such an experiment, as Levine would label it, is manifold and provided in the article, “Educating Students to Foster Active Citizenship” by Robert M. Hollister et. al., “Engaged students are more likely to think about other people’s needs and interests, about the communities in which they are studying, about the purposes of their education, and about the obligations that come with their privileges” (Hollister, Wilson, Levine, 2008,18). In an age of enhanced mobility and transference, the notion of engaging an academic community in thinking beyond itself can often prove counterintuitive, especially to students. Tufts’ approach to create a university-wide virtual learning sphere, “as a resource to integrate and elevate civic values and skills across the entire curriculum...” (Hollister, Wilson, Levine, 2008, 20) is extraordinarily relevant not simply because Tufts has been
the Tisch College Board of Advocates and Council of Friends, who represent a very diverse range of interests and professions. Beyond the more tangible notion of allowing for seminars, internships, and research opportunities based around civic engagement, the Tisch College understands that an active citizenry is held in the hearts and minds of the people and thus, learning becomes less discrete over a single semester or two and more pervasive and embodied in the identity of the self and its advocates. This idea of learning-by-doing is encapsulated in the work of organizational theorist Donald Schon’s conceptualization of reflection-in-action as a driver of what he refers to as the reflective practitioner in his book of the same name. He describes the reflective practitioner as “both ordinary people and professional practitioners
The successful 21st century college or university will be increasingly flexible and amendable, requiring new structures of governance and capacities for relatively sudden change. a pioneer in this model, but because the model is well aligned with the increasing virtuality and integrative capacities necessary for higher education in their digitalization. Tufts’ model engages at the crux of Ernest Boyer’s “new paradigm of scholarship [which] celebrates the scholarship of integrating knowledge, of communicating knowledge, and of applying knowledge through professional service” (Boyer, 1994,168). Further, its overarching interdisciplinary qualities speak to the re-conceptualization of higher education as hybrid places capable of re-enforcing and thus infusing singular goals. In Tufts’ arena, Hollister et. al. finds, “The combined effects of our multiple initiatives and interventions is making active citizenship a pervasive part of Tufts’ ethos, an essential part of our institutional DNA” (Hollister, Wilson, Levine, 2008, 20). The reflection of this structure through governance is notable in
[who] often think about what they are doing, sometimes even while doing it. Stimulated by surprise, they turn thought back on action and on the knowing which is implicit in action” (Schon, 1983,50). Tufts, by qualitative measures, has duly allowed for this reflection-in-action, as Hollister et. al. attest, “A growing number of professors support this effort [promoting active citizenship] because they have personal experience with courses that incorporate active citizenship often enhance students’ learning of other material” (Hollister, Wilson, Levine, 2008, 20). Ostensibly, the enabling of a heightened reflection-in-action model within the very organizational and pedagogical DNA of Tufts promotes a deepening of university-community mission and cohesion. Further, it reinforces the notion that citizenry is not based in passports or currency, but is more a practiced frame of mind, a set of beliefs that
motivate appropriate action. This inter-weaving aligns with the changing role of governance in the 21st century university and how a given university, such as Tufts, has essentially restructured itself around a unifying theme. Certainly, as I have referenced, our shared American landscape is becoming more pluralistic and diverse. Tufts has, relative to the majority of other institutions of higher learning in the United States, taken a more active role as teacher and advocate for the health of our citizenry and democracy. It is a noble experiment, and one that traces its lineage to the founding of our republic and what Benjamin Franklin so deftly labeled the “practical arts” to the contemporary notion of the ”engaged campus”—the concept that colleges and universities have a responsibility both to educate students for citizenship and to act as good institutional citizens in their own communities (Hartley and Hollander, 2005).
Macalester College: Multiculturalism Magnified Through Multidisciplinary Study Macalester College is a nonsectarian liberal arts college located in St. Paul, Minnesota. In the fall 2009 semester the school enrolled just under 2,000 students, in which 49 states and 93 countries were represented. The percentage of international students enrolled stands at twelve percent. Macalester College places high value on its status as an attractor and disseminator of internationalist beliefs, proud to report that “Macalester’s commitments to academic excellence, internationalism, diversity, and civic engagement are reflected in the lives of its graduates, including former United States Vice President Walter Mondale and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (Macalester College Quick Facts, 2009). Upwards of sixty percent of the student body studied abroad for at least one semester during their college career (Macalester College Quick Facts, 2009). The touchstone, however, of Macalester’s efforts to promote the intellectual growth and transformation of community, “through an environment that values the diverse cultures of our world and recognizes our responsibility to provide a supportive and respectful environment for students, staff and faculty of all cultures and backgrounds” is the Institute for Global
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