Dr. Christina Foust | Department of Communication Studies
Dialogue and Civic Engagement Week 2024 (DCEW’24)
The Dialogue and Civic Engagement Week 2024 (DCEW’24) project sought to support High Impact Practices (HIPs) within CLAS courses through a “plug and play” structure that met busy faculty and students where they are with meaningful and manageable work. The DCEW’24 convened a week of programming around dialogue, debate, and democratic talk, supporting the HIPs of community engaged/service learning (CESL), as well as diversity learning and collaborative project-based learning.
The process allowed for interdisciplinary collaboration and featured three themes that showcased a liberal arts consciousness at work in issues of vital importance to the Denver metro area: housing instability and homelessness, how to support the environment, and how to build a stronger democratic community. As expected, anchoring events in classrooms helped to support engagement, evident in quantitative and qualitative metrics.
Not only did this project help participants become more civically engaged, two students Caylee Steenbock, MSU Denver ’27, Communication Studies, B.A. with Marketing minor and Marcellus Mabry, MSU Denver ’27, Communication Studies, B.A., and chief creative at Thunderfairy Raindance Media, were hired as Marketing Interns giving them practical experience and professional development opportunities.
Project Outcomes and Highlights
- Brought high impact practices, such as project-based learning, civic/community engaged learning, diversity learning, to 160 students in 8 sections of classes (from 6 departments).
- Piloted a “plug and play” structure in which busy faculty could connect meaningfully and manageably to civic/community engagement.
- Engaged with 460 participants across all events, which included 125 attendees for a campus resource fair to help students become aware of the MSU Denver safety net for housing instability and 76 people for a panel on the intersections of immigration, psychology, and other factors for the housing crisis.
- Heightened civic engagement for students as classes had a meaningful impact on civic virtues and engagement, including the ability to identify and respond to political issues or community problems that matter to them.
- Cultivated a space for students to practice essential skills (like communication, teamwork, problem solving, and time management) that matter during college and post-graduation.
