Hester, J. A., & Besing, K. L. (2017). Developing Citizenship through Honors. Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council, 18(1), 169-187. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1172637.pdf

Hester and Besing’s 2017 article Developing Citizenship through Honors explores how honors education can intentionally cultivate civic engagement and active citizenship. This one is a pretty quick read as it really only covers 10 pages of the 20 pages. They included a large table in the back half of the paper. They really dug into survey data and were very focused on extending and testing several lines of reasoning. Drawing on examples from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, they describe how service learning, reflective writing, and community-based projects can transform honors coursework into a platform for democratic participation. I will be curious to see where this research ends up going directionally as the trajectory here could be interesting in terms of recommendations to drive change.

For readers tracking this series, this piece aligns closely with other scholarship calling for honors programs to move beyond intellectual enrichment toward public purpose and social responsibility. I’ll be curious to learn more about the civic engagement hypothesis going forward.

You can read the full text of the article here: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1172637.pdf

Twang, A. H., DeAngelis, B. J., Lewis, J. L., Mellin, E. A., Bouman, K. S., & Ziegler, W. L. (2020). Critical Foundations for Civic Engagement: Reimagining Civic Learning for a University Honors Program. The SUNY Journal of the Scholarship of Engagement: JoSE, 1(2), 4. https://digitalcommons.cortland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=jose

Today we are digging into a 33 page paper from Twang et al. from 2020. The paper “Critical Foundations for Civic Engagement: Reimagining Civic Learning for a University Honors Program” by Twang, DeAngelis, Lewis, Mellin, Bouman, and Ziegler was published in The SUNY Journal of the Scholarship of Engagement, this article explores how honors programs can evolve from traditional academic excellence models toward intentionally civic-centered learning experiences. This article had a strong focus on practical action and what can be done within the programs. It seemed like a fun direction to take my academic article reading.

What stands out here is the idea that civic engagement requires unlearning certain assumptions about privilege, expertise, and authority. This passage was partially interesting to me, “These students believed that they already had the knowledge and resources needed, and should be able to go into the community now. It was a challenge to guide these students through ‘unlearning’ previous assumptions about service and charity. Their reactions, however, solidified the importance of laying a critical foundation before beginning service. Instructors ultimately viewed this frustration as part of the learning process.” The authors treat civic learning as an ongoing, reflexive process that requires both personal transformation and institutional change. It’s not simply about volunteering or service-learning; it’s about developing critical consciousness and agency.

In the context of the central idea I’m always focused on “Graduation with Civic Honors” programs, this paper offers a blueprint for how universities might embed civic reflection across coursework and create structures that reward civic-minded scholarship. It pairs nicely with the Kaplowitz (2017) piece discussed earlier, which focused on the how of civic engagement within honors education. Both articles we have looked at so far both observe and question the best methods to take action.

You can read the full text of the article here: https://digitalcommons.cortland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=jose

Kaplowitz, C. (2017). Helping with the “how”: A role for honors in civic education. Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council, 18(2), 17–23. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1222078

This post is part of my series reading civic-related journal articles. Today we’re digging into a 2017 piece by Craig Kaplowitz. It’s an easy eight-page read and a great starting point for this series. While it leans more toward an essay or think piece than a research study, it’s thought-provoking and opens the door to several important questions.

Kaplowitz argues that university-level honors programs can play a unique role in strengthening civic education by focusing on the how—the practical process through which students learn to engage civically. My own view in this space has been that “graduation with civic honors” programs represent a clear path forward. Kaplowitz outlines strategies for embedding civic competencies within honors coursework, emphasizing reflection, deliberation, and interdisciplinary problem-solving. I’m curious to see how the “how” elements from this work may have evolved or been built upon in subsequent research. That’s something I plan to explore in future posts.

The article closes with a short section of suggested readings. I plan to consolidate that list and revisit whether any of those referenced works appear here in later entries.

You can read the full text of the article here: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1222078.pdf

This interview was originally published on April 26, 2003.

The Civic Honors Project had a chance to interview Peter Levine who is a research scholar at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland and deputy director of CIRCLE: The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement. Peter Levine is also involved in several online projects, which have caught our attention, especially the Weblog.

Can locating information and discussion about ideas related to civic engagement on the Internet help strengthen voluntary nonprofit organizations like the civic honors project?

To a limited extent, yes. Today, the best scholarly work is still found in books, and to a lesser extent in peer-reviewed journal articles than tend not to be posted online. So if you want scholarly information and analysis, there is still no substitute for a library. But it depends on what questions you are trying to answer. You may be able to get a good project together without much research at all.

How important is encouraging civic engagement of young Americans to developing long term changes within society?

If we do not reverse declines in civic engagement among young people, those who are least advantaged will continue to drop out, leading to an electorate than more and more perfectly reflects the values and interests of the wealthy and best educated in our society. That will be a “change”–but not a good one, in my view.

Are organizations like the National Alliance for Civic Education?s online presence the future of discussion on civil society?

Almost all the best conversations I am involved with are face-to-face. Websites and weblogs tend not to be visited and re-visited often enough to sustain good discussions. Email exchanges and listservs are OK, although the amount of text involved tends to be small. Meetings, conferences, and conference calls remain essential.

Will programs like graduation with civic honors help to enhance a beneficial commons for civil society that helps motivate citizens to be involved?

(I’m not sure what “commons” means here.) Will the program motivate citizens to be involved?–I hope so. Since we already have a cadre of highly involved young people, the question is whether the uninvolved and alienated will be motivated by a new honors program. It’s worth trying.

How will civil society moving toward the Internet change the way information is exchanged and organizations try to encourage volunteerism?

This is a complex question, and the answer is uncertain. My argument has been that volunteers are motivated by face-to-face, human ties and community membership. The Internet sometimes substitutes distant and ad hoc relationships for such ties. Thus I would tend to predict that the Internet will reduce the level of volunteerism, all else being equal. Clearly, it is nice to have online databases of local volunteer opportunities. However, the most common barrier to volunteering is not a lack of information about opportunities; it is a lack of motivation. I don’t think that websites are usually very motivating.

Does your background in philosophy help define your perspective on how volunteerism benefits civil society?

My philosophical position would be something like this: (1) Volunteerism is an inadequate form of civic engagement, because it replaces political action with service, which does not address the root cause of problems or tap the political capacities of the volunteers. (2) Civic engagement should be cultivated for two reasons. First, if we don’t deliberately teach it, the least advantaged among us will be the first to disengage, leading to political inequality later on. Second, civic participation is a good human activity. It is not the only or highest good activity: theoretical reflection, spiritual contemplation, appreciation of nature, creation of art, and care for family members are some of the other activities that are inherently good. All of these ends or projects are preferable to the forms of life that are more frequently advertised to young people: consumerism, athletics, and sexual gratification. Moreover, we cannot teach activities connected to spirituality or care for family in public schools. Therefore, we ought to teach civic engagement (along with art and science) so that it is an option available to young people.

Has your path through higher education motivated your work in developing creative commons environments and working to strengthen civic engagement?

The commons idea is a fairly sophisticated concept that I probably would not have encountered outside of the academy (at this early point in the history of the idea). Moreover, universities at their best are creative commons, so I suppose I have been inspired by academic ideals.

I have been consistently interested in civic engagement since my years in college, when I helped start a financial program to encourage volunteering and also interned for the Kettering Foundation.

Can programs that reward volunteerism like graduating with civic honors make a long-term difference within society?

Again, I am not thrilled about volunteerism, which often substitutes for political engagement or community problem-solving, and which often has a patronizing aspect. Programs that increase civic engagement (more broadly defined) could change both the nature of the electorate and their styles of participation for a long time to come. This is because habits of engagement or disengagement tend to be set in the years between 15 and 25.

Looking at the development of the Internet and the changes in ways people communicate what is the next step for online volunteerism?

It would be good to see people in local communities creating high-end public goods online, such as video documentaries, databases of local assets, oral history projects, news sources, and structured deliberative forums. This is what we are trying to do here: www.princegeorges.org. We also need to encourage people to create and give away open-source software of public value.

Why do you think volunteerism and civic engagement transcend modern politics as issues that bring people together?

Do you mean, “Why do people volunteer together, even when they disagree?” That’s because volunteering is often non-controversial, whereas politics is the method we use to solve disagreements. Or do you mean, “Why do people across the ideological spectrum come together to support volunteerism and civic engagement?” I think the answer to that question is that there is usually more agreement about the processes and requirements of democracy than there is about any particular issue that politicians debate. Furthermore, volunteerism is “soft” and unthreatening. Note, however, that the Corporation for National Service was highly controversial during the years of the Clinton administration, when many Congressional Republicans attacked federal promotion of volunteering as an inappropriate use of public money.

The Civic Honors Project would like to thank Peter Levin for his time and more importantly, the ideas that his writing has inspired.

This interview was originally published on April 27, 2003.

Recently the Civic Honors Project had the opportunity to interview Jean Bethke Elshtain who is the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics at the University of Chicago and is the author of Democracy on Trial.

Is civic engagement declining in modern American society, and does it matter?

It appears to be, if we can trust the empirical data. It matters because the American democracy has been so uniquely dependent on citizen engagement. Toqueville here.

How important is volunteering to a community as a whole in the long term?

Without the hands-on efforts of platoons of volunteers, community life in all its aspects would be immensely poorer and more isolating. I don’t think we can even measure it–it is so significant in so many ways, many not entirely visible to us–all those tendrils reaching out and attaching us to one another.

How does civic participation change the dynamics of the community?

The more participation there is, the more there is, so to speak. That is, civic participation becomes a developed habit. When people do it, they not only get the habit of it, they help to form others in this way of being a community citizen.

Can programs like graduating with civic honors help change the level of civic participation in the community?

I actually doubt that. Civic engagement — by that I don’t mean mobilizing people for a narrowly partisan purpose, I don’t think that should be part of a curriculum, but teaching civic habits, yes–should be recognized and certainly informally honored. But once you grind it up and put it in a curricular structure in a formal sense, it loses much of its authentic character, becomes more ‘professionalized.’

Readings on engagement and civil society often talk about the changes that are occurring within society, what are the best alternatives suggested to increase engagement in civil society?

To form children in civic knowledge and habits. This formation must take place early on–in grade school, middle school, high school. Really getting at this dimensions of the passing on of a civic tradition is what we need most desperately.

What kind of vision does it take at the community level of leadership to be able to motivate individuals to volunteer?

A vision that understands that we can come to know a good in common we cannot know alone; that it is vital to engage with others in a variety of contexts. It doesn’t require any comprehensive ‘public philosophy’,.just a rough and ready civic disposition.

Is it possible to nurture trends in volunteering at the national level or do will it take the vision of regional and local organizations?

The smaller the better. Mostly the government shouldn’t get in the way. But the government contributes by helping to lift up politics as the way a free people does the people’s business. And a clearer animation of the polity by our most enduring principles–that, too, helps. I think more of that has been done and is being done since 9/11. Too bad we needed that plenary jolt to think again about the necessity of civic transmission.

If you were thinking about what is possible within communities what is the one thing that would stick out as being most important to try to accomplish?

I refer back to my question about civic education.

How does collaboration at the national and local level impact volunteering efforts?

It helps to strengthen it, so long as one doesn’t get highly professionalized NGOs trying to run the show.

How can programs be designed to take into account both large and small communities while still building models that will be successful nationally?

Reading Catholic Social Thought would help! It’s all there in the so-called doctrine of subsidiarity. Try JPII’s encyclical, “Centesimus Annus”. I’m serious! This is uncannily apt to our situation.

The Civic Honors Project would like to thank Jean Bethke Elshtain for the interview and more importantly, the ideas that Jean’s writing has inspired.

This interview was originally published April 29, 2003.

The Civic Honors Project got to interview Andrew R. Cline who is a former journalist. Andrew R. Cline is a rhetoric scholar and adjunct professor of English at Park University near Kansas City, Missouri. If you are a frequent vaster of The Rhetorica Network you know of its unique perspective that comes from the interdisciplinary focus on both English (Rhetoric) and Political Science. If you have a chance to look around Rhetorica make sure to check out the Presidential Campaign Rhetoric 2004 and the Critical Meter.

Looking at idea criticism and how issues are compared and deconstructed, do you think the ideas of civic engagement and participation within civil society are only compared and not deconstructed?

Deconstruction is a scary word for some people because is suggests to them a kind of post-modern relativism. Instead, we may think of it as a method of critical thinking–specifically of looking at the historical situations, power relationships, and contradictions, of a message. We might also use the term “breaking down” as a catch-all description for any deep analysis of how something–a text, an idea–works.

That “works’ part is where rhetoric comes in. An idea or message must be accepted in some way in order to work as the speaker intends.

Okay, now let me consider the question. For the most part, yes, discourse in the public sphere about civic issues mostly engages in comparison. Such discourse compares the ideology of an idea so that it may be classified in a particular socio-political slot that is acceptable to the culture, e.g. “Civil unions for gays is a moral issue” versus “Civil unions for gays is an economic issue.” Or the discourse may compare an idea to expected socio-political outcomes, e.g. “A tax cut will stimulate the economy” versus “A tax cut will hamper the economy.” Such comparisons can be mapped to standardized ideological positions, i.e. liberal versus conservative.

Rarely, however, do we find discourse in the public sphere that attempts to break down ideas, i.e. to get at the heart of social/political/cultural assumptions and questions them. We take it for granted, for example, that people of other cultures will embrace our form of economy and government if only they have the chance to try it.

How is rhetoric important in talking about an issue like graduation with civic honors, does the presentation of the message really matter?

Any change you want to make in the world has to be sold. For the idea of civic honors to mean anything–to students, to faculty, to employers, to civic leaders–the value of it will have to be created and then sold. So the presentation means everything because it is part of both creation and persuasion.

Does using rhetoric techniques enhance the ability to communicate a message to the masses on a topic like volunteerism and should that message be focused at the volunteer or the media?

I’m detecting in this question a couple of misconceptions about rhetoric. First, there is no zero-grade rhetoric. In other words, all human messages carry at least some minimum rhetorical energy. I would argue from that assertion that all human utterances are fundamentally rhetorical in that some persuasive intent exists in all messages.

Second, too often rhetoric is thought of merely as style, i.e. the dress (tropes and schemes) one uses to make and present a message well. Rhetoric is so much more than that. There are five canons to rhetoric according to the ancient system, and style is just one of those five.

The focus of a message, in terms of the audience to be reached, must be determined based on the persuasive intent. So there is no way to choose a volunteer audience versus a media audience until one knows what one wants to achieve.

I think it’s safe to say that both audiences are important and will require message crafted to specifically for each.

Can programs aimed at benefiting society present a message that resonates with individuals within the community or have such messages, crafted to spur volunteerism or generate support for programs, been desensitized through overuse?

Well, that’s one way to state the problem all PR and advertising professionals face: How do we make the same old thing seem new? Actually, I think selling the idea of civic honors benefits from our current political situation. We’re hypersensitive about patriotism right now. What better way to sell a beneficial program than link it to civic pride, patriotism, and enduring values/symbols?

How important is the community advocate in spreading the message of a program to the community? Without a strong advocate can the message still get out?

This is a question about ethos–the appeal to character. This will remain a strong appeal in American society as long as we look up to heroes. It would be impossible to sell $200 sneakers without Michael Jorden. I think it’s difficult to sell a program without a balance of appeals, including ethos. So, yes, I’d say a strong community advocate–someone well-known and respected–is essential to any such message.

In the absence of such an advocate, such a message can certainly get out. We should be speaking in terms of messages, i.e. multiple appeals to multiple audiences.

With revolutions in technology bringing people together every day will this technology increase civic participation or simply contribute to fragmentation of it?

I think the most accurate answer to the question of the impact of technology on civic participation is: We don’t know yet. We do know that the introduction of a technological advance in moving information creates a space that needs to be filled. When the first telegraph wire was strung between Baltimore and Washington D. C., no one was sure what to do with it. By the end of the first week, news was traveling at light speed between the two cities.

We can see now how radio and television have changed the way we get and use information.

As for the internet, we’re just at the early stages.

I think there is some evidence that the internet increases civic participation. These include:

1- Collecting campaign contributions and soliciting volunteers.
2- Vote swapping.
3- Blogs and other forms of online talk.
4- Government sites that offer once hard-to-get information.
5- Inter-active government sites (“Ask the White House” for example)
6- E-mail lists.
7- Grass roots organizing.

Will such things fragment participation? Almost surely. But I’m not sure that’s saying much. Fragmentation is a phenomenon of our post-modern age. It’s difficult to imagine how we might operate today in a homogeneous environment.

What is the best way to measure the change a program makes within the community?

Good ol’ fashioned policy analysis and performance auditing.

Is it important to have a positive message when dealing with the topics of volunteerism and civic engagement?

That depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

For example, the North Kansas City School District just lost another tax levy. I contend they lost, and have lost several times, because the campaigns they run are too nice. Their opponents run “dirty” campaigns and win most of the time. By “dirty” I mean they are not shy about sticking it to the opposition, spinning facts to suit their needs, and using emotional appeals to scare their constituents into voting against further taxes. To counter this, the NKCSD has to get tough–run a hardball campaign. But they won’t do it. I’ve actually had members of the Citizens Committee in charge of the campaign tell me that they don’t want to make anyone angry. Sheesh!

In this case, civic engagement means getting your people to the polls and, if possible, suppressing the opposition’s vote. You can’t do that with positive message alone.

As for volunteerism, I think the great example of how to use a positive message well is the Kennedy administration’s selling of the Peace Corps.
Get them to feel good about themselves. Get them to feel patriotic. Great tactic.

But I can see how a negative message could work, too–one aimed at some evil force that needs to be thwarted by volunteer action. Many of the Save-The-Children type programs operate this way–with veiled bad guys and emotional appeals to help before disaster strikes.

Do you think allowing students to graduate with civic honors for volunteering in the community is a good idea?

I think it’s an excellent idea. My only reservation is this: What percentage of students will merely see this as a resume-building opportunity? Not that there’s anything wrong with resume-building. But it seems to me that such a program should aim for higher goals in results, i.e. encourage volunteerism and community service as life-long activities and positive values in their own right.

The Civic Honors Project would like to thank Andrew R. Cline for bringing perspective to the issue and more importantly, the ideas that The Rhetorica Network has inspired.

This interview was originally published August 12, 2003.

The Civic Honors Project had a chance to interview H. George Frederickson who served as President of the American Society for Public Administration and has been honored on numerous occasions for distinguished research and professional service by the American Society for Public Administration and the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration. H. George Frederickson was appointed Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Administration at the University of Kansas in 1987. Professor Frederickson has served as President of Eastern Washington University, faculty at Syracuse University in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. In 1990 he served as a Distinguished Fulbright Scholar in South Korea.

Being involved in several journals such as the Journal of public administration research and theory must give you a chance to read about a wide range of interesting ideas, how many of those ideas are focused on building a stronger community?

Yes, I do read a good bit of the current research. I would estimate that less than 25 percent of it has anything to do with civil society, social capital, citizenship, volunteerism, and the like. There is a group of folks in public administration who work on these subjects but it is by no means the majority.

How important is volunteering to the community and to the management of a city? Where does organizing volunteering fit into intergovernmental relations?

Volunteerism is probably fairly important to the development and maintenance of the community. It is only a minor factor in the management of the city, however. Most cities have full time professional staff members and most citizens are accustomed to dealing with city officials. When you see citizens collectively taking responsibility for some project or activity, it is the exception rather than the rule.

What are the best ways to deliver information to the community? Do you think a technology based delivery mechanism will be effective? What kind of vision does it take at the community level of leadership to be able to motivate individuals to volunteer?

We are just now doing a big study of this subject in Kansas City. In a nutshell, we are attempting to demonstrate that the general media (newspapers, TV, radio, magazines, etc.) are usually of little relevance to community groups and organizations. Because of this, community groups develop their own ?media?. We call this ?Democratic Journalism? or ?Journalism without Journalists.? This is group created media that is group specific. A good bit of it, we think, is based on modern information technology.

Another aspect of our thesis is very Putnam Like ? we claim there is a disconnect between the media and the community. In response, the community simply invents and uses its own media ? often, we think, based on modern information technology.

What role do movements like the civic honors project play in developing community engagement?

I do not know. Certainly it helps the students to learn about how the community groups work. It often helps the groups. But I am beyond what I really know about here.

In the future do you think technology will be able to bring people in the community together or cause a new series of divides?

Based on our research project, we guess that technology will help bring people tighter in specific groups and hold them together. Technology should strengthen groups. But, with stronger groups, there is likely to be more or less overall community cohesion, communication, searching together for the public interest, ETC.? I do not know.

Do the current trends of declining social capital paint a grim picture for the future of volunteering? Readings on engagement and civil society often talk about the changes that are occurring within society, what are the best alternatives suggested to increase engagement in civil society?

On the contrary. Volunteerism is increasing. But, it is increasing in group specific ways. People give time to their church, their neighborhood group, their hobby or interest group. Some things like big groups raising funds to fight diseases (cancer, MS, etc.) get good volunteerism. There is a lot of engagement, but in narrow rather than broad terms.

Is it possible to nurture trends in volunteering at the national level or do will it take the vision of regional and local organizations?

Yes, certainly Peace Corps, Teach for America, and its like are good examples. This is actually a form of modified volunteerism (some pay for living expenses or later taxes, or tuition breaks). But these programs have great appeal. They are national in their organization but very local in their application. All volunteers have to be done their work in a specific school, community, town, etc. There is something important to people who volunteer to be associated with some bigger thing, such as the Peace Corps or Teach for America, even though they know that their actual volunteering will be in some specific place.

How important is volunteering to a community as a whole in the long term?

Probably somewhat important. But, serous community problems often require serious governmental responses. Where volunteering can help is dealing with family issues (Big Brothers and Big Sisters, for example). What government cannot seem to get at are problems with the family as an institution, and volunteer groups can be very helpful here. So can philanthropies.

How does civic participation change the dynamics of the community?

In theory, at least, civic participation engenders a sense of belonging and identification. It engenders a sense of collective responsibility. It probably slows down the machinery of government because civic participation takes time and is often inefficient in administrative terms.

Can programs like graduating with civic honors help change the level of civic participation in the community?

Yes, so long as we recognize that the community belongs to the community in the long run, if the person who graduates with civic honors, becomes an example of civic engagement, a volunteer and a leader of volunteers, a local problem solver, etc., then the civic honors program will have been a success.

The Civic Honors Project would like to thank H. George Frederickson for his time and more importantly, the ideas that his writing has inspired. All of his books are recommended and a list can be found online.

Imagine a world where everyone who wanted to volunteer some of their time had one place they could go to find out how to participate. Understanding what is possible requires recognizing that individuals are all different and that bringing together all of their individual strengths, capacity, and skill specializations will benefit the community (Gulick & Urwick, 1937). Imagine, if you will, a world where no gap exists between the individual who wants to benefit society and the organizations that desperately need additional help from volunteers. Imagine a world full of accessible information provided by universities and other organizations engaged in graduation with civic honors. This is possible with the right amount of time and effort. It is an idea that quickly can become reality with the right motivation and intentions. It is possible to motivate individuals by focusing on individual civic attitudes and participation within the community (Barber, 1984). It is also very important to start designing the graduation with civic honors program with this end in mind. One of the first steps is to identify how the program can realize the vision of what is possible (Covey, 1989).

This vision of what is possible includes all of the individuals within the community. All of these individuals can gain from realization of the vision of the university. This vision should allow the community to organize in a way that capitalizes upon both what is possible and what already exists within the community. The vision involves recognizing and leveraging the strengths of individuals to serve the needs of the community. Thinking about what is possible for the individual within a given community is essential to connecting the worlds of possibility and potential accomplishment. Some skepticism exists about whether or not it is possible to change civil society by developing programs to respond to practical problems within society (Dionne, 1998). The questions result from the assumption that strengthening civil society is such a noble idea that programs do not receive an appropriate level of scrutiny. Any reservations about the graduation with civic honors program should and will receive attention within the following pages.

What occurs within this vision is a program that, over time, recruits a body of individuals to participate within the community. It is important to identify an extensive pool of individuals within the university. Many individuals have the potential to make a difference in the community. The university can bridge with organizations within the community to create seamless access for individuals interested in volunteering. Moreover, this program creates a powerful dynamic between the community’s needs and the university, which fits the mission of most universities. Within the current civil society, this power dynamic already may exist within some organizations. To create an environment conducive to change, the entire community does not have to be willing to participate in the civic honors program, but the entire community should know that the program exists. It may take some bold and strong organizations that are willing to start graduation with civic honors programs to get the ball rolling. Each person graduating with civic honors has the potential to be a community leader who can provide not only vision but also long-term stewardship of the ideas behind the introduction of a civic honors program.

This charge is important to the community overall because it opens the door for not only leadership but also realistic change within the community. Many students are already volunteering in the community, perhaps through a service learning program on campus or as part of a church, synagogue, or club initiative. The civic honors program relies on a partnership to get people involved and to allow organizations to communicate their needs to the community. The charge specifically is to foster the development of community by making it easier for individuals to participate within the community, while creating visible recognition at graduation for those who worked for the community as well as for themselves. This simple idea is the backbone of mobilizing thinking of the community as a network of individuals with infinite potential that can strengthen the community. A university can become a strategic partner with the community, willing to facilitate communication between individuals and organizations from the perspective that anything is possible.

Transforming the vision of a civic honors program into a reality involves a considerable amount of leadership and innovation. The university may view the creation of a civic honors program also from the perspective that it is a bridge to enhance connection between the university and the community by enabling individual action to strengthen the community. Understanding what is possible through the civic honors program involves being able to see the new levels of potential broader community impact. A graduation with civic honors program endeavors to unlock a world of potential that transcends the walls of the university and strengthens the social fabric of the community.

Considering buying the book in paperback? You can it’s right here.

The current design of the graduation with civic honors program requires implementation by a university to bridge academics and involvement in community. The implementation of this idea involves connecting education to society, first at the university level, then at the national level by replication of the program. A positive underlying message of the graduation with civic honors program is the possibility to spread change within the community. Graduation with civic honors can become a part of the very fabric of the community. The program is inherently sounding the call for individuals to play a larger role in fulfilling the needs of the community by finding not only organizations that they feel benefit the community, but also organizations with which program members want to work. The program begins with the college providing the opportunity for individuals to volunteer within the community and by providing an accurate list and descriptions of opportunities that will allow these individuals to find opportunities that resonate with them.

Graduation with civic honors provides a platform for a message about the opportunities to work with the community. The first step is speaking to individuals, organizations, and universities that have the potential to develop vibrant graduation with civic honors programs. The message is about what is possible within the community and how to use technology to bring people together. A graduation with civic honors program strives to create a positive message about the potential of community. Replication is imperative for success. Graduation with civic honors can be more than a program at one university in one community; it should expand to society in general.

It is critical to be aware that resistance to change may occur as a response to changes to traditional ways individuals become involved in the community. This is critical during the early development of the program (Osborne & Gaebler, 1992) but may continue to be an issue. A goal of the program is to work within the community without regard for politics but for the benefit of the society, drawing out the civility or the virtue of citizens to enhance society (Rouner, 2000). The program allows citizens to develop a strong sense of community while empowering them with the belief that action is possible. The process creates a model of proactive behavior that enhances volunteering within the community (Bell, 1999).

The graduation with civic honors concept relies on the university as a principle source for implementing and designing the civic honors program. It is possible for any college to implement and design the program. This does not mean that universities are the only organizations within the community that can be the instruments for change to develop their own civic honors programs. Therefore, during the formative period, the discussion at a university also could be a model for organizations in local and regional networks. The positive nature of the message that the civic honors programs can spread does not exclude any actor or organizations from participation. Collaboration and inclusion is the basic assumption that will enable community building in any community and develop a stronger society as a whole. The discussion of civic society in America does not rely on the assumption that civil society is inherent to democratization. Organizations within the community are capable of broadening the concept of civil society in a way that really can benefit the community (Stanton, 1999).

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Robert Putnam’s (2000) epic work Bowling Alone brought the idea of civic participation to the forefront of the public mind. The value of civic participation is essential to the process of value implementation in the form of civic engagement. Civic engagement is a value choice, and the implementation of that value choice is individual civic participation in the community. One of the most basic definitions of civic engagement involves thinking about how government, society, and citizens interact. In terms of how scholars discuss civic engagement, the definition takes on a benevolent feel, referencing citizen activities that benefit civil society. Strengthening civic engagement, in practice, involves building civic skills, increasing active voter participation, and using public service announcements to encourage volunteering to strengthen civil society. Watershed events like 9-11 have created a reflective sense of national interest and significantly increased the willingness of individuals to participate in civic engagement.

The best way to describe civic engagement is to take a step back from current views and look from the perspective of the potential benefits that higher civic engagement provides society. Civic engagement is increasing civic participation by encouraging participation in civil society. That participation could come in the form of volunteering, campaigning, or even discussing community issues with neighbors. Increasing civic participation through civic engagement breaks down the disconnect between individuals and the community. Robert Putnam (2000) clearly made the case that individuals within modern society largely have replaced community activities with social isolation. Helping to break down the disconnect between the individual and the community is valuable to strengthening the community. Reciprocally, strengthening the community through civic engagement increases the amount of active participation within the community.

How does one spread the ethic of civic engagement? Civic engagement has to come from fostering strong community leadership from both professionals and community organization leaders. These leaders give the community a significant advantage by creating a long-term vision for increasing civic engagement. Civic participation through active civic engagement can involve spreading the ethic of volunteerism. Allowing individuals to work for community organizations is an important part of growing the capacity and size of civic engagement within the community.

Defining civic engagement in terms of communities involves identifying three different types of communities. We have communities of place, idea, and circumstance. Individuals can participate in issues associated with the place where they live as a form of civic participation based on engaging in core issues that determine the structure of the community. Neighborhood groups have the potential to facilitate civic engagement by offering a venue for civic participation in the community. Civic engagement also can be fostered by communities of ideas where individuals within the community can come together to participate in dialogue and action about specific issues. Civic engagement surrounding communities of circumstance often focuses on volunteering and resolving community-oriented problems.

Now is the time to move forward to increase civic engagement within civil society. Civic engagement is a most important emerging value because of its potential to strengthen the social fabric and the community as a whole. Programs like graduation with civic honors can encourage practical solutions to increasing civic engagement like emphasizing the necessity of recognizing a commitment to civic engagement. Graduation with civic honors is a way to institutionalize the encouragement of civic engagement through official and public recognition. Society should recognize that academic achievement and civic engagement go hand in hand. For higher education to benefit society, educators cannot merely educate people. Educators must strive to educate people to become good citizens. Building a good society fosters a community that encourages collaboration and engagement from every citizen within society.

Higher education is the key to moving forward as a society. We have to be able to educate future generations about the importance of civic engagement. Being able to inform future generations of the potential benefits of increasing civic engagement through encouraging volunteering and civic participation is essential to building a stronger society. Civic engagement truly is the ability of an individual to be a vibrant part of the community by participating in the betterment of society. However, devising practical ideas that can encourage civic engagement is more difficult than it sounds. That is why high-reward, low-cost solutions like graduation with civic honors can bring civic engagement to the forefront of higher education.

Currently, the Civic Honors Project lobbies to spread the word about graduation with civic honors and strives to work and collaborate with organizations that have an impact on the community. The current graduation with civic honors initiative focuses on identifying potential avenues for expanding the number of higher education institutions offering graduation with civic honors.

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The story behind graduation with civic honors began in an academic setting during the spring semester of 2002 at the University of Kansas. I took a class from Dr. H. George Frederickson entitled Concepts of Civil Society. During the Concepts of Civil Society class, my collegiate interests focused on civic engagement. At one point during the class, Dr. Frederickson posed a question to the class about what colleges could do to get people involved within the community. Over the course of the next year thinking about the idea of civil society, I became interested in pursuing a degree in the field of public administration. Thanks to the faculty of the Public Administration Department at the University of Kansas, I decided to endeavor to enter graduate school. I would like to thank Dr. Raymond Davis for advice and guidance, Dr. Thomas Longoria for defining the importance of collaboration, and Dr. H. George Frederickson for a thoughtful introduction to the world of civil society.

Graduation with civic honors was only a dream until late in 2002. Dr. Charles J. Carlsen, the president of Johnson County Community College, learned of the idea from Susan Lindahl and, along with the board of trustees and civic honors steering committee, envisioned becoming the first community college in the state of Kansas to designate a graduation with civic honors. In 2004, after Johnson County Community College developed the initial graduation with civic honors pilot program, the next step was to start spreading the graduation with civic honors message. I was honored to submit an article with Dr. Charles J. Carlsen and Susan Lindahl entitled, “Civic Honors Program at Johnson County Community College,” to the Journal for Civic Commitment for publication. The resulting publication (Carlsen, Lindahl, & Lindahl, 2004) was the first step toward globally sharing the positive message of graduation with civic honors.

To realize the dream, students actually would have to graduate with civic honors. During the May 2005 graduation at Johnson County Community College, the dream became a reality when four students—including Deborah DeGrate, Carrie Donham, Chris Engle, and Jennifer Pittman-Leeper—were the first to graduate with civic honors. The story will be complete when students all over the world are graduating with civic honors.

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