Degrees

Although less prevalent across institutions than the previously mentioned program types, formal programs of study focused on community engagement, civic engagement, and social justice arc an additional community engagement program type offered by institutions (Welch, 2016). These programs have a detailed curriculum surrounding civic mindedness, democratic engagement, and social justice. To obtain these degrees, students complete a schedule of courses that often include theoretical and philosophical classes, service-learning classes, and research methodology classes that provide frameworks for students to explore the history and theory surrounding community engagement, methods for community engaged teaching, learning, and research, as well as outlets for direct service opportunities. The benefits of this program type are realized at the unit, school, and university level as students’ discipline-specific and civic knowledge fosters their development as leaders in a global society (Kecskcs, 2013).

One example of a degree program implemented by a CCCU institution is Warner Pacific University’s Ministry and Community Engagement program. This bachelor’s degree major not only affords enrollees the opportunity' to explore ministry' through a lens of social justice and the common good but also builds in community-based experiences to encourage collaborative learning and service between students and community' members to facilitate skill-building and real-world problem solving (Trentaz, 2020; Warner Pacific University, n.d.). A similar degree offering in the Catholic context is the Masters of Education in Community' Engagement at Merrimack College. This program engages graduate students in courses and experiential learning opportunities that prepare them to be leaders of social change (Merrimack College, n.d.). In addition to these traditional offerings, a few Christian institutions of higher education, such as CCCU member Calvin University (Calvin University, n.d.; Ciofi, Haggerty, & Bouman, 2020), have partnered with local prisons to provide inmates the unique opportunity to earn a college degree while still incarcerated. These innovative academic programs not only serve the institutions’ respective goals for educating individuals, but also respond to the Christian tradition’s call to provide hope and dignity to all persons, extending educational access and equity to this vulnerable population.