NACU to Continue Research on Civic Professionalism with Kettering Foundation

The Kettering Foundation has engaged the New American Colleges and Universities (NACU) for a second phase of research into civic professionalism on its campuses. “Educating for Civic Professionalism” will be a continuation of NACU’s research into understanding how provosts and chief academic officers respond to the concept of civic professionalism and how attempts to promote this concept at their institutions are received.

“NACU campuses are distinct because of their purposeful integration of liberal arts, professional preparation, and civic engagement. We are happy to again partner with the Kettering Foundation to further examine how this educational model that embraces career development and civic engagement can help students prepare to serve as citizen professionals in their communities after graduation,” said Sean Creighton, president of NACU.

In this phase NACU will interview provosts, faculty, and possibly, students, at Drury University in Springfield, Mo., and Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y. to address the following research questions:

• What is the public impact of specific disciplines within higher education?
• How can professionals in various disciplines work together with lay citizens as partners (with independent agency and capacities) rather than clients (to be acted upon)?
• How can professional or preprofessional education in higher education prepare future professionals for this kind of work?
• How can provosts best promote the goal of preparing students to act as civic professionals? What efforts to introduce these concepts to faculty or to promote pedagogical experimentation are most promising?