Building Capacity for Civic Learning and Engagement: An Emerging Infrastructure in the Academic Arts and Humanities in the United States

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Building Capacity for Civic Learning and Engagement: An Emerging Infrastructure in the Academic Arts and Humanities in the United States
Language: English
Authors: Heiland, Donna, Huber, Mary Taylor
Source: Arts and Humanities in Higher Education: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice. Jul 2015 14(3):260-273.
Availability: SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 14
Publication Date: 2015
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Higher Education, Capacity Building, Citizen Participation, Citizenship Education, Educational Development, Art, Humanities, Civics, Partnerships in Education
DOI: 10.1177/1474022215583946
ISSN: 1474-0222
Abstract: American higher education has always articulated a civic mission as part of its purpose: colleges and universities educate students for life in a democratic society and provide that society with citizens who ensure that it thrives in turn. This essay maps the development of a national infrastructure for civic learning and engagement in American higher education, with a focus on the mid-1980s onward, when--after a period of relative eclipse--this work gained new coherence and momentum. Beginning with that moment of eclipse, when an intensified and professionalized research mission threatened to overshadow higher education's civic commitments, we adumbrate briefly the countermovements that allowed the civic mission of colleges and universities to reassert itself. We then discuss the civic engagement networks that have emerged over the past three decades, and more recent partnerships and projects that have expanded understanding of higher education's civic commitment in the 21st century.
Abstractor: As Provided
Number of References: 36
Entry Date: 2015
Accession Number: EJ1067784
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:American higher education has always articulated a civic mission as part of its purpose: colleges and universities educate students for life in a democratic society and provide that society with citizens who ensure that it thrives in turn. This essay maps the development of a national infrastructure for civic learning and engagement in American higher education, with a focus on the mid-1980s onward, when--after a period of relative eclipse--this work gained new coherence and momentum. Beginning with that moment of eclipse, when an intensified and professionalized research mission threatened to overshadow higher education's civic commitments, we adumbrate briefly the countermovements that allowed the civic mission of colleges and universities to reassert itself. We then discuss the civic engagement networks that have emerged over the past three decades, and more recent partnerships and projects that have expanded understanding of higher education's civic commitment in the 21st century.
ISSN:1474-0222
DOI:10.1177/1474022215583946