As HECUA’s programs have evolved over the past 50 years, and as Carleton’s own civic engagement work has expanded, the relationship between the two institutions has been a constant. Long before the Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) or its predecessor Acting in the Community Together (ACT) existed at Carleton, and just as Carleton’s Off-Campus Studies programs were taking hold, the campus supported experiential, off-campus learning for social change as a founding member of the HECUA consortium.
Thanks in part to the contributions of renowned faculty member Paul Wellstone as a founding board member, Carls have participated in HECUA programs, internationally and locally, from Crisis Colony in the Twin Cities in 1970 to Culture and the Environment in New Zealand in 2019. While opportunities for community and civic engagement and off-campus studies have grown at Carleton over those years, students have always had a deep appreciation for the ways that HECUA’s model of experiential learning supplemented their Carleton education.