Civic training of American students

On the occasion of ACCU’s last annual meeting (Association of Catholic colleges and universities) three members of the USA & Canada Uniservitate hub presented the activities they are developing with the goal of educating students as productive and reflective citizens through service-learning  and offered practical steps on how to include such experiences in the curriculum.

In the panel, untitled  “Catholic Higher Education’s Commitment to Civic Learning and Democracy: Best and Emerging Practices from the Field” featured Maggie Baker, Loras College Service-Learning Coordinator; Nancy McHugh, professor and executive director of the Fitz Center at the University of Dayton and Teófilo Reyes, assistant director of the Ettling Center at the University of the Incarnate Word.

Since 2020, ACCU has served as Uniservitate’s regional hub for North America & Canada Region and since 2023 ACCU organizes the Programme activities through a Leadership Team composed of four charis: Communications Chair (Andria Wisler, Georgetown University), Research Chair (Jay Brandenberger, University of Notre Dame, Patrick Green, Loyola University Chicago & Anthony Vinciguerra, Boston College) Professional Development Chairs (Jennifer Pigza, Saint Mary’s College of California & Howard Rosing, DePaul University).

Through the partnership with Uniservitate, ACCU has been supporting communities of scholar-practitioners involved in service-learning and community engagement. The partnership brought together a network of colleagues from Catholic colleges and universities, the ACCU Community Engaged Scholar-Practioner Network (CESPN). As such, the network provides professional development and networking opportunities, research activities and funding, and coordinates communication within the North American Hub and with the larger global Uniservitate network.

Since the beginning of the programme, ACCU and since 2023 together with the leadership charis,  have been working on the development of research, collection and systematization of research and best practices in the region on the spiritual dimension of service-learning.; institutionalization models and processes among USA-Canada Catholic higher educational institutions; and the impact of service-learning programs on students, institution, and communities.