43.025 - Exploring Civic Engagement in Postsecondary Education: Multimodal Perspectives From Diverse Students' Experiences

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Civic engagement — “behaviors, values, knowledge, and skills that comprise political and prosocial contributions to community and society” (Wray-Lake et al., 2017) — is fundamental to a democratic society, and has been linked to positive educational, economic, and social outcomes (Sherrod, 2015). Historically, students of color and low-income students faced structural inequalities which may affect how their broader political and prosocial contributions to community and society (Flanagan & Levine, 2010). Leveraging multi-method, multidisciplinary presentations, this session explores how students become civically engaged across postsecondary settings, examining similarities and differences among racially-ethnically and socioeconomically diverse college students in two- and four-year settings. Further, implications will be synthesized across presentations to re-imagine the role of institutions of higher education in promoting civic engagement.

Sub Unit

• Division J - Postsecondary Education / Division J - Section 1: College Student Learning and Development

Chair

• Maura Shramko, The University of Arizona

Papers

• The Personal Is Political: Motivations for Diverse College Students' Civic Engagement - Cathy Duarte Gastelum, The University of Arizona; Maura Shramko, The University of Arizona; Alexandria Sarissa Pech, University of Arizona; Andrea Romero, University of Arizona

• Educational Uplift as Civic Engagement in Contested Terrain - Nydia C. Sánchez, The University of Texas at Austin

• Educational Patterns and the Development of Political Participation Across the College Years - Erin Hilary Arruda, University of California - Los Angeles; Laura Wray-Lake, University of Rochester

• Higher Education Contexts and Practices Promoting the Civic Capacity of Diverse Students - Cynthia Maribel Alcantar, Claremont University - Pitzer College