Civic engagement

CU-Boulder has a long history of graduating civically engaged students. From building homes locally and introducing Colorado youngsters to the sciences, to working in far away places like Africa and Nepal, CU students are traveling near and far to use their knowledge and skills to help solve a wide array of problems.

"Civic engagement is reaching out and doing something for the common good, and it can be anything from helping your neighbor to volunteering at your local food bank, working on political issues or policy issues, or even going to another country to volunteer through a program such as the Peace Corps," said Peter Simons, director of the CU-Boulder's Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement. "Our long-term goal is to have all of our 30,000 students civically engaged in one way or another."

More than 13,000 CU students participate in some form of community service and more than 3,500 are engaged in academic service learning, a teaching strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction.

With 117 undergraduate alumni currently serving in the Peace Corps, CU-Boulder is No. 1 in the 2011 ranking of large schools producing Peace Corps volunteers. Since the Peace Corps' inception, 2,369 CU-Boulder alumni have served in the Peace Corps, making it the No. 5 all-time producer of volunteers.

CU-Boulder's national reputation as a leader in civic engagement is growing. It was featured in the 2009 book "The Guide to Service Learning Colleges and Universities" that highlighted schools with significant track records of integrating community service with academic study to enrich learning, teach civic responsibility and strengthen communities. In 2008, CU-Boulder was one of three schools in the nation to receive a Presidential Award for General Community Service given by the corporation for National and Community Service.

The strong civic engagement commitment of CU and its students fits right in with CU-Boulder's Flagship 2030 Strategic Plan, which calls for the university to serve Colorado and be engaged in the world.

"Not only does the university have a civic mission to help the communities that it serves, but it has a mission to help graduate students who are civically and socially responsible, and who will do this civic engagement service as an ongoing activity throughout their lives," Simons said.