ABSTRACT
We begin with two paradoxical observations about American higher education. First, American higher education has deep civic roots, although the full promise of these roots remains unrealized. From the early congregational colleges to Thomas Jeff erson’s founding of the University of Virginia, American higher education was based on an expressed public purpose (Snyder, 2008; Sullivan, 2000). For 200 years there have been debates over what this means and should mean for undergraduate education, faculty research, and community-campus partnerships. Most recently, this conversation has resurfaced around movements to create “engaged campuses.” This work has called for everything from much more fl uidity between the college campuses and surrounding communities to a refocus of faculty research and teaching around community-based research and service-learning (Ehrlich, 2000; Mathews, 2008). At the forefront of these eff orts has been a more purposeful and intentional movement among educators and administrators for campuswide civic education eff orts.
