Academic Civic Engagement and Scholarship

At Carleton, Academic Civic Engagement (ACE) has long referred to an approach to education focusing on community-based learning.

ACE Courses may be Applied, which generally indicates that a civic engagement project is an integral part of the course, and often involves collaboration with community partners.

ACE can also be Theoretical, meaning that it focuses on the theoretical exploration of civic engagement. These courses centrally focus on issues of democracy, such as social justice, positionality, and forms of systemic oppression and directly explore how students might engage in work toward social change.

ACE Learning Objectives

  • Understanding issues in their real-world complexity
  • Recognizing and honoring different forms of knowledge that may reside in/with community partners
  • Awareness of your positionality, or who you are as you seek to do civic engagement efforts (such as gender, race, and/or socioeconomic background)
  • Doing — how can you take your course content and do something with it beyond the classroom while learning in the process
  • Developing leadership skills
  • Nurturing a commitment to life-long civic engagement

2023–24 ACE Courses

  • 78 ACE Courses
    • 29% Theoretical, 71% Applied
    • 47% Arts & Humanities, 53% STEM

What are examples of ACE courses?

All academic departments at Carleton can offer ACE courses, and most departments have at least one ACE course. You can search for ACE courses in Workday by choosing ACE Applied and ACE Theoretical under course tags.

The following are examples of 3 ACE courses offered in the 2024-25 academic year.

ENGL 255.00: The Poetics of Disability

  • Professor: Adriana Estill, Professor of English
  • Community Partner: Laura Baker Services Association
  • Issues: Disability Studies, Contemporary US Poetry
  • Contribution: Co-creation of poetry and visual art

HIST 301.00 Indigenous Histories Carleton

  • Professor: Meredith McCoy, Assistant Professor of American Studies and History
  • Community Partners: Hocokata Ti Shakopee Mdewakanton Cultural Center
  • Issues: Indigenous Histories on Carleton campus
  • Contribution: Students conduct original research about how Carleton acquired its landbase

PSYC 260.00 Health Psychology

  • Professor: Gisel Flores-Montoya, Assistant Professor of Psychology
  • Community Partners: Northfield YMCA, Northfield Arts Guild, The Key, SHAC, Hope Center
  • Issues: Examine how psychological principles can be employed to promote and maintain health
  • Contribution: Student groups critically examine the effects of local policies on health outcomes and propose policy changes supported by theory and research

Get Involved

Email eseru@carleton.edu to join the ACE interest group and receive updates about upcoming ACE classes.

What Students Are Saying

“The crowd, the cause, and the opportunity to engage in community in such a tangible way created an overwhelming sense of excitement…I came away with a new understanding of what community feels like, and it turns out I do like to be part of it”

— Student in ARTS 230 (Empty Bowls), Spring 2022

Convocation Questions

ACE Fellows ensure that the ideas shared by weekly Convocation Speakers remain centered in our community and in the lives of Carleton students by offering Discussion and Reflection Questions for convocation speakers.