Surveying Political Scientists about Civic Engagement and Centers and Institutes

• In Event: Evaluating Pedagogies for Civic Literacy and Engagement

Abstract

In 2016, the authors collaborated on research that examined the role and the activities of civic engagement centers and institutes that exist on college campuses. This work entailed identifying centers and institutes of civic engagement on campuses recognized for their strong record of civic engagement, highlighting their common features, providing a sketch of the nature of the work of these centers and institutes, and pinpointing resources to faculty and campuses who might want to make use of such centers on their campuses or even establish one themselves

This effort made it clear that research regarding such centers and institutes was relatively sparse and often focused only on service-learning or broadly conceived versions of civic engagement. There is good reason to explore systematically the political engagement that takes place in such centers and institutes as well as the role of political scientists in these efforts. As political scientists, we naturally are curious to learn more about the nature and extent of political activities taking place at or through such centers and the role of political science in these endeavors.
Furthermore, there is also reason to expect that the current political climate is pulling centers of civic engagement, as well as political scientists, into campus-wide discussions about campus efforts to engage students in electoral activities (get out the vote, census, voting). It is reasonable to assume that campuses are looking to their centers and institutes of civic engagement as the focal point of these efforts. As such, there is value in knowing more about these centers as well as the role of political scientists

As a next step in our research, we propose to examine the degree of involvement of political scientists in these centers and institutes, and indicators of the effectiveness or impact on the civic engagement education of students. We plan to investigate how political science has or has not embraced these centers specifically (both civic and political engagement centers) and political engagement more generally on college campuses. We will gather data from political science departments and individual political scientists on their interactions with centers and institutes and their own role in political engagement efforts on their campuses.

In order to cast a wide net, we will be fielding two surveys - the first would be a survey of chairs of political science departments to uncover their departmental involvement (if any) in campus-based political engagement efforts and then inquire about the type of connection departments and their faculty have to the centers or institutes on campus. We also want to ask them to speculate on what sort of commitment departments and/or campuses should make in supporting these efforts

The second survey will be of political scientists themselves to learn their views on the value they place on political engagement efforts. We would also like to learn the type of political engagement activities political scientists undertake, why they do so, and the extent to which campus-based civic engagement centers and institutes facilitate such work.

We believe the time is right to pay close attention to centers and institutes and gauge where the political science discipline is in terms of political engagement. As political scientists are being invited to join campus-wide mobilization efforts, there is both scholarly and practical value in attaining a better sense of who is around the table and what sort of roles they play on college campuses.

Authors

• Mary A. McHugh, Merrimack College

• Elizabeth C. Matto, Rutgers University, New Brunswick