The interdisciplinary Certificate in Civic and Global Leadership began in 2017. Over time, it faced challenges with enrollment, focus, and student interest. As a result, a group of faculty and OCE staff met during Spring and Summer 2024 to propose revisions to the certificate. These were approved by the Curriculum and Academic Committee during fall 2024.
To begin, the group decided to change the name to the Certificate in Community Engagement for Collaborative Change (CCECC). The old title led some students (and faculty) to perceive that the certificate focused on leadership studies (e.g., models of leadership). The former title did not signal to students that they would be engaging with communities, examining community issues, or thinking about their own agency, skills, and needed disposition while working with communities. The new title stresses belonging to and participating in a community to achieve a positive, community-defined outcome. The certificate helps students gain knowledge and skills to understand complex issues, to critically question how place, issues, and identity intertwine, and to practice humility and empathy as they work closely with others and reflect on that work. Students work across academic disciplines to gain collaborative skills and reflect on their leadership on and off campus. The certificate is open to students from across the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Students who complete the certificate will be prepared for careers in nonprofit leadership, community development, public health, policy, law, environment and sustainability, public arts, advocacy, and research.
Many of the requirements for CCECC remain the same as the old Certificate. Students will take CIVC 200: Introduction to Community Engagement, which will be offered in the fall. First- and second-year students will be urged to enroll, as will Bonner and Canale service interns. The course will focus on drivers of poverty, asset-based responses in community development, and skill development for community engagement (such as dialogue and ethnography). CIVC 400: Capstone in Collaborative Change will include collaboration with SCCF on the fall grants awards. Students then will work with awardees to provide a deliverable (e.g., an advocacy toolkit). Dr. Katy Morgan, Psychology, will teach CIVC 400, and Dr. Amy Patterson, Politics and OCE Director, will teach CIVC 200.
In addition, the Certificate will no longer have two tracks. Instead, students will take three courses in three broad categories. Category 1 includes courses that provide exposure to issues of concern to local, national, and/or global communities. Issues will span disciplinary lines (e.g., poverty, health, good governance, equity, representation of marginalized populations, environmental protection, education, economic development). Category 2 includes courses that provide skills for working/researching/engaging in a community. Students will focus on skills pertinent to their major, which could include statistical analysis, art design, creative writing, theatre or dance performance, oral history, qualitative social science methods, or GIS. Category 3 includes courses with project-based learning in collaboration with a community partner(s). These courses include significant engagement with a community partner(s) and they lead to the production of some deliverable for the community partner. Deliverables could include direct service, capacity building, education, artistic outputs, or research-informed outputs. These courses are labeled “Community-Engaged Learning” on the Registrar's Course Schedule.
Finally, CCECC now will require 400 community service hours (over four years) instead of 500. Service is defined as working with a community partner (local, national or global) on a project that addresses issues of community concern. Service hours could include research with a faculty person, as long as a community partner is involved.The hours cannot be part of a requirement for a course or an independent study for which the student is gaining academic credit. Students can receive a stipend for these hours. Activities such as Bonner/Canale service hours, Summer Undergraduate Research with a faculty and community partner(s), Outreach trips, summer internships with a community partner, DataLab, service during a study abroad program (if not for credit), AmeriCorps service, Sewanee volunteer firefighters, and Biehl, Newman, and Gessell Fellowships that include community-based research are all examples of eligible activities.
