Development of Core Values  
In 1996, a series of campus-wide discussions produced a set of core values that have become a prominent part of campus discourse.  They include: respect for one another; cooperation;  intellectual and spiritual growth; creative imaginings; and pride in a job well done.

Presidential Committee on Vision and Values
In 2001, a Presidential Committee on Vision and Values—composed of faculty, students, and administrators from Academic and Student Affairs—developed a plan to integrate “values education, critical thinking, character development and civic responsibility throughout the entire academic and co-curricular experience,” so that graduates “leave . . . campus having grown intellectually and spiritually, committed to life-long learning, with the felt responsibility for giving, serving, and succeeding within the framework of principled and ethical interaction with others.”

BGeXperience
Launched in August 2002 as a pilot program, BGSU has developed a unique program we call BGeXperience (BGeX).  During fall 2005, all 3,650 first-year students participated, and Dr. George Agich, an authority in applied ethics, was recruited as Director.

• BGeX begins with an intensive Introduction that takes place before classes begin.  Led by a faculty member and an upper-class mentor (who serves as a peer facilitator), students begin their BGeX course with 24 other students.  Once the fall semester begins, students will continue in their BGeXperience course with the same students, a faculty member, and the same peer facilitator.  The BGeX courses typically are general education classes offered in a variety of disciplines.  In addition to covering the content of a regular course, BGeX courses examine the role that values play in making judgments about difficult issues addressed in the course and embedded in the discipline. 
• BGeX has been a joint effort between Academic and Student Affairs and includes a significant co-curricular dimension—vital on a residential campus like BGSU.  A senior staff member serves as a BGeX Student Affairs Associate and, together with a Student Affairs Advisory Committee, assists in developing co-curricular programming. 
• The emphasis on critical thinking about values (begun in the Introduction and integrated into the BGeX course) is systematically reinforced in the two-semester freshman writing sequence.          
• In Fall 2008 upper level BGeX courses will be offered.

Engagement Initiative
President Sidney A. Ribeau’s engagement initiative has nurtured faculty and student involvement in public service through the scholarship of engagement and service-learning.  Under this initiative:

• Collaboration has occurred, and continues to occur, with community partners, including programming developed by our Office of Student Involvement, our Partnerships for Community Action grants program, and an AmeriCorps Program housed at the University. 
• Over 100 current faculty members have involved students in course or curriculum-based service-learning experiences.

• Workshops conducted by national leaders in community engagement and service-learning have fostered campus dialog.
• A University Committee on Service-Learning has developed a plan to expand service-learning opportunities.
• An Office of Service-Learning has been established to facilitate faculty involvement. 
• The directors of BGeX and the Office of Service-Learning are developing service-learning courses designed to nurture civic engagement and encourage students to consider values in action. 
• The University Bookstore has endowed 20 competitive Undergraduate Engagement Grants of $4,000 each to students who propose and implement a community engagement project.  
• Chapman Learning Community—the largest of our living-learning communities—has redesigned its curriculum around service-learning and community-based research.
• BGSU was recently recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for curricular engagement—“teaching, learning, and scholarship which engage faculty, students, and community in mutually beneficial . . . collaboration [and] deepen students’ civic and academic learning.” (http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/news/sub.asp?key=51&subkey=2126.)