ACADEMIC CIVIC ENGAGEMENT (ACE)

Academic civic engagement is an approach to teaching and learning that encourages students to learn in the community and to apply academic knowledge and tools to address community issues as an integrated component of an academic course.  Common approaches to ACE include: service-learning, community-based research, public scholarship and other forms of community-based learning.

This program is a collaboration between the CEL’s experiential learning professionals and faculty, helping classroom instructors identify ways that students can connect service and civic engagement to classroom learning.  Specifically, the CEL supports faculty through ACE faculty workshops, consultation on course and project design, community partnership development, in-class presentations or field-trips, coordination of logistics, etc. For more information contact Nathan Jacobi <jacobi>, Associate Director, Civic Engagement.

2009-10 ACE Course Descriptions (tentative)
2008-09 ACE Course Descriptions

2009 Civic Engagement Faculty Institute
June 16-17 and August 20, 2009

Nine faculty members participated in a three-day workshop to think and learn about academic civic engagement. Sessions on ACE theory, best-practices and models were facilitated by Nate Jacobi (CEL), Mary Carlsen, Eric Fure-Slocum, Dana Gross, Dan Hofrenning, Naurine Lennox, Paul Roback and Paul Schadewald (Macalester). The institute was sponsored by the CEL with support from the Lilly Lives of Worth and Service Grant.

Faculty participants: Heather Campbell (Education), Rika Ito (Asian Studies), Urmila Malvadkar (Math), Sian Muir (Management Studies), Peder Jothen (Religion), Ryan Sheppard (Sociology), Becki Judge (Economics), Susannah Shmurak (English) and
Maggie Broner (Spanish).

2008 Civic Engagement Faculty Institute
June 2-5, 2008
See St. Olaf news story »

Nine St. Olaf faculty members and eight community partners participated in a four-day workshop to think and learn about academic civic engagement. As part of the institute, faculty members and community leaders had the opportunity to explore possibilities for collaboration and to develop civic engagement projects that will be implemented during the 2008-09 academic year.  In addition to presentations and conversation, the institute included site visits, a Lake Street tour, a Northfield tour, and meetings with faculty from Macalester College. Nate Jacobi (CEL) and Eric Fure-Slocum (History) coordinated the institute and Paul Schadewald (Macalester College) served as the primary facilitator.  The institute was funded by a Post-Secondary Service-Learning and Campus-Community Collaboration grant (in the amount of $13,430) from the State of Minnesota.
Components Of The Institute.

Faculty participants: Mary Carlsen (Social Work), Chris Chiappari (Anthropology), Eric Fure-Slocum (History), Karen Gervais (Philosophy), Dana Gross (Psychology), Dan Hofrenning (Political Science), Naurine Lennox (Social Work), Paul Roback (Statistics) and Kathy Tegtmeyer Pak (Political Science).

Community participants