Bridgewater State University offers the community a variety of resources to prepare our students and youth in the region to navigate civics, practice civic leadership and model active participation.
Civic learning is a process through which people develop the knowledge, skills, and commitments to interact effectively with fellow community members to address shared problems.
In December 2021, BSU announced the establishment of the Bartlett Endowed Professorship for Civic Education and Engagement and appointed Dr. Jo Hoffman, Associate Professor of Elementary and Early Childhood Education.
The Bartlett Endowed Professorship for Civic Education and Engagement:
Professor of Philosophy Dr. Aeon J. Skoble has been appointed as the inaugural Bartlett Chair in Free Speech and Expression. In his new role, Dr. Skoble will focus on four areas:
Learn more about Free Speech at BSU »
The Civic Education and Community Leadership minor is provide students with an interdisciplinary curriculum that promotes leadership and community service; build on the university’s service learning mission; and, broaden campus efforts to build partnerships with local and state community organizations.
For further information, interested students should contact the coordinator of the minor, Dr. Kevin Donnelly (kevin.donnelly@bridgew.edu).
BSU’s Senior College offers local community seniors courses each session for participants to examine their individual and collective actions impact the greater world. As an example, spring 2022 offered three courses helping to promote critical dialogue about our local, national, and world community.
Political Discussion:
Community Engaged Teaching and Scholarship (CETS) is a high-impact teaching methodology that utilizes community service as a means of helping students gain a deeper understanding of course objectives, acquire new knowledge, and engage in civic activity.
Community service/volunteerism is an experience that connects the student with the community to address a community need. The experience allows for the exchange of energy and knowledge between the student and the community but does not apply to specific course content or clarify specific theoretical concepts.
The Civic Engagement Badge is designed to encourage and recognize students’ involvement with civic engagement activities inside and outside of the classroom. The Civic Engagement Badge supports BSU’s commitment to engage every student to become more civically minded and engaged through participation in curricular and co-curricular activities. To earn a badge, students must engage in civic-related activities and/or service learning courses and submit an activity verification form with reflection through the Engage BSU platform. Once a badge is earned it can be added to personal and professional LinkedIn pages to recognize the important work students are involved in during their college career.
Additional information and activities can be found in the civic engagement checklist on Engage BSU.
The Internship Program Office assists Bridgewater State University students who are eager to gain practical work experience, develop new skills, network and apply classroom theory in a professional setting. Many of our current employers offer an hourly wage. Compensation is generally commensurate with experience and varies by industry and demand.
An internship can be a paid or unpaid opportunity. Most of the internships that BSU students complete are funded either by a stipend and/or hourly wage. University policy allows students to earn credit for the internship whether it is paid or unpaid.
Learn more about special internship opportunities like The Washington Center, Semester in the City and virtual international internship experiences.
The Newman Civic Fellowship is a fellowship program for community-committed students at Campus Compact member institutions. The fellowship provides training and resources that nurture and develop students’ assets and passions to help them develop innovative and collaborative strategies to bring about social change. Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides learning opportunities focused on the skills and aptitudes fellows need in order to serve as effective agents of change in addressing public problems and in building equitable communities.
2023-2024: Mitzy Duarte Chavarin, ’24
2022-2023: Carrie Provost, ’23
2021-2022: Jasmine Won, ’24
