header

Civic Engagement Programs

While Global Citizenship skills can be improved on almost any well-designed program of overseas study, this list is designed to highlight specific off-campus programs both within the US and abroad which purposefully address and seek to cultivate the Civic Competencies mentioned on the preceeding page.

By their nature, most Civic Engagement programs highlight interdisciplinary learning, and incorporate a field-based learning component which seeks to bridge the gap between academic theory, real-world problems and public policy and/or current business practices. While most of these programs take place outside the traditional university environment, students and their advisors should be aware that all incorporate structured courses, regular readings and assignments and result in production of a significant directed research paper as a requirement of the field project, internship or community-based independent study.

Macalester's domestic off-campus offerings are all field-based learning programs, each of which offers a thematic set of core courses related to civic engagement issues and the opportunity to participate in internships or directed research related to those issues. Options include: Urban Studies in Chicago, Border Studies in Texas & Mexico, Transforming Communities in Washington, DC, and Environmental Studies at the Marine Biology Institute on Cape Cod. For fuller descriptions and links to the program sites, go to our domestic studies page at the link above.

Macalester's overseas civic engagement programs list, like the one above, leans heavily to field-based research programs and programs which offer community-based or public policy internships. However, there are also a few programs that incorporate regular courses with host-country nationals, at universities which embody a similar mission to Macalester. Options include Macalester's own programs (to Germany/Austria and to South Africa) as well as programs in: Australia, Ecuador, England, France, Ghana, India, Norway, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Senegal.