Program Overview

The CE Certificate increases your effective communication, critical thinking, and leadership skills to engage with the community and bring positive outcomes to society. In addition, it cultivates social responsibility and commitment in your civic life as a professional, member of your community.

Become an advocate for social change! Apply your academic knowledge through civic practice and engage with local networks of community partners to acquire marketable skills such as critical thinking, teamwork, oral and written communication, and ethical reasoning.

PACE (Partners for Academic Civic Engagement) students are aware of their roles and responsibilities as community members, understand how to apply coursework into their community through civic practice. Be creative, go on and create positive social change!

Required Courses

You will need to take the following 4 courses and 150 hours of civic engagement hours related to the courses. These courses can be spread throughout your degree.

1. Foundations of Civic Engagement and Social Change (UNIV 2310, 3 SCH): Provides students the opportunity to understand social issues and how they relate to community/society, and their roles as active citizens, as the engage in critical reflection of civic experiences. The course develops a conceptual framework of various forms of civic engagement, its importance, and value. Requires 20 civic engagement field hours. Prerequisite: 2.75 GPA.
2. Community Engagement and Agents of Change (UNIV 3320, 3 SCH): Examine how positive change in communities occur, focusing on small and large scale social change. How individuals and communities envision, promote, and deliver change. Topics: civic practice; organizational change; agents of change in local, national, and international level; and challenges of positive change. Requires 20 civic engagement field hours. Prerequisite: 2.75 GPA.
3. Social Inequality (SOCI 4310, 3 SCH), or Race in Ethnic Relations (SOCI 4317, 3 SCH); or approved substitution and 20 civic engagement field hours.
4. Capstone Experience (UNIV 4390, 3 SCH): Provides students with experiences in the workforce/community in order to create connections with course content through critical reflection and active engagement. Students will be placed at local organizations to integrate knowledge with practical experience gained in service component at a community organization. Requires 90 hours of service experience, in addition to completing a final research project. Prerequisite: senior standing, 2.75 GPA, advisor's approval.