Bringing Theory to Practice Project

National Symposium: Civic Engagement, Public Work, and Psychosocial Well-Being

Teams and representatives from over 40 colleges and universities from across the United States attended the Civic Symposium on November 5-6, 2009. The symposium explored the effects of civic engagement and public work on the psychosocial well-being of college students. Participants exchanged information and insight into the continuing challenges associated with transforming institutional culture and priorities within existing infrastructure.

The Civic Symposium and similar events build a national learning community among researchers, educators, and institutional leaders; and contribute to a field of practice and subject of study. See the Announcement for a more in depth description.

Background

"Civic engagement” refers to a range of activities in which college students participate in public and community work, including political advocacy and community organizing, in addition to direct service and community-based learning and research experiences which enable engagement.  We believe that civic engagement can contribute to personal growth, emotional health, social development, and psychosocial well-being.

Civic engagement and public work are especially important for college students, especially at the time when too many of them are disengaged from the learning process and civil society.  However, empirical evidence of these effects—and their implications for practice and research—is scarce.

Psychosocial well-being refers, at a minimum, to the presence of characteristics that typify aspects of positive mental health, such as a sense of direction, personal growth and fulfillment, social development, empathy, perspective-taking, and psychological flourishing.

Bringing Theory to Practice (BTtoP) was established to encourage the relationships among engaged learning, civic development, and psychosocial well-being. The project has a lengthy list of activities and accomplishments, including financial support of over 120 colleges and universities since 2004.

Conference Location

The Dupont Hotel
1500 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC

Conference Materials

Symposium Agenda

The Civic symposium was organized by Jennifer O'Brien, Project Coordinator of BTtoP and University of Michigan's Barry Checkoway and was made possible by funding from the S. Engelhard Center