Through facilitated discussion, workshops, readings, and meetings with invited speakers participants in the Civic Scholars Proseminar will gain a vocabulary and capacity for skills to support thoughtful, sustained civic engagement. In Proseminar, students will:
- Achieve a deeper understanding of one’s own identities and values
- Contextualize social issues using cultural, sociological, historical, and political lenses
- Understand structures of inequity, power, and privilege and their implications
- Recognize connections between local and global issues
- Learn about the various approaches and roles through which to engage with social issues and affect social change
- Cultivate aptitude to think in interdisciplinary terms and integrate civic engagement and academic experiences
- Develop abilities to facilitate dialogue about social issues and civic engagement
- Improve skills to conduct applied research that contributes to scholarship or practice addressing social issues
First Year Proseminar
In the First Year Proseminar, students are enrolled in a half-credit course that meets bi-weekly on Monday evenings.
Each session consists of discussions, workshops, reflections, and/or speakers on the following:
- Root causes of social injustice including Capitalism, Cisheteropatriarchy, Colonialism, and White Supremacy
- Mutually beneficial collaborations with community partner organizations
- Community building, self-care, and community care
Sophomore Proseminar
In the Sophomore Proseminar, students build upon the skills and knowledge developed in their first year. Civic Scholars meet bi-weekly on Monday evenings in a non-graded Proseminar.
Each session expands on the topics of the previous year and students take on leadership roles by facilitating sessions for first-year meetings.
