The University is expanding its commitment to its values initiative through involvement in a national project. BGSU is one of 23 institutions selected from among a group of 125 applicants to participate in the Core Commitments project sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). The project is designed to bring together the most promising institutional practices related to educating students for personal and social responsibility and to deepen and extend these efforts throughout the undergraduate curriculum and co-curriculum.
In the face of widespread uncertainty about the academy’s appropriate role in the examination of values and beliefs, issues of personal and social responsibility have been pushed to the edges of the college curriculum and addressed in only limited ways in the co-curriculum. As a result of this, many students experience a disconnect between their academic studies and the personal exploration that inevitably occurs in college, are left to their own devices to address personal and interpersonal concerns as well as moral and ethical challenges, and receive few opportunities to place those experiences in a larger context of history, culture, and society.
At a time when our nation faces unprecedented ethical and civic challenges of daunting complexity, it is crucial that higher education re-establishes its historical commitment to educating students for personal and social responsibility and lift up these hallmarks of a liberal and liberating education.
AAC&U believes the time is right to reclaim and revitalize the academy’s role in fostering students’ development of personal and social responsibility. Such an effort should be closely tied to a substantive vision for students’ overall learning in the college years. It should also be a shared endeavor among individuals and units responsible for the curriculum and co-curriculum.
Background to the Core Commitments Project at BGSU >>
