of volunteer service (determined using metrics and data provided by the Independent Sector, a leadership network for nonprofit, charitable and philanthropic organizations) but also programs’ own understanding of their financial value in terms of goods, services, and other deliverables, staff time allocations, and other expenditures to provide and maintain civic engagement programs and partnerships.
In addition, new programs, such as the RubensteinBing Student-Athlete Civic Engagement program (ACE), which focuses on immersive civic engagement opportunities for student-athletes, and Duke College Advising Corps, which provides a two-year placement for Duke graduates to serve as near-peer college advisors in rural North Carolina high schools, are expanding the populations for whom civic engagement is an avenue for learning and personal growth.
Additionally, analysis of the data provided to the 20132014 Civic Engagement Inventory reinforced that there is significant learning value for students who engage in such programs, projects, and initiatives. We found that participation in civic engagement efforts provides students (both undergraduate and graduate) with the opportunity to engage in high impact, active learning practices, including group service, reflection, and advocacy work. Through such learning practices, and as a result of engagement with social and contemporary issues, students emerge from civic programs: More aware of the issues surrounding them, as well as the potential strategies for engaging and resolving those issues. More culturally competent, with increased awareness of the strategies for navigating communities with diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. Better versed in strategies to address social and contemporary issues, including advocacy work, consulting and community-based research. More confident about their professional and academic goals, including the course and research choices they make in their time at Duke. Inclined to participate in ongoing or new service efforts, suggesting that participation in civic programs may yield more dedicated civic actors after graduation.
As civic engagement continues to grow at Duke, we anticipate producing this report on a biennial basis in order to document not only changes to the campus practice of civic engagement but to also collect and catalogue best practices that can inform programs, projects, and initiatives. The data here suggest that communities of practice and improvement can emerge around common service themes, shared community partnerships, and approaches to engagement. Such opportunities for cooperation, dialogue, and discussion can be facilitated by several campus entities, including the Office of the Assistant Vice Provost for Civic Engagement and the University Council on Civic Engagement (UCCE). Additionally, we anticipate sharing this document and our findings with both the broader community of external partners and the higher education civic engagement community in order to gather more insights and perspectives and to learn from our peers who do similar work. Specifically, we look forward to opportunities during spring semester 2016 to engage in a larger campus dialogue around our findings.
“We believe the future of civic engagement at Duke will build strongly on the traditions of interdisciplinarity, global involvement, and breadth of experiences.�
Buoyed by these findings and others, we believe the future of civic engagement at Duke will build strongly on the traditions of interdisciplinarity, global involvement, and breadth of experiences. In particular, the future of civic engagement at Duke includes: a continued emphasis on experiential opportunities, exemplified by the new-format experiential certificates. an evolving role for community-based research and for civic engagement in the context of specific disciplines, such as Innovation & Entrepreneurship. the expansion of programs, such as Bass Connections, that embrace specific civic engagement goals, and unite undergraduate and graduate curricula, interdisciplinary study, and research.
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