Civic Engagement at Research Universities

A new report from Campus Compact and the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University conveys that "research universities' exceptional faculty, students, financial resources, and research facilities position them to contribute to community change relatively quickly and in ways that will ensure deeper and longer-lasting commitment to civic engagement across higher education."

The group's rationale and recommendations are contained in its first report, New Times Demand New Scholarship: Research Universities and Civic Engagement — A Leadership Agenda 2.8MB, published by Tufts University in 2006.

In 2007 the group expanded, creating a research universities and civic engagement network, and convened for a second meeting at the University of California, Los Angeles, to further the conversation. The newly formed network's second report, New Times Demand New Scholarship II: Research Universities and Civic Engagement — Opportunities and Challenges 3.8MB, focuses on opportunities and challenges in four areas critical to expanding and institutionalizing civic engagement within research universities:

1. Engaged scholarship (research in any field that partners university scholarly resources with those in the public and private sectors to enrich knowledge, address and help solve critical societal issues, and contribute to the public good).
2. Scholarship focused on civic and community engagement (research focused on civic participation in public life, including participation by engaged scholars, and on the impact of this work on all constituencies).
3. Educating students for civic and community engagement (what students need to know and be able to do as active, effective citizens of a diverse democracy).
4. Advancing civic engagement within and across research universities (challenges to and effective strategies for institutionalizing civic engagement within a research university context).

This second report also includes models from a range of participating research universities. Other institutions are invited to add their own models for dissemination via this website. Please see the report for more information. If you have a model you'd like share, please e-mail it to the web master in Word, text, or pdf format.