The Engaged Undergraduate Research Group set out to explore the concept of “civic professionalism” as a means of preserving the historic commitments and pursuits of liberal education while defending and strengthening its relevance and practicality for today’s world. 
As an organizing principle, civic professionalism motivates inquiry into the relationship between academic disciplines and the public good as well as between intellectual pursuit, character formation, and vocational discernment/exploration. It reflects both the importance of students choosing a meaningful career path and developing skills needed for democratic citizenship. Our goal is to develop and implement strategies for inserting “civic professionalism” as a value and approach to liberal arts education that both work for our individual institutions and are transferable to other colleges and universities.
Principal Investigators Amy Koritz, Drew University, and Paul Schadewald, Macalester College, head up a team of research fellows from Auburn University, Syracuse University, University of Miami, Fordham University, and Millsaps College. The Collaboratory’s action-research is supported by funding from the Teagle Foundation’s Faculty Work and Student Learning in the 21st Century Program.
