By Emily Bowling, OSU Community Engagement & Leadership
Civic engagement in the classroom provides real-world context and application for student learning and is often cited as a high-impact practice given its experiential nature. Community-based and civic engagement in higher education have positive outcomes across six key areas: increased personal and social responsibility, development of positive mindsets and dispositions, improved graduation and retention rates, learning gains, improved intellectual and practical skills, and increased career-related skills (Chittum, Enke, & Finley, 2022). More specifically, civic engagement can cultivate skills in the areas of communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork/collaboration, flexibility, the ability to innovate and be creative, and the ability to collaborate and solve problems with people from different backgrounds. These are skills desired by employers (AACU/Hart Research Associates, 2015; National Association of Colleges and Employers). If you see opportunity to add civic engagement into a current or upcoming course, consider these mini-grants!
Project Pericles invites faculty to apply for a $1,000 Civic Engagement Mini-Grant to design innovative projects, assignments, and activities empowering students to engage with public issues in inclusive and collaborative ways. These grants are an incredible opportunity to strengthen civic participation while connecting academic content to real-world challenges. Grantees become part of the Project Pericles fellowship, a community of civically-engaged colleagues learning and growing together. Priority Deadline: Feb., 14, 2025.
Request for Proposals: Civic Engagement Mini-Grants
Community Engagement & Leadership (CEL) is a unit in OSU Student Affairs that serves as a hub for co-curricular service-learning and leadership programming for students. CEL inspires and nourishes relational leadership practices that enrich communities through collaborative learning, service, and action.
About the author: Emily Bowling (she/her) currently serves as Director of Community Engagement & Leadership at Oregon State University where she works to apply a critical framework to programs that prepare students to enact leadership that creates more caring, just communities. Emily’s work in higher education over the past 15 years has been centered on leadership development, experiential learning, and social change while putting radical hope and love into practice. She holds an MS in Educational Leadership & Policy, Sustainability Education from Portland State University. In her free time, Emily enjoys cycling, gardening, hiking, listening to podcasts, and having light-hearted and philosophical conversations with family.
Leave a Reply