Virtues & Vocations
Civic Studies Co-Major & Minors
Tisch College is at the forefront of a growing academic discipline: Civic Studies. Civic Studies is an intellectual complement of movements to improve societies by engaging their citizens to make change. The process of change-making requires that people come together and ask, “What should we do?” Those four words raise intricate questions of individual and group identity, of shared and divergent values, of relationship- and trust-building, of strategies for collective action, of shared and divergent norms for discourse, and more. Each of these recurrent questions of process or method is deeply interrelated and is a topic of ongoing research, experimentation, and learning within the field of Civic Studies. See this “learning map” for an outline of the questions for the discipline.
Academics
Civic Studies Co-Major: Tufts’ Civic Studies major is the first academic program of its kind in the world. Students focus on critical reflection, ethical thinking, and action for social change – within and between societies.
Peace and Justice Studies Minor: For students interested in understanding the sustainability of nonviolent interaction and the nature of conflicts across contexts.
Entrepreneurship for Social Impact Minor: For students who want to solve problems in today’s society and drive impact through practical, community-oriented enterprise.
Civic Science: The Civic Science Initiative at Tisch College seeks to repair the disconnection between the institution of science and the publics it means to serve.
Civic Studies Faculty and Staff
Civic Studies News
Where We Are Now in American Politics, and Where We Might Go
A Tufts political scientist on polarization, news bubbles, and the dangers of presidential republics
Forbes
How Educators And Leaders Can Prepare For Post-Election Uncertainty
Associate Dean Peter Levine is quoted at length about how educators can help prepare students for potential domestic political unrest by sharing historical context, teaching nonviolence, and cultivating constructive methods for achieving social change. Levine’s "Blog for Civic Renewal" is also referenced.
Tufts Named a Top Institution for Community Engagement
The Carnegie Classification recognizes the university-community partnerships that advance the public good
The Conversation
OpenAI is a nonprofit-corporate hybrid: A management expert explains how this model works − and how it fueled the tumult around CEO Sam Altman’s short-lived ouster
Tisch College and Fletcher School Professor Alnoor Ebrahim explains the “hybrid governance” structure of Open AI in the wake of its recent leadership tumult.
The Boston Globe