CU-Boulder Home to Civically Engaged Students

Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement

Founded in 2005, the Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement's purpose is to nurture and encourage ethical and civic education at CU-Boulder in order to prepare students for a lifetime of service to society as thoughtful, ethical and engaged citizens. The institute has nine programs, and along with the Service Learning Office, it provides funding to faculty to develop courses that integrate civic engagement into the curriculum in schools, colleges and departments across campus.

• Videos
• Podcasts

CU students Razan Naqeek and Bryant Mason describe how they are learning and making a difference in their community, thanks to opportunities at CU.

CU student Mark Arnoldy is taking a year off from school to work on a project in Nepal. His goal is to use fortified peanut butter (produced locally in Nepal) to help alleviate malnutrition from the estimated 500,000 children who suffer from it.

Evan Taylor CU Peace Corps Coordinator

Listen to CU Peace Corps Coordinator Evan Taylor describe his volunteer work with the Peace Corps in Mali, Africa. Taylor spent two years working on health education issues in villages around Mali.

CU-Boulder Receives Presidential Award for Student Community Service

Recent CU graduate Andra Wilkinson is passionate about community service and her experiences are an example of why the University of Colorado at Boulder was one of only three colleges and universities in the United States to receive a Presidential Award for General Community Service in 2008. Listen as she describes how she got involved in community service.

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 102 alumni currently serving in the Peace Corps, CU-Boulder is No. 2 in the 2009 ranking of large schools producing Peace Corps volunteers. Since the Peace Corps' inception, 2,157 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.

Civically Engaged at CU-Boulder

CU-Boulder Striving to Produce Civically Engaged Graduates

CU-Boulder junior David Hinojosa is one of thousands of CU students who are annually making a difference in their communities through civic engagement. Hinojosa coordinates the Student Worker Alliance Program, a student group at CU-Boulder that helps campus service workers integrate into the community by teaching them English. He trains student volunteers to teach English classes to non-English speakers and has coordinated more than 100 classes on campus while recruiting more students and volunteers to work with the program.

CU-Boulder One of Three U.S. Schools to Receive Presidential Award For Exemplary Student Community Service in 2008

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.

CU Graduate Heads to Africa With Peace Corps as Part of Passion to Improve Global Health

Before applying to medical schools, CU-Boulder graduate Nick Breitnauer is taking a two-year hiatus to teach in sub-Saharan Africa with the Peace Corps. He will leave this November to join a corps of fellow volunteers and begin training. During his service, he will direct a class in secondary biology, incorporating concepts of health and environmental education as well as promoting school and community involvement.

CU Ranks 2nd in Nation in 2009 for Peace Corps Volunteers, 5th All Time

The Peace Corps give CU graduates the opportunity to be critically engaged in a very meaningful way, which fits in with one of CU's goals of graduating students who are civically and ethically involved in their communities.

Examples of CU-Boulder Volunteer/Service Programs

Puksta Scholars Program -- This program provides substantial scholarships and support to approximately 20 students per year who develop and implement intensive year-long civic engagement projects. Many students report that Puksta has been the most important experience of their college careers. Projects have ranged from developing rooftop gardens to mentoring Muslim high school students.

Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Countries -- The engineering center promotes integrated and participatory solutions to humanitarian development by educating globally responsible engineering students and professionals to address the problems faced by developing communities worldwide.

Public Service Pledge Program -- The law school’s voluntary public service program provides law students with skills and values, such as legal research and writing, client interviewing, and legal argument development. Students signing the pledge commit to 50 hours of law-related public service work, not for credit or other compensation, during their time at the law school.

The Volunteer Resource Center -- One of the first organizations of its kind in the nation, the student-oriented VCH has worked to fill community needs since 1965. Currently more than 5,200 students have been linked with volunteer opportunities that best fit their individual interests and have contributed more than 211,000 hours of community service.

Engineers Without Borders -- CU-Boulder is home to the founding chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA, which is dedicated to helping disadvantaged communities worldwide improve their quality of life by building environmentally and economically sustainable engineering projects. Students have worked on projects from Peru to Rwanda to Nepal during the academic year, on breaks and in the summer.

Contact Information

Peter Simons

Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement

303-492-1962

• Greg Swenson
  Office of News Services
  303-492-3113