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Civic Agency


Summary

The Civic Agency Initiative is a partnership between the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the Humphrey Institute’s Center for Democracy and Citizenship. The project seeks to further develop and operationalize the concept of civic agency. The product of this partnership will be a series of national models for creating civic agency among undergraduates, and to disseminate those models broadly throughout American higher education. The goal of the initiative is to create widespread knowledge about “what works,” to build civic agency, and to strengthen civic identity and practices of AASCU schools, including civic learning and public scholarship. The project combines the strategic and leadership position of AASCU schools in civic engagement – with more than 50% of the nation’s public four year college students, a strong track record of educating local and regional leaders, and a flourishing network of schools in the American Democracy Project -- with the pioneering theoretical and practical work of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship.


Project Goal

Through a collaboration between AASCU/ADP, the Center for democracy and Citizenship, and 16 ADP institutions:

  1. Define the characteristics of civic agency
  2. Develop strategies and programs on university campuses and in surrounding communities to develop civic agency in undergraduates
  3. Design instruments and processes for measuring civic agency
  4. Support the growth of faculty and staff in AASCU schools, as well as local and regional community leaders, who can be leaders in the new focus on civic agency
  5. Generate new knowledge about civic agency, civic leaning, and institutional change
  6. Disseminate knowledge of civic agency and how to teach it to other AASCU/ADP institutions and broadly across American higher education
  7. Create campus-wide cultural change, deepening community partnerships, civic learning, and public scholarship

2008 Participants

California State University, Sacramento *
Castleton State College *
Central Connecticut State University
Florida A & M University
Georgia College and State University *
Indiana State University *
Kentucky State University
Portland State University
San Francisco State University *
Texas Woman’s University
University of Central Missouri *
University of Maryland Baltimore County
University of Minnesota, Mankato
University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire *
Western Carolina University
Western Kentucky University *

Partner Organizations

The New York Times
Humphrey Institute’s Center for Democracy and Citizenship