The Civic Engagement Movement and the Democratization of the Academy

General book summary: Diverse essays create a new definition of leadership education based in colleges and universities The essays in this volume address the idea of leadership education through civic engagement. They delineate a new approach to leadership education reflecting important cultural trends driven by technology, globalization, and demographic shifts; look at some of the best leadership education programs nationwide; and offer “next steps” on how to transform higher education more broadly

De-Platonizing and Democratizing Education as the Bases of Service Learning

The theoretical bases of academic service learning are examined, with particular attention to John Dewey’s contributions. The service learning movement is conceptualized as part of an ongoing—and still unsuccessful—effort to “de-Platonize” and democratize American higher education in particular and American schooling in general

Integrating a Commitment to the Public Good Into the Institutional Fabric: Further Lessons From the Field

This essay describes how a group of colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania have engaged in sustained efforts over a two-decade period to integrate a commitment to the public good into the fabric of institutional life

Citizenship, Community Service, and University--Based Community Schools

In the October 6, 1995 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, Alexander W. Astin discussed why student interest and engagement in politics are at an all time low. Astin\u27s explanation placed responsibility squarely (and in our judgement appropriately) at the feet of the American university. Despite their traditionally professed mission to promote good citizenship, universities have devoted few resources to that mission and performed it badly. Why has this occurred? Astin\u27s answer was simple and direct- higher education ha

Communal Participatory Action Research as a Strategy for Improving Universities and the Social Sciences: Penn\u27s Work With the West Philadelphia Improvement Corps as a Case Study

As the 20th century closes, a key question is: What can the social sciences do to help solve the problems of our society and world? The authors identify the principal causes of the crisis in the university and the social sciences to be intellectual fragmentation and a structural contradiction that is built into the American research university. They then propose a radical reorientation of American universities toward helping solve real-world problems-particularly those in a university\u27s local community. The authors suggest that such an orientation can be achieved through communal participatory action research projects designed to help change society. This research strategy, they argue, will significantly advance both general knowledge and human welfare. The article explores, in detail, a communal participatory action research project initiated at the University of Pennsylvania and draws conclusions from this case study that might be applied in other research projects

Understanding the Role of Research Universities in Improving College Preparation and Access at Local Urban High Schools

Urban colleges and universities not only have a responsibility to engage in activities designed to improve the educational attainment of local urban youth, but also have extensive financial, human, intellectual, and organizational resources that may be directed productively toward this purpose. This article describes the multipronged approach that the University of Pennsylvania is using to improve college opportunities for students attending Philadelphia high schools. We conclude by offering lessons that other institutions may draw from this example

Working to Educate Global Citizens and Create Neighborly Communities Locally and Globally: Penn’s Partnerships in West Philadelphia as a Democratic Experiment in Progress

In the rapidly accelerating global era in which we now live, human beings must solve a vast array of unprecedently complex problems. Perhaps the most complex and significant problems facing society today are persistent, widening, and increasingly destructive social, economic, and political inequality; globally destructive, man-made climate change; and increasingly frequent and savage terrorist acts. Given their proclaimed dedication to critical intelligence, and their unique constellation of formidable resources to develop it, institutions of higher education, we submit, have a unique responsibility to help solve these problems—indeed all the problems intensified by globalization

Higher Education Exchange: 2008

This annual publication serves as a forum for new ideas and dialogue between scholars and the larger public. Essays explore ways that students, administrators, and faculty can initiate and sustain an ongoing conversation about the public life they share.The Higher Education Exchange is founded on a thought articulated by Thomas Jefferson in 1820: "I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."In the tradition of Jefferson, the Higher Education Exchange agrees that a central goal of higher education is to help make democracy possible by preparing citizens for public life. The Higher Education Exchange is part of a movement to strengthen higher education's democratic mission and foster a more democratic culture throughout American society.Working in this tradition, the Higher Education Exchange publishes interviews, case studies, analyses, news, and ideas about efforts within higher education to develop more democratic societies

REFERENCE GROUP THEORY AND GROUP CONFLICT AND COHESION IN ADVANCED CAPITALIST SOCIETIES: PRESBYTERIANS, WORKERS, AND JEWS IN PHILADELPHIA, 1790-1968.

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