We may define and prioritize them differently, but few would deny that our human community is facing intractable problems at local, national, and global scales. The authors call on higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world to work collectively and with strategic intent and action to use sustainability as an organizing principle to…

Publically engaged scholarship demands new ways of working within and outside of the academy. Systems within the university reward faculty for individual achievements. This approach militates against working on collaborative projects because of the difficulty of explaining and quantifying one's contribution. The culture of academia further…

The past several decades have witnessed increasing efforts to advance universities as institutions supporting democratic civic education in the United States. Unfortunately, civic engagement initiatives frequently are framed as apolitical, which I argue is either under-theorized or disingenuous. In this article, I first review perceptions of…

Character and citizenship education are part of the vision of many countries, including Singapore. Ensuring they are implemented in academic environments, service learning has been shown to be a natural bridge between the two. Research has shown that service learning, when done well, produces outcomes related to character development and…

The mission of The Research University Civic Engagement Network (TRUCEN) is to advance civic engagement and engaged scholarship among research universities. TRUCEN has adopted the following goals for advancing civic engagement and engaged scholarship as part of the core mission of all research universities: (1) Encourage community-engaged…

Preparing graduates to be active citizens is a core value of colleges and universities in the United States. Historically, higher education has had a commitment to developing the civic commitment of its graduates; yet the degree to which this commitment is endorsed and actualized varies with time and across institutions. In "College Learning for…

Global perspective-taking involves three critical, developmentally based questions: (1) How do I know?; (2) Who am I?; and (3) How do I relate? As students grapple with these questions, their answers mutually reinforce the cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal domains of human development, highlighting its holistic and integrated nature.…

Many adults have a desire to give back to the communities that have supported and nurtured them, and they find their own ways to do so. Community based learning is but one mechanism for making connections that enable one to satisfy the aspiration to address the many problems of concern. It is a methodology that can be employed in the classroom,…

Significant shifts are occurring in higher education pedagogy, research methodology, and community development, ones that value civic engagement and experiential learning as bridges to holistic education and sustainable social change. Engaged scholarship through university-community partnerships can result in providing a well-rounded education for…

The demonstrated willingness of institutions of higher education to contribute to sustainable development is on the rise. Colleges and universities are attempting to integrate principles of sustainability into their operational practices, curriculum, and research priorities. Integrating sustainability into a university requires processes by which…

This paper examines in detail how higher education serves the larger public good, focusing on how higher education assesses and accounts for its service to society. It begins with a brief description of how the civic education of students and institutional service to society are defined for the purposes of this paper. It then discusses assessment…

This article describes how early childhood teacher education faculty at one university responded in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and used the disaster to enhance their undergraduate and graduate programs. They explain how they modeled developmentally appropriate practices while responding to community needs. Four companion articles…

The evolution of community service in higher education is traced over the last decade, and three aspects are analyzed: development of student leadership; emergence of institutional support; and institutionalization of service learning. It is argued that students were the catalysts in creating the service learning movement, which currently has a…

Asserts that building an infrastructure to sustain an organic movement such as experience-based education involves timing, tension, and respect. Describes how these elements have played a vital role in creating a solid foundation of support for civic engagement and service learning at Los Angeles' Mount St. Mary's College, an "Implementing…

Discusses the increasing interest on college campuses in public service, and reports on 1998, 1999, and 2000 national conferences on "Strategies for Renewing the Civic Mission of the American Research University." Notes conference recommendations, such as establishment of a permanent Institute for Education for Democracy. Stresses importance of…