In December 2016 President Bergeron, along with many other Presidents and Chancellors, signed Campus Compact’s 30th Anniversary Statement reaffirming Connecticut College’s commitment to advance civic education. In a parallel process, Connecticut College faculty approved a re-envisioned curriculum, called Connections, that built on the College’s historic strength in integrative liberal education; and the College developed a new strategic plan, Building on Strength, that is guided by the same overarching vision.  Within Connections, off-campus learning is based in a set of Global-Local Engagement Guiding Principles and facilitated by our new interdisciplinary hub, the Otto and Fran Walter Commons for Global Study and Engagement.

The College recognizes that civic engagement can take many different forms – it can happen during study away and summer internships, through collaborative work in the community, and active involvement in campus-shared governance. In Connections, the expectation is that students will pursue purposeful experience in diverse communities and cultures in order to gain insight and perspective on what it means to participate fully and with integrity in a pluralistic world. With this in mind, our Global-Local Engagement Principles serve as a framework for off-campus learning and the reflective work linked to these experiences.

The Connecticut College Civic Action Plan aligns our Global-Local Engagement principles with the five Campus Compact goals for civic education and action. Our plan leverages existing infrastructure from across campus to promote community-based integrative education, while also proposing new campus and community partnerships.  All of these activities are in the service of Connecticut College’s overarching mission to educate students “to put the liberal arts into action as citizens of a global society.”