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Engaged Signture Work
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In 2015, in light of a decade’s work on the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative, the Association of American Colleges and Universities announced a new charge for colleges and universities to integrate “Signature Work” into the experiences of all undergraduate students. Signature Work is defined as a culminating educational activity (such as a capstone) in which students integrate and apply their learning to a significant project with meaning to the student and to society (AACU, 2015). See https://www.aacu.org/leap-challenge for more information.
Signature Work is also about a developmental pathway, which may involve both curricular and co-curricular experiences. Such institutional pathways can integrate well with developmental civic and community engagement, like that supported intentionally by the Bonner Program’s four-year model. Through an integrated pathway, an undergraduate student (like a Bonner Scholar or Leader) can connect and apply their academic learning from a variety of disciplines for a real purpose, one that benefits a partner, specific population, neighborhood, community, or society.
The Bonner Foundation calls this “Community Engaged Signature Work.” Over the next decade, the Foundation will work with campuses to build their capacity to integrate Community Engaged Signature Work into the undergraduate journeys of Bonner Scholars and Leaders, as well as other students at the colleges and universities where the Bonner Program is housed. In 2016, the Bonner Foundation will be working with the Association of American Colleges and Universities on an issue of its magazine Diversity & Democracy that will profile and highlight conceptualizations, examples (from current students and alumni), and other innovative work already underway in the Bonner network. Through this, we will also explore the components and strategies for thoughtfully creating and sustaining this work in the fabric of institutional curriculum, culture, and practice.