regional, and global fresh water issues were led by John Huber, the President of the Louisville Water Company, Steve Werner, the Executive Director of Water for People (an international non-profit fresh water development organization), and Vanessa Tobin, Chief of the Water, Environment, and Sanitation Programme Division of UNICEF. The local field trips and the global symposium taught our students how to become informed on important issues, how to

educate others about them, and how to become engaged in the community, whether locally, regionally, nationally, or globally. The ongoing program, Citizenship, in the fall of 2006 is focused on issues of citizenship in political science, history, and art. One of the goals of this Core is to eliminate or substantially reduce political apathy that may exist among its participants by improving their knowledge of the American political institutions, political culture, political power, public policy process, rights and responsibilities associated with citizenship, and major challenges and opportunities facing the American politico-economic system (http://www.antioch-college.edu/academics/registrar/core/0607corelcs.html; fall 07 link on Core is http://www. antioch-college.edu/academics/registrar/core/0708corelcs.html). The program explores American citizenship through the context of art; students consider how art both influences and reflects who gets to participate as a citizen. Studio assignments complement required readings and critical, written reflections. For example, students created a broadside a political tool to engage with the general public about issues they had studied. Their art expressed issues of citizenship. Assessment We are assessing student civic engagement and its impact on learning, retention, satisfaction, and leadership, at three points: during the first-year Core Programs, during the first cooperative education experience, and across the Upper-Level Curriculum, including the Senior Project. Assessment methods include periodic student surveys, formal Student Evaluations of Instructors and Programs (SEIs), and reflective essays and interviews within the Cooperative Education Program. We plan to assess student performance by comparing our current first-year students to those of the recent past who did not have the foundation of the Core Program or the Co-op Communities. We are currently comparing students civic engagement learning and practice within the various first-year Core Programs. By examining the broad variety of methods currently in use, and the outcomes of these programs, the relative merits of each delivery system can be determined, and then compared to instructors views of program effectiveness as well as student reports of progress and satisfaction. The necessary assessment tools, primarily student surveys and formal SEIs, are currently in use. We will also track the progress of students civic engagement skills, satisfaction, and leadership ability as they progress through our Upper-Level Curriculum. In the past, many graduating seniors integrated moderate to high levels of community involvement into their Senior Projects. By carefully assessing civic engagement early on, we can track the development of skills across the Antioch educational experience among those students who integrate community involvement into their Senior Project. I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Main contact for submission: Janice Kinghorn Associate Professor of Economics and Associate Dean of the Core Program Phone: 937-769-1330 Email: kinghorn@antioch-college.edu Eli Nettles Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Associate Dean of Faculty Phone: 937-769-1176 Email: enettles@antioch-college.edu David Kammler Assistant Professor of Chemistry Phone: 937-769-1171 Email: dkammler@antioch-college.edu Antioch College 795 Livermore Street Yellow Springs, OH 45506 II. Institutional Description a. Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH b. Four-year c. Private d. Residential e. 350 students, 120 first-year students f. Primarily residential Building on the First Year Beginning their second year, students experience cooperative education (work) in an organized co-op community, which includes Place as Text: an academic component that asks students to become responsible, informed citizens within their local community. We believe that this directed civic engagement experience will lay a foundation upon which a student can continue to build skills throughout their Antioch education. The first group of students in this program is in the midst of that experience, and we plan to assess student performance by comparing their cooperative education reflection papers and interviews to those of previous students.

CASE STUDY CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, CHICO Civic Engagement in Academic Writing at Chico State Christian Fosen, Assistant Professor of English Jill Swiencicki, Associate Professor of English Cynthia Wolf, Director, First Year Experience California State University, Chico English 130, Academic Writing, focuses on new college students development as scholars and familiarity with the genres and conventions of academic disciplines. The course takes academic inquiry as its starting point, inviting students to select a subject of interest and explore it deeply through research, reflection, analysis, and writing. This version of English 130 has been offered on our campus for 10 years. Though it operates independently of other courses that first-year students take, it conforms to guidelines governing General Education on our campus. Academic Writing and Civic Engagement In a spring 2006 review of Academic Writing, English faculty examined statements by our new campus President about the importance of civic engagement for all students at CSU, Chico. In cooperation with our newly developed First-Year Experience Program and with the support of the Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts, we developed a pilot syllabus for English 130 that kept inquiry and scholarship at the heart of the course, but presented students with a sequence of assignments now focused on civic learning. We first offered this course focus in Fall 2006, and we hope to expand the focus across the Academic Writing Program and link it with other first-year courses. The assignment sequence of Academic Writing asks students to explore civic issues as a mechanism for engaged action. It embodies our goals for the course, which include: 1. Civic Literacy. After reading Terry Tempest Williams The Open Space of Democracy, students write about their past experiences of being civically engaged and reflect on the meaning(s) of those experiences. From this, they develop definitions of civic engagement that connect to their lived experiences. 2. Critical Thinking and Reflection. Students read texts about the purposes and limits of civic engagement, keep research logs with thorough annotations, and develop a six-page (minimum) research narrative essay describing what they are learning about their subject and the research process. They learn information literacy skills and begin research on a public issue that they feel needs attention/ reform. Professors used New York Times coverage of the immigration bill protests and academic essays on immigration history to model the deliberative, critical aspects of this work. 3. Experiential Learning and Democratic Citizenship Skills. Students used their research experience to reflect on the meaning of engagement in argumentative essays. Working in groups, they then facilitated roundtable discussions of their research at a Town Hall Meeting for the campus community. Two sets of concurrent sessions provided 120 students, along with faculty, staff, and community members the opportunity to discuss key issues and create resolutions or action plans. This segment of the course is analogous to a service-learning component and is supported by a grant from Community Action Volunteers in Education, a campus group. 4. Civic Action. Students end the course by writing collaborative letters to our campus President suggesting practical strategies for campus change that emerged from the Town Hall Meeting. Connecting to Previous Work and New Community The Academic Writing pilot asks students to use writing to inquire into the key issues of our time. Our most important goal for English 130 to help students develop into scholars has now been fused with a better-defined purpose for their scholarship: to consider their role in the university and to extend their vision for that role into the public sphere. We also wanted to help students take ownership of the civic engagement experiences that are often required of them in high school. Students on our campus often report that they volunteered in high school because they were required to do so and that they are done with that. By providing students with a way to reflect about and perhaps critique these civic experiences, we aim to increase their understanding of the impact that participating citizens can make in a democracy. Connecting Across Campus The Civic Engagement pilot in Academic Writing, taught by English faculty, involves key stakeholders across campus. Our

Dean of Undergraduate Studies has successfully used the syllabus as a starting place for developing an integrated first-year curriculum focused on civic learning to be offered in fall 2007. New syllabi with civic learning outcomes in common with English 130 were created for Political Science (American Government); Communication Studies (Small Group Communication); and University Life, our campus s First-Year Studies (FYS) course. The First-Year Experience (FYE) coordinator has offered the pilot syllabus as a model for civic learning instruction in other first-year courses. Assessment Because this is a writing course, our attention during the pilot focused on how well its civic engagement theme delivers outcomes related to reading, research, and writing. At the same time, we hope to use our experiences in the academic writing pilot as an impetus for change across the first year. For example, how could an integrated curriculum, in which first-year courses share readings, research practices, and co-curricular experiences, enhance student engagement and civic literacy? A random sample of portfolios from six sections of English 130 will be collected and read for evidence of students proficiency with research, written argument, and critical thinking; readers will be faculty from across the disciplines. Civic Learning Outcomes to be assessed are students abilities in the areas of 1) public problem solving; 2) interpersonal participation skills, especially across differences; 3) knowledge of civic and community issues; 4) knowledge of community values; and 5) a sense of responsibility for the common good. These outcomes will be assessed by reviewers who will score students in these areas during the Town Hall Meeting, with results checked against students self-reports in these areas at the end of the semester and in follow-up surveys administered in the spring term. Our campus s Institutional Research organization, our campus Retention Programs Office, and our FYE Office will cooperate to evaluate the effect of the fall 2007 pilot on student retention, social integration, GPA, and satisfaction with the first-semester experience. An embedded ethnographic approach used in the FYS, coupled with a follow-up case study approach the next spring will allow us to analyze student learning, development of academic skills, degree of student-faculty interaction, and the impact of curricular innovations on students in this program. I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Main contact for the submission: Dr. Christian Fosen Assistant Professor, English English Department Taylor Hall Phone: 530-898-6151 Email: cfosen@csuchico.edu Dr. Jill Swiencicki English Department Taylor Hall Dr. Cynthia Wolf English Department Taylor Hall California State University, Chico Chico, CA 95929-0830 II. Institutional Description a. California State University, Chico, Chico, CA b. MA-granting comprehensive university c. Public/state university d. Residential campus e. 13,813 FTE undergraduate students 2421 FTE First-year students f. 14826 Undergraduate residential and commuter students 2459 Residential and commuter first-year students 1905 University housing capacity (all first-year students)

CASE STUDY CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON Learning Communities for Civic Engagement Maruth Figueroa, Acting Coordinator of Freshman Program Marlene Gallarde, Sociology Department Faculty Freshman Programs at California State University, Fullerton, facilitate smooth and vital transitions from high school to academic success in higher education, university life, and civic engagement. Students are engaged as scholars, citizens, and community members through active learning, multiculturalism, and the advancement of critical thinking skills. Connecting first-year students in active and challenging ways to California State University, Fullerton s core value where learning is preeminent inspires student engagement and commitment as developing professionals and productive citizens in local and global communities. Freshman Programs learning communities were established in 1997 as collaboration between academic and student affairs. Through building a sense of community and belonging, student learning is enhanced and the quality of student life improves. The curricular and co-curricular components of our program focus on the following three goals: academic success, campus involvement, and civic engagement. Freshman Programs is the home of four year-long learning communities: Fullerton First Year, Compass, Live n Learn, and Freshman Future Teachers. During the fall semester, Freshman Programs students connect with caring faculty, identify student resources, and make new friends through University Studies 100, a three-unit college success general elective course. Freshman Programs curriculum includes a community-based service-learning experience during the spring semester in pre-screened organizations to assist students with career exploration, community networking, critical thinking, problem-based learning, and communication skills. Service-Learning Component All students in a Freshman Programs learning community engage in 20-30 hours of service-learning as part of a Sociology 101 or Geology 110T course. The Sociology 101 course is an introduction to sociology as an academic discipline and perspective. Throughout the semester, students apply sociological concepts and theories to their service-learning experiences. In each of a series of service-learning papers, students identify and define six sociological concepts from the readings and/or lectures, explain how they fit with their service-learning experience, and reflect on these connections. The Geology 110T course is an investigation of the causes of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. It looks at ways of understanding hazards, predicting catastrophes, and preparing for potential disasters. As part of the service-learning component, students work with community organizations providing disaster preparedness plans and presentations. Research suggests that students in the service-learning semesters out-performed the students in the non-service-learning semester; both overall, and on the second midterm and the final exam differences were more pronounced on essay questions, as opposed to multiple choice questions (Strage, 2001). Strage attributes the performance differences to the hands-on engagement the students experience in the service-learning component. Course Resources: Faculty Development and Peer Mentoring Faculty teaching these courses receive intensive service-learning course development training through the Faculty Development Center (workshops and/or individualized sessions) and the Center for Internships and Service-Learning. In addition, trained peer mentors are part of the instructional team because research has shown they improve the classroom learning environment. Walker and Taub (2001) and Schwitzer and Thomas (1998) have shown that the first-year seminars contribution to the students success during their first semester is directly correlated to the level of peer mentor participation in the classroom, t(273) =.444, p.01. Assessment Freshman Programs has served more than 3,000 first-time firstyear students since 1997. Data from Institutional Research and Analytical Studies revealed that 55% of Freshman Programs students who completed the program graduated in four years, compared with a six-year graduation rate of 47% for California State University, Fullerton, students, based on the 1997 cohort of first-time first-year students. (See graphs below.) The learningcommunity-in-action of Freshman Programs promotes students academic success. References California State University, Fullerton. Institutional Research & Analytical Studies. http://www.fullerton.edu/analyticalstudies/

index.htm Freshman Programs. http://www.fullerton.edu/freshmanprograms/index.htm Strage, A. (2001). Service-learning as a tool for enhancing student learning outcomes in a college-level lecture course. Michigan Journal of Community Service-learning, 7, 5-13. Schwitzer, A. M., & Thomas, C. (1998). Implementation, utilization, and outcomes of a minority freshman peer mentor program at a predominately white university. Journal of The Freshman Year Experience and Students in Transition, 10 (1), 31-50. Walker, S. C. and Taub, D. J. (2001). Variables correlated with satisfaction with a mentoring relationship in first-year college students and their mentors. Journal of The Freshman Year Experience and Students in Transition, 13 (1), 47-67. Graph 1: Student Enrollment in Freshman Programs 1997-2006. Freshman Programs began with one learning community, Fullerton First Year, in 1997 and has evolved to serve more than 450 first-time first-year students in four distinct and purposeful yearlong learning communities. I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information Main contact for submission: Maruth Figueroa Acting Coordinator of Freshman Programs Phone: 714-278-3584 Fax: 714-278-5848 Email: mfigueroa@fullerton.edu Marlene Gallarde Sociology Department Faculty Phone: 714-278-3709 Fax: 714-278-5848 Email: mgallarde@fullerton.edu CSU-Fullerton P.O. Box 6846 Fullerton, CA 92834-6846 II. Institutional Description a. California State University, Fullerton Fullerton, CA b. Four-year institution c. Public d. Commuter campus e. 25,053.7 FTE undergraduate students 4,012.9 FTF f. 7% of first-year students live on campus. 93% of first-year students are commuters. Supplemental Material http://www.fullerton.edu/freshmanprograms/ and follow hot button to Civic Engagement. Graph 2: Student Retention from First to Second Year. When compared to the national average, Freshman Programs student are more likely to be retained into their second year. 6-year graduation rate. Graph 3: Freshman Programs are more likely to graduate within six years compared to the non-freshman Programs students.

CASE STUDY CHANDLER-GILBERT COMMUNITY COLLEGE SEE Your World Marybeth Mason, Professor of English and Humanities Chris Schnick, Professor of English At Chandler-Gilbert Community College (CGCC), the majority of our students are first-year students taking course work in general education transfer curricula. Our college mission and goals include a commitment to civic responsibility and global engagement. In spring 2005, the faculty development team adopted a college-wide theme, SEE Your World, with the intent of engaging the entire campus community in exploring the following questions: What do we need to know about the world today? What does it mean to be a citizen in a global sense? How should we act in the face of large unsolved global problems? Campus-wide Engagement The SEE Your World theme was designed to engage the entire campus community in thinking critically and reflectively about both local and global issues by combining analysis and action. As a community college, we believe that every citizen in a democracy has a responsibility to be educated, to participate in their communities, and to know how to act to effect meaningful change. The theme reflects CGCC s commitment to studying the following issues: Social: Hunger, education, disease and health, HIV/AIDS, gender equality, war; Environmental: Forest preservation and management, water quality and availability, air quality, energy use, waste, biotechnology, agriculture; Economic: Poverty, employment, trade, debt, market-access, manufacturing. As a result of participating in SEE Your World events and completing related assignments, we expect students: complexity and richness of diverse cultures around the world; environmental, and economic problems; interdependence; ics and tensions in the world; ronment for future generations. Faculty Development and Collaboration A series of workshops assist faculty in developing assignments that incorporate the SEE Your World events, films, and readings into their curricula. Examples include, Connecting Your Curriculum to Make a Change Week, Critiquing The World Is Flat, and Connecting Your Curriculum to Fast Food Nation, the Spring 2007 Campus Book. The collaboration of student affairs and academic affairs, with support from administration in all divisions, made possible the planning and implementation of the theme and the funding and advertising of the speakers and events. The enthusiastic participation of faculty from all academic departments has been an impressive measure of the theme s success. On- and Off-Campus Events In 2005-06, 10 speaker events open to students, faculty, staff, and the larger community directly advanced the SEE Your World theme and goal of global engagement. More than 1,000 first-year students enrolled in more than 20 different general education disciplines and 86 classes participated. The diverse list of speakers included Craig Kielburger of Free the Children; Zarco Guerrero, an artist who gave a performance in masks about diversity called Face to Face in a Frenzy ; Malik Rahim, who led a discussion about rebuilding New Orleans; Robert Glennon, author of Water Follies, who presented on the impact of groundwater pumping; Sowore Omoyele, who discussed oil exploration, human rights and global governance; and Paul Dix and Pam Fitzpatrick who presented the Nicaragua Photo Testimony: Living with the Consequences of U.S. Policy. Other events related to the theme included: the OxFam Hunger Banquet, a poverty simulation attended by approximately 150 students each semester, dramatically illustrating the experiences of the more that 852 million people in the world who are chronically hungry; Into the Streets, a five-day service-learning event sending more than 250 students each semester into a variety of community-based organizations to serve and learn about local needs; and Poverty 101, an economics simulation leading approximately 80 students through an exercise exploring how to survive given limited resources and assistance. The success of the 2005-06 SEE Your World program carried

over into the second year. Two major focuses of the 2006-07 program were integrating the United Nations Millennium Development Goals across the curriculum and instituting the One Book CGCC project that asked faculty to connect their curriculum to themes in a common book. The CGCC librarians created a Web site of resources and conducted workshops to help faculty design student research projects related to the UN Millennium Goals: http://www.cgc.maricopa. edu/library/ungoalsmain.shtml In spring 2007, CGCC hosted the United Nations photo and story exhibit, Chasing the Dream: Youth Faces of the Millennium Goals, profiling the lives of eight young people in Brazil, Cambodia, India, Jamaica, Morocco, Uganda, and the Ukraine, representative of the eight Millennium Goals. The exhibit was viewed by more than 500 CGCC students, 50 faculty, 75 sixthgraders from the Chandler School District, the local chapter of the League for Women Voters, and many other community members and organizations. In March 2007, the college held Environmental Sustainability Day, featuring student poster, paper, and poetry presentations in the library rotunda. By the end of the semester, the college-wide Nothing But Nets campaign had raised over $6,000 to help fight the spread of malaria. The spring 2007 One Book CGCC project used Eric Schlosser s Fast Food Nation as the focus of study. More than 1,000 students from over 40 classes participated in nine college events related to the book s themes, such as corporate responsibility, biotech ethics, minimum wage and workers rights, local food production, and wellness issues. Over 600 students, faculty and community members gathered to hear Eric Schlosser when he came to campus to speak about the social, scientific, and economic trends in the fast food industry. In addition to the One Book CGCC events, some of the other SEE Your World events included a Black Student Union film series, a panel on race and privilege, a jewelry sale for Let s Save the Girls to raise money to educate young Kenyans, a speaker and film presentation from the organization Invisible Children, and a presentation by the Arizona State Attorney General Terry Goddard entitled, Ballot to Law. Assessment CGCC faculty participants see the program as an engaging and worthwhile way to help students learn, as evidenced in the following representative responses from the Faculty Development Program Review conducted in spring 2006: Attending the SEE Your World events with our students gives us the opportunity to bring the world into the classroom for discussions, allowing us to connect the curriculum to real and relevant issues. Moreover, the activities help promote community in the classroom because we are participating in the events together while the students learning is enhanced, so it is a win-win! These [SEE Your World] events helped me set in motion the idea of making a change with my students so that when we participated in Into the Streets for service-learning they already had been exposed to the idea of helping and making a difference. Also, the global focus of many of the events, such as references to Kenya, Uganda, Ecuador, and Nicaragua, helped students picture the world we are examining in World Literature as well as some of the social, economic, and environmental issues they may be working on for their final research papers for ENG 102, which also has a global focus this semester. In the spring of 2007, more than 350 students responded to a survey asking how SEE Your World events affected their learning. Most students attended one or two events, although some attended as many as seven. Respondents came from 31 different classes within 17 academic disciplines. Over 215 students indicated that they gained new or increased understanding or awareness of issues. They mentioned acquiring new knowledge, understanding diverse perspectives and people, and seeing interconnections in the world. Some students engaged in action: 15 reported that they were inspired to act to help with global issues, 32 students have acted on their desire to become more health conscious by changing eating habits, and seven students reported using their purchasing power to support local businesses. Some respondents found the connections of the events to other learning at the college and the usefulness of the material in successfully completing class work most valuable. Sample student responses: The events made me think about the world and our economy and the bigger picture less self-centered. I now think about what I consume and who is affected by where I choose to spend my money. These events made me feel very empowered, like I could help make a difference. Also by attending these events I felt more knowledgeable about the topics, and I could share my new knowledge with friends and family. Hearing about Fast Food Nation from Mr. Schlosser was enough to make me completely change my lifestyle as far as educating myself about the consequences of my decisions. I am now an even stronger believer in knowledge is power. By having the correct knowledge and an education, we can control what we do with our lives, rather than our lives being controlled by outside forces. Supplemental Materials CGCC Mission, Vision, and Goals: http://www.cgc.maricopa.edu/vision_mission.shtml CGCC Faculty Development: http://www.cgc.maricopa.edu/fdp/see.shtml CGCC SEE Your World: http://www.cgc.maricopa.edu/fdp/see.shtml CGCC One Book CGCC: http://www.cgc.maricopa.edu/fdp/onebook.shtml

CGCC Global Engagement: http://www.cgc.maricopa.edu/fdp/globalengagement.shtml CGCC Global Learning: http://www.cgc.maricopa.edu/fdp/globallearning.shtml CGCC Sustainability: http://www.cgc.maricopa.edu/fdp/sustainability.shtml CGCC Chasing the Dream: http://www.cgc.maricopa.edu/fdp/sustainability.shtml CGCC Service Learning: http://webport.cgc.maricopa.edu/published/s/le/slearning/home/1/ I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information Marybeth Mason Professor, English and Humanities Phone: 480-732-7093 Fax: 480-732-7090 Email: marybeth.mason@cgcmail.maricopa.edu Chandler-Gilbert Community College 2626 E. Pecos Road Chandler, AZ 85233 II. Institutional Description a Chandler-Gilbert Community College, Chandler, AZ b. Two-year community college c. Public institution d. Commuter with a small number of residential e. 4,642 FTE first-year students and sophomores, 65% of whom are first-year students f. Only 162 students are residential and only 13 of those are first-year students.

CASE STUDY CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY Models of Global Citizenship: Students and Media in the Student-Led Academic Orientation Marilyn Harran, Professor of History and Religious Studies and Director, Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education Ken O Donnell, Assistant Professor of Media Arts Jan Osborn, Lecturer, English and Education and Chair, General Education Committee Susanna Branch, Office of the Provost Events Coordinator A private university in Orange, California, Chapman University enrolls approximately 1,000 first-year students, 90% of whom live on campus. To give substance to our institutional mission s key terms personalized education and global citizenship the Academic Orientation Planning Group sought to encourage new students to connect their academic work with civic engagement, locally and globally, from the beginning of their university careers. A didactic faculty-lecture approach seemed both unlikely to succeed and logically antithetical to the goals of critical thinking, reflection on values, and personal engagement with the world. Working collaboratively, we concluded that the most effective educational medium for incoming students would be our current students whose interests and experiences reflect the institutional emphasis on active involvement with world and community events beyond the classroom and the integration of classroom study with civic action. Chapman s Models of Global Citizenship: Students and Media as/in Academic Orientation, our academic orientation program, began in 2003. Student-led Multimedia Orientation This goal of a student-led orientation became the informing design for our academic orientation program. Because students communicate and come to know the world through widely varied media, the orientation employs a multimedia approach and is entirely student-centered. We asked current students to demonstrate their global engagement, modeling their own journeys as possible routes for incoming students to consider. The result, Models of Global Citizenship, has become the multimedia, student-centered blueprint we follow for bringing first-year students into the university community. From the start, we invite them to collective and individual action on critical social and political issues and challenge them to reflect on the interaction between classroom learning and community action. The student learning goals of their orientation are: Intellectually, students should recognize the importance of questioning texts and assertions; understand their own belief systems; develop awareness of the value of diverse viewpoints, leading to the recognition that we all think and read out of a set of personal beliefs; personal beliefs can be questioned and changed; other belief systems are valid; and monocultural viewpoints limit understanding of the globalized world. As learners, students should see sharing ideas and engaging in dialogue as a primary means of learning; become part of a community of learners through shared texts, dialogue, and traditions; value a multiplicity of views over a desire for right answers ; understand the liberal arts nature of a Chapman education; and gain familiarity with key academic locations on campus. As community members, students should interact with faculty and get to know their own professors; experience the intellectual, cultural, and social realms as integrated, not discrete; experience themselves as part of the intellectual, cultural, and social climate of the community; see education as based in relationships, not as a top-down hierarchy; learn about the diverse sources of intellectual, academic, and social support and exchange; and respect the importance of listening and civility as well as critically reasoned response. In the first orientation program iteration, the critical elements emerged: global outreach; the narratives of local student models in mentor roles; and mechanisms for exchange, dissent, and reflection. These shaped the major program activities: shared summer reading connecting students to a global crisis and its aftermath. In 2006, prior to arriving on campus, students read An Ordinary Man, a personal account of the Rwandan genocide by Paul Rusesabagina (the hotel manager depicted in the film Hotel Rwanda).

student blog in which students are invited to raise issues or share reactions and experiences related to the reading. Much of the current blog consisted of students reflections on an interactive serious game site, Darfur Is Dying. videoconference between Chapman first-year students and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum s Committee on Conscience. The panelists include a Chapman alumna who works for Save Darfur, a young man who is a Rwandan genocide survivor, the producer of a documentary, Defying Genocide (screened at the program s start), and the Interim Director of the Committee on Conscience. Student-filmed interviews with returning students and a staff member detailing their international work on social justice projects Live presentations by students engaged in local projects, from medical research to AmeriCorps, as well as in international projects, from legislative efforts to protect abused women in India to humanitarian work with orphans in Kenya. These presentations were interspersed with video recordings of Paul Rusesabagina speaking on genocide during a 2005 visit to our campus and Roméo Dallaire, commander of U.N. forces in Rwanda during the genocide, speaking at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (he spoke on campus later in the semester). live student demonstration of Darfur Is Dying followed by an open mic session in which students shared their (often intense) reactions vocal performance by a student who has recorded a CD and raised money for a musical tour whose proceeds supported Save Darfur. The program encourages student-to-student modeling, questioning, and imagining of possibilities for campus and larger civic roles. Before students arrive on campus, they have already begun to consider what it means to be global citizens. The 85 orientation assistants are all returning students who are available to communicate with incoming students during the summer through our First-Year Program Web site. The orientation assistants also work closely with new students during the orientation week. The program design immediately involves entering students with electronic and print media for the purpose of local and global outreach and purposeful social connection. The controversial topics in which students found themselves immersed the information on government involvement in genocide in Rwanda and Darfur and the Darfur Is Dying game format especially encouraged them to address issues of free speech; democracy; responsibility; and the worth of individual, grass roots, and formal political action. Throughout the fall term, we revisit these issues in the Freshman Foundations Course (a GE requirement for all students) and in co-curricular events sponsored by Associated Students, the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education, and the Office of the Provost. In addition to Roméo Dallaire, speakers this term included Leon Leyson, the youngest surviving member of Schindler s list, and Howard Zinn, author of A People s History of the United States. Assessment We administer an online survey to all first-year students during the second week of classes, with a one-week requested response time. Our assessment survey questions are designed to help us analyze student responses in four main categories: demographics, including major affiliation and gender; degree of participation in all orientation activities; engagement, measured by perception of helpfulness and coverage; and critique, including additional individual comments. We found a high rate of summer and fall participation, preceding and following the actual on-campus program portions: the assigned summer reading. to background material, with more than 70% reporting they found the site and materials useful to very useful. to learn about global issues, and approximately the same number gave that same rating to the student presentations on global projects. ments via regular email to orientation coordinators, and we now know that this program element has to be made more accessible, in topics and technological ease. We also documented very high student participation in fall term co-curricular events, from performances to guest lectures, with approximately 650 students attending the Dallaire and Leyson lectures, and more than 800 attending the Zinn presentation. In the Freshman Foundations Course, a majority of the 34 sections adopted the summer reading, An Ordinary Man, as a course text, extending discussion of the academic orientation topics. This year, one instructor reports a student-led project to raise a donation for Save Darfur. From the assessment data over the last two years, we see a strong correlation between orientation and the academic orientation components in the following areas: tions; Supplemental Materials First-Year Program Web site: http://www.chapman.edu/firstyear/

I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Main contact for submission: Jeanne Gunner Associate Provost/Professor of English & Comparative Literature Office of the Provost Chapman University One University Drive Orange, CA 92866 Phone: 714-744-7627 Fax: 714-628-7358 Email: gunner@chapman.edu Marilyn Harran Professor of History and Religious Studies Director, Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education Gerri McNenny Associate Professor of English & Comparative Literature Director, Writing Program and Writing Center Ken O Donnell Assistant Professor of Media Arts Jan Osborn Lecturer, English and Education Chair, General Education Committee Susanna Branch Office of the Provost Events Coordinator Nathan Robbins President, Associated Students, 2005-2006 Chapman University One University Drive Orange, CA 92866 II. Institutional Description a. Chapman University, Orange, CA b. Four-year c. Private d. Residential campus e. 4,053 Undergraduates 980 First-year students f. Residential students Total undergraduates: 40% First-year students: 89% Commuter students Total undergraduates: 60% First-year students: 11%

CASE STUDY THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY The First Seminar and The First-Year Experience: Civic Engagement Curriculum and Co-Curriculum Robert J. Anderson, Assistant Provost for Liberal Learning and Academic Advising Bonner Center for Civic and Community Engagement Civic engagement at The College of New Jersey is anchored in the curriculum and co-curriculum: in our Liberal Learning Program s First Seminar, taught to all first-year students (approximately 1,300 of our 5,700 students) during their first semester, and in programs based in our residence halls. Almost all (95%) of our first-year students reside on the College s Ewing, New Jersey, campus; the 5% who commute are assigned to a virtual floor to connect them to the campus and to their civic engagement activities. Through the Seminar and the residence activities, every firstyear student completes a community-engaged learning experience that includes direct contact with agencies or clients, and provides guided opportunities for reflection. The Liberal Learning Program is our re-formed general education program, part of a comprehensive curriculum transformation. In Academic Year 2001-2002 we began to convert the curriculum from a traditional three-semester-hour course configuration (where students take five, three-hour courses per semester) to a course credit system where students take four courses per semester in a 32-course system. The transformation was shaped by our mission, which emphasizes educating those who seek to sustain and advance the communities in which they live and by our Guiding Principles for Student Learning, which state (in excerpt) that the accomplished and engaged learner: tions using tools of analysis and inquiry, and the value of divergent points of view, seeks ways to improve this and other communities in which they live and work. Liberal Learning assumes new and distinctive features built around three overlapping goals and, where possible, is integrated with major programs: and ethnicity, gender, and global studies; of human inquiry. First Seminar Students are introduced to liberal learning in a clearly focused first-year experience combining an introduction to scholarly and intellectual life, a mentored living-learning community structure, close attention to writing skills, and focused civic engagement experiences. The centerpiece for Liberal Learning is the First Seminar (FSP), taught to all first-year students during their first semester by full-time faculty members in small, 15-student sections. Each seminar is designed by its professor and is writing intensive. Faculty members are far-ranging and imaginative in their reading assignments, encouraging students to use not only traditional academic sources, but higher quality popular publications, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. As indicated, students enrolled in FSPs are given residence hall room assignments based on that class, creating a living-learning environment, with their FSP professors serving as intellectual mentors. The Director of Community Engagement coordinates a welter of activities and events whereby each first-year student, without exception, completes a community engaged learning experience that includes direct contact with agencies or clients, and participates in guided opportunities for reflection. Community-Engaged Learning for First Seminar and for Residence-based Groups Specific activities fall into two broad categories: those integrated into particular First Seminar sections (about eight of 80), and those selected by residents of particular residence hall floors whose seminars do not integrate civic engagement. These activities are divided among 12 tracks, with 15 specific projects: Environment, Developmental Disabilities, Hunger, Youth Development/Sports and Life Skills, Senior Services, Early Education/ Emergent Literacy, Diversity Appreciation, Literacy, Community and Economic Development, Housing, Health/Cancer, and Urban Parks and Recreation. Guided reflection on civic engagement is led by a cadre of Bonner Scholars who serve as peer mentors. (Bonner Scholars are supported by The Bonner Foundation, which asks students to engage in ongoing service work and programs that help them develop the tools and the knowledge necessary to make that work meaningful and lasting.) These Scholars help organize, facilitate,

and debrief the service activities, and serve as recruiters for additional student participation, particularly for students willing to continue with their service assignments beyond the required amount. Community-Engaged Learning Days Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) days provide opportunities for groups of students (25 to 45) who live on the same floor to decide how they will learn, serve, and reflect together as part of a democratic community. TCNJ Bonner Scholars and Bonner Peer Advisors take the lead in every phrase of the program. They compile educational, reflection, and community-based research materials; act as crew leaders of each small group of first-year students as they work on their service project; help identify reflection questions; and lead small group sessions occurring when the work is done. For first-year students, the initial step occurs when they attend civic engagement floor meetings early in the fall. At this time, the CEL calendar becomes a ballot and students rank their top three choices. Based on results, entire floors or significant clusters of students residing together on a floor are assigned to a specific CEL date on the calendar. Significantly, this initial democratic experience as well as others described below is led by other, more senior, Bonner students. They do so in two key stages: In the organizing stage, these Bonners form two-person teams who organize (via emails, posters, etc.) and conduct 25 separate floor meetings under the guidance of staff. Staff members send out email reminders and register the bulk of the students from a floor. During the mobilizing stage, these Bonners conduct two floor sweeps three days prior to any CEL day to sign up students who have not yet confirmed their attendance. All the organizing leads to the actual CEL day, which has five main components: education, action, reflection, sustainability, and curricular work. The goal is to provide context for the service and linkages to ongoing co-curricular and curricular engagement. On the day of the CEL event, first-year students receive an educational packet that includes articles covering the nature and scope of the problem and programs or policies that aim to have an impact on that social issue. The CEL day s program begins with a speaker addressing the issue in an educational and inspirational way. After the talk, group members spend approximately five hours together working on a meaningful project. After that work, they hold small-group discussions and reflection sessions. These first-year students are then asked if they are interested in sustaining their involvement by working under the guidance of the Bonners Scholars. They are also introduced to options for the second tier of their civic engagement graduation requirement (which must be satisfied in their last three academic years) with examples of community-based research and course-related projects from a range of institutions. In an alternate model, small teams of students from specific floors (usually 8-10) are given the chance to complete a oneday shift at one of the community organizations where Bonner Scholar Teams serve (e.g., Habitat for Humanity). The Bonner site leader is responsible for working with the staff to shape, supervise, and transport first-year students on such dates as well as build in the same components described above that pertain to education, action and sustained involvement. Assessment Surveys on learning outcomes from civic engagement in prior service-learning programs and in the new First Seminar and the First-Year Experience s CEL days have shown high levels of agreement that civic engagement advanced student understanding and appreciation of issues. Students reflective journals and focus group interviews confirm this. All first-year students complete a simple survey at the beginning and end of each CEL day. This tool attempts to measure potential changes in their dispositions and levels of knowledge or awareness. For example, it aims to capture whether or not they believe that individuals working as part of a group can make a difference in their communities and whether or not they feel that they themselves can have an impact. In addition, the survey strives to determine if the students know a little more about a particular social problem as well as existing policies/programs due to their experience. The survey also addresses process and past participation. For example, students are asked how many times during the previous months they had an opportunity to meet (in a co-curricular setting) with their peers to discuss an issue and hold a vote that actually mattered, and how frequently they interacted with someone passionate about their work on the unmet needs of the community. The goal is to determine the significance of the floor meetings and educational portions of the program. Most importantly, at the conclusion of each CEL day, the students provide a grade for their experience and may complete a Bonner Volunteer form if they wish to continue serving their community. A quick review of early data on this new program shows some promising results. The lowest grade on the day that focused on developmental disabilities, for example, was a B+; a substantial number of students are completing the volunteer forms and want to receive additional invitations to serve. Finally, our community partners have expressed their strong support for this model. It provides students with pre-service contexts and understanding before their arrival into the community, and it helps some students to find their passion and stay involved. This increases the capacity of these agencies to achieve their objectives, as it develops students civic learning. Supplemental Materials Web site for Liberal Learning Program: http://www.tcnj.edu/~liberal/

I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Robert J. Anderson Assistant Provost for Liberal Learning and Academic Advising Phone: 609-771-2870 Fax: 609-637-5132 Email: randerso@tcnj.edu Patrick R. Donohue Director of Community Engaged Learning & Bonner Scholars Program Bonner Center for Civic and Community Engagement Phone: 609-771-2362 Fax: 609-771-2573 Email: pdonohue@tcnj.edu The College of New Jersey PO Box 7718 Ewing, NJ 08628-0718 II. Institutional Description a. The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ b. Four- year c. Public d. Primarily residential and undergraduate e. 5,700 Full-Time Undergraduate Students: 5700 170 First-Year Students: 1270 f. First-Year Students are 95% residential. In total, 3,656 students live on campus. Most of the remaining 2,044 live in approved off-campus sites.

CASE STUDY COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY FORT COLLINS The Key Service Community Michelle Wellman, Coordinator, Key Service Community Clayton A. Hurd, Ph.D., Associate Director Service-Learning The Key Service Community (KSC) is a year-long first-year living-learning community of 125 Colorado resident and nonresident students who live together in one of the university s premier residence halls. The main objective of the program is to increase student retention at the university by offering shared, active and transformational learning opportunities that increase academic and social integration and cultivate deep loyalty and commitment to Colorado State University. In its second year of operation, the program serves as a social community with a strong and integrated academic focus. The core values of the community include civic engagement, academic excellence diversity appreciation and leadership development. Key Service students take advantage of year-long servicelearning opportunities while building connections with faculty and community organizations. Through discussion, service and reflection, students develop a personal philosophy about their role in the world by assessing how they contribute to a more civil society while becoming active and positive role models within university life and beyond. The Key Service Community is sponsored by the Center for Advising and Student Achievement (CASA) at CSU. CASA as an organization shares a dual appointment to the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs. Key Service is staffed by one full-time Coordinator, one part-time Administrative Assistant, eight undergraduate Peer Mentors and one undergraduate work-study student. First-Year Curriculum Key Service Community program elements include a working partnership with the various academic colleges at CSU. In the fall semester, Key Service participants enroll in eight linked academic courses as members of thematic groups, or clusters, of 19 students each. Each cluster is supported by an undergraduate Peer Mentor (typically senior students at the university) who meets regularly with the first-year students in order to provide continual and consistent feedback through goal setting exercises and academic progress conferencing. In the spring semester, the Key Service Community collaborates with the university s Office of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement to offer participants a three-credit academic course called IU180: Public Problem Solving through Service Learning. This course, which is required of all Key Service students, offers a comprehensive introduction to the themes and practices of service-learning as a method of public problem-solving and includes engagement in real-world dilemmas through an extended service-learning experience. The course is designed to provide first-year students with the training, skills and mentorship to assume leadership roles in supporting and expanding the university s co-curricular and outreach programs. Weekly recitation meetings are facilitated by the faculty member, student mentor and community agency representatives who serve as CO-EDUCATORS in the classroom. Specific course objectives include: theories presented in the course; duction to the dilemmas of ill-defined social problems; as a resource for skill-building and learning; enhance understanding of communities how they function, make decisions, access and expend resources; stakeholders and interests and the complexity of relationships in the community; conditions and broader social and historical forces; leaders in diverse communities where various interests and ideas come together. Outreach to Underserved Schools The Key Service Community also helps to provide an educational opportunity pipeline for historically underserved secondary students in the state of Colorado. One cluster within Key Service, known as the Colorado Educational Engagement Initiative (CEEI), is charged with identifying and developing outreach relationships with historically underserved schools in the Denver metropolitan area as well as rural communities in Colorado. CEEI is a synergistic effort to advance learning

opportunities of CSU students and Colorado s at-risk secondary students while simultaneously advancing university strategic goals in the areas of outreach, diversity, and curricular innovation. The Key Service Community also works in partnership with the UCAN Serve AmeriCorps Education Award Program to offer student participants service scholarship awards that can be applied to school loans or to finance undergraduate and graduate school or vocational training. Assessment The experiences of first-year students in the Key Service Community are assessed in relation to impacts on retention, GPA, enhanced academic learning, appreciation for diversity, leadership and civic engagement. These assessments are done quantitatively through self-report questionnaires as well as qualitatively through focus group interviews and rubrics applied to students academic work (see Supplementary Materials Link to assessment instruments). Selective Summary of Preliminary Outcomes - Fall 2005 Mid-year Assessment: the general freshman population by a modest amount. with their decision to participate in the program. Summary of Civic Engagement Experiences their volunteer work service project was adequate their community Summary of Academic Experiences help on campus classroom material Conferences helped them achieve their academic goals (51% were neutral) (only 4% disagreed) Summary of Cultural/Diversity Experiences experiential learning opportunity cross-cultural learning standing of people different from them because of their experience in Key welcoming of people of their background and culture for different cultures Student Self-Evaluations of Academic Service-Learning Course Spring 2006 them to apply skills and concepts discussed in class enhanced their understanding of course material them to improve their problem-solving skills deepened their interest in the subject material of the course Supplemental Materials www.key.casa.colostate.edu/service I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Main contact for the submission: Michelle Wellman Coordinator, Key Service Community Colorado State University 100A Aylesworth Hall 1032 Campus Delivery Fort Collins, CO 80523-1032 Phone: 970-491-2243 Fax: 970-491-1133 Email: michelle.wellman@colostate.edu Co-Applicant: Clayton A. Hurd, Ph.D. Associate Director Service-Learning Office of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement Lory Student Center, Rm. 195 Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523 Phone: 970-491-5755 Email: clayton.hurd@colostate.edu II. Institutional Description a. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO b. Public, land-grant institution c. Carnegie Doctoral/Research University-Extensive d. Residential e. 18,801 full-time equivalent undergraduate students and 4,093 first-year (non-transfer) students f. Ten resident halls with the capacity for 4,800 students 718 apartment units for students with families 190 apartments for older or graduate students All incoming first-year non-transfer students are expected to live in one of the 10 resident halls.

CASE STUDY CONCORDIA COLLEGE From Contemplation to Commitment: Framing the First-Year Service-Learning Experience in a Global Studies Course Dawn Duncan, Associate Professor of English and Global Studies Joan Kopperud, Chair of English Department Global Studies 118: Culture, Identity, and Dialogue has been offered for four years at Concordia College. Three goals frame the course: Students will against the background of cultural diversity and human commonality; This course is required for all first-year Global Studies majors. While the program is overseen by an interdisciplinary faculty steering committee, a single instructor teaches the course. Primarily for first-year students, other students may elect to take the course. The majority of the students in the course are residential. Service-Learning Service-learning, the essential method for achieving civic engagement in the course, is a teaching and learning method that upholds a commitment to appreciating the assets of and serving the needs of a community partner while enhancing student learning and academic rigor through the practice of intentional, reflective thinking and responsible civic action (Duncan and Kopperud, Service-Learning Companion, 4). In addition to service-learning, students engage in other traditional learning methods, including critical thinking, discussion, writing, and reading. The class incorporates newspapers and journal articles as primary resources to inform students about the contemporary issues with which they will engage. Service-learning helps students apply and test the theoretical knowledge they are gaining as they partner with community organizations that primarily serve immigrant and ethnically diverse populations in the local community. Through human interaction with culturally diverse individuals, service-learning may confirm or challenge what students read in textbooks or hear from the media. Gaining a firsthand knowledge of globally diverse perspectives and common human values helps move students forward as responsible world citizens. Civic Engagement and Contemplation, Action, Reflection, Commitment (CARC) Students grow in civic literacy and knowledge of the principles of democracy through focused readings and discussion on the following themes: respectful questioning and civic discourse; cultural dignity and civic identity; the legacy of colonialism in a postcolonial world; the convergence of economics, religion, and politics; gender roles and societal relationships; and cultural artistic expression. With each theme, students must produce a major paper or project that illustrates their increased knowledge and understanding. Students practice their citizenship skills and greater political involvement through a learning cycle called CARC: Contemplation, Action, Reflection, Commitment. Students engage in focus exercises, such as discovering a relevant civic issue about which they have a genuine interest, contemplating and researching the issue so that they may engage in informed dialogue, and making an action plan that details the level of involvement to which they are committing in order to address the issue. Students also practice their democratic involvement through their service-learning partnership. Additionally, students are asked to make formative and summative commitments as citizens. Commitment is a disciplined effort to act upon your belief in the communal necessity of service and in the benefits it affords all involved (Duncan and Kopperud 122). During the formative process, students commit to moving to a deeper level of understanding through additional investigation into specific civic issues. As a summative commitment, students are asked to make a specific plan for future service to society that they will carry out in the next year, five years, and as a part of their calling in life. Experiential learning occurs during the action phase of CARC as students serve at their partnership site. Action is the on-site work undertaken with community partners in order to meet learning and serving objectives (Duncan and Kopperud 112). Such action may entail physical labor, intellectual skills, and/or social or emotional support. Students keep a log indicating date, time, service provided, and partner signature. Critical thinking and reflection is stressed during the contemplation and reflection stages of the CARC cycle. Contemplation requires students to deliberate consciously about the challenges,

needs, and expectations of the service experience (Duncan and Kopperud 107). Students contemplate what they need to learn prior to each service session, during structured opportunities in class, with regard to learning objectives, and as questions or issues arise. Reflection is the lens through which [students] think critically about the experience, deeply considering how the action intentionally links to specific learning goals (115). Students reflect, for example, on the physical situation, ways in which they stretch intellectually, and the social/emotional dimensions of relating with others in society. Reflection takes a variety of forms: writing, speaking, projects, and presentations. In short, students critically think about their role as citizens in a democratic society and share those reflections as part of their civic engagement. Assessment Both formative and summative assessment methods are implemented in this introductory Global Studies course. The assessment methods demonstrate what students are learning about global culture and civic engagement. Some course assignments are specifically formulated both to demonstrate student learning and to assess whether students are fulfilling the course goals. A debriefing session follows each method of assessment and helps students assess their own learning. To fulfill the learning goals, students closely research a focus culture, reading primary and secondary source material, completing primary field research at their service-learning site, and attending to cultural perspectives on course topics. To demonstrate their learning and provide formative assessment, they complete a cultural profile that includes a historical timeline, translation of language phrases, analysis of the influence of that culture on the U.S. and vice versa, evaluation of the noteworthiness of that civilization, and a descriptive travel blurb on a major city. Students also write two essays: the convergence of politics, religion, and economics and gender roles in the focus culture. Their CARC service-learning journals provide their instructors material for continuous, formative assessment. Finally, students present a creative project that highlights the artistic contributions of the focus culture. Summative assessment requires students to create a Plan of Commitment, including how they have grown as engaged citizens, why they have chosen this plan of action, and how they believe such action may positively contribute to society. Students also respond to the following survey questions: How has servicelearning been a transformative educational experience? How does it meaningfully connect to your civic experience and involvement? How has it contributed to your success as a student and a member of the college community? To quote a student response to the summative survey: Working with refugees helped open my eyes to the diversity of our community. I used to see this community as a homogeneous area with little diversity. I longed to live in a bigger city where I could interact with people from different cultures. Through working with my community partners, I realize that there are people that have come from all over the world to make this area their home. These people come from many different backgrounds and share different beliefs, customs, and cultures. By working with them, I am able to learn about their cultures and understand other countries better. I also connect more with my community by understanding some of the problems that refugees have and by connecting with people who are trying to help refugees settle in the area. The results of the qualitative survey indicate gains in civic engagement, in achieving the learning objectives, and in personal growth. The next step in our process will be collecting quantitative assessment results. The Director of Assessment will collaborate on a survey of Global Studies majors on their service-learning experience and its effects on their development as citizens and civic leaders. References Duncan, Dawn and Joan Kopperud 2008. The Service-Learning Companion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Supplemental Materials A course syllabus, sample assignments, student work samples, and other helpful materials are available at http://www.concordiacollege.edu/academic/integrative/ I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information Main contact for submission: Dawn Duncan Associate Professor of English and Global Studies Phone: 218-299-3961 Fax: 218-299-4933 Email: duncan@cord.edu Joan Kopperud Chair of English Department Phone: 218-299-3710 Fax: 218-299-4933 Email: kopperud@cord.edu Concordia College 901 8th Street South Moorhead, MN 56562 II. Institutional Description a. Concordia College, Moorhead, MN b. Four Year c. Private Liberal Arts College d Residential Campus e. 2728 FTE undergraduates; 700 first-year students f. 1667 residential students; 1057 commuter students; 668 first-year residential; 32 first-year commuter;

CASE STUDY FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY Times Talk and the First-Year Experience Chapman Rackaway, Assistant Professor of Political Science Mark Colwell, Undergraduate Student Times Talk, a weekly brownbag luncheon series on articles and topics from The New York Times and The Hays Daily News, was created in fall 2004 at Fort Hays State University, a four-year, public, residential university. The primary goal behind Times Talk was to better develop the culture of intellectual inquiry on our campus and to encourage New York Times and Hays Daily News readership among our students. We believed that by showcasing a varied set of Times topics in a regular non-classroom environment we would inspire greater interest in the Times and, therefore, more readership. Times Talk is administered on campus by the university s American Democracy Project (ADP). Faculty, staff, administration, students, and members of the local Hays community attend and present topical Times Talks. Every week a volunteer presenter picks a topic from (an) article(s) and develops a half-hour presentation that is followed by open discussion on the topic among attendees. Times Talk is held in the Memorial Union during lunchtime, removed from traditional classroom environments important to us as we wished to stress that Times Talk is not a class. The New York Times sponsors lunches to the first 25 attendees (and the free lunch does bring students out). Student Engagement All Times Talks are accessible to all students, whether on-campus or at a distance. Talks stream live from our Web site so that online students can participate with our on-campus students. FHSU s First-Year Experience leadership requires attendance at or viewing a number of Times Talks by all first-year students. Students are also welcome to present Times Talks. Presenters are often from classes of professors who are supporters of the program, including students from FYE courses. Interdisciplinary Approaches Times Talk is a co-curricular project that stresses interdisciplinary approaches. Leadership, Political Science, Art, Agriculture, Education, Geosciences, and many other departments have participated in Times Talks. The topics of Times Talks are as varied, broad, and in depth as international, national, and local coverage in The Times and The Hays Daily News, so any academic program, class, or staffer can participate. The nature of Times Talk allows it to cross between curricular and co-curricular programming. As a unique program, Times Talk has also developed into its own brand on campus, being the cornerstone of ADP s efforts. The program s opportunity to discuss current and interdisciplinary topics is important, because a university may default into having topics that regularly fall into a small set of academic areas, such as political science or history. We have operated from the beginning with the assumption that any academic area can find material in the newspapers for a current and topical presentation. For example, Special Education has given a Times Talk, Is English Vanishing? What the Hispanic Influx Means for Schools & Society. The Geosciences faculty have presented pieces on being a citizen scientist, and students in business classes have presented outsourcing and eminent domain. Variety of topics is vital so that the entire campus buys in. Assessment The assessment mechanism of Times Talk has been modified several times in the past two years of the program. Our initial formal assessment of the program began in fall 2005 with a tally of the number of participants per event (Table 1). Table 1 Times Talk Participation 2005-2006 Date Number in Attendance Date Number in Attendance 44 24 22 24 28 22 TOTAL 665

Although Times Talk began in September, tabulation of the attendance data can only be calculated since October 20, 2005. Using an average attendance for presentations, the estimated number of participants was more than 800 for the year. Table 2 Times Talk Audience Breakdown, Spring 2006 Date Audience Student Faculty Staff Community First Time NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 2 24 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 4 2 8 2 22 2 2 28 2 22 8 2 2 TOTAL 422 101 88 17 5 43 The data from Table 2 suggest that 10.1% of the audience during the spring semester were new participants. In addition, the student attendance was higher than any other group participating in Times Talk with 101 participating in these presentations. Compared to the 2006 fall semester numbers (Table 3), the trends have continued. Table 3 Times Talk Participation, Fall 2006 Date Total Student Faculty Staff Community 4 2 4 6 2 4 8 2 TOTAL 403 163 163 57 21 While the numbers of participants have grown according to Table 2 and Table 3, the number of first time participants has also increased. Table 4 indicates this change. Table 4 First-Time Participants, Fall 2006 Date Total Student Faculty Staff Community 4 4 6 4 4 2 2 4 4 2 2 8 4 4 4 2 TOTAL 79 39 19 9 12 Table 4 illustrates an increasing number of first-time participants throughout the fall 2006 semester. New participants are welldistributed among the different groups for which we collect data. Community members make up a higher percentage of first-time attendees, and on three occasions did Times Talk fail to attract a new student. Table 5 Weekly Times Talk Satisfaction Results, Spring 2006 Strongly Disagree Somewhat Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Total Neutral Somewhat Agree Strongly Agree TOTAL 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Table 5 provides a clear picture of participant satisfaction at the event. Nearly each of the events warranted a 60% or higher participant satisfaction rate. A few presentations (Week 4 and Week 8) yielded participant satisfaction levels of 100%. Week 4 featured a presentation on food as an aphrodisiac, given by the University s director of residential life as a prelude to Valentine s

Day; Week 8 focused on the declassification of Pluto as a planet. The Valentine s Day presentation was so popular that attendees were referencing it on the University s blog three weeks later. In addition, the levels of dissatisfaction remained extremely low throughout the semester. We will augment the existing survey data with assessment of first-year experience outcomes at the end of the 2006-2007 academic year. We are specifically interested in attitudes reflecting newspaper readership, political orientation change, and discussion of Times Talk presentations with students outside the classroom. II. Institutional Description a. Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS b. Four-Year Carnegie II Masters level University c. Public d. Residential e. 788 first-year students AY2006-2007 f. 4,780 on-campus students, 5,031 online students Supplemental Materials Times Talk Web site http://www.fhsu.edu/adp/timestalk.shtml Source http://www.nytimes.com Live Times Talk feed http://www.fhsu.edu/live/timestalk/ I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Main contact for submission: Chapman Rackaway Assistant Professor of Political Science Campus Coordinator, American Democracy Project Fort Hays State University 316 Rarick Hall 600 Park Street Hays, KS 67601 Phone: 785-628-5391 Fax: 785-628-4162 Email: crackawa@fhsu.edu Mark Colwell Undergraduate Student Assistant Director, American Democracy Project Center for Civic Leadership 600 Park Street Hays, KS 67601

CASE STUDY FRANKLIN PIERCE UNIVERSITY The Deliberative Niche: The Diversity and Community Project of the New England Center for Civic Life Civic Engagement in the First Year of College Joni Doherty, Director, New England Center for Civic Life Project Associates: Douglas Challenger, Professor of Sociology Sarah Dangelantonio, Professor of English Donna Decker, Associate Professor of English Jed Donelan, Assistant Professor of Philosophy Teresa Downing, Coordinator of Academic Advising Zan Goncalves, Assistant Professor of English Molly Haas, Assistant Professor of English Mary Kelly, Associate Professor of History Jerome Levine, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Heather Tullio, Assistant Professor of Mass Communications Franklin Pierce University is a private liberal arts institution; its undergraduate college in Rindge, New Hampshire, has approximately 1,600 students. The First-Year Seminar Deliberative Dialogue Initiative is part of the Diversity and Community Project. It was developed by the New England Center for Civic Life in 1999 to address tensions that caused racial conflicts on campus. The Project s goals are to foster an awareness of and respect for diversity and to teach students how to engage effectively in public discourse concerning potentially divisive issues. Our goal is to create an environment in which individuals who may have fundamentally different beliefs and values can engage with each other in dialogues that result in everyone having greater respect and understanding for each other and a more comprehensive understanding of the issues. Many aspects of our program are informed by deliberative democratic theory and practices drawn from the communitybased model developed by the National Issues Forums over the past 25 years. We have adapted these practices for use in the college environment. Deliberative dialogues are structured conversations designed to encourage participants to speak not only as individuals with competing interests, but as members of a community with shared concerns. The goal is to work through conflicting choices in an effort to reach some common understandings and identify actions. People are encouraged to talk about ethical issues not only in terms of facts and statistics, but to include their values, priorities, and personal experiences. Project Associates draw on an array of disciplinary and professional strengths to engage students in diversity topics (including ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexuality, and socioeconomic class) from various perspectives. In recent years, we have addressed additional subjects ranging from terrorism to alcohol use. Today, the Project has three interrelated components: First-Year Seminar Deliberative Dialogue Initiative: This integrates deliberative practices into the Individual and Community Seminar, a required course for all first-year students (defined as those with fewer than 26 earned credits upon admission). (See Supplemental Material link.) Deliberative Forums Initiative: Four sets of forums, each addressing a different issue, are convened each year. Each set may include up to six separate forums, which are co-moderated by a faculty member and a Civic Scholar. Civic Scholar Program: Each year up to 10 upper class students learn how to moderate forums and collaborate with the Center s faculty in the development and assessment of forums and related activities. In a typical fall semester, we have approximately 400 forum participants. (These numbers include students who attend more than one forum.) Approximately 80% are first-year students. In the spring, the participation rate is about 150 (primarily upperclass) students drawn from various majors whose faculty have integrated aspects of the deliberative program into their courses. In addition, students, faculty, and staff from across the campus are welcome to participate. Integration: Academic Life and Students Lives Integrating the Project s Deliberative Dialogue Initiative into the required first-year seminar was a natural fit. The seminar is designed to help Pierce s 550 first-year students to:

dividuals with community responsibilities; beliefs, values, independence, and autonomy in the context of community standards. Because the seminar integrates deliberative dialogue with the academic study of diversity topics, students engage in experiential civic education grounded in public discourse and ethical decisionmaking. One of the Project s strengths is the way in which its strong curricular integration is linked with co- and extra-curricular content and activities, which builds bridges between students academic experiences and their lives outside of the classroom. Faculty who integrate deliberation into the seminar do so to different degrees. Most include one or more of the following: ethical-decision making. In addition, some students learn how to moderate forums, develop their own discussion briefs, or work together on a civic engagement project. (See Supplemental Materials Syllabi, Discussion Guides; Deliberative Dialogue Assignments; and Deliberation, Dialogue, and Debate Role-Plays.) In Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) urges that institutions of higher education foster learning-centered environments in which the increasingly diverse student population can acquire the knowledge and skills needed to meet the emerging challenges in the workplace, in a diverse democracy, and in an interconnected world. 1 Five of the eleven Organizing Educational Principles the report endorses are characteristic of deliberative pedagogical approaches in that they: contested values; AAC&U believes that students need the skills and knowledge to live in a diverse democracy and an interconnected world. The deliberative pedagogical approaches developed by the Center meet the challenge posed by Greater Expectations in affirming diverse perspectives, values, and life experiences as essential components for an education of lasting value. 2 Assessment Deliberative democracy is based on the premise that it is necessary to engage communities in inclusive public dialogues to equitably address ethical issues. Therefore using deliberative pedagogies to teach diversity and civic content creates a mutually reinforcing learning environment. However, it is important to note the differences between acquiring skills and mastering content to ensure both are effectively taught and accurately evaluated. Initially, our data indicated that students were being exposed to new perspectives regarding diversity and believed attending forums about these issues was beneficial. However, too often, too many would sit quietly, silently listening to a handful of more vocal students. Too few became active participants, even after repeated forum experiences. We identified several barriers. As newcomers, first-year students wanted to fit in. Students used terms such as clean slate and fresh start and were preoccupied with not making mistakes, either socially or academically. Although teaching citizenship skills through the exploration of diversity issues seemed like an ideal combination, it conflicted with students primary concern to find their niche in a new environment. Therefore, they were reluctant to express views about potentially divisive topics, explaining: I would rather talk in front of... teachers any day than be in front of my peers. After you finish teaching, you go home. I live here. Whenever it s about race, I m afraid to say anything. Our students helped us restructure the Project. At first students had been directed to differing locations across campus so that they wouldn t be with their classmates during a forum; when they began requesting in-class forums, we listened. Now, students remain with their classmates for their first forum experience, then the group is split in half for the second and any subsequent public forums, ensuring plenty of familiar faces surround them when they are first learning deliberative skills. Initially, there were as many as 50 participants per forum; now it s 18-20. More time is given to practicing communication skills. For example, students engage in role-plays in class before the forums. (See Supplemental Materials: Deliberation, Dialogue, and Debate Role Plays.) Student responses confirm that this revised model, with its emphasis on the development of skills within a supportive and familiar environment, has been effective: When I approached the forum I wanted to learn all sides of my choice and learn a lot about the other choices too. I will admit that I was nervous at first, but then as we got to the first choice I began to relax. Then to my own surprise, I said something. I learned that I do have the courage and ability to speak in front of people. After participating in this forum, I feel more confident in myself.

We now have a comprehensive assessment program. (See Supplemental Materials: Assessment Instruments.) Comparisons between pre- and post-course data show that 68% of students feel confident sharing my thoughts in public, up from 58% at the beginning of the semester, and there is a 33% increase in students who are significantly or very significantly interested in serving their communities. Students are more aware of the consequences that differing life experiences can have on individuals and groups, with 42% of students responding that deliberative dialogue significantly or very significantly increased their appreciation for the points of view of others. Supplemental Material at franklinpierce.edu/necc/: Appendix A: Individual and Community Seminar Syllabi Appendix B.1: Discussion Guide: Gender: What Difference Does It Make? Appendix B.2: Discussion Guide: Sex, Alcohol, and a Million Decisions Appendix C: Deliberative Dialogue Assignments Appendix D: Deliberation, Dialogue, and Debate Role-Plays Appendix E: Assessment Instruments I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information Main contact for the submission: Joni Doherty Director New England Center for Civic Life Franklin Pierce University 007 Edgewood Hall 40 University Drive Rindge, NH 03461 Phone: 603-899-1025 Fax: 603-899-1055 Email: dohertyj@franklinpierce.edu Web site: franklinpierce.edu/neccl Project Associates: Douglas Challenger, Professor of Sociology Sarah Dangelantonio, Professor of English Donna Decker, Associate Professor of English Jed Donelan, Assistant Professor of Philosophy Teresa Downing, Coordinator of Academic Advising Zan Goncalves, Assistant Professor of English Molly Haas, Assistant Professor of English Michael Haas, Lecturer, Philosophy Mary Kelly, Associate Professor of History Jerome Levine, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Heather Tullio, Assistant Professor of Mass Communications II. Institutional Description a. Franklin Pierce University, Rindge, NH b. Four-year liberal arts c. Private d. Residential e. 1680 FTE undergraduate students; 547 First-year students; f. 1444 Residential students; 250 commuter students; 18 first-year commuter students 1 National Panel Report, Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College, vii, (Washington D.C.: Association of American Colleges and Universities. 2002) 2 National Panel Report, Greater Expectations, iv.

CASE STUDY NEW CENTURY COLLEGE, GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY Self as Citizen: A First-Year Course on Citizenship and Civic Engagement Andrew Wingfield, Assistant Professor of Integrative Studies John O Connor, Professor of Integrative Studies Sarah Sweetman, Instructor and Advisor Self as Citizen is being offered in its 11th successive year in the spring of 2007 at New Century College of George Mason University, a public, four-year institution in northern Virginia, enrolling over 30,000 students. New Century College (NCC) offers students a small college interdisciplinary education within the context of a large state university. NCC meets this challenge by having students interact closely with faculty; engage in critical thinking, problem solving, creative activity and leadership development; and participate in experiential education. NCC s First-Year Experience serves primarily traditional-age first-year students who arrive on campus directly after finishing high school. This year s cohort numbers 167 students 126 residential students in the program, 33 of whom live in NCC s Living Learning Community in the George Mason residence halls. The remainder of the students live off campus. The NCC-FYE is an innovative general education program which allows freshmen to earn 32 of the 40 credits of university-wide general education requirements during their first year through a sequence of four integrative courses. Self as Citizen NCLC 140: Self as Citizen is an integrative learning community, the fourth and final unit of the First-Year Experience curriculum in New Century College. This eight-credit, writing- intensive learning community carries three general education credits of social science, two credits each of literature and fine arts and one credit of information technology. The first unit of the First- Year Experience, Community of Learners, examines the idea of self as it relates to ways of learning and knowing. The second and third units emphasize the ways in which the self is biologically determined (The Natural World) and socially constructed (The Social World). Self as Citizen, the final unit, highlights individual agency and explores various notions of citizenship to help students develop a coherent framework for participating as citizens in a democratic society. Effective Citizenship, one of nine core competencies emphasized in NCC, is a major focus in this course. Self as Citizen is taught by an interdisciplinary faculty team with a student-to-faculty ratio of approximately 20:1. The 5-7 member faculty team is comprised of full-time (tenure/tenure- track or term) NCC faculty members; adjunct faculty; and graduate teaching assistants. One instructor acts as the faculty team leader, taking on substantial administrative and logistical responsibilities in addition to teaching. A graduate teaching assistant carries out support tasks that range from room and equipment reservation to web page administration to technology workshop facilitation. Self as Citizen considers the construction of self in relation to ideas of governance and explores the ideas and values that influence social contracts for living together in communities in the United States. Students in Self as Citizen spend four mornings a week in a seminar, analyzing and discussing course readings. Early on, they read political writings by Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Adam Smith, and consider the influence of these thinkers on the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Discussion of selected Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers helps situate the Constitution historically and foreground matters of importance to the framers and their critics. As the course continues, it builds on this foundation by introducing students to works of literature and political theory that explore core issues of democratic citizenship in various historical and thematic contexts. Each week these issues are reflected in questions that help frame discussion of and writing about course texts and experiences. Sample weekly questions include: How have ideas and values such as individualism, democracy, human nature, social contract, and equality influenced our social, political and economic systems? How do our choices and actions reflect what we identify as our most important relationships and responsibilities? What rights and responsibilities do individuals have with respect to government? How can citizens and communities create change? What are the ways you see yourself participating as a citizen? What will be the most important or difficult issues for citizens in the future? The Citizenship Essay is a major writing assignment that asks students to converse with course authors in an essay that shows intelligence, courage and honesty in examining one or more of the many difficult, complicated issues that face people who take citizenship seriously. Students build their essays throughout the course, using weekly journal reflections and a series of peer- and faculty-reviewed drafts to continuously deepen and refine their visions of citizenship.

Another major assignment for this course is Practicing Citizenship, an experiential learning project that confronts students with the challenge of working in a large (20-25 member) group to research and teach their peers about a citizenship-related topic of their own choosing. Practicing Citizenship focuses as much on process as product. Each group begins by creating a management plan, a social contract that establishes community guidelines for completing assigned tasks, working together productively and resolving differences. Throughout the project, group members use face-to-face discussions, blogs and formal writing assignments to reflect on their struggle to produce successful collaborative work while staying true to core democratic principles equality, deliberation, civility, cooperation and respect for difference encountered repeatedly in course readings. Assessment NCC s First-Year Experience has fared well in national efforts to assess students satisfaction with their college experiences. In the 2003 National Survey of Student Engagement, for example, NCC first-year students reported substantially higher levels of satisfaction and academic engagement than general George Mason University freshmen. Specific findings indicate that NCC freshmen engage in more writing and critical thinking assignments, they are more likely to stay at George Mason for their college careers, and they report higher levels of academic challenge, more engagement and collaboration in learning and a more positive environment on campus. Below is a selection of comparative data reflecting aspects of students overall satisfaction with their educational experiences: Satisfaction with educational experience (4-point scale): NCC Freshmen: 3.53 General GMU Freshmen: 3.06 Willingness to attend GMU again (4-point scale): NCC Freshmen: 3.52 General GMU Freshmen: 3.03 Quality of relationships with other students (7-point scale): NCC Freshmen: 6.12 General GMU Freshmen: 5.52 Quality of relationships with faculty members (7-point scale): NCC Freshmen: 6.40 General GMU Freshmen: 5.16 Below is a selection of comparative data reflecting students evaluation of their own academic and personal development. Institution s contribution to student s knowledge and personal development (4-point scale) Contributing to the welfare of your community: NCC Freshmen: 3.59 General GMU Freshmen: 2.23 Developing a personal code of values and ethics: NCC Freshmen: 3.52 General GMU Freshmen: 2.68 Working effectively with others: NCC Freshmen: 3.77 General GMU Freshmen: 2.90 Writing clearly and effectively: NCC Freshmen: 3.69 General GMU Freshmen: 3.04 Thinking critically and analytically: NCC Freshmen: 3.78 General GMU Freshmen: 3.18 Narrowing the focus to Self as Citizen, this learning community s dual emphasis on the individual and the community is best reflected in the assessment strategies associated with the Practicing Citizenship assignment described above. The faculty team grants students the authority and responsibility to assess themselves and their peers as individuals, and to work collectively to assess their group as a whole. Individual students post, on the group blog, their weekly reflections on the group process. At the conclusion of the course, students fill out a quantitative instrument that asks them to assign numerical values to every group member s contributions (see attached file group peer evaluation ). Each group also submits a 3- to 4 page paper that addresses the group s collective learning about working in large, complex collaborative bodies (see Practicing Citizenship guidelines on Self as Citizen web page). Supplemental Materials The Self as Citizen web page can be accessed at http://classweb.gmu.edu/nclc140. This resource includes the course syllabus and assignment guidelines for the past three iterations of Self as Citizen. I. Contributor s Contact Name and Information Main contact for the submission: Andrew Wingfield Assistant Professor of Integrative Studies New Century College, MS 5D3 George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone: 703-993-4307 Fax: 703-993-1439 Email: awingfie@gmu.edu Other Contributors: John O Connor Professor of Integrative Studies New Century College, MS 5D3 George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone: 703-993-1436 Fax: 703-993-1439 Email: joconnor@gmu.edu

Sarah Sweetman Instructor and Advisor New Century College, MS 5D3 George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone: 703-993-1683 Fax: 703-993-1439 Email: ssweetm1@gmu.edu II. Institutional Description a. New Century College of George Mason University, Fairfax, VA b. Four-year c. Public d. Residential/Commuter e. 30,000 f. This year s cohort numbers 167 students. Of the 126 residential students in the program, 33 live in NCC s Living Learning Community in the George Mason residence halls. The remainder of the students live off campus.

CASE STUDY HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE Living with Conviction: Connecting and Empowering Inmates and Students Through Service-Learning, Social Documentary, and Photography Claire Deal, Associate Professor of Rhetoric Pamela Fox, Adjunct Associate Professor of Fine Arts Hampden-Sydney College is a 230-year-old, four-year liberal arts college for men in Farmville, Virginia, private and residential, with 1,100 full-time students, 350 first-year students. All firstthrough third-year students must live on campus. Our mission is to form good men and good citizens in an atmosphere of sound learning. To put this mission into practice, we created Living with Conviction: Connecting and Empowering Inmates and Students Through Service-Learning, Social Documentary, and Photography, an initiative offered for incoming first-year honors students in the fall and spring semesters 2004-2005. Prior to the project, administrators at Piedmont Regional Jail had approached Prof. Fox, a photography teacher, about teaching a course at the jail that was the impetus for our decision to create a course that would use photography as a means to accomplish multiple goals. The Honors Seminar that we designed to accompany the project was called Social Documentary: Image, Text, and Context. The primary goal of the seminar and the Living with Conviction project was to challenge students intellectually and personally. A group of honors students with an interest in the arts and humanities, at our all-male, liberal arts college with its impressive Federalist buildings, gently rolling hills, and row upon row of expensive SUV s embarked on a weekly foray through the razor-wire fence, metal detectors, and thick steel doors of Piedmont Regional Jail, also located in Farmville. The project offered our young men of privilege a service-learning project that connected academic learning with the real world and that challenged them to confront the assumptions they held about people seemingly different from themselves our inmate partners. Studying and Creating Documentaries We designed our year-long honors interdisciplinary course, Social Documentary: Image, Text, and Context, to require experiential/service-learning, critical thinking, and reflection. The service-learning component provided students the opportunity to enhance classroom learning and to meet a demonstrated need in the community. During the first semester, the 16 students in the course remained on campus and studied the power of documentary to examine social issues, to construct realities, to change perceptions, and to challenge assumptions of what it means to be human. In the second semester, eight students (half of the class could not continue in the course due to scheduling conflicts) became teachers and documentarians themselves, extending the classroom into the community beyond the college gates. They developed and implemented a group documentary project with inmates at the local jail. Over a period of three months, they taught their inmate partners basic photography techniques and engaged in writing activities and discussion to explore the common ground among project participants. The work of all was exhibited at the end of the course. Our students undertook service-learning with principles central to participatory democracy. They linked their academic learning with experiences in the larger community; they participated in a model for lifelong civic engagement, and they met a demonstrated need in the community. Our partnership provided our students, many of whom are members of privileged groups, the opportunity to dispel stereotypes about members of marginalized groups. Our students of privilege discovered again and again the similarities between themselves and the inmates with whom they worked. Our students replaced the terms perpetrator and inmate with the individual names of our partners; stereotypes faded as students interacted with their partners, learning about their interests, goals, and convictions. We team-taught the classroom portion of the course in the fall semester and then directed the spring semester experiential component as well. Also closely involved were staff members in the college publications office, a student who wrote articles for the student newspaper, the alumni magazine, and the College webpage. For the exhibition, the director of publications and the College s graphic designer created banners, posters, mailers, and other exhibition materials. The Public Relations office wrote releases that garnered much positive press for the college (and the jail, as well) in local newspapers as well as in one national newspaper. Assessment We focused our assessment in two areas, the efficacy of the service-learning project in accomplishing curricular goals and in encouraging subsequent civic engagement by our students. We used qualitative assessment, relying on written and oral narratives from each of the students involved in the project. Following a

format suggested by service-learning scholar Edward Zlotkowski, students described their weekly interactions with the inmates and their personal response to the experience, and they wrote a brief analysis linking the service-learning experience to the course curriculum. At the end of the project, students completed an analysis paper, weaving in their journal responses throughout the course with new insights gained. We were thrilled with their journals and papers not only did students write eloquently and thoughtfully about the ethical concerns of documentarians, they made reference to many of the documentarians we d studied in the first semester! Some of the students comments point to the efficacy of service-learning to lessen social distance among people separated by difference including race, class, age, and life experiences. One young man summed up his experience: In the first few classes at the jail, I was still getting to know the inmates and adjusting to the imposing atmosphere of the jail, but by the final class I feel like the social distance between the Hampden-Sydney students and our inmate partners was almost completely gone. We asked our students to consider not only their personal growth but also the impact the experience had on them as citizens in the larger community. One student explained: I enjoy volunteering, so it s extremely likely that I ll do it again. Another student wrote that I believe that we all have a role and responsibility as human beings to help others in need and to be involved in our communities. Another noted that Contributing to the group of people with whom we worked made me feel needed for the first time at Hampden-Sydney. Our inmate partners, too, were changed by the experience, first and foremost as they discovered a means, through photography, to have a voice even while incarcerated. Challenged by tight working quarters and lack of props, background, and street clothing, inmates and students were forced to be creative. They relied largely on body language and framing. The inmates photographs were remarkably inventive given the restrictions of the working environment. One inmate s image showed a tightly cropped view of him looking out of the peephole in the door. He described trying to illustrate vantage point by framing the photo in such a way that it was hard to tell if the subject was someone on the inside looking out, or someone on the outside looking in [to the jail]. He also suggested that it could illustrate two people looking at each other through the same door. Another inmate photographed his own foot and leg beside a Hampden-Sydney student s foot and leg: the resulting image seemed to portray one person with two different legs. The photographer described that person as himself, with one foot here and one foot wishing to go home. The inmates experienced access to a long denied creative outlet and the results far exceeded our expectations. This focus on the artistic creation as opposed to the life of the inmate provided a graceful way of translating difficult or complex feelings, while also maintaining a sense of objectivity both for the Hampden-Sydney students and the inmate students as they began to know one another better. In one project, the inmatestudents wrote and drew onto the negatives of pictures of themselves. They carefully wrote words and drew elaborate clothes, props, and symbols their portraits. One man drew a line through himself and blacked out half of his picture, writing beside his image: I m only half a man whole going home. Another drew a yin-yang symbol over his image; he explained that he wanted to express his experience of trying to maintain balance while he was in such a difficult situation. In this image, the subject calmly gazes out at the viewer with folded arms; he shares the frame with the universal symbol for the integration of positive and negative. The picture translates a complex inner experience we would not likely have captured with the traditional documentary practice of photographs and interviews. We were encouraged by how open the inmates were in expressing their thoughts and feelings. In our final meeting with the inmates, we discussed the impact of the project: the consensus was that nobody had expected that it would have turned out so well. They were all glad that they had taken the class. One participant said that, upon his release, he would be interested in volunteering at the jail in a similar project to give back to the community. They expressed their surprise, upon learning that we would like to exhibit their work at the jail and at the college, that anyone would be interested in their work outside of the context in which it was made. Prior to the exhibition s opening at the jail we held a private artists viewing for the inmates and the Hampden-Sydney students. We presented each inmate with a portfolio including reproductions of his work, news articles about the project, promotional materials, and an exhibition catalogue. When they received the portfolios, each man pored over the contents with expressions of unabashed pride. The officers at the Jail told us that once the inmates returned to their housing units, they shared the materials with other inmates. In the context of our project, inmates and Hampden-Sydney students found common ground. We conclude with the words of a student whose sentiments serve as a challenge to us all: Working at the jail facilitated my helping others express themselves in ways they may not have otherwise experienced. I believe it is everyone s responsibility to act in ways to better their surrounding community, and through this project I feel we have done that. Good citizenship requires reaching out to others, even when one may be reaching in an uncomfortable place. Supplemental Materials Link to syllabus, assignments, journal articles about the project, and images from the photography exhibition Living with Conviction: www.people.hsc.edu/conviction/

I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Main contact for submission: Claire Deal Associate Professor of Rhetoric Box 858 Hampden-Sydney College Hampden-Sydney, VA 23943 Phone: 434-223-6988 Email: cdeal@mail.hsc.edu Prof. Pamela Fox Associate Professor of Fine Arts Box 51 Hampden-Sydney College Hampden-Sydney, VA 23943 Phone: 434-223-6389 pfox@mail.hsc.edu II. Institutional Description a. Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, VA b. Four-year liberal arts college for men c. Private d. Residential campus e. 1,100 full-time students, 350 first-year students (round figures) f. All first-, second-, and third- year students must live on campus. Approximately 40 fourth-year students live off campus.

CASE STUDY INDIANA UNIVERSITY-PURDUE UNIVERSITY FORT WAYNE Civic Engagement Through First-Year Experience Conversations Rachelle L. Darabi, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Success Barbara Jane Ehle, Director of Individual Support Programs The First-Year Experience (FYE) program at Indiana University- Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) began in fall 2004, with our target audience as first time at any college students. Our FYE s main vehicles are curricular learning communities (LCs) that link two or three courses as integrated curriculum for a cohort of students. First-Year Experience Conversations are co-curricular discussions that connect to these curricular learning communities. Connections The overarching theme of FYE is Connections, with five primary goals: (a) connecting by writing to learn, (b) connecting through information literacy, (c) connecting through technology, (d) connecting to IPFW as a resource, and (e) connecting students lives to their disciplines and their community. This final goal includes civic engagement, which is specifically addressed through First- Year Experience Conversations, a co-curricular series developed by FYE support staff. FYE learning community faculty members embed co-curricular activities into each LC, addressing goals of both FYE and LC. Conversations FYE Conversations are held each fall on Mondays at noon, a time when no classes are scheduled, with lunches funded by student government. Conversations are designed for first-year students, but any student can attend; about 60 do. Our fall 2004 Conversation Series theme was diversity. Faculty led conversations on essays and book chapters, including: Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Tatum to John Gardner The theme of the 2005 conversations was You and Your World and focused on topics developed by IPFW faculty, including: Sociology and Environmental Affairs by Leslie Raymer, Women s Studies Dr. Bruce Kingsbury, Biology The culminating experience for the 2005 FYE Conversation Series was a Hunger Banquet based on the Oxfam model. Invited speakers detailed facts about poverty in the world and in our county. Students stepped into the lives of those in poverty through roleplay and received meals corresponding with the realities of hunger in the world. It was a powerful experience. Students also learned about volunteer opportunities in the community. We continued the You and Your World theme and several key elements (i.e., developing skills for civic discourse, voting, and the Hunger Banquet) in fall 2006. The Conversation Series also included: Theatre by Dr. Shari Troy, Theatre Geology Political Science and Nutrition Issues for College Students by Linda Lolkus, Consumer and Family Sciences The FYE Conversation Series purposefully helps students develop the skills necessary to engage in difficult, public dialogues and increase their knowledge of democratic processes. Through experiential learning at the Hunger Banquet, students reflect on their own lives and those of others in the community and the world beyond. The cumulative experience promotes critical thinking. Assessment The FYE Conversation Series uses several methods of assessment. Quantitative analysis shows increasing attendance over three years, with per-event averages growing from 20 to 60. The first Hunger Banquet served 80 students, faculty and staff; the second banquet, 160.

Qualitative assessment begins with students completing a short evaluation at the end of each conversation. Analyses of these student reflections have shaped the program: topic selection, increased contact with faculty presenters after the programs, more interactive formats. A focus group of faculty and students evaluates the Hunger Banquet and the entire conversation series. In addition, at the end of each fall semester, FYE learning community faculty members attend a wrap-up session and evaluate the FYE Conversation Series as part of the overall FYE program. They describe how the conversations tie into the learning objectives of their classes. Many who have led conversations now teach in FYE learning communities. Student participants in FYE Conversations report increased involvement in other co-curricular activities. Students in one learning community attended the FYE Conversation on voting. They then asked their faculty to go with them to the campus legislative luncheon, and as a consequence, traveled to the state capital with IPFW faculty and staff to lobby legislatures on behalf of the university. Increasing students connections to the university is essential to retention, particularly on a commuter campus. The FYE Conversation Series and its Connections theme have certainly contributed to the larger goal of retention at IPFW. Supplemental Materials www.ipfw.edu/fye/conversations I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Main contact for submission: Rachelle L. Darabi Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Success Phone: 260-481-6140 Fax: 260-481-6880 Email: darabi@ipfw.edu Barbara Jane Ehle Director of Individual Support Programs Phone: 260-481-6268 Fax: 260-481-6880 Email: ehle@ipfw.edu Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) 2101 E. Coliseum Blvd. Fort Wayne, IN 46805 II. Institutional Description a. Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN b. Four-year c. Public d. Primarily commuter e. 7,993 undergraduate FTEs (2005-06); 1,830 first-years; all but 580 students are commuter.

CASE STUDY INDIANA UNIVERSITY-PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS (IUPUI) Discover Indianapolis: Integrating Civic Education Into the Curriculum Through First-Year Seminars Frank E. Ross, Ph.D., Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Life and Learning Scott Evenbeck, Ph.D., Dean of University College Discover Indianapolis is a first-year seminar with a civic engagement theme, collaboratively administered by University College (the academic college housing first-year programs and services) and the Division of Student Life (student affairs). First-year seminars have been offered at IUPUI for 12 years. In 2007-2008, Discover Indianapolis enters its third year. Twenty-five first-semester students in our learning community program enroll voluntarily in the Discover Indianapolis section. Goals for the class include: 1. Creating student awareness of the resources of Indianapolis; 2. Introducing students to art and cultural offerings of Indianapolis; 3. Helping students feel more comfortable in Indianapolis; 4. Helping students understand social issues impacting Indianapolis; 5. Helping students develop skills to succeed at IUPUI; 6. Providing a context for assessing interests, values, and abilities so students can make the most of their time at the university; 7. Providing a place for students to establish a support network at the University; 8. Introducing students to the Principles of Undergraduate Learning; 9. Enhancing understanding and respect for values and practices of the academic community, including respect for diversity, the open exchange of ideas, collegiality, and academic integrity. IUPUI offers more than 100 sections of the first-year seminar annually, each section a home for a cohort of 25 first-year students and taught by a team: a faculty member, an academic advisor, a librarian, and a student mentor. Discover Indianapolis sections also include a student affairs administrator to support the seminar s out-of-class learning. The intentional curricular / co-curricular integration of Discover Indianapolis strongly supports civic literacy and knowledge of principles of democracy; democratic/citizenship skills and political involvement; experiential learning, and critical thinking and reflection. Instructional team members developed the course mindful of National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) outcomes related to civic engagement. Hayek and Holmes (2006) provide a checklist of such outcomes that are useful in course planning activities: the course. from one another in the form of peer tutoring. that will contribute to the welfare of the community. tance of voting. assignments. of people from different backgrounds and beliefs. The program has several distinctive features: 1. Community Engagement. Students are introduced to traditional first-year success topics while learning about the city s established cultural districts. The Indianapolis Cultural Districts Program was established in 2002 to facilitate cultural development in six distinct city neighborhoods that offer a unique mix of arts, cultural, and hospitality activities. Throughout the semester, students learn about the history and economic development of the districts, current political and social issues, and the role of the university in each of the districts. They go to a variety of art and cultural centers in each district. 2. Service-Learning. Students also participate in Service in the City, a large-scale, service-learning experience that educates them about social, diversity, and equity issues in the local community and introduces them to political issues. Students reflect critically on the political process and their role as socially responsible, engaged citizens.

3. Lessons in Democracy. The IUPUI Democracy Plaza is an outdoor learning environment on campus for thoughtful written and spoken academic discourse on economic, educational, political, social, and religious issues. Students in Discover Indianapolis participate in Democracy Plaza open forums throughout the semester, including Constitution Day. 4. Newspapers in the Classroom. Each week, students summarize newspaper articles on civic issues in Indianapolis. These summaries, with additional library research, are the foundation for the culminating final project, an op-ed letter on social, political, economic, or historical issues of Indianapolis. 5. Assessment. Discover Indianapolis uses a variety of strategies to guide course planning and assessment of outcomes. 2005 Cohort For the first year of the Discover Indianapolis first-year seminar, an end-of-course survey was administered to assess student civic engagement, course impact, and goals. The course was found to be a very successful in connecting students to the city (Table 1). Table 1 Discover Indianapolis, Fall 2005 End-of-Semester Survey (N=25) Course Outcome As a result of this course, I am more familiar with Indianapolis I learned about the art and culture offerings in Indianapolis I am likely to participate in Indianapolis art and cultural offerings in the future I feel more comfortable being in Indianapolis I better understand social issues impacting Indianapolis Percentage of students who agreed 2006 Cohort The American Democracy Project (ADP) Student Survey was administered to all students enrolled in Discover Indianapolis beginning with the fall 2006 cohort, as pre- and post-course surveys (Table 2). This instrument measures involvement in a variety of political, social, religious, and cultural civic activities (Huerta, Jorgensen, & Jozwiak, 2006). Survey results demonstrate course success in advancing student civic engagement. Table 2 ADP Student Survey Results, Fall 2006 (N=25) Extended Sharing Survey Item I keep up with local, state or national political news. I am knowledgeable about local socioeconomic issues and problems. I have written to a political official or to the editor of the local paper on a political or social issue Being a citizen of my community has a great deal of personal meaning for me. % agree or strongly agree (pre) % agree or strongly agree (post) 82 28 68 I take pride in my community. I feel emotionally attached to my community It is my responsibility as a member of my community to improve it. 84 My community deserves my loyalty. Community involvement is an important means of meeting people. Being involved in a program to improve my community is important. The things I learn in school are useful in my life. 88 64 88 Future assessment plans In addition to end-of-course surveys, and the ADP Student Survey, course instructors will use NSSE data to further assess student civic engagement. Additionally, qualitative content analysis of student writings will assess civic awareness and education. References Hayek, J.C. & Holmes, M.S. (2006). Using the National Survey of Student Engagement to assess and enhance civic engagement in the classroom. In J.L. Perry & S.G. Jones (Eds.), Quick hits for educating citizens (pp. 69-71). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Huerta, J.C., Jorgensen, D.J. & Jozwiak, J. (2006). Assessing the multiple dimensions of civic engagement: A preliminary test of an ADP survey instrument. In J.L. Perry & S.G. Jones (Eds.), Quick hits for educating citizens (pp. 71-81). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

I. Contributors names and contact information Main contact for submission: Frank E. Ross, Ph.D. Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Life and Learning Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) 355 North Lansing, AO 1112 Indianapolis, IN 46202 Phone: 317-274-8990 Fax: 317-274-2864 Email: frross@iupui.edu Scott Evenbeck, Ph.D. Dean of University College Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) 815 West Michigan Street, UC 3163 Indianapolis, IN 46202 Phone: 317-274-5032 Fax: 317-278-2216 Email: Evenbeck@iupui.edu II. Institutional Description a. Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Indianapolis, IN b. Four-year c. Public d. Commuter e. 29,953 students:21,172 of those undergraduates, 2,720 first-year students f. 17,236 full-time students; 12,717 part-time g. 974 students live on campus. Of those, 594 are first-years.

CASE STUDY LEHIGH UNIVERSITY Judging Judgment The American Jury System on Trial in the First-Year College Writing Course Gregory M. Skutches, Ph.D., Coordinator, Writing Across the Curriculum At Lehigh University, First-Year English focuses on the skills of interpretation, analysis, and argument. The second semester of the two-semester writing requirement introduces students to the interpretative and rhetorical skills of civic discourse and to the practical responsibility and motivation necessary for prudent and ethical participation in American democracy: In English 2, you will turn your attention to public issues important in the life of the nation, issues about which reasonable people differ, issues that involve questions about which you as a responsible and engaged citizen in a democracy should have an opinion. In English 2, you will investigate a challenging and contested topic of inquiry from a range of perspectives and take a stand on that topic based on your clearest thoughts and deepest convictions. (Web description) Crime and Punishment in America is one of the English 2 topics, with four units, each consisting of intensive and focused inquiry leading to a writing project. The course features substantial reading, films, guest speakers and symposia, field trips, and other experiential inquiry. The topics for the four units are: (1) speculating about the causes of crime, (2) evaluating the American jury system, (3) seeking solutions to the problems of recidivism and the overcrowding of America s prisons, and (4) creating an interpretive claim about the rhetorical slant of Tim Robbins death penalty film Dead Man Walking. In this case study, I describe in detail the unit on the evaluation of the jury system. In the spring semester of 1998, we began the unit by viewing a segment of the television news magazine program 20/20 reporting on the controversy of Paul Butler, a professor at George Washington University Law School, whose article Selective Racially Based Nullification Can Create Justice argues that African-American jurors should acquit African-American defendants whom they know to be guilty of nonviolent crimes. His claim is that the entire criminal justice system, from policemen on the streets to the courts and lawmakers, is biased against African Americans, and that the jury presents an opportunity for the minority to challenge the tyranny of the majority. His controversial claim confronted profoundly the students notions of justice in the American court of law and stimulated substantial interest in the jury system as a topic of inquiry. In the rest of the unit, students learned about the problems of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution in practice as they examined complex elements of the jury system such as unanimous and majority verdicts, peremptory challenges, and jury nullification adaptations that students came to recognize as attempts to facilitate justice within a society rife with racial bias. Our inquiry culminated with a guest speaker, a former member of the Pagans motorcycle gang who, after spending seven years of a life sentence for rape in a Delaware state prison, was released when incontrovertible evidence of his innocence came to light and moved the governor to commute his sentence to time served. In their papers, students were asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the jury system, basing their assessment on the effectiveness of one of its elements (i.e., peremptory challenges, the unanimous verdict, jury nullification) in seeking justice within a culturally diverse society. Though students approached the assignment in a variety of ways and exhibited a range of achievement in terms of writing competency and rhetorical skill, the majority of their work demonstrated (1) an effort to accommodate opposing views in their arguments, (2) a willingness to change their arguments substantially between drafts in response to compelling evidence from new sources of information or feedback from peers, (3) an awareness of the tension between the power of the majority and the rights of the minority in a democratic society, (4) the difficulty of seeking justice in a racially diverse society; and (5) a respect and appreciation for the responsibility of serving on a jury. Assessment Assessment of the course had three phases. First was the initial grading of student work. Though Crime and Punishment in America is primarily a writing course, and not specifically a course in civic engagement, the Writing Program at Lehigh is guided by the assumption that all its offerings should contribute to the preparation of Lehigh students for active participation in a democracy. Therefore, though students are graded on their writing, civic engagement is an essential part of the learning experience. The two most important criteria for evaluating student written work are thoughtful ideas and effectiveness at making and

supporting a claim. In this course, these criteria are based on civic literacy and critical thinking and engagement. The second phase of assessment is an ethnographic analysis of all student work for the course: class discussion, writing done on a computer network discussion board, group-work activities, short microtheme papers, and the four major writing projects for the course. The third phase of assessment extends the ethnographic analysis to interviews conducted with students when they had reached the senior year at Lehigh. These interviews, based primarily on open-ended questions designed with care taken to avoid leading students or inviting simple evaluative responses, sought to assess the long-range effects of the course on students writing skills, critical thinking, and involvement in civic discourse. The results were somewhat mixed. Though most students reported that they had been able to use the writing process they had learned in other courses throughout their time at Lehigh, their interest in civic issues seemed to have waned in the three years that had passed since they took the course. They claimed to have maintained higher levels of interest in civic discourse than most of their peers at Lehigh, but they expressed regret at losing some of the energy and engagement they felt while in the course. Several students had registered to vote and claimed to have encouraged others to do so and even attributed these actions in part to Crime and Punishment in America. Others reported that they had become more involved because of what they had learned in course. But, in general, the level of appreciation for the importance of participation in civic discourse had diminished during their time at Lehigh. These results suggest that continued attention to civic discourse throughout the undergraduate years is needed. Supplementary Materials Supplementary materials such as the course syllabus, project handouts, peer review and collaborative project guidelines, and student written work are available at http://www.lehigh.edu/ ~grs206/grs206.html I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information Gregory M. Skutches, Ph.D. Coordinator, Writing Across the Curriculum Lehigh University 8A East Packer Avenue Bethlehem, PA 18015-3170 Phone: 610-758-4932 Fax: 610-758-3004 Email: grs206@lehigh.edu II. Institutional Description a. Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015 b. Four-year institution; the student body is primarily residential. c. 4,743 total full-time enrolled undergraduate students d. 1,217 full-time first-year students e. 3,331 total FTE residential students f. 1,412 total FTE who commute or live in off-campus housing g. 1,201 FTE first-year residential students h. 16 FTE first-year commuting students

CASE STUDY MARS HILL COLLEGE LifeWorks Civic Engagement Certificate Program Stan Dotson, Dean of LifeWorks The LifeWorks Civic Engagement Certificate Program, first offered at Mars Hill College in 2002, is a four-year curricular and co-curricular program with goals for building a knowledge base, cultivating a skill set, and generating dispositions for civic leadership across the majors. Knowledge goals include deepening understanding of self, the surrounding community, interest group politics, and career opportunities that serve the common good. Skills goals focus on active listening, group facilitation, civil discourse, conflict management, and resource development. Dispositions goals include demonstrating imagination, courage, respect, integrity, and inspiration in one s civic engagement work. The Certificate is coordinated through LifeWorks at Mars Hill, which houses service-learning, internships, leadership, and career development. LifeWorks has four full-time staff members and a full-time VISTA worker. LifeWorks and First-Year Honors Scholars The LifeWorks program was originally designed for the Bonner Scholars, a group of 60 service-learning scholars (15 per class), who each participate in close to 2,000 hours of civic engagement activities over the course of four years (including summers). It was expanded to include all of our Honors Scholars students, who engage in 280 hours of service over four years. Our first-year Scholars (approximately 50 students) all participate in the program as a requirement of their scholarship. (Participation is voluntary after the first year.) They are oriented to the Civic Engagement Certificate program during a pre-semester, three-day service-learning retreat. Each week of the first semester they explore different service opportunities through weekly group projects, including projects focusing on literacy in the schools, hunger relief, affordable housing, environmental protection, domestic violence prevention, and health care. These exploration activities help the Scholars choose an ongoing service activity for their second semester, one that could last all four years, enabling the Scholars to increase their responsibility and leadership at the sites. The Scholars connect their experiences in and out of the classroom through a weekly LifeWorks Civic Engagement seminar. Each semester, the seminar devotes five weeks each to addressing a knowledge goal, a skills goal, and a dispositions goal. The co-curricular themes are intentionally connected to the curricular themes in the college s general education core, called the Commons. We hold workshops with our community partners to make them aware of the civic engagement learning goals for the Commons and to reinforce the concept that their roles are more than simple site supervisors: they are field-based co-educators. Building on First-Year Challenges The sequential Commons themes begin with a first-year seminar called Challenges and continue with courses in Character, Civic Life, Faith and Reason, and Creativity. Weekly service activities and co-curricular Civic Engagement seminars address specific goals through the readings assigned in the Commons. For example, in the Character course, students read Plato s Ring of Gyges, a story about what it would be like to have a ring that makes one invisible. The community partner from the domestic abuse agency helps students explore this story by critically examining what people are capable of doing when they think no one is looking (abuse) and how the agency s safe house works to try to help the victims become invisible to their abusers. In the Civic Life course, students read founding documents of our nation s history and critically analyze the civic tensions between equality and freedom that they see in their service sites. A particular focus is on what the founding documents offer as we work to close the achievement gap in public schools. A third example: When the students are in the Faith and Reason class, they examine some intractable controversies that emerge from the tensions between the role of science and religion in public life. In the co-curricular seminar that coincides with that course, we look at how some of those controversies and policy debates relate to their service. They read editorials from local and national newspapers to analyze the presuppositions behind various advocacy statements related to the service issues in their work, such as mental health, poverty, women s rights, and environmental stewardship. College administrators who are also public officials address issues in which the students are engaged. For example, the Dean of Students is a local School Board member, and the head of our adult education program is a state Legislator.

Assessment Mars Hill measures qualitative progress on the stated goals for knowledge development (related to knowledge of self, community, controversy, and career paths), skills development (related to active listening, civil discourse, group facilitation, and resource development), and dispositions development (related to imagination, courage, integrity, respect, and inspiration). In our community learning agreement (CLA), the students collaborate with community partners to articulate both activities descriptions and learning goals for each semester. The evaluations given by community partners are tied to these CLAs. The students document their work in three reflection essays, assessing over the semester their progress in meeting the knowledge, skills, and dispositions goals. We also document the number of hours students spend in community engagement activities. We track the retention rates for our Bonner Scholars and have found that even though these students have retention risk factors (i.e., high financial need, first-generation status), their graduation rate is 75%, almost 30 percentage points higher than the that of the college as a whole. Our Civic Engagement Scholars also report that their involvement in the program has helped them understand and engage in the core curriculum at a deeper level. The program includes students from diverse backgrounds, and we have found that participation in the program leads to a greater respect across lines of diversity. Our assessments also shape our program. Students essays connecting their classroom learning with their work in the community are, with the students permission, shared with faculty members. The students evaluations affirm their learning and elicit from faculty a high level of support and respect for the work the students are doing in the co-curricular Civic Engagement Certificate program. I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information Stan Dotson Dean of LifeWorks Mars Hill College P.O. Box 6677 Mars Hill, NC 28754 Phone: 828-689-1161 Fax: 828-689-1583 Email: sdotson@mhc.edu II. Institutional Description a. Mars Hill College, Mars Hill, NC b. Four-year c. Private liberal arts college d. Residential e. 960 FTE undergraduates; 258 FTE first year students f. 726 residential students; 242 commuter students; 210 first-year residential students; 48 first-year commuter students. Supplemental Materials For more information about the LifeWorks Civic Engagement Program, go to http://lifeworks.mhc.edu/

CASE STUDY MERCER UNIVERSITY Interdisciplinary Studies First-Year Seminar Mary Ann Drake, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies Jean Fallis, Ph.D., Educational Consultant Under different names, various iterations of interdisciplinary first-year seminars have existed at Mercer for more than 20 years, reflecting the university s faith-based mission and involvement with civil rights. (Mercer was the first private school in the South to integrate.) About nine years ago, the faculty voted to institute the First-Year Seminar (FYS) program for all incoming first-year students and to preserve the civic engagement component as a First- Year Seminar/Experiential (FYX) option within the larger FYS program. FYX 101 and FYX 102 have been offered since 1995. The First-Year Seminar/Experiential is a two-semester, ninecredit sequence designed to develop critical thinking and civic awareness in our students and to act as an introduction to subsequent service-learning courses. Our Masthead reads: The First Year Seminar course sequence is the gateway to a liberal arts education at Mercer University. FYS and FYX 101 Composing the Self and FYS and FYX 102 Engaging the World introduce the student to the essential skills of critical reading, critical writing, and effective communication. Students develop and practice these skills through reading and discussing texts, composing essays, and defending original theses with critical arguments. Mercer requires all entering first-year students enrolling in the College of Liberal Arts, the Stetson School of Business, or the Tift School of Education to complete this year-long seminar. All entering first-year students, both residential and commuting, are enrolled in FYS. Within the FYS Program, students can elect to enroll in FYX. Nine FYX sections of 18 students (out of a total of 29 FYS sections) are offered in the fall semester. With attrition, this usually pares down to six sections in spring. The FYS Program is part of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies; the civic engagement, service-learning sections of FYX are administered by the FYX Director (faculty) and supported by a Program Coordinator (staff ). Approximately nine faculty members teach in this program, mainly in the liberal arts but also in a variety of disciplines and schools across the university. FYX Curriculum The focus of the first semester is Composing the Self; the focus of the second semester is Engaging the World. Both the FYS and FYX courses incorporate service-learning. Along with the reading of interdisciplinary core texts, and a discussion/seminar format, FYX integrates the students civic engagement into the focal points of the curriculum. All FYX professors require students to tutor at least one hour per week at local inner-city, Title I elementary schools. One school has been the recipient of this tutoring for almost eight years. Some professors require additional service or offer variations on the core model. One section, for example, tutors mathematics exclusively. Another section offers tutoring combined with work in the school feeder area, in a community garden that grows organic vegetables and distributes them to local elderly and disabled residents. These students also participate in neighborhood planning meetings. Interdisciplinarity sits at the heart of FYX. Faculty from various disciplines teach in the program and readings center on core texts from various disciplines and genres. Past readings have included Sophocles, de Tocqueville, and Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as Great Expectations, A Lesson Before Dying, and Jihad vs Mc- World. In fall 2006, we inaugurated The Mercer Reader, compiled by a small sub-group of the FYX faculty. Readings include several poems, two paintings, part of a Platonic dialogue, and an essay by Walker Percy. The theme of composing the self emerges from the readings, the experiential activity of tutoring, class discussions and reflective writing. The process continues in the second semester on the theme of engaging the world and with Kotlowitz s There Are No Children Here as the common text. In combination, these two semesters help students situate themselves in their own lives and the lives of others. We believe that one has to understand self-composition before one can relate to others. As the students tutor children very different from themselves in a situation unfamiliar to most, topics such as family, friendship, environment, education, and democracy come to life. Mercer students struggle with the inequities of the educational system, family abuse, abandonment, and the realities of a political system where these injustices occur. The combination of texts, experiences, and discussions fosters critical thinking and self-reflection. Assessment Assessment has resided in the individual course, where faculty have evaluated critical thinking and analytic skills. Faculty creativity allows for multiple methods of encouraging critical

thinking and self-reflection. All use the discussion/seminar format with response and research essays. Many use self-reflection journals. Some use new media and digital narratives. All require extensive writing, both personal and academic. There is no doubt in the minds of FYX instructors that service-learning is transformative for many students. Many students have chosen their current career paths because of their civic engagement. Many learned to understand people very different from themselves, and many were sufficiently moved to make a commitment to a lifetime of citizenship and service. We have always had anecdotal stories regarding the progress of individual students, but in the past we did not engage in carefully coordinated assessment. Student engagement university-wide has been assessed through the NSSE and Your First College Year surveys. Our assessment is increasing as Mercer s Quality Enhancement Plan, endorsed by SACS, focuses on service-learning. FYX faculty are now consulting with the Psychology Department and with Mercer s Office of Institutional Effectiveness to develop effective assessment tools across FYX sections and over time. FYX faculty are also beginning to assess students impact on the Macon community, meeting with instructional teams at service sites and developing stronger coordination. FYX student tutoring in one school helped reduce pupils failure rates by at least 6% in all grades and eliminated the failure rate in one class. The success rate increased from 34% to 52%, a factor that contributed to that school earning the National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence award for 2006. Digital narratives have been especially successful in encouraging student reflection. Short digital narratives bring together visual materials (student-generated photographs and videos) and scripts to tell the story of their service and/or their community partners. Mercer students in an after-school tutoring program work with third-graders to gather oral histories and pictures from grandparents and neighborhood residents. The critical thinking prompts, digital editing, and teamwork for these narratives provide a creative reflective process. Quantitatively, NSSE and Carnegie surveys indicate higher scores than our comparison schools in active and collaborative learning, service-learning as part of a course, and developing a personal code of values and ethics. I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Main contact for submission: Mary Ann Drake, Ph.D. Professor and Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies Mercer University 1400 Coleman Ave. Macon, GA 31207 Phone: 478-301-5616 Fax: 478-301-2200 Email: Drake_ma@mercer.edu Jean Fallis, Ph.D. Educational Consultant 256 Calloway Drive Macon, GA 31204 Phone: 478-335-8638 Email: fallisjean@yahoo.com II. Institutional Description a. Mercer University Campuses in Macon and Atlanta, GA, as well as several regional centers b. Four-year c. Private d. Residential e. 2,279 undergraduate FTE (Macon residential campus); 568 first-year FTE f. 1,526 residential FTE ; 753 commuter FTE 508 first-year residential FTE 508; 60 first-year commuter FTE Supplemental Materials First-Year Seminar Web site: www.mercer.edu/fys/index.html Dr. Mary Ann Drake s Web site: http://faculty.mercer.edu/drake_ma/stories.htm

CASE STUDY MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY YouVote: Linking Campus and Community for Voter Education, Information & Participation Karen McKnight Casey, Director, Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement John A. Dowell, Technology Literacy Specialist, Learning Resources Center, and Visiting Lecturer, Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures November 2000: It is Election Day! Lines are long at the precincts in the Michigan State University (MSU) residence halls and in student neighborhoods in East Lansing. One by one, each student waits to reach the front of the line. Many are turned away. Why? Are these students not registered? No, the Michigan Motor Voter bill is now law. The new Motor Voter law required that the address on the student s driver s license/state identification match that on the voter registration card. This denoted a distinct change from the previous policy, which allowed a student to list his/her permanent address on the driver s license and the campus or local collegetown address for voter registration. Given the residential nature of the MSU community, the majority of students maintained both a permanent address and a temporary local address. The State of Michigan had done little publicity regarding the new law in advance of the 2000 election. Many students erroneously assumed that they could vote in East Lansing. YouVote: MSU and East Lansing Collaborate MSU and the City of East Lansing did not foresee scores of students being unable to vote. In response to the students disappointment and, in some cases, anger, MSU and the city formed a task force to prepare for the next election. The collaboration, known as the YouVote campaign initiative, includes the Offices of the Vice President for Student Affairs and Services and the Vice President for Governmental Affairs, the Associated Students of MSU (ASMSU-student government), Student Life, the Residence Hall Association (RHA), the Center for Service- Learning and Civic Engagement (CSLCE) and the East Lansing City Clerk. The purpose of YouVote is to provide voter registration information, encourage and facilitate registrations, and inform on candidates and proposals. Toward this end, the CSLCE invited faculty, from Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures (WRA) 135: Public Life in America: the Service-Learning Writing Project (SLWP), to become involved in the design and implementation of YouVote. The participation of WRA 135 has become integral to YouVote. WRA 135 classes are one set of offerings within the series of required first-year (freshmen) writing classes. All WRA classes incorporate research, composition and exploration of American literature. Key components of WRA 135 are writing for public audiences and co-creating and disseminating information for the public good, consistent with MSU s mission as the pioneer land-grant institution. Since 2002, the YouVote sections of WRA 135 have been taught by John A. Dowell. Prof. Dowell s classes include an emphasis on First Amendment rights, social and civic responsibility and the consequences of failing to exercise those rights. The format of the class is unique: It is an on-campus, live class, with written work composed and submitted in web format. This instruction in Web use makes the class ideal for managing the YouVote Web site, http://youvote.msu.edu/. Students develop the website and learn course concepts through civic engagement. They compose and produce promotional materials, such as fliers and public service announcements. In partnership with the Residence Hall Association, they work in voter registration drives. Under the sponsorship of the City Clerk, eligible WRA 135 students serve as poll workers. Governmental Affairs recruits and supervises an intern, who supports the coordination, monitoring and assessment of 135 students with YouVote partners. The intern and ASMSU work closely with 135 students to publicize YouVote via the campus newspaper, the State News. (Thirty-five articles, 11/01-11/06, http:// www.statenews.com/do_search.phtml?keywords=youvote) The MSU YouVote initiative connects academic service-learning and civic engagement for first-year students, co-curricular service and activism and the work of university administration and the local municipality. First-year students are given an opportunity to act on the democratic themes taught in WRA 135 and are systematically and civically linked to upper classmen, university professionals and the neighboring city. Assessment Assessment includes: journaling; and Links to supplemental materials address these. Here we focus

upon website hits and student investment. Throughout the months of September, October, and November, key weeks were most visible in terms of hits at the YouVote Web site. Table 1, below illustrates the effectiveness of the site in terms of interest generated. Table 1: Hits generated at YouVote.msu.edu between September 5 (the date Dr. Lee June, Vice-President for Student Affairs, sent his email) through the day after the November 7 election. Date (in 2006) September 6 Number of Visitors 242 September 8 October 8 November 2 November 4 November 6 (election day) November 8 The YouVote Web site generated most hits after the Vice- President for Student Affairs sent out an email to the student population, reminding them of YouVote.msu.edu, and just before and the day of the election. Without doubt, these numbers indicate the Web site s success. Student contributors to the site gained a great deal of insight into the mechanics of participatory democracy as they researched various candidates and ballot proposals. The class divided into groups to describe why one would or would not support a given candidate or proposal. Additionally, students were required to take informal surveys among their friends voters and non-voters and determine what might increase their likelihood to vote in future elections. In so doing, students found a range of responses, from the frustrated people don t vote for two reasons: because they think their vote doesn t count and because of the inconvenience.. to the hopeful It s not so much that who I vote for must win, but more the fact that I at least tried. to the genuinely noble We were first-time voters, we knew as U.S. citizens it was our duty and we wanted to be able to have that experience. to walking the walk : Nearly half the class were trained and served as poll workers. Supplemental Materials As noted earlier, nearly all of the students work was produced with an online audience in mind. All their SLWP webfolios (online portfolios) are available along with links to their assignments, http://www.msu.edu/~jdowell/135/agencylist-f06.html. I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Main contact for the submission: Karen McKnight Casey Director, Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Michigan State University 27 Student Services Building East Lansing, MI 48824-1113 Phone: 517-353-4400 Fax: 517-353-6663 Email: caseyk@msu.edu John A. Dowell Technology Literacy Specialist, Learning Resources Center, and Visiting Lecturer, Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures Michigan State University 202 Bessey Hall East Lansing, MI 48824-1033 Phone: 517-355-2363 Fax: 517-353-6663 Email: jdowell@msu.edu

CASE STUDY PACE UNIVERSITY Civic Engagement Through Computing Technology Jean F. Coppola, Assistant Professor, Technology Systems Department Catharina (Kitty) Daniels, Assistant Professor, Technology Systems Department Susan-Feather Gannon, Professor, Technology Systems Department Nancy Lynch Hale, Assistant Professor and Chair, Technology Systems Department Darren Hayes, CIS Coordinator and Assistant Professor, Technology Systems Department Richard Kline, Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department Pauline Mosley, Associate Professor, Technology Systems Department Heather Novak, Assistant Director, Project Pericles Linda Pennachio, Assistant Professor, Technology Systems Department Pace University, a four-year private institution, seeks to fulfill its mission of opportunitas (opportunity) by collaborating across constituencies, both internal and external, thereby creating an engaged campus. The roots of Pace University s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems (SSCSIS) civic engagement involvement stem from a U.S. Department of Education, National Workplace Literacy Program grant in 1990 received by Dr. Susan Merritt, Dean of SSCSIS. Simultaneously, the personal computer was revolutionizing the way work was done, and there was a growing concern that the lack of access to and knowledge of the computer was creating a digital divide. Already disenfranchised members of our community were powerless and becoming further removed from mainstream opportunities. The grant provided the framework for SSCSIS faculty to partner college students learning to use computers for the first time with community clients who did not have access to computers or knowledge of their usefulness. What started as an experiment 17 years ago has evolved into a program that has transformed the core curriculum first-year experience. Ten years ago, hands-on experiential-based education was limited to vocational or career education. Now, introductory computing and technology courses, a part of the core discipline, are being taught as civic engagement courses, actively involving students in the learning process. The application of learning is no longer limited to campus or laboratory simulations. In the community, this application addresses the digital divide, as described by Natriello: Committing resources to address the access divide, whether from governmental or private sources, may lead to a speedier solution to the more visible divide, the problem of disparities in access, at the cost of intensifying the less visible problem of disparities in use (2001, p. 261). Furthermore, Pace is presently one of the only institutions in the U.S. where all students must take a three-credit civic engagement course as part of the core curriculum. One way the University achieves these goals is by participating in Project Pericles, an initiative that includes (as of 2007) 22 colleges and universities. Project Pericles, funded by the Eugene M. Lang Foundation, is a national initiative whose mission embraces the preparation of students for active participation in an expanding, pluralistic society in which citizenship, social responsibility, and community are inseparable (http://projectpericles.org/). In 2002, civic engagement officially became part of the Pace University core curriculum. The Computers for Human Empowerment course, which has been running since 1990, was a natural to fulfill this core requirement. All SSCSIS civic engagement courses were designed to accommodate first-year students, thereby providing a means to apply theory they were learning in the classroom to practical experience. Civic Engagement Course Offerings in SSCSIS Each of the courses is described in its own case study on the monograph Web site: http://csis.pace.edu/servicelearning/ casestudies/ The Computers for Human Empowerment course, designed for first-year students, emanated from the grant described in the previous section. This course partners students in an introduction to computing course with clients from not-for-profit agencies to develop computer literacy skills. It remains the hallmark servicelearning course offering of SSCSIS. Web Design for Non-Profit Organizations is the second course offering. This course provides training and hands-on experience in the implementation aspects of Web page and Web site development in a non-profit paradigm. Students work in teams to develop Web sites that meet the specifics outlined by a non-profit agency. Design considerations include navigation techniques, audience needs, browser platform concerns, and connection speeds. A combination of current scripting/programming languages and Web page authoring software are used for topics such as building, formatting, enhancing, and publishing pages; maintaining a Web site; creating and manipulating graph-

ics; and incorporating style sheets, JavaScript, or Java Applets. To date, students in this course have developed over 105 Web sites for agencies, including the UN, NYC 2012 Nations of New York Project, and the Westchester Philharmonic. The Problem Solving Using LEGOs course is our third civic engagement offering. This class introduces students to basic problem solving and project management techniques, which can be applied to building, programming, and managing the creation of robots using the LEGO Mindstorms Robotics Invention System. For the second half of the semester, students work with small teams of middle school students to build robots and use computers to program them to solve challenges. This class prepares interested middle school teams to participate in robotics competitions, such as FIRST LEGO League. A fourth course, Networking Technologies, assists non-profit and community-based organizations in installing, troubleshooting, and supporting wired and wireless computer networks. Sample projects in this course are refurbishing donated, used computer equipment and supporting network-enabled printers, scanners, digital cameras, and other peripherals. Clients have included senior centers, adult daycare facilities, and geriatric centers. Intergenerational Computing is the latest course to be added to the SSCSIS repertoire of civic engagement courses. In this course, students are introduced to the world of seniors living in assistedliving environments and bridge the generational gap associated with using technology. Students learn various assistive technologies and help seniors use these technologies to communicate with family and friends and access vital information. All SSCSIS service-learning courses include a structured reflection component to enhance student learning. Assessment To date, SSCSIS has offered over 70 sections of civic learning courses to more than 1,500 students, serving approximately 733 clients from numerous agencies and creating more than 200 Web sites. Approximately 30% of these students are first-year students. Enrollment in these courses has consistently been strong, and feedback from all stakeholders has been outstanding. Assessment in SSCSIS civic engagement courses is a two-layered process: (1) assessment of technology theory and concepts and (2) assessment of the service-learning component. SSCSIS faculty approach assessment in these courses very creatively, using a variety of traditional assessment methods to gauge student learning of technology theory and concepts-observation, tests, and projects, for example. After students have gained competence and confidence in technology theory and concepts in the first part of the course, they apply what they have learned by teaching and working with community partners, while learning to be attentive and responsive to their needs. Assessment of this component in all civic engagement courses involves students maintaining reflective journals, creating portfolios, and making presentations of their work to showcase what they have accomplished in the course. These activities not only furnish evidence for faculty but impact students positively by providing a means for them to share and reflect on their learning. Assessment is ongoing, using Kirkpatrick s (1994) evaluation model. The learning domain is but one component in his paradigm. Because these courses are a new experience for Pace students, feedback on the reaction domain (students perceptions of the value of the course) is gathered through embedded assessments on the Web mid-semester and at the end of the course. In this way, assessment is both formative and summative, shaping the course in progress and future iterations of the course. Pace faculty also gather feedback from community partners to assess student participation and partners reactions to their experiences. The outcome for community partners can be pride in the creation of a Web site, the building of a résumé, or the acquisition of a job. In Problem Solving Using LEGOs, the outcome can be competing in a team at the annual LEGO tournament. Civic engagement courses in Pace s core have also opened new opportunities for non-technology majors, who are introduced to technology and civic engagement early in their academic experience. Outcomes include bridging the digital divide, empowering students and community partners, and invigorating students to continue community service after graduation. Supplemental Materials To view supplemental materials, including course syllabi, please visit: http://csis.pace.edu/servicelearning References Kirkpatrick, D. (1994). Evaluating training programs. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Kochler Publishers, Inc. Natriello, G. (2001). Comment: Bridging the second digital divide: What can sociologists of education contribute? Sociology of Education, 74(3), 260-265. Project Pericles. (2006). Retrieved May 9, 2007, from http:// www.projectpericles.org/ I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Main contact for submission: Jean F. Coppola Assistant Professor, Technology Systems Department Seidenberg School of Computer Science & Information Systems Phone: 914-773-3755 or 718-288-5105 Fax: 914-989-8212 Email: jcoppola@pace.edu Catharina (Kitty) Daniels Assistant Professor,Technology Systems Department Seidenberg School of Computer Science & Information Systems Email: cdaniels@pace.edu

Susan-Feather Gannon Professor, Technology Systems Department Seidenberg School of Computer Science & Information Systems Email: sfeathergannon@pace.edu Nancy Lynch Hale Assistant Professor and Chair, Technology Systems Department Seidenberg School of Computer Science & Information Systems Email: nhale@pace.edu II. Institutional Description a. Pace University, New York, NY, and campuses also in Pleasantville, and White Plains, NY b. Four-year c. Private d. 6,007 FTE undergraduate students, campus-wide; 951 first-years e. 2,386 are residential, of whom 787 are first-years; 3,621 are commuters, 164 first-years. Darren Hayes CIS Coordinator and Assistant Professor, Technology Systems Department Seidenberg School of Computer Science & Information Systems Email: dhayes@pace.edu Richard Kline Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department Seidenberg School of Computer Science & Information Systems Email: rkline@pace.edu Pauline Mosley Associate Professor, Technology Systems Department Seidenberg School of Computer Science & Information Systems Email: pmosley@pace.edu Heather Novak Assistant Director, Project Pericles Email: hnovak@pace.edu Linda Pennachio Assistant Professor, Technology Systems Department Seidenberg School of Computer Science & Information Systems Email: lpennachio@pace.edu Pace University One Pace Plaza New York, NY 10038-1598

CASE STUDY PENN STATE UNIVERSITY, LEHIGH VALLEY CAMPUS Service-Learning and First-Year Programs: Examining Literacy Mary C. Hutchinson, Assistant Professor, ESL Instituted at Penn State University in 1997, the First-Year Seminar (FYS) program is designed to introduce new students to an open and purposeful learning community, and to help them develop the habits and pleasures of good scholarship [and] learn to take charge of their own education, to plan for internships, international experiences, research, and, in general, to become active learners. 1 The FYS program does not have a common curriculum; the courses are offered in one-, two-, and three-credit formats. The different Colleges of the University have implemented a variety of FYS courses, and students are free to choose among the options and enroll in a course during their first or second semester. Some of these courses meet general education requirements; others are electives. Many of them are provided by academic departments to introduce potential majors to the scholarly obligations of the field. HD FS 287X, Community-Building, is a three-credit, servicelearning first-year seminar offered through the College of Health and Human Development. The course is established as a diversityfocused, writing intensive, social and behavioral science general education course designed to meet the seven established objectives of the FYS program: 1. Academic Success. Faculty will provide an opportunity for students to learn about the scholarly characteristics of a college setting. 2. Communication. Faculty should create a classroom environment that encourages a communication-across-thecurriculum approach to learning. 3. Research and Undergraduate Scholarship. Faculty will engage students in activities that promote skills and positive attitudes toward scholarship and seeking knowledge. 4. Critical Thinking. Faculty will create activities that encourage students use of reasoned thinking and the analysis of information including rhetorical strategies. 5. Community Building and Diversity. Faculty will encourage collaborative learning and support students efforts to connect with the many varied components and diversity of a university setting. 6. Computer Literacy. Faculty will require the use of computer technology in the completion of some assignments. 7. Career Awareness. Faculty will require students to participate in activities that improve their awareness of careers and their individual career goals. Examining Literacy in Community-Building HD FS 287X Community-Building is a student-centered course that offers class members an introduction to negotiating differences in small groups, families, institutions, and communities through an initial intensive, experiential format. 2 Participants meet before the start of the semester for three, eight-hour days and engage in a series of activities designed to increase their selfawareness and understanding of communication and behavior and to help them to examine their own values, look at the way these beliefs impact their behaviors and investigate how their behaviors impact their relationships with others both inside and outside the institution. The instructor serves as a facilitator for the course, guiding students through various structured experiences to heighten their diversity awareness and increase their skills in negotiating diversity. Service-Learning in Examining Literacy The service-learning part of the course provides an opportunity during the semester for students to integrate academic content with real-world application through an individual communitybased project with the Pennsylvania Literacy Corps Program. During the 15-week course, students read The 22 Non-Negotiable Laws of Wellness by Greg Anderson, along with various readings about adult literacy and tutoring. Students are matched with adults enrolled in Adult Basic Education (ABE), General Equivalency Diploma (GED), or English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and work one-on-one with them or in small groups throughout the semester to assist them with their learning and literacy goals. They keep logs about their experiences and meet together with the instructor monthly to discuss concerns and issues. As a FYS course, HD FS 287X emphasizes students responsibilities in engaging with the experience so that it has a positive impact on the quality of their own education.

Assessment Data were gathered from students over a three-year period (2003-2006) and explored to determine the impact of this FYS servicelearning course on students academic and social integration to the University. Pre- and post-course surveys were distributed to measure the students attitudes and behaviors toward servicelearning and civic engagement, and reflective artifacts (i.e., biweekly tutor learning logs, reflective papers based on the readings, a case study paper about what they learned about themselves from the course) were examined. An inductive approach for qualitative data analysis was used to identify patterns in the students responses. The primary purpose of the inductive approach is to allow research findings to emerge from the frequent, dominant or significant themes inherent in the raw data, without the restraints imposed by structured methodologies. 3 Of the total number of students in the study (n = 62), 98% (n = 61) were first-year students under the age of 21, and 60% (n = 37) were male and 40% (n = 25) were female. They were primarily White/Caucasian (n = 41; 66%), with the remainder of students identifying themselves as Hispanic (n = 10, 16%), Asian (n = 5, 8%) or other minorities. Approximately 89% (n = 55) of the students had never participated in a service-learning experience before, although 68% (n = 42) had volunteered in their community in some capacity. The data from surveys and reflective writings offered a detailed record of the impact of service-learning and community engagement on their understanding and awareness of literacy (see Table 1). Three categories emerged that reveal students perceptions of the underlying forces 4 that link first-year seminar service-learning to students academic and social integration: Knowledge of Self communication skills, strategies for success, academic strengths and weaknesses Knowledge of Peers social integration, development of support systems Knowledge of Community understanding larger societal issues, negotiating differences and challenging assumptions, recognizing impact of community on learning and critical thinking Overall, HD FS 287X, with the emphasis on a service-learning literacy project, helps prepare students for their roles as active learners and as active citizens. In addition, the community-building aspect of the course provides an opportunity for them to confront their own issues about education, which directly impact their success in college. Through their work tutoring adults in the community, students not only learn to negotiate diversity and difference, and explore larger societal issues and impact of illiteracy, but they also have an opportunity to examine their own academic abilities and what it takes to succeed in post-secondary education. Table 1 Select Comments from Students Pre- and Post-Course Reflections Pre-Course Survey Select Comments Post-Course Survey Select Comments

I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information Mary C. Hutchinson Assistant Professor, ESL (Former FYS Coordinator) Penn State University Lehigh Valley Campus 8380 Mohr Lane Fogelsville, PA 18051 Phone: 610-285-5114 Fax: 610-285-5220 Email: mhutchinson@psu.edu II. Institutional Description a. Penn State Lehigh Valley Campus (PSLV), Fogelsville, PA b. Public c. Non-residential d. 556 FTE undergraduates; 200 first-years 1 University Faculty Senate Legislation for First-Year Seminars [http://www.bk.psu.edu/academics/26497.htm?cn2] 2 HD FS 287X General Course Description [http://www.psu.edu/bulletins/bluebook/long/hd_fs/287x.htm] 3 Thomas, David R. (2003). A general inductive approach for quantitative analysis. School of Population Health, University of Auckland. 4 Tinto, V. (2002). Taking Student Retention Seriously: Rethinking the First Year of College. A speech presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers, April 15, 2002, Minneapolis, MN.

CASE STUDY PITZER COLLEGE The Community-Based Spanish Language and Culture Program (CBSP) Ethel Jorge, Associate Professor of Spanish and Latin American Cultural Studies The Community-based Spanish Language and Culture Program (CBSP), begun in fall 2000, explores a model of academic servicelearning that directly connects the knowledge and assets of two communities: college students and neighborhood residents. Its main aim is the collaborative construction of a language-learning community through the development of long-term, mutually beneficial relationships between college and community partners. Students engage in intensive cross-cultural interactions and meaningful language practice, develop understanding of diverse cultural traditions, and develop long-term interpersonal relationships. Program outcomes go beyond oral proficiency: both student and community participants acquire a better understanding of cultural diversity, ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, empathy, and civic responsibility in a shared world. In the exchange, community partners and their children receive both practical and emotional benefits, and their homes become hubs of an informal informational resource network within the neighborhood. A program that was designed to improve language pedagogy has had a small impact on social change and economic development in the community. Community Placements and Connections The CBSP, directed by the Spanish faculty, places students in the homes of immigrant Mexican families. Hosted by the female head of the household, a promotora ( promoter of Spanish language and culture), students regularly visit the homes, participate in the family s daily activities, explore the dynamics of local neighborhoods, and discuss important contemporary issues. This practicum averages 40 students per semester (currently, roughly one third of participants are first-year students) at various levels of proficiency. Groups of students are scheduled to visit the families for one and a half hours per week; in practice the visits often last much longer. Some students become very attached to their families and repeat the practicum in the following semesters. The program complements formal language instruction, but it takes place in a personalized and informal setting. Students practice the language with the promotora s extended family and social networks. At the center of the process is the connectedness that develops between the students and the community members, who become more familiar with and grow to care for one another. The community-based activities and the campus educational agenda are linked and structured by a required journal and periodic encuentros (debriefings). The instructor responds to the students journal entries and encuentro discussions, generating a dialogue about their experiences and reflections. The curriculum design was a collaboration among all the participants, reflecting the issues in the households, on the campus, and across the state and nation. This dynamic curriculum development process was very meaningful for the promotoras, who included topics that were of special interest to them and their neighbors, such as child rearing, gender roles, immigration, acculturation of children, privacy, sense of community, race, socioeconomic differences, schooling and bilingualism, the know how to access college, religion, personal values, love, and trust. Without conceptualizing their methods as anthropological inquiry, participants employed participant observation, interviewing, ethical information management, and basic ethnography. The lessons were merely a point of departure for constructing knowledge through experience. Their essential value lay in the process of their creation. Learning Dynamics The CBSP s curriculum and methodology are clear examples of experiential learning, critical thinking, and reflection. Issues and skills related to civic literacy, democracy, and political involvement are prominent as the program brings together the communities of college students and neighborhood residents in the context of their everyday lives and the surrounding Spanish-speaking neighborhood. The course offers a safe, semi-controlled space where people from different cultural backgrounds, ethnic groups, and socioeconomic status, who would ordinarily never meet, benefit mutually. Activities foster an ethical approach to college/community involvement based on the development of positive social relationships and personal growth for all participants. The promotoras control of the home, family relationships, and the language spoken allows a more equitable negotiation of power, somewhat diminishing the power disparity between the students and promotoras that exists in the broader society. They are free to negotiate and share power, creating reciprocal exchanges. This model of academic service-learning is conceived not as a process for defining and solving problems, but as the building of relationships in which all can

benefit. Students gain language proficiency, new understanding about a specific community of Spanish speakers, and insights into the complexity of cultures and processes of personal and social change. Assessment The CBSP uses formative evaluation, through journals, focus groups, questionnaires, home visit observations, and oral proficiency interviews, in addition to the usual review of students class work. This assessment process has been important for the continual improvement of the program. About 90% of the students respond very positively to CBSP s approach, become significantly engaged, and affirm that this is the best way to learn language and culture. But, the other 10% respond negatively and find that the format of the class is not suitable for their style of learning. Table 1, modeled after examples from Assessing Service-Learning and Civic Engagement (Gelmon and others, Campus Compact 2001), displays the five major program goals and the indicators of success in meeting them. The majority of students feel that they are participating in a unique program, helping to develop meaningful ways to learn with community members. Students listening skills improve, they begin thinking in Spanish, and their self-confidence in speaking a foreign language increases. Journals and debriefing sessions are tools that gauge the process while engaging students in the construction of meaning. Students make connections between their personal experiences and abstract issues, tailoring their curriculum according to their own explorations. The promotoras, interested in transcending their normal roles as housekeepers, express satisfaction at being able to serve and learn Table 1 Learning Goals for Students: Community-Based Spanish Goal Indicator Method Data sources Develop/improve their communicative integrated performance in speaking and listening Spanish within a community of native speakers of the language ciency interview according to the proficiency guidelines developed by ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) partners Gain insights into some of the cultures that speak Spanish in the local community by learning with them instead of about them cultures and for particular individuals for engaging difference (e.g., cultural, social, racial, religious, gender) across cultures (affective student outcome) partners Enhance academic and citizenship skills overall learning experience that we share as members of a community and our interconnectedness the members of the community as they share information (the university community and the local community members) partners Gain self-awareness and experience personal growth goals, fears, or prejudices community, and socio-political transformations partners Value the importance of a language and understand how to become life long learners learning process language outside the university boundaries to develop personal relations and explore new social spaces

from people different from themselves. They develop greater selfesteem because they help people whom they believe to be more educated, and are recognized for this work by their neighbors. The promotoras also receive from the students concrete practical assistance and general information about mainstream society and the world around them. The home visits also have a positive impact on the promotoras children, who often develop strong personal relationships with college students that continue even after the students graduate. The children assist with the students language learning, serving as walking dictionaries and interpreters of the nuances of both English and Spanish, and come to value their bilingualism as a bridge between two worlds. Although, before, they had not thought about it, now all the children wish to attend college. They also gain the confidence to speak openly with Anglos and other groups and come to re-evaluate common ethnic stereotypes. Some begin to share the values of the visiting students, becoming vegetarian or developing a concern for the environment. References Gelmon, Sherril B., Barbara A. Holland, Amy Driscoll, Amy Spring, and Seanna Kerrigan. Assessing Service-Learning and Civic Engagement: Principles and Techniques. Providence, Rhode Island: Campus Compact, 2001. I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information Ethel Jorge Associate Professor of Spanish and Latin American Cultural Studies Director, Community-based Spanish Program Pitzer College 1050 N. Mills Ave. Claremont, CA 91711 Phone: 909-607-2802 Fax: 909-607-7880 Email: ethel_jorge@pitzer.edu II. Institutional Description a. Pitzer College, Claremont, CA b. Four-year baccalaureate college c. Private d. Residential campus e. 936.4 FTE undergraduate students; 229 first-year students f. 948 residential students; 10 commuter students; 229 residential first-year students, 0 commuter first-year students. Supplemental Materials Link to Learning Goals for Students: Chart of Goals, Indicators, Methods, and Data Sources http://www.pitzer.edu/spanish/

CASE STUDY THE RICHARD STOCKTON COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY Freshman Seminar: Environmental Citizenship Tait Chirenje, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Patrick Hossay, Associate Professor of Political Science Rodger Jackson, Associate Professor of Philosophy Ekaterina Sedia, Associate Professor of Biology Linda Smith, Associate Professor of Biology Environmental Citizenship, a Freshman Seminar at Stockton College, engages students in their communities as part of their First-Year Experience (FYE). The course is taught as a single section by a professor in Environmental Studies and has been teamtaught as five sections of the same course by professors from political science, biology, and philosophy. This course supports the American Democracy Project (ADP) at Stockton and is among courses developed for the Political Engagement Project (PEP), supported by the Carnegie Foundation. When it is taught as five concurrent sections, all sections meet in the same module (Tuesday/Thursday) and use the same syllabus, readings, Web site, and textbook. Although the quizzes, exams, and term papers are the same, the professors often require different assignments and civic engagement activities. All sections meet as one group on Tuesdays, with a professor or guest speaker leading the lecture. Sections then meet separately on Thursdays in small-group settings (25 students). This approach exposes the students to the expertise of each professor and creates a rich and diverse learning environment. However, the combined session, with all students from five sections, also limits student participation. The course is evolving. In 2006-2007, it met on a three-day schedule, with fewer combined sessions. Curriculum, Constitution Day, and Campus Events Environmental Citizenship engages students in specific activities that broadly address civic engagement. Students work with mock municipal council meetings, issue briefs, and participate in civic events on campus. Students participate in Constitution Day activities that each year culminate in a trip to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. They receive pocket book copies of the Constitution and view the documentary, Our Constitution: A Conversation, in which Justices Sandra Day O Connor and Stephen Breyer discuss the Constitution with Philadelphia students. The class then applies its understanding of judicial processes and environmental issues on a local level in a mock municipal council meeting on property taxes, water restrictions, and zoning. An assigned issue brief develops students political involvement. They research an environmental issue of their choice and discuss in two pages the origin of the problem, its impact and possible solutions. They submit the brief to the school newspaper and/or a local newspaper for publication. Students are also given participation credit for attending select campus events (e.g., lake clean-up, Open Day talks, invited speaker series, voter registration drives, and other activities). Environmental Citizenship is currently performing a Stockton campus environmental audit, evaluating the possible environmental impact of the daily activities on campus such as transportation policies, energy usage and sources, waste generation and recycling, and water usage and quality. The results will be presented at a campus-wide Day of Scholarship event. One of the biology sections started a project that will culminate in the establishment of a campus organic garden. That project was done in collaboration with a Soil Science class taught by an Environmental Studies professor so that students gain an understanding of the impact of the project on soil and water quality. A political science section carried out a simple water chemical characterization exercise, visited the Bronx Zoo, and discussed conservation issues related to wildlife, including local, state and national laws and international treaties on conservation. Some sections of Environmental Citizenship subscribed to The New York Times and used articles on science, health, technology and environment as launching points for discussion. Students prepared briefs on stories that cover the environment for every class. Assessment We evaluate the ability of individuals to categorize themselves as politically engaged individuals. Learning outcomes for the course are consistent across sections, and professors use their own methods to assess these goals. Table 1 shows the various methods used by sections in 2005-2006. In 2006-2007, Stockton College is implementing pre- and post-surveys through the PEP project. We will also assess the impact on student retention, academic skills, use of services, student/faculty interaction, curricular innovations, social integration, GPA, satisfaction with institution, and leadership.

Table 1 Summary of the Major Outcomes and the Assessment Methods Used to Evaluate Them Outcome Categorize individual identities as politically engaged citizens. Demonstrate knowledge of basic foundational aspects of democracy and knowledge of current events. Demonstrate relevant skills for civic participation, especially those relating to influence and action. Become involved in relevant communities in informed and responsible ways. Express an appreciation of the global dimensions of many issues. Evidence Weekly reflection papers on articles posted on the WebCT discussion board help students understand various perspectives and make value judgments based on what they see as the strengths of the arguments presented in different articles. The Constitution group exercise and the ensuing discussion after watching the documentary in which Justices O Connor and Breyer discuss the Constitution with PA high school students. Review of assigned readings from The issue brief assignment and the discussions that follow it. Mock municipal council meetings and in-class debates. Review attendance and participation records at various civic engagement events, track new memberships in civic organizations within and beyond campus. Students register and get ULTRA/Student Life credits at these events. The term papers emphasize reflection on issues covered throughout the semester, analyzing coursework for connections with other issues. Supplemental Materials: Course Web site (http://www.stockton.edu/~earth/) National Resource Center (http://www.evergreen.edu/washcenter/project.asp?pid=73 ) New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com ). Justice talking (http://www.justicetalking.org ) Justice Learning (http://www.justicelearning.org ) National Issues Forum (http://www.nifi.org/ ) Global Issues on the UN agenda (http://www.un.org/issues ) I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Tait Chirenje Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Phone: 609-652-4588 Fax: 609-626-5515 Email: tait.chirenje@stockton.edu Patrick Hossay Associate Professor of Political Science Phone: 609-652-4303 Fax: 609-626-5515 Email: patrick.hossay@stockton.edu Rodger Jackson Associate Professor of Philosophy Phone: 609-652-6016 Email: rodger.jackson@stockton.edu Ekaterina Sedia Associate Professor of Biology Phone: 609-652-4547 Fax: 609-626-5515 Email: kathy.sedia@stockton.edu Linda Smith Associate Professor of Biology Phone: 609-652-4547 Fax: 609-626-5515 Email: linda.smith@stockton.edu Richard Stockton College B108 NAMS PO Box 195 Pomona, NJ 08240 II. Institutional Description a. The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Pomona, NJ b. Four-year liberal arts c. Public d. Residential campus e. 6,571 undergraduate FTE ; 1,536 first-time freshmen f. 2,080 residential (891 first-year) and 4,491 commuter (645 first-year) students

CASE STUDY ROBERT MORRIS COLLEGE Eden Place Nature Center: A Lesson in Civic Engagement Beth L. Gainer, English Instructor and Senior Fellow for Academic Practice Dr. Virginia Pezalla, Instructor and Science Chair Eden Place Nature Center, a three-acre community garden and nature center in the impoverished Fuller Park area on Chicago s south side, has been the site of civic engagement for Robert Morris College students at all levels from first-year students to seniors. Eden Place was once an illegal dumpsite that Fuller Park resident Michael Howard and his community have transformed into a natural area. Their goals are to re-create Eden by restoring its natural beauty and to provide the community with a valuable educational resource by creating small-scale versions of the major ecosystems of Illinois: prairies, woods, and wetlands. Even in its initial stages, Eden Place has an impressive amount of wildlife in each habitat, including many species of butterflies, dragonflies, birds and even one endangered species, the peregrine falcon. Coursework in English 325 (formerly 310) involves students writing a variety of business correspondence on behalf of nonprofit organizations. Since summer 2005, on Robert Morris College s Chicago Campus, we extended this delivery model to Environmental Science 112 (mainly comprised of first-year students and sophomores) to create a pilot service-learning community to help Eden Place Nature Center. This co-curricular collaboration has shown students that what they do actually matters. Moreover, it was a revelation for our students, themselves residents of a big city, to see how quickly it is possible to bring nature back to a heavily polluted area. Eden Place is also a lesson in environmental activism and community stewardship. Students saw how it is possible for a small group of determined people to transform their neighborhood. Logistics Students in Environmental Science 112 and English 325 formed a learning community, requiring the classes to be scheduled on the same days and times. Instructors of the linked courses began the co-curricular planning approximately five weeks before the courses commenced. During this period, we visited Mr. Howard at Eden Place to identify his needs. His priorities included building a barn and creating a stream that would flow into a small wetland. Given the constraints of a 10-week quarter, we chose a tangible goal that would fit the curricula of both our courses: creating the stream. We then carefully planned the collaborative activities field trips, as well as group work on the Chicago Campus. This involved compromise and adjusting our course schedules to accommodate each other to meet our goals in a 10-week quarter. Learning Goals The two courses collaborated to meet the following objectives: coursework civic engagement. Field trips to Eden Place gave students hands-on experience in our aptly named Watershed Project and engaged students in collaborative work. The Environmental Science students helped create the stream on the garden s premises, and the English students dug the streambed alongside them. The business writing class mounted an effective letter-writing campaign for donations and publicity for Eden Place, and the Environmental Science students reviewed the English students letters for accurate content before they were mailed out. Students in both classes helped teach visiting Fuller Park schoolchildren about the environment, leading them in activities such as composting and bird identification. Assessment The college s students are non-english majors, so we also wanted to assess whether their attitudes toward English changed as a result of their letter-writing campaign. On the first and the last day of class, all English 325 students anonymously responded to statements on their attitudes about writing, on a Likert scale. In key areas, survey results reported more positive attitudes of the English 325 students toward writing after participating in the Eden Place project. More than five times as many students agreed with the statement Writing is useful to me and four times as many students agreed with the statement I will use writing in my life, after participating in the project than they did before. Our most far-reaching result, however, was the impact this experience had on the students themselves: They became civically

engaged stewards of the environment. This experience transformed students understanding of the community and their place in it and demonstrated the interconnectedness of general education courses. The student speaker at the November 2006 graduation ceremony told the audience how the Eden Place project transformed her life and reinforced for her the importance of giving back to the community. After the ceremony, several students approached us, beaming because Eden Place was so publicly recognized and expressing pride that they, too, were part of this transformational experience. The students work did gain recognition off campus, as well: The collaborative letter-writing campaign resulted in donations and Eden Place being featured on the local ABC News program on Harry Porterfield s Someone You Should Know segment in September 2005. Our project was also the subject of the cover story in the November 2005 issue of The Eagle, our college s award-winning student newspaper. II. Institutional Description a. Robert Morris College, Chicago, IL, with seven campuses: the main campus is in downtown Chicago, and branch campuses are located in Aurora, Bensenville, Orland Park, Peoria, Springfield, and Waukegan. b. Four-year c. Private, non-profit d. Primarily a commuter college e. As of fall 2006: 5,458 undergraduate internal FTE based on 12 hours, and a total enrollment of 4,336 students, with 4,207 total full-time and 129 part-time students. The total number of first-time first-year students is 1,008. Recently, the institution has started a graduate program, offering MBA and MIS degrees. I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Main contact for submission: Beth L. Gainer English Instructor and Senior Fellow for Academic Practice Robert Morris College 1000 Tower Lane Bensenville, IL 60106 Phone: 630-787-7868 Fax: 630-787-7802 Email: bgainer@robertmorris.edu. Dr. Virginia Pezalla Instructor and Science Chair Robert Morris College 401 South State Street Chicago, IL 60605 Phone: 312-935-4218 Fax: 312-935-4249 Email: vpezalla@robertmorris.edu.

CASE STUDY SALT LAKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE Civic Engagement in the First Year of College Dr. Cynthia Bioteau, President The Thayne Center for Service & Learning at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) coordinates all civic engagement activities for SLCC students. Established in 1994, the Thayne Center involves more than 1,500 students a year in service-learning classes, community work-study, and student-led service initiatives. The Thayne Center has five full-time staff members, with offices at the two largest campuses. SLCC strongly believes in providing students with a socially responsive learning experience. Its mission statement encourages the respectful and vigorous dialogue that nourishes active participation and service in a healthy democracy. Yet, engaging students to achieve this mission is challenging. SLCC has a commuter population; is located at multiple sites; and enrolls a high number of non-traditional and part-time students and students working more than 20 hours a week. The Thayne Center has developed several programs, heavily focused on students in their first year of study to help meet this challenge. Service-Learning Since 2004, when SLCC instituted a designation process for service-learning courses, the Service-Learning Advisory Board has approved 38 classes. To date, 2,153 students have taken service-learning courses. The designation process ensures that classes provide students with academically viable service experiences and that critical-thinking assignments guide students to process this learning. Courses also emphasize civic responsibility. Service-learning classes reach students in both transfer and vocational programs. To involve first-year students, many general education classes, typically taken during a student s first two semesters, are now service-learning ones. This provides opportunities for students to become civically engaged early on. SLCC also offers a service-learning scholar program, which lets students apply academic knowledge to community concerns and develop leadership skills for future civic participation. Scholars complete 10 credits of service-learning classes, 150 hours of community service, monthly reflections, and a capstone project. At graduation, scholars earn special recognition and a servicelearning scholar distinction on their transcripts. Students need two years to complete the program, which is an added incentive to take service-learning classes during their first year. SLCC s successful service-learning program has become a national model, leading the American Association of Community Colleges to select SLCC as one of four mentor institutions in their Broadening Horizons Through Service-Learning program for 2006. Community Work-Study Institutions receiving federal work-study must allocate at least 7% of that funding as community work-study. Since 1998, the Thayne Center has used community work-study to hire students as literacy tutors in the America Reads program. Tutors work with children at Title I schools and help them improve their literacy skills. Tutors also attend monthly meetings that incorporate training and critical reflection activities. Emphasis is placed on connecting literacy with broader social issues, which helps students develop citizenship skills. This program offers financial aid to SLCC students while giving them opportunities to strengthen their community through child-centered literacy efforts. Many community work-study students enroll in the program with little civic experience but end up becoming involved with other Thayne Center civic engagement initiatives. To help with retention, tutors receive a competitive wage that increases after each semester. In 2006-2007, more than a third of the tutors are returning students. Student-Led Initiatives As part of a scholarship program, first-year students serve on the Thayne Center s Service Council, which organizes volunteer opportunities for other SLCC students. During the year, participating students receive training on citizenship skills, community issues, reflection, and project coordination. Most students return to the Service Council for a second year. As seasoned leaders, they mentor new students. The scholarships, which include minority and first-generation college students, attract first-year students to service programs they might not have known about otherwise. The Thayne Center also coordinates an AmeriCorps program that provides an educational stipend to students who complete 300 to 900 hours of service. Students learn how to serve with community agencies that address critical needs; and they interact with diverse populations including prisoners, foster children, and

HIV-positive individuals. They also receive financial assistance to further their education, which helps with retention. The program is open to all SLCC students, including part-time ones and draws a very diverse group of students: 18% of current AmeriCorps students are minorities, ranging in age from 17 to 58. The number one reason students list for not continuing their education at SLCC is financial difficulty, so providing ways to help students defray college costs while also engaging in community issues has been an effective approach to retention. These programs demonstrate the creative ways the Thayne Center has adjusted civic engagement initiatives to meet the needs of commuter, non-traditional, part-time, and working students. Assessment Contracted evaluators provided the following assessments: Political Attitudes Survey, 2004: This comparative study of political attitudes and civic engagement measures involved 1,331 service-learning and non-service-learning students. The evaluator compared students in 41 non-service-learning sections of history and political science courses with students in four service-learning sections of the same classes, using a pre-/post-test format. Students in courses with a service component reported significantly higher gains (8% to 31% more) than students in other courses on these variables: (a) keeping up-to-date on political affairs, (b) registering to vote, and (c) attention to media news on government and politics. Service-Learning Class Evaluations, 2005: This assessment of six designated service-learning courses used end-of-semester surveys to determine if students felt service-learning activities enhanced their understanding of course material and if they acquired tools to engage responsibly with the community. Of the 163 students surveyed, 78% agreed or strongly agreed that they deepened their understanding of course content through service and reflection. Community Work-Study Evaluations, 2004 and 2005: In spring 2004, seven community work-study students participated in a focus group discussion to determine their level of satisfaction with the America Reads program. Using this information, the Thayne Center made significant changes. The next year, two focus groups totaling nine students analyzed the effectiveness of increased training and how involvement in the program had deepened tutors understanding of social issues. Overall, students found the more in-depth training useful. They appreciated reflection sessions that gave them a chance to discuss how their work connected to other community issues. The survey also used financial aid data and enrollment records to examine tutor retention and involvement rates. Data showed that students who tutored more than 100 hours in the fall semester had a higher chance of returning to the program spring semester. Learn and Serve America Final Grant Evaluation, 2006: To evaluate service-learning institutionalization during this three-year grant, an evaluator used Andrew Furco s Self- Assessment Rubric for the Institutionalization of Service- Learning in Higher Education as a basis for a focus group discussion with 11 community partners, administrators, service-learning faculty, and Thayne Center staff. The rubric examines 22 components in five areas critical to institutionalizing service-learning. Each component has a three-stage continuum: Stage One, Critical Mass Building; Stage Two, Quality Building; and Stage Three, Sustained Institutionalization. A previous SLCC committee completed the same assessment in 2003 and rated the institution at Stage One on the rubric. The 2006 group determined that SLCC now had 14 institutionalization components at Stage Two and 8 components at Stage Three, with no components at Stage 1. References Furco, Andrew. Self-Assessment Rubric for the Institutionalization of Service-Learning in Higher Education. A Project of Campus Compact at Brown University. Rev. 2002. http://www.servicelearning. org/filemanager/download/furco_rubric.pdf I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information Dr. Cynthia Bioteau, President Betsy Ward, Director, Thayne Center for Service & Learning Salt Lake Community College 4600 South Redwood Road Salt Lake City, UT 84130 Phone: 801-957-4689 Fax: 801-957-4958 Email: betsy.ward@slcc.edu II. Institutional Description a. Salt Lake Community College (SLCC), Salt Lake City, UT, with 14 separate locations in the Salt Lake Valley b. Public c. Open-access, comprehensive community college d. Commuter only e. 23,822 students (fall 2006); 9,677 first-years (4,053 new first-year students who started in fall 2006 and 5,624 other first-year students).

CASE STUDY SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY Seminar for Freshmen: Media Literacy A democracy cannot be both ignorant and free. Thomas Jefferson The First Amendment protection of the press and freedom of speech is a cornerstone of our political system. The authors of the Bill of Rights recognized that a free flow of information is essential for a robust, functioning democracy. But it is not enough, especially in our media- saturated world, for information simply to be available. Citizens must possess the skills to read, reflect, and discriminate among media messages in order to navigate the deluge of content at hand. The political, economic, and social forces that influence the media in turn shape public discourse and thus, how we as individuals and as a community imagine ourselves and each other. As such, it is critical to develop the skills to evaluate adequately the credibility, motivations, and purposes of media content. Seminar for Freshmen: Media Literacy explores the political, cultural, and social functions of the media with an emphasis on learning how to critically evaluate media content. In this class, students examine media s role as a source of information and entertainment and as a central persuasive force in contemporary society. Various forms of media are investigated, including print, television and radio broadcast, film, and new media technologies. Critical evaluative skills applied to the complex and often contradictory meanings of media content are developed through reading, writing, discussing, and developing media productions. The four-credit course fulfills the Seminar for Freshmen requirement and is available to residential and commuter students enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences. It is typically taken during the fall semester of a student s first year. Connected Themes, Goals, and Service-Learning Each semester, the course focuses on a particular social justice/ civil society issue. Written assignments, course readings, class discussion, guest speakers, field trips, and community service projects are tailored to engage students in the issue. In the fall of 2005, the class addressed the interconnected concerns of poverty, homelessness and hunger; and in fall 2006, the course is focused on AIDS/HIV prevention and treatment. The five core objectives of this course are: 1. Access: Students learn where and how to find diverse sources of information and entertainment in order to expose themselves to a breadth of ideas and perspectives about the world in which they live. 2. Analyze: Students learn how to read and deconstruct media texts, including how production decisions influence content. Analysis involves understanding the concept of objectivity, recognizing bias, and finding inaccuracies or omissions in media messages. 3. Evaluate: Students develop skills to evaluate the credibility, purpose, and motivation of the producers of media messages and, thus, recognize the limitations of media coverage of social, political, and economic realities. 4. Communicate: Students improve their writing and oral presentation skills through class discussion and written assignments, as well as learn how to use video production tools to communicate effectively. 5. Participate: Students cultivate a sense of civic responsibility and citizenship by participating in a community service project that applies media-literacy and video production skills. The course integrates critical thinking, media production, civic engagement, and community building. The rubric of media literacy provides students with a foundation for evaluating information and understanding the importance of a media literate citizenry for a robust democracy. The service-learning requirement challenges students to question their assumptions and stereotypes, acquire new knowledge and skills, participate in civic activities, and engage their learning by creating public service announcements for local nonprofit organizations. For example, in 2005-2006 students investigated news coverage of homelessness and poverty and examined fictional portrayals of poor and homeless people. The community service projects provided an experiential learning opportunity whereby students compared the media treatment of homelessness and poverty to their first-hand experiences working with homeless communities.

Students were then equipped to evaluate the validity of media coverage, challenge their own assumptions about homelessness and poverty, and share their new knowledge and understanding with peers. The course culminated in the production of a homelessness awareness public service announcement which aired on Suffolk University s student-run WSUB-TV station. Many of the students voluntarily extended their community service experience by continuing to work with Boston-area homeless shelters and soup kitchens, or volunteering during winter break at similar organization in their hometowns. Assessment The intended impacts of civic engagement/community service upon students enrolled in this course are to: (Fall 2005) or people living with HIV/AIDS (Fall 2006) as it is experienced in the backyard of Suffolk University; versity s Office of Student Activities and Service Learning, which will lead to continued participation in community service beyond course requirements; to not only recognize social needs, but participate in serving those needs; ence, for understanding the limitations of media coverage of social, political, and economic realities. These goals were assessed for the first semester of this course (fall 2005) using a qualitative, open-ended reflective essay assignment for which students were asked to write about their community service experience (see Supplemental Materials). In addition, a check-in meeting the following semester was arranged between the faculty member and each returning student to discuss academic progress and first-year transition concerns and to determine the students continued commitment to community involvement. For this nascent program, limited data are available regarding the long-term influence of the media literacy course on civic engagement. However, the final reflective essay assignments indicated that the majority of students found the community service projects enriched course content. Students specifically cited the ability to apply newly acquired skills (video production) toward a positive and socially helpful outcome (the public service announcements) as the most appealing and useful aspect of the course. Many also expressed an interest in continuing their community service experience either in their home towns or for Boston-area organizations. Several students contacted Suffolk University s Office of Student Activities and Service Learning independently for further civic engagement/community service opportunities. Supplemental Materials www.mediacritica.net/medialiteracy Syllabus from Fall 2006 Media Literacy Seminar for Freshmen Sample Assignments: Journal Topics (The First Amendment during Wartime, Who Owns My Media?, De-mythifying HIV/AIDS, Community Service) Service Learning/Civic Engagement Projects for Fall 2006 (World AIDS Day, AIDS Action Committee Boomerangs, Boston Living Center Condoms on Campus, Boston Living Center Midday Meals, Assessment Assignment from Fall 2005 I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information Nina B. Huntemann Assistant Professor Department of Communication & Journalism Suffolk University 41 Temple Street Boston, MA 02114-4280 Phone: 617-573-8767 Fax: 617-742-6982 Email: nina.huntemann@suffolk.edu II. Institutional Description a. Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts, b. Four-year c. Private d. 3,091 full-time students (fall 2006, the College of Arts and Sciences); 580 residential and 2,511 commuter. The first-year class had 930 students, of whom 446 were residential and 484 were commuter.

CASE STUDY Concentric Circles of Engagement: The Student Engagement Initiative at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Susan Wolff Murphy, Associate Professor of English Joseph Jozwiak, Associate Professor of Political Science Shawn Wahl, Associate Professor of Communication Engagement in the First-Year Program The Student Engagement Initiative at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) was established in fall 2004. Goals of this program focus on engaging students in their communities and thereby educating engaged citizens. Faculty, staff, and students across campus have been involved in the American Democracy Project (ADP), Bringing Engagement and Access to Minority Students (BEAMS), and the First-Year Experience Committee (FYEC). This Student Engagement Initiative involves all firstyear students and many students as they move beyond the first year ( Jozwiak, Wahl, & Wolff Murphy, 2008) because it is fully integrated into our First-Year Learning Communities Program (FYLCP), which enrolls all students entering TAMU-CC with fewer than 24 college credit hours (approximately 1,350 students). Our concentric circles of engagement have allowed us to bring in new faculty and staff to expand the curricular aspects of the program. Collaboration across campus has been key: collaboration and cooperation among several different campus divisions, support from campus-wide committees, partnerships with established community groups, and support from the Provost s office, which has underwritten the cost of the New York Times readership program. Engagement in the Curriculum The FYLCP seeks to move students from egocentric to communal identities by modeling engaged citizenship: discourse, activism, engagement, and responsibility (Ehrlich, 2000). The first writing assignment in composition asks students to reflect on their communities and where they have acquired their values and beliefs. While this reflective process is egocentric in the sense that students are writing about themselves, they are simultaneously asked to see how their identities are socially constructed. For students, this often means reflecting on their connections with generations of family, church communities, work colleagues, high school sport teams, and networks of friends. It reinforces community connections, responsibilities, and engagement and demonstrates how being engaged in communities has been formative in their lives. To move students from the personal to the political, the FYLCP participates in the ADP and the readership program of The New York Times. The ADP, whose larger purpose is to encourage student civic engagement and showcase how students can positively impact their communities, is a joint effort between the various state colleges and universities and The New York Times. We use readings about free speech from www.firstamendmentcenter.org and our own campus s free speech zones. By combining these resources, students stay abreast of current events and place these events in larger social/cultural/political contexts. Engagement On Campus In support of ADP, Communications and Theater Arts hosted a First Amendment speech contest and produced Inherit the Wind. Student speeches were awarded cash prizes by campus faculty and community leaders. Students were encouraged to attend the contest and performance of Inherit the Wind and to write reflections centered on the play and First Amendment freedoms. Political Science supported one speaker who responded to students questions ranging from wire tapping and the war on terror to censorship. Students were excited to discuss these issues in a co-curricular setting with voluntary attendance. Political Science has also organized in-class presentations by speakers from The New York Times who engaged students in discussions about media bias and the media s relationship to democracy. As part of a campus-wide event, several first-year classes attended the Banned Book Week event, where books that have been banned by various organizations or schools from around the state and country were displayed during the month of September (Banned, 2006). Once back in the classroom, students were asked to reflect on the rationale for banning books and then engage in a discussion about their thoughts. Engagement Off Campus The benefits of civic engagement to student learning and social development have been well-documented (Corbett & Kendall, 1999; Eyler & Giles, 1999; Eyler, 2000), so we have created opportunities for students to take direct action. TAMU-CC has developed a strong working relationship with the local chapter of

the World Affairs Council (WAC), inviting speakers to campus about once a month. These speakers have included academicians from foreign nations as well as guests from business organizations, think tanks, or similar organizations. First-year students attend these sessions to hear about what effect a Cuban regime change may have on international relations or challenges faced by the local oil production community. These experiences broaden students horizons and also allow us to show off our students to community leaders. First-year students engage in local economic, political, and social issues by reading and writing for CorpusBeat magazine and its affiliated Web site. This local magazine s mission is to develop young people by having them write and learn about government, business and life in South Texas. [Its] contributors and researchers are students from local high schools and colleges (http://www.corpusbeat.org/about.aspx). Several learning communities have had presentations from the magazine, inviting students to interview local business and political leaders, blog on campus life, create photo essays, and write about local issues. Past issues have covered the challenges of keeping educated young adults in the area, the threat of diabetes, and immigration. The Computer Literacy project organized communications faculty and students to work with low-income people in the community in need of computer literacy skills development. Those needing assistance were taught how to log on to the Internet, use a mouse/key board, send email, and fill out online employment applications. One of the goals of this activity was to develop a workshop model for service projects in the future. Assessing the Impact of Engagement in the First Year We have attempted to assess the curricular impact of American Democracy Project (ADP) through two surveys. One asked students to rate their levels of engagement in the classroom, school-related non-academic activities, and non-school related volunteer activities and queried them about their motivations for civic engagement. We found that our initial efforts at encouraging civic engagement had a positive impact on our first-year students. They reported being more willing to engage in their communities as well as exhibiting a more positive attitude toward engagement ( Jorgensen, Jozwiak, & Huerta, 2006). Classroom performance has also been enhanced by the use of The New York Times. In the second survey, we found that students using The New York Times in class were more likely to have positive attitudes toward civic engagement. Compared with students who did not use the paper, those who read The New York Times were more likely to perform better in class. (Huerta & Jozwiak, in press). Our evidence for success relating to on campus and off campus events is more anecdotal, but telling nonetheless. Students are often surprised and shocked when they see some of their favorite books on display during Banned Book Week. The library staff is often asked why a particular book had been challenged. Question-and-answer sessions with guest speakers have been lively, and students relished the idea of exchanging points with experts in the field. Students who wrote responses to CorpusBeat magazine expressed the view that writing about local issues made them more interested in local elections and politics, particularly the recent debates about beach access and banning smoking in bars. In our end-of-the-year evaluations of the first-year learning communities, students have responded positively to many of our civic engagement initiatives. Although there have been a few difficulties over the years in coordinating our effort, we have discovered that intrinsic motivation on the part of students and faculty is absolutely necessary for the success of any civic engagement initiative. References Banned books week 2006. (2006). American Library Association. Retrieved Nov. 15, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ Corbett, J. B., & Kendall, A. R. (1999). Evaluating service learning in the communication discipline. Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, 53, 66-76. Ehrlich, T. (2000). Civic responsibility and higher education. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press. Eyler, J. S. (2000). What do we need to know about the impact of service learning on student learning? Michigan Journal of Community Service-learning, Special Issue: Strategic Directions for Service Learning Research. 11-17. Eyler, J. S. & Giles D. (1999). Where s the learning in service learning? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Huerta C. & Jozwiak J. (2008). Developing civic engagement in general education political science. Journal of Political Science Education, Vol. 4, no. 1, 42-60. Jorgensen, D., Jozwiak, J. and Huerta C. (2006). Assessing the multiple dimensions of student civic engagement: A preliminary test of an ADP survey instrument. In J. Perry & S. Jones (Eds.), Quick hits for educating citizens: Successful strategies by award-winning teachers. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 71-77. Jozwiak, J. Wahl, S., & Wolff Murphy, S. (2008). Civic engagement as a curricular initiative in the first year experience at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. In W. Troxel and M. Cutright (Eds.), Exploring the Evidence: Campus-Wide Initiatives in the First College Year (Monograph No. 49). Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.

I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Susan Wolff Murphy Associate Professor of English Phone: 361-825-2640 Fax: 361-825-2210 Email: susan.murphy@tamucc.edu Joseph Jozwiak Associate Professor of Political Science Phone: 361-825-5997 Fax: 361-825-3762 Email: joseph.jozwiak@tamucc.edu Shawn Wahl Associate Professor of Communication Phone: 361-825-2296 Fax: 361-825-6097 Email: shawn.wahl@tamucc.edu Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) 6300 Ocean Drive Corpus Christi, TX 78412-5812 II. Institutional Description a. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) b. Four-year c. Public d. Primarily commuter e. 8,365 students (fall 2005); 1,350 first-years

CASE STUDY TRINITY UNIVERSITY Civic Engagement and Service-Learning: An Initiative with First-Year Students Dr. Roxana Moayedi, Associate Professor of Sociology Dr. Jacqueline Padgett, Associate Professor of English Dr. Minerva San Juan, Associate Professor of Philosophy In the last two decades, Trinity University in Washington, DC, has undergone a transformation from its historic role as a liberal arts Catholic college serving mostly white, middle-class women to the role of an urban university whose student population in the College of Arts and Sciences, while still all women, is now 85% African-American and Latina. Service had traditionally been housed in Campus Ministry, and Trinity faculty and administration generally perceived it as extracurricular. Due to the changes in the student population and the influx of students of all faith traditions over the last 20 years, the university noted a decline in volunteerism through university channels. Recently, some Trinity faculty expressed concerns that our mostly minority student population might be uninterested in or unlikely to benefit from a service-learning pedagogy, due to high personal and financial obligations and/or academic under-preparedness. Moreover, faculty believed that their own instructional challenges were significant without the burden of integrating service-learning into the curriculum. Clearly, advancing service-learning required attention to beliefs held by the administration and faculty about the viability and effectiveness of a service-learning educational model for our students. First-Year Seminar Overview of Transformation At Trinity, all first-year students are required to take the first-year seminar. Each semester, we offer five or six sections, with faculty from philosophy, physics, theology, English, and psychology. From 2002 to 2005, the faculty-selected theme was Identity: An Interdisciplinary Exploration, with a service-learning component, Human Agency and Human Identity. This case narrates how the learning objectives of the seminar were expanded to emphasize service-learning and civic leadership. New Opportunity and New Pedagogy In 2003, a sociology professor engaged in service-learning pedagogy for more than 10 years received a Learn and Serve subgrant from the Corporation for National and Community Service through the Community Research and Learning (CoRAL) Network to institutionalize service-learning at Trinity University. Faculty resistance seemed well entrenched until six faculty on an interdisciplinary first-year seminar team agreed to attend workshops on service-learning supported by the CoRAL grant. The grantee s approach to this team proved a successful strategy in overcoming faculty resistance to the pedagogy. That faculty team, already working outside of disciplinary boundaries and accustomed to collaborative learning and teaching, turned out to be just the grouping of risk-taking innovators research has shown are likely to adopt models of experiential learning, particularly service-learning (McKay & Rozee, 2004). Connecting Service-Learning to Curricula Even within this cohesive group, resistance emerged, especially over the appropriateness of service-learning to the teaching of course content and over the suitability of the pedagogy to the learning needs of urban minority students. They integrated civic engagement by having students choose placement sites from a list provided by Campus Ministry or based on contact with agencies represented at a Community Service Fair organized by Campus Ministry. However, as the team discovered, neither our students academic strengths and weaknesses nor their academic and economic backgrounds impeded their success. We assessed our initiative from the beginning, to shape our revision of the content, pedagogy, and community placements. What we learned emerged from a multi-constituency assessment and an integrated set of strategies such as student portfolios, student surveys, and faculty reflection. Student portfolios contained reflections, journal observations, self-assessments, and a final paper integrating their service experiences with the course objectives. Faculty discovered that many students were unable to make connections between course content and service experiences. Since students perceived the service-learning as an add-on course requirement not wholly integrated into course pedagogy or content, faculty concluded that they had inadequately prepared students to be careful participant/observers at the service sites. Inadequate integration of service-learning occurred because

(1) faculty spent little time modeling the integration of servicelearning into courses, placing emphasis on disciplinary content while crowding out reflection on service-learning; and (2) community placements hindered integration because the sites chosen did not necessarily fit the course design. Students selection of community placements from the list in the Campus Ministry office had dispersed their placements across the District s metropolitan area in activities that generally did not coincide clearly with or enhance the course materials. The following year (2004-05), to remedy these problems and to bolster the learning outcomes, faculty implemented structural and pedagogical changes. Each seminar section was paired with a specific agency whose aims dovetailed with course objectives. Community partners were a resource/drop-in center for expecting parents and families with young children; two organizations that provide housing and services to homeless families or women; an after-school program; and an organization that links schools, families, and the community to support quality education. Students shared service experience enhanced their reflection in class. The community service requirement was increased from 12 to 20 hours to give students sufficient exposure to the agency and its clientele, and, consequently, enough time for learning on-site. Faculty set aside class time before the service to introduce servicelearning, underline its pedagogical rationale, and prepare students to construct their service experiences in terms of learning. Faculty accepted the necessity of streamlining course content to foster acquisition of course objectives through service-learning. Assessment Faculty engaged in assessment in collaboration with the servicelearning staff in order to understand outcomes. Their review of student portfolios provided one means of assessment (and effected changes described above); student surveys provided another. Since fall 2004, students enrolled in first-year seminars have participated in the CoRAL Network pre- and post-surveys, measuring their expectations of service-learning, and its effect on writing and critical thinking skills and their grasp on course content. Students community-based experiences generally confirmed and exceeded their positive expectations (Table 1). Student surveys reinforce the conclusion that communitybased learning is most effective when faculty ensure a high-quality community placement and fully integrate service activities with the course material through critical reflection and discussion (Eyler, Giles, Stenson, & Gray, 2001). Recently, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) showed that Trinity s first-year students scored well above coeducational peer institutions on a large number of service-learning and civic engagement indicators. Compared with all other firstyear students nationwide who took the NSSE survey in spring 2006, Trinity students had a higher rate of participation in coursebased service-learning projects and were more likely to have voted in national and state elections. They reported significantly stronger experience in developing personal values and ethics, contributing to their community s welfare, and understanding diversity. The first-year student initiative in incorporating service-learning to promote civic engagement succeeded in developing a cadre of professors willing to employ service-learning pedagogy and in enhancing the learning experiences of Trinity University students. Supplemental Materials Please refer to our service-learning link to view our Community Partner Manual and Student Manual: http://www.trinitydc.edu/ academics/service_learning/ References Eyler, J. S., Giles, D. E., Jr., Stenson, C. M., & Gray, C. J. (2001). At a glance: What we know about the effects of service-learning on college students, faculty, institutions and communities, 1993-2000. (3rd ed.). www.compact.org/ resource/aag.pdf. Retrieved September 2, 2006, from http://www.compact.org/resource/aag.pdf. McKay, V. & Rozee, P. (2004). Characteristics of faculty who adopt community service learning pedagogy. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning 10(2), 21-33. Table 1 Students Expectations and Experiences of Community-Based Learning, Fall 2004 and Spring 2005 Fall 2004 Spring 2005 The community-based learning will... Pre-Survey ( Post-Survey ( Pre-Survey ( Post-Survey ( = 42) Develop my critical thinking skills Enhance my academic experiences Help me understand course readings and content Note: Percentage of students who agreed or strongly agreed on pre- and post-surveys reported.

I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Dr. Roxana Moayedi Associate Professor of Sociology Email: moayedir@trinitydc.edu Dr. Jacqueline Padgett Associate Professor of English Dr. Minerva San Juan Associate Professor of Philosophy Trinity University 125 Michigan Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20017 II. Institutional Description a. Trinity University, Washington, DC b. Private c. Four-year d. 1,800 FTE undergraduates; 200 are first-year students. e. 117 of the 200 first-year students are residential in 2006-2007.

CASE STUDY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES Civic Engagement in Frontiers in Human Aging: Biomedical, Psychosocial, and Policy Perspectives Maria Claver, Lecturer, UCLA (now Assistant Professor of Gerontology, California State University, Long Beach) Kathy O Byrne, Director, UCLA Center for Community Learning Mark Lewis-Fitzgerald, Director, UCLA Office of Undergraduate Evaluation and Research The Frontiers in Human Aging: Biomedical, Psychosocial and Policy Perspectives (Aging Cluster) is a year-long, undergraduate, interdisciplinary honors course offered solely to first-year students. It is one of 10 UCLA General Education Freshman Clusters, focused on a given topic and organized so that students can explore how different disciplines address a common issue. In 2006-2007, the Aging Cluster was offered for a seventh year. The course objectives are to illustrate the relationship among biological, psychological, social, and policy constructions of aging; to understand aging as a systems phenomenon; to explore diversity and appreciate the continuity of aging across the life span and within a socio-historical context; to sensitize students to principles of successful aging; to view aging within various cultures through literature, art, and media; to introduce viable career opportunities in geriatrics/gerontology; and to provide students with a community-based service-learning experience with older adults. Service-Learning Center for Community Learning For the last five years, the Aging Cluster faculty have collaborated with UCLA s Center for Community Learning to incorporate a service-learning requirement. The rationale behind service-learning includes enhancing connections between theory and practice, promoting critical thinking and reflection, increasing skills and knowledge needed for leadership, and engaging students to gain a greater sense of civic responsibility and a service ethic, including civic literacy. The course challenges students to think about how we, as a society, care for those who are vulnerable and how the fabric of corporate, government, and non-profit resources is created and organized. The course also emphasizes issues related to a diverse democracy. Preparation for the service-learning component involves collaboration between the Center for Community Learning and an Aging Cluster Service Learning Coordinator. During the fall quarter, the Center contacts community organizations to arrange partnerships. Site visits are made to new agencies. Service-learning sites include senior centers, adult day care programs, nutrition programs, outpatient clinics, and assisted living facilities. Participating agencies are required to attend a Service-Learning Fair at UCLA, provide one-on-one supervision, provide an orientation, become familiar with the course syllabus, and participate as a co-educator. During the fall quarter, the Center director presents a lecture to all students on Civic Engagement at UCLA. The PowerPoint presentation covers American history, original founding principles and civic values, history of the service-learning and civic engagement movements within higher education, links between education and the promotion of democracy in every generation, research on civic learning outcomes, and best practices for university/community partnerships. The Service-Learning Fair takes place in the winter quarter. Agencies distribute information about their organizations. Students indicate their first and second choices of sites, and the Service Learning Coordinator assigns students to one of their preferred agencies and provides additional information about service-learning guidelines and transportation. During the winter quarter, in addition to attending lectures and supporting discussion sections, students participate in a servicelearning activity once a week. Writing components of the servicelearning experience include: an expectations paper to be written before beginning service-learning hours; a weekly description of their activities at the agency; and reflections, in which they are expected to apply their experiences to course materials, past civic engagement, and current events. Newspaper articles, news stories, and current events are regularly woven into formal lectures, weekly discussion sections, and a course Web site discussion page to remind students of the timely applicability of concepts discussed in class and experienced in service- learning placements. Final assignments for the quarter include an agency paper, which provides students with the opportunity to identify services and programs offered by the agency and to conceptualize the role of the agency in the community. In addition, students participate in a group presentation, which encapsulates service-learning experiences through formal oral presentations. The group presentation includes a description of the agency, a discussion of how diversity is addressed in that agency, strengths of the agency, and strategies for providing better service. In the past five years, more than 700 Aging Cluster students have been placed in over 20 different agencies throughout Los Angeles. In keeping with Cluster goals, the service-learning activities seek to address students ageism toward older adults, while increasing awareness of the role of government and legislation

in the organization of health care systems, insurance, and other safety nets necessary in the lives of older adults. Assessment The Aging Cluster assessment is designed to help us understand the experience of students participating in this cluster. We examine satisfaction measures to learn about how this course impacts their academic experience. We are particularly interested in looking at the service-learning component of the course. Documenting student experience in the Aging Cluster is occurring through a course evaluation process administered and analyzed by the Office of Undergraduate Evaluation and Research. Students complete an end-of-course evaluation, which asks them about course objectives, development of skills, and their overall course rating. The instrument also provides them with the opportunity to respond to two open-ended questions, including: Would you recommend this cluster course to other students? Why or why not? Overall, the satisfaction levels for students in the Aging Cluster have been consistently high. In addition, when completing the Winter Quarter 2006 course evaluation form, 14% of the students, without a specific prompt related to service-learning, mentioned service-learning as the reason they would recommend it. Selected comments follow: I enjoyed the content and was able to relate it on a larger societal level. It was great having a service-learning component. The service-learning component was a great way to see the aging process in action. Service-learning was the best part of this course. Presentations, life review, and service-learning all build your knowledge and skills. Weekly service-learning was a great opportunity to learn the current status of the elderly along with giving back to the community. Supplemental Materials ASA-NCOA 2006 Presentation www.college.ucla.edu/up/ccl I. Contributors Names and Contact Information: Main contact for the submission: Marc Levis-Fitzgerald Director, UCLA Office of Undergraduate Evaluation and Research A265 Murphy Hall Los Angeles, CA 90095 Phone: 310-206-5409 Email: mlevis@college.ucla.edu Maria Claver, Assistant Professor California State University, Long Beach Gerontology Program 1250 Bellflower Blvd. Long Beach, CA 90840 Phone: 562-985-4495 Email: mclaver@csulb.edu II. Institutional Description a. UCLA, Los Angeles, CA b. Four-year institution c. Public institution d. Residential campus e. 24,361 FTE undergraduate students; 4,422 FTE first-year students f. 9,257 total residential undergraduates; 4,068 total residential first-year students; 15,104 total undergraduate commuters; 354 total first-year commuters: 354. Students cite service-learning and civic engagement as one of the most meaningful aspects of the course. Through experiential learning, faculty members note that students move beyond their comfort zone and report feeling a sense of community. In addition, faculty report interest from their colleagues in other Clusters about adding a service-learning component. Further analysis will look at these benefits and include exploring changes in cognitive and affective learning as well as impact of the course on students interest in pursuing further education and/or careers in aging.

CASE STUDY The Michigan Community Scholars Program David Schoem, Director, Michigan Community Scholars Program; Adjunct Associate Professor, Sociology The Michigan Community Scholars Program (MCSP) first opened its doors to students in academic year 1999-2000. It is a residential learning community, more commonly known as a living-learning program. Each year, the program enrolls about 150 students, about two-thirds of whom are first-year college students. The remaining one-third of students return to the program in various student leadership roles, such as peer advisors, peer mentors, resident advisors, and course facilitators after their first year in MCSP. Over the past seven years, the program has consistently attracted a student body of about 50% students of color and international students and 50% white students. MCSP typically has 10-15 faculty and 10 community partners. Although the program refers to itself as a scholars program, all students who have gained admission to the University of Michigan are eligible for admission to MCSP regardless of their academic profile. Diversity and Civic Engagement MCSP takes seriously the vision of the American dream, that of a just, well-educated diverse, civically engaged, democratic society, and it has created an academic program and a learning environment that model those values. They integrate diversity and emphasize civic engagement and intergroup dialogue in all activities. The program seeks to develop well-educated, active participants and leaders for a diverse democracy. MCSP emphasizes to students the importance of wanting to make a difference, and MCSP programs and classes emphasize the ideal of lives of commitment. The focus of MCSP is on community service, community building, and learning. Academic excellence is a core goal of all students, as is their commitment to modeling a diverse democratic community in their residential living space, doing service in the community, and studying about community in their academic courses. MCSP embraces diversity as a core program asset for personal, social, educational, and community development. It encourages its students to actively engage one another across their different backgrounds and provides structures for them to learn to do so effectively. The diverse students find common ground and purpose in their commitment to community service. MCSP has achieved 100% retention of its first-year underrepresented students of color for three years (those entering college in fall 2003, 2004, 2005 returned 100% in fall 2004, 2005, and 2006 respectively); nearly that same retention rate held for all MCSP students. Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Boundary-Crossing Faculty bring to the MCSP community an interdisciplinary perspective on issues of community and diversity, coming from disciplines within the liberal arts college and across Michigan s professional schools. Academic requirements include departmental-based first-year seminars, a cutting-edge community servicelearning course that incorporates intergroup dialogue (Soc 389), and a one-credit MSCP seminar (UC 102). Funded by both the College of Literature, Science and the Arts and University Housing, MCSP is built on the concept of boundary-crossing. It crosses the boundaries of academic affairs and student affairs, different academic disciplines, faculty and student divisions, the gap between diversity and other undergraduate initiatives, and the university and the community. In each aspect, it works to bring together the whole for the good of each learner. Faculty teach in classrooms in the residence hall, hold office hours there, and join students for meals in the cafeteria. Faculty also offer one or two co-curricular programs each year for all students in the program (e.g., classical concerts, museum tours, talks about affirmative action, the Middle East). Faculty also participate in monthly seminars on teaching, guest lecture in each other s courses and organize meet-togethers of their courses. There is routine sharing of syllabi and pedagogical practice. MCSP purchases daily copies (Monday-Friday) of The New York Times and offers them free to all MCSP students, staff, and faculty right outside the MCSP office. The MCSP Opinion Board is located above the free papers and articles are highlighted each day with questions posed to the MCSP community for written exchange of viewpoints and perspectives. The newspapers and the opinion board together establish a tone for engagement with civic and political issues that sets MCSP apart as a residential learning environment. Of distinctive note, the MCSP faculty co-authored chapters with staff, students, and community partners in an MCSP book, Engaging the Whole of Service-Learning, Diversity, and Learning Communities (OCSL Press, 2004). They are now participating in

study and a series of retreats as part of a Ford Foundation grant, Difficult Dialogues: Religious Pluralism and Academic Freedom. Assessment MCSP has developed and published research designs for program evaluation, retention, and for long-term impact. It has been able to collect data on retention rates as well as program evaluation, including student satisfaction, documentation of program trends and activities, and anecdotal reports from participants. With research funding, MCSP hopes to conduct studies on the longterm impact of the program in terms of civic engagement and diversity democracy measures. For three consecutive years, 2003-2006, 100% of underrepresented students of color who entered the University of Michigan and MCSP as first-year college students returned to U of Michigan in their sophomore year. The rate for all MCSP students was also 100% in 2005-2006 and was only a few percentage points lower than 100% in prior years. These MCSP rates surpass the overall University of Michigan persistence and retention rates. MCSP has had considerable success in interrupting the cycle of civic disengagement and racial segregation. Through the efforts of faculty, staff, and student leaders, MCSP students go on to (1) make commitments to do community service and work with diverse populations in their careers; (2) participate and become leaders in civic/community service and multicultural organizations; (3) broaden their academic studies to include courses that emphasize civic engagement and discuss the experience of various ethnic/racial groups and (4) live in diverse households once they leave the residence hall. Other indicators of success include the following: Anderson Cooper 360 as a program that represents a counter-example to the resegregation of America; grant) on Difficult Dialogues: Religious Pluralism and Academic Freedom; Princeton Review MCSP is a named example why UM is ranked as a College with a Conscience ; ers and win numerous awards in other civic engagement and race/ethnicity-focused organizations at UM, well beyond their proportional numbers; ming Board; Theater Troupe; board, possibly the youngest school board member in the State of Michigan; service by community partners; Engaging the Whole of Service-Learning, Diversity, and Learning Communities (2004), with co-authorship of articles by faculty, students, community partners and staff. Supplemental Materials http://www.lsa.umich.edu/mcs/ I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information David Schoem Director, Michigan Community Scholars Program Adjunct Associate Professor, Sociology MCSP University of Michigan 1300 E. Ann St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2050 Phone: 734-615-6847 Fax: 734-936-1203 Email: dschoem@umich.edu II. Institutional Description a. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI b. Four-year c. Public d. Residential e. The undergraduate FTE is 24,446, with 6,115 first-year students f. 98% of students live in the university s residence halls in their first year of college.

CASE STUDY UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO Martín-Baró Scholars Community Lorrie Ranck, Director, Office of Living-Learning Communities David Ryan, Professor, Program in Rhetoric and Composition The Martín-Baró Scholars Community is a year-long, intensive, living-learning community for first-year students at the University of San Francisco. The community is open to a limited number (25-30) of newly admitted first-year students, who live together in designated space in one of the first-year residence halls. The community has been offered for five years. In it, curricular and co-curricular components are integrated into a single, comprehensive curriculum that examines issues of citizenship, social justice, and diversity. Using the City of San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area as a space for exploring social justice in contemporary urban life, students develop their abilities in observation, discussion, analysis, and writing through the multidimensional lens of the social sciences. Through engaging in service-learning, students will be proactive in addressing the societal problems they examine throughout the year. While the community satisfies some basic core courses for firstyear students, the educational goals reach far beyond attaining the minimum standards; the experience is designed to facilitate the creation of a community that learns not only from within, but also extends that learning into the larger world. Upon successful completion of both semesters in the community, students fulfill core (general education) requirements for Writing and Public Speaking (eight units), Social Science (four units), the Service-Learning (SL) and Cultural Diversity (CD) designations, and four units of elective credit. Students engage in the systematic and logical study of human beings and their interrelationships, with an appreciation of human diversity by examining, for example, social stratification, racism, educational inequality, and the international division of labor and immigration. Student Learning Activities and Outcomes The Martín-Baró Scholars Community integrates students learning through these activities and outcomes: relations, or human institutions by comparing their own data collected in the field with theories and studies they have encountered in the classroom. veloped by students in order to include ways to improve the human condition and promote social justice. After conducting their fieldwork, students will write a paper that resembles policy or program proposals intended to solve problems of homelessness, youth violence, educational inequality, or other areas of interest in social justice. municate social science knowledge to a world shared by all people and held in trust for future generations by using their new abilities to collect and analyze empirical evidence. This is achieved by uncovering social inequality and injustice; developing policy and program proposals that call for change; and learning to translate this knowledge to the rest of the world as public and activist intellectuals. group dynamics that contribute to the development of community within the Martín-Báro Scholars Community. This goal is addressed through in-class instruction and support and community-based meetings with the residential advisors and a residence-based graduate student, an intern minister assigned to the living-learning community. This resident intern minister is supervised by the University Ministry Office. thinking to persuasive (rhetorical) expression in both speaking and writing; this outcome will be achieved by analyzing assumptions, searching for alternatives, identifying audience needs and by presenting cogent arguments. ethos or appeal to ethics, pathos or appeal to emotions, logos or appeal to logic or rational discourse), students will understand the various ways of inventing valid arguments and of engaging in civic and academic discourse. designed to develop evidence to support their position and will demonstrate this knowledge by using direct quotations, summaries, and paraphrases. learning, through participation in and reflection of service and volunteer experiences. During the fall semester, students will primarily engage in volunteer activities and in the spring semester, they will commit to longer, primarily service-learn-

ing based opportunities. Both semesters require a service log and final reflection piece. students will create and maintain a portfolio reflective of the first year at college. This outcome is achieved through group instruction, individual consultation, and resource reading. Instruction and Support Two faculty and one professional staff member serve as the primary facilitators of the community. Key departments that collectively or collaboratively support the community include: College of Arts and Sciences, University Life and Residence Life, University Ministry, Office of Service-Learning and Community Action, McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good, Office of Living-Learning Communities, Center for Global Education, and the Associate Provost. Assessment Initially funded by the James Irvine Foundation, the Martín-Baró Scholars Community was a key component of a multi-pronged cultural diversity initiative (Educating for a Just Society) at USF. Our overarching goal, then and now, is to engage students to become effective leaders who will fashion a more humane and just world. We anticipated that the Scholars would demonstrate greater leadership; improved communication skills (eloquentia perfecta); and greater intercultural knowledge, abilities and effectiveness than an appropriate reference group. Furthermore, we projected that as these Scholars move into positions of increasing leadership within the University, they would have a profound positive effect on their fellow students, and serve as powerful role models and mentors. Ultimately, as alumni of the Martín-Baró Scholars Community and USF, we predict they will use the skills, experience, and knowledge gained as a foundation in their career and personal pursuits. Our assessment design is a comprehensive strategy that includes national and localized instruments. We assessed both the Martín-Baró students and a matched comparison group. Both groups were asked to complete a battery of instruments at various times. Some instruments and measures were only applied to the Martín-Baró students. Enrollment data, student work, briefings with faculty and staff, and community-specific questionnaires added valuable dimensionality to the quantitative assessment. The Martín-Baró Scholars Community has consistently exceeded the expectations described above. Ongoing evidence demonstrates that students are engaged and, thereby, retained at higher levels than their peers. Collectively, each cohort of students has academically outperformed their counterparts. Anecdotal information also shows Martín-Baró Scholars hold significant roles and leadership positions on campus. Within the context of civic engagement, data also demonstrate that students in the Community have, with significantly higher percentages, participated in volunteer or community service work, socialized with someone of another ethnic group, and discussed politics. It is clear from student work (i.e., assignments, portfolios, reflective examinations) that the innovative assignments and integrated strategy facilitate growth and understanding of citizenship, community, activism, social justice, and diversity. Next Phase In 2007-2008, the Scholars Community curriculum will shift from the social sciences core to a literature-based core. The community will also have a theme which will serve as the framework for the course content, learning excursions and service-learning (in AY07-08, the theme is poverty). We believe these changes will serve to further sustain the community over time and provide for consistency among all the stakeholders (faculty, staff, and students). More details on the philosophy and strategic planning for sustaining the community are available via the Continuing Development link in Supplemental Materials. Supplemental Materials The following data sets are available online. Please visit the USF Office of Institutional Research at http://www.usfca.edu/oir and select USF Student Data from the right menu. The data is available under the heading Martín-Baró Scholars Community. Freshman Class, 2002-2004 I. Contributors Names and Contact Information Lorrie Ranck, Director, Office of Living-Learning Communities David Ryan, Professor, Program in Rhetoric and Composition University of San Francisco 2130 Fulton Street, University Center 568 San Francisco, CA 94117 Phone: 415-422-5541 Fax: 415-422-5671 Email: ranck@usfca.edu II. Institutional Description a. University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA b. Four-year c. Private d. Commuter and residential campus e. 4,395.1 traditional undergraduate FTE, fall 2005; 917 first-year students, fall 2005; f. 2,060 traditional undergraduate residential students, fall 2005; 869 first-year residential students, fall 2005; 2,624 traditional undergraduate commuter students, fall 2005; 48 first-year commuter students, fall 2005.

CASE STUDY MAAXimum Results: Service-Learning and Engaging the Student-Athlete-Citizen William J. Rogers, Department of English (Now at Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus) [Service-learning] recognizes that democracy is a learned activity, and that active participation in the life of a community is a bridge to citizenship Saltmarsh and Hollander, 2000, p.30 Mission The Madison Academic and Athletic Exchange (MAAX) is a curriculum-based service-learning initiative in civic engagement. Now in its second year, MAAX brings first-year University of Wisconsin students together with local high school student-athletes for a collaborative inquiry on the relationship between academic and athletic forms of practice. The program emphasizes the collaborative nature of this inquiry and its relevance to the daily lives of MAAX participants, in order to increase participants capacity for self-reflection and to enhance students sense of themselves as engaged students, athletes, and citizens. Overview First-Year Composition MAAX features a university course in first-year composition (English 100). Students enrolled in this course read and write extensively on the role of athletics in American higher education. The course begins with students documenting their own experiences with school-sponsored athletics and responding to newspaper articles on the current state and definition of the student-athlete. 1 The course then moves toward more systematic, critical reflection on the nature and genealogy of American university-level athletic programs. Students course work culminates with a final paper in which they research and argue about any dimension of the course s topic of particular interest and relevance to them. Past paper topics have included the academic advising process for student-athletes, the impact of Title IX on men s and women s sports, and the benefits of universal and intramural vs. selective and intercollegiate athletic programs. All students enrolled in this course also agree to engage in a collaborative learning partnership with Madison East High School student-athletes, to further research, discuss, and apply their coursework. 3 Service-Learning and Civic Engagement 4 MAAX s community engagement arose in response to a community-defined need. The principal of Madison East High School observed that while it was not uncommon for high school athletes to disengage from their classes and their academic communities, many of these students tended to maintain a high level of dedication to and respect for their athletic endeavors. Therefore, MAAX directly engages high school students who are academically disengaged by asking them to consider how the qualities one commonly associates with athletic virtuosity (e.g., rigor, selfreflection, and collaboration) might prove to be valuable assets in their capacities as students and citizens. MAAX partnership meetings take place at Madison East High School every three to four weeks. These meetings last about an hour, and occur during and in lieu of regularly scheduled class times. During the meetings, students work together in smaller groups, or MAAXTeams, comprised of two to three university students and four to six high school students per team. These teams are consistent throughout the semester, and MAAX- Team work takes two forms. First, each session begins with open-ended, collaborative dialogues and inquiries during which teams are asked to focus on a specific concept or term, such as the meaning of respect in sports and in school, or on the different attitudes and responsibilities student-athletes express in relation to their coaches and teachers. Teams conclude their discussions by preparing a list of relevant action items that team members agree to work on applying in the days and weeks ahead. Second, teams work throughout the year on a final group project that offers an innovative and concrete means of re-incorporating their teamwork into their everyday practice. Past and current projects include: a skills and drills -based approach to academic improvement; an informative pamphlet on the life and expectations of a student athlete at Madison East (written for distribution to firstyear student-athletes); and a series of inspirational sayings, drawn from popular representations of sport and re-worked for an academic or civic context. Student Profile and Outcomes All UW students enrolled in MAAX are first-year students, defined as freshmen or undergraduate transfers in their first semester of full-time study at UW-Madison. Approximately half of these students are student-athletes, defined as current members of a university-sponsored, intercollegiate athletic team. By actively

engaging first-year students and student-athletes in meaningful community work, MAAX facilitates these students transition to university life. 5 In addition, by emphasizing students own experiences as subjects worthy of academic inquiry and by accenting the real-world dimensions of this inquiry via civic engagement, the program contributes to both the quality of students first-year experience and to their sense of intellectual work as meaningful to their lives and their communities. Finally, MAAX s community work encourages its student-athletes to see the various components of and demands upon their lives as integrated and complementary (rather than compatible but exclusive) categories. This approach combats the feelings of alienation that often follow student-athletes throughout their academic careers, encourages high school student-athletes to see themselves as college-bound, and helps to acclimate both first-year undergraduates and high school students to the university s intellectual community. 6 Assessment MAAX serves a host of institutional and disciplinary masters, a fact that complicates its assessment profile. As a course in firstyear composition (English 100), MAAX adheres to the primary objectives of these courses namely to improve students writing and critical thinking skills. The English 100 program is also a key component of UW s First-Year Experience program designed to facilitate students transition to university life. 7 MAAX s commitment to service-learning provides an ideal vehicle for reaching institutional objectives regarding students writing and acclimation to university life. However, the program also works towards discrete outcomes regarding its participants commitment to civic engagement and to self-reflective practice. Since such outcomes tend to be quantitatively slippery, MAAX s assessment efforts currently focus on the individual and on the attitudinal levels of its students. We measure these levels three ways. First, UW students prepare a diagnostic essay characterizing their past experiences with volunteering or service-learning, and their objectives for participating in MAAX during their first college year. At the semester s end, students revisit these essays and produce a Final Reflection Essay, which explains how their expectations or attitudes shifted over the semester. 8 Second, all MAAX students complete an end-of-semester questionnaire detailing the course s impact on (a) their writing ability, (b) their level of comfort with university life and work, and (c) their sense of their academic work s civic implications. 9 Preliminary quantitative analysis of these evaluations suggests that MAAX s community engagements bring a valuable element to its academic and civic agendas. 10 The Final Reflection Essay effectively assesses students development of writing skills, and capacities for self-reflection, and the multiple choice questionnaire yields a fair sense of first-year students transitions to university life. Both tools, however, fall short as measurements of civic engagement. In order to gauge MAAX s impact on students civic skills, we hold a year-end conference where MAAXTeams present their project work to members of their academic, athletic, and civic communities. 11 This type of performative evaluation has two primary benefits. First, it gives students a chance to perform the very sorts of integrations we hope to inspire, by asking them to demonstrate publicly their integrating of academic and athletic elements of their lives. In so doing, the presentations produce what Putnam (2000) calls bridging social capital, or a means for bringing together disparate communities through common opportunities for critical reflection and civic action. 12 Second, public presentations require intense preparation from each team and demand collaborative work. These pressures help enforce the ways that as my epigraph suggests collaborative, community inquiry can provide a bridge, both between diverse communities and towards full, participatory citizenship for community (in this case, team ) members. References Adler, P.A., & Adler, P. (1991). Backboards & blackboards: College athletes and role engulfment. New York: Columbia University Press. Adler-Krassner, L.,Crooks, R., & Watters, A. (Eds.). (1997). Writing the community: Concepts and models for service-learning in composition. Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education. Bowen, W.G., & Levin, S.A. (2005). Reclaiming the game: College sports and educational values. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. (1990). Campus life: In search of community. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Deans, T. (2000). Writing partnerships: Service-learning in composition. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. Deans, T. (2002). Writing and community action: A servicelearning rhetoric with readings. New York: Longman. Furco, A. (2000). High-school service learning and the preparation of students for college: An overview of research. In E. Zlotkowski (Ed.), Service learning and the first-year experience (Monograph No. 34, pp3-14) Columbia, S.C.; University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for the First-year Experience and Students in Trasition. Gerdy, J.R. (Ed.). (2000). Sports in school: The future of an institution. New York: Teachers College Press. Herzberg, B. (1994). Community service and critical teaching. College Composition and Communication, 45, 307 19. Lisman, C.D. (1998). Toward a civil society: Civic literacy and service learning. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey. Mann, S., and Patrick, J.J. (Eds.). (2000). Education for civic engagement in democracy: service learning and other promising practices. Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education. Pascarella, E.T., Bohr, L., Nora, A., & Terenzini, P.T. (1995). In-

tercollegiate athletic participation and freshman-year cognitive outcomes. Journal of Higher Education, 66, 369-87. Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster. Saltmarsh, J., & Hollander, E. (2000). Off the playground of higher education. Good Society: A PEGS Journal, 9(2), 28-31. Shulman, J.L. & Bowen, W.G. (2002). The game of life: College sports and educational values. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Simon, R. (2004). Fair play: The ethics of sport (2nd ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Simpson, C., Baker, K., & Mellinger, G. (1980). Conventional failures and unconventional dropouts: Comparing different types of university withdrawals. Sociology of Education, 53, 203-14. Smith, A.W. (1994). Separation-individuation and coping: Contributions to freshmen college adjustment. Dissertation Abstracts International, 56 (03), 831. (UMI No. 9520541) Tinto, V. (1985). Dropping out and other forms of withdrawal from college. In L. Noel, R. Levitz, D. Saluri & Associates (Eds.), Increasing student retention (pp. 319-344). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Zlotkowski, E. (Ed.). (2000). Service learning and the first-year experience: Preparing students for personal success and civic responsibility (Monograph No. 34). Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for The First- Year Experience and Students in Transition. I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information William J. Rogers, Instructor Department of English Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus One University Drive P.O. Box 519 Uniontown, PA 15401-0519 Phone: 724-430-4196 Fax: 724-430-4175 Email: wjr18@psu.edu II. Institutional Description a. University of Wisconsin Madison (Madison, WI) b. Four-Year c. Public d. Residential 13 e. 26,660 FTE undergraduates 5,643 first-year f. Residential 14 1 Furco (2000), citing Smith (1994) notes that the benefits of holding students own experiences as objects of inquiry are particularly acute during their first college year, as providing first-year students with space to reflect on and address issues that have personal meaning to them can enhance their adjustment to college life (p. 6). Hemphill (2004) documents an application of this approach to students athletic experiences in an undergraduate philosophy course. The course begins with a descriptive and reflective first person written account of a significant personal experience in sport or leisure related practices (that) is developed progressively into a philosophically informed research paper (16). 3 For essays and case studies on service-learning and composition, see Adler- Krassner, Crooks and Watters (1997); and Deans (2000; 2002). 4 For a selection of essays on service-learning and civic engagement, see Mann and Patrick (2000); and Lisman (1998). 5 For service-learning and the first-year experience, see Zlotkowski (2000). 6 Furco (2000) suggests that the engagement of high school students in servicelearning or community service activities can provide a space for students to begin their transition to college (p. 8). 7 See <http://www.newstudent.wisc.edu/firstyear/onsp_1styrgoals.pdf> 8 While students do not submit these essays anonymously, they do submit them after final grades have been issued to promote honesty in their reporting (Herzberg, 1994). 9 Plans are currently underway for a high school equivalent of this questionnaire that will emphasize academic and community engagement rather than writing and critical thinking skills. 10 To date, this has largely been a comparative study, using evaluations from peer composition courses that lack a service-learning component. 11 Invited conference guests include university and high school administrators, teachers, coaches, and advisors; former and potential MAAX students and parents; and local journalists. 12 The problems that such bridging capital address are particularly pressing at the modern research university, where athletic and academic departments tend to occupy parallel but distinct universes (Bowen & Levin, 2005; Gerdy, 2000; Shulman & Bowen, 2001; Simon, 2002). The rival demands and values of these competing spheres of influence can lead to feelings of alienation in studentathletes (Adler & Adler, 1991) which in turn affect academic performance (Pascarella, Bohr, Nora, & Terenzini, 1995), and lead to student withdrawal (Carnegie Foundation, 1990; Simpson, Baker, & Mellinger, 1980; Tinto, 1985). 13 Information in prompts a-d comes from the Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education. See http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/classifications. 14 Figures for prompts e and f come from the University of Wisconsin s Enrollment Report for Fall 2005-06. See <http://registrar.wisc.edu/students/acadrecords/ enrollment_reports/stats_all_2005-2006fall.pdf>

CASE STUDY WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT Communicating Common Ground: Civic Engagement Through Service-Learning in Interpersonal and Small-Group Communication: A Partnership with Children-at-Risk After-School Programs Colleen Garside, Ph.D., Assistant Professor In Weber State s Communicating Common Ground program, college students...lead younger students in learning activities designed to advance multicultural education, appreciation of diversity, and the creation of communities in which hate, hate speech, and hate crimes are not tolerated (Morreale, 2003, p. 3). CCG is a partnership between Communication 2110, Interpersonal and Small Group Communication students and the Ogden-Weber School District Children at Risk Extended School (CARES) program. Communicating Common Ground (CCG) is a servicelearning initiative sponsored by the National Communication Association, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Campus Compact, and the American Association for Higher Education. The CCG partnerships focus on teaching tolerance and combating prejudice in communities. Many first-year students enroll in the communication course to meet general education requirements. Communication 2110 students volunteer more than 1,500 hours to the CARES program each year. University faculty, community partners, and CCG cooperate to facilitate the project, which has been on campus for five years. Project Objectives and Impact The two objectives are integrated by the diversity of the program participants and by diversity training that educates students to respect and embrace diversity in society. Many Weber State students have had little, if any, contact with ethnicities not their own. Many CARES participants are Hispanic, which exposes students to different cultures. University students provide instruction to promote the recognition of prejudice, stereotyping, and cultural communication differences. Working in groups of four throughout the semester, they plan activities, strategies, and materials for instruction in communication and diversity issues to elementary and secondary students involved in the CARES program. Their fresh perspectives and innovations supplement the efforts of CARES personnel. Weber State students find that they reinforce their own learning by presenting to CARES participants University students have reflected on the impact of their civic engagement experience in light of their learning. In reflection essays, one group of students explained that the students we worked with taught us as much as we taught them. This was very worthwhile because we were not just wasting our time sitting in a classroom lecture. We actually had to go and apply the things we were learning. Another group reflected: This experience was worthwhile because it challenged us to get out of our comfort zones. We discovered that interacting with other cultures is not dangerous or difficult. It is often enlightening. Marsha Prantill, Coordinator for Ogden-Weber After School Programs, indicates that the efforts of the university students are appreciated throughout the district. The (CARES) sites appreciate all the work and time these (university) students spend to enhance the educational experience for our students. The program has been recognized by the Utah Campus Compact as one of the top 13 outstanding civic engagement projects in the state. Assessment Overall, our assessment is consistent with other service-learning literature that suggests that civic engagement through servicelearning facilitates an enriched understanding of course material, provides meaningful service to the community and reinforces moral and civic values in students (Droge & Ortega-Murphy, 1999; Gray, Ondaatje, Fricker,& Geschwind, 2000; Isaacson, Dorries, & Brown, 2001). Current assessment focuses on student perceptions of how civic engagement influences affective, behavioral, and cognitive domains of learning through a series of reflection assignments based on Dewey s [1938] notion of reflective thinking (see Eyler, Giles, & Schmiede, 1996; Welch, 2002). Over the semester, students submit eight reflection papers and participate in oral in-class reflection. A thematic content analysis of 516 reflection papers submitted during an academic year provided data for analysis. Detailed data analysis led to categorization of emergent, recurrent themes. The most prevalent theme that emerged was the transformative nature of civic engagement in affective, behavioral, and cognitive domains of learning. In the affective domain, students feelings about civic engagement were transformed. Trepidation and worry changed to interest and confidence. One student wrote, I felt comfortable at a very diverse school, and I didn t think I would at first. The first day, I wanted to turn around and go home because I was so scared and worried. I learned to be comfortable around the different personalities that went to that school.

Behavioral assessment predicted students future actions. Sample comments: I have enjoyed the CARES program so much, I will probably volunteer again. As we taught the students, we learned much more about how to communicate. We will try to show more sensitivity to people who are different from us. We as community members need to be sensitive to the differences in others and their different upbringings. Students also practiced critical thinking, analysis and application, as these comments show: Recognizing ethnocentrism is just the beginning. Collaboration is required to reconcile the differences in culture and language to produce understanding between people. One girl tried to teach [a student] some words in Spanish. Most often the kids would just speak English, but in an ideal situation, we would all be working together for competent communication. We have learned that cultural relativism is better than ethnocentrism. We can acknowledge the fact that some cultures are different from - not better than - other cultures. Work Cited: Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Collier Books. I. Contributor s Name and Contact Information Colleen Garside, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Weber State University Communication Department 1605 University Circle Ogden, UT 84408-1605 Phone: 801-626-6256 Fax: 801-626-7975 Email: cgarside@weber.edu II. Institutional Description a. Weber State University, Ogden, UT b. Four-year undergraduate teaching institution c. Public d. Commuter campus e. 15,841 FTE undergraduate students 6,178 first-year students f. 1,314 residential students 16,828 commuter students Droge, D. & Ortega-Murphy, B. (1999). Voices of strong democracy: Concepts and models for service learning in communication studies. Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education. Eyler, J., Giles, D.E., & Schmiede, A. (1996). A practitioner s guide to reflection in service learning: Student voices and reflections. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University. Gray, M., Ondaatje, E., Fricker, R., & Geschwind, S. (2000). Assessing student learning: The benefits of service learning for students. Change, 32, 2, 30-41. Isaacson, R., Dorries, B., & Brown, K. (2001). Service learning in communication studies: A handbook. Ontario, Canada: Wadsworth. Morreale, S. (2003). Communicating common ground: Project overview. Retrieved September 27, 2003, from http://www.natcomm.org/instruction/ccg/projectdescription.htm. Welch, M. (2002, October). A collaborative round table discussion on developing a multi-institutional research agenda using a guided reflection rubric. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Service Learning Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.