Nov 10, 2024  
2024-2025 Undergraduate Bulletin 
    
2024-2025 Undergraduate Bulletin

Civic Engagement, Minor in


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Administered by the Center for Civic Engagement and HCLAS Dean’s Office

Director: Philip Dalton, Writing Studies and Rhetoric, School of Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts

About the Minor


The Minor in Civic Engagement is designed for students who wish to participate as engaged, knowledgeable citizens in their campus, local, state, national, and global communities. The minor is designed to help students develop the skills— such as critical thinking, deliberative dialogue, constructive disagreement, and mediation of conflict—needed to facilitate community involvement, public advocacy, and community-building. It is built on three foundational principles: 1) strong democratic communities require individuals who are skilled and willing public agents; 2) community-building necessitates a willingness to listen to others and understand diversity; and 3) knowledge of social systems and issues is essential to the efficacy of civic engagement. The minor may be paired with any major as an active way of putting disciplinary tools to use to affect positive change in our communities. It is intended for highly motivated students of any ideological perspective who are committed to education among a broader community of learners.

The minor requires the successful completion of 18 semester hours, including CCE 001 and 15 semester hours of elective courses selected from the list below, distributed as specified from Groups A, B, and C. No one single course may count in more than one group.

Minor Requirements - Semester Hours: 18


A) Competency-Building - Semester Hours: At least 3


Students will build competencies in areas of leadership, team-building, organizing, research, fostering connections within and between communities, developing social policy initiatives, and defining, planning, and carrying out civic engagement activities.

B) Promoting the Prerequisites of Democracy - Semester Hours: At least 3


Students will trace historical changes in democratic institutions, focusing particularly on freedom of speech, expression, and assembly; the value of civic comportment and diverse viewpoints; respect and appreciation for diversity; and social inequalities and their implications for democracy.

C) Historical and Contemporary Societal Issues - Semester Hours: At least 3


Students will examine social and public policy issues using both a historical and a contemporary lens, and focusing on topics related to democracy, social justice, sustainability, social transformation, and conflict resolution.

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