Civically Engaged Scholars (CES)
The vision of Civically Engaged Scholars is to prepare students for a life of engagement with systems, institutions, and community partners; thus, assisting communities to achieve liberation and self-determination by providing foundational knowledge to approaches and tools of civic engagement.
The mission of Civically Engaged Scholars is to develop, implement, and foster civic and community engagement; nourishing mutual transformative relationships between community organizations and members with SLCC, both as a community and as an institution, will bring equity and justice into the lives of many.
The Dental Hygiene Program, Occupational Therapy Assistant Program, American Sign Language – Interpreting Program, and the English, Linguistics, and Writing Studies Department are areas of SLCC with CES integration. All graduates from the listed areas are eligible to participate and graduate from Civically Engaged Scholars. Please reach out to your organization’s head person for more information.
In Civically Engaged Scholars, we use the Pathways of Public Service and Civic Engagement. Please watch the two-minute video to learn more!






The Six Pathways are:
- Community Engaged Learning and Research: Connecting coursework and academic research to community-identified concerns to enrich knowledge and inform action on social issues.
- Community Organizing and Activism: Involving, educating, and mobilizing individual or collective action to influence or persuade others.
- Direct Service: Working to address the immediate needs of individuals or a community, often involving contact with the people or places being served.
- Philanthropy: Donating or using private funds or charitable contributions from individuals or institutions to contribute to the public good.
- Policy and Governance: Participating in political processes, policymaking, and public governance.
- Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility: Using ethical business or private sector approaches to create or expand market-oriented responses to social or environmental problems.
Events and Opportunities
Register to Attend Virtual Civic Leadership Conference
The Civic Leadership Conference Committee, composed of staff and students from Salt Lake Community College and the University of Utah, is united in motivating and inspiring college students across Utah to take an active role in creating positive change in our communities.
The theme for 2020 is "Imagining Tomorrow by Understanding Today". This theme was carefully chosen through hours of dialectical reasoning and hope, ultimately converging on reality and
The Conference will virtually take place on Friday, November 6th and Saturday, November 7th, 2020. Friday's portion will be from 4 pm to 6 pm and will be dedicated to creating understanding for today's context, and on Saturday the breakout sessions will take place from 10 am to 1 pm and each session will focus on imagining a beautiful tomorrow.
Join Civically Engaged Scholars every other Friday at 1 pm via WebEx as we discuss the Radical Imagination podcast episodes, hosted by PolicyLink Founder-in-Residence Angela Glover Blackwell. It features conversations with thinkers and changemakers from multiple fields who are wielding instruments of influence — academia, activism, media, government — to deliver equity wins at scale.
Read more about the podcast online.
To join the dialogue series, please respond to the CES Podcast Dialogue Series Registration Form.
August 28, 2020 @ 1pm
- Season 1 Episode 1: "Open Borders" ft Roberto Corona of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a group of activists that escorted the migrant caravan from Central America; and Farhad Manjoo, New York Times columnist.
September 11, 2020 @ 1pm
- Season 1 Episode 2: "Police Abolition" ft Jessica Disu aka FM Supreme, Chicago activist; and Rachel Herzing, Co-Director of the Center for Political Education
September 25, 2020 @ 1pm
- Season 1 Episode 3: "Universal Basic Income" ft Mayor Michael Tubbs of Stockton, CA
October 9, 2020 @ 1pm
- Season 1 Episode 4: "Reparations" ft Melisande Short-Colomb, descendant of the enslaved people who were sold by the Jesuit owners of Georgetown; and Prof Ana Lucia Araujo, historian and author
October 23, 2020 @ 1pm
- Season 1 Episode 5: "Climate Migrants" ft Colette Pichon Battle, Founder and Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Center for Law Policy; and Chief August Creppel of the United Houma Nation
November 6, 2020 @ 1pm
- Season 1 Episode 6: "Federal Job Guarantee" ft Darrick Hamilton, Executive Director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity.
November 20, 2020 @ 1pm
- Season 1 Epi. 7: "Advancing Peace"-- Spotlight on Advance Peace, an organization taking an unconventional approach to breaking the cycle of gun violence, ft DeVone Boggan, Executive Director; and James Houston, Lead Neighborhood Change Agent/Senior Advisor.
December 4, 2020 @ 1pm
- Season 2 Episode 1: "Housing as a Human Right", featuring Dominique Walker, Moms4Housing and Tara Raghuveer, People's Action and KC Tenants.
Activism and Cybersecurity
The purpose of this workshop was to provide resources and discussion for cybersecurity in a activist/protestor context. Topics of discussion included cryptography, hardware requirements, operational security (OPSEC), and worldview. The end objective will be that a participant/attendee will be better able to attend and participate in protests without necessarily endangering other protestors with arrest. This event is hosted by Civically Engaged Scholars (CES) and the presenter is Edwin Stafford, a current CES student.
Program Requirements
These are the requirements for Civically Engaged Scholars. Note, these requirements are for general students; however, CES understands that everyone is navigating SLCC differently. Thus, these requirements can be personalized to your circumstance if need be.The Engaged Learning Office states "In service-learning courses, you get engaged in your community! Learn course content and discover firsthand how it applies in the real world. Gain practical experience, develop your resume, and build your networks while also working toward your degree or certificate."
SLCC has designated service-learning classes in a wide variety of disciplines, from Sociology to English, Business to Education. Find a class that is right for you and take your learning beyond the classroom! Check the searchable schedule and register today!
To graduate from the CES program, you will, in general, need to take six credits of designated Service-Learning courses. However, depending on your SLCC journey, the Service-Learning credit requirement can increase or decrease. The combination of Service-Learning Credits and Involvement Hours are to allow more accessibility into the program, only one Combination needs to be selected and completed.
Combination | Service-Learning Credits | Involvement Hours |
---|---|---|
General |
6 |
200 |
High-Involvement |
3 |
300 |
High-Credits |
9 |
100 |
Elective |
SLSS 2100* |
150 |
AmeriCorps |
3 |
0** |
Student Leadership Program |
Depends on Program*** |
Depends on Program*** |
*SLSS 2100 is an elective, three-credit Service-Learning Course.
**Student must successfully complete an AmeriCorps Term via Thayne Center.
***Ask your advisor for more information.
Investing time in both community and campus (physical or virtual) is important. Involvement Hours allow you to measure your interaction with your surrounding communities. Involvement hours are divided into two categories: Community Partner (CP) Involvement Hours and Civic Engagement (CE) Involvement Hours. CP Involvement Hours is specific to time done with a Thayne Center Community Partner. CE Involvement Hours is specific to the application of the Six Pathways in your own personal life, SLCC journey, and in the community.
To graduate from the CES program, you will, in general, need to have done 200 Hours of Involvement. However, depending on your SLCC journey, the Involvement Hours requirement can increase or decrease. The combination of Service-Learning Credits and Involvement Hours are to allow more accessibility into the program, only one Combination needs to be selected and completed.
Combination | Service-Learning Credits | Involvement Hours |
---|---|---|
General |
6 |
200 |
High-Involvement |
3 |
300 |
High-Credits |
9 |
100 |
Elective |
SLSS 2100* |
150 |
AmeriCorps |
3 |
0** |
Student Leadership Program |
Depends on Program*** |
Depends on Program*** |
*SLSS 2100 is an elective, three-credit Service-Learning Course.
**Student must successfully complete an AmeriCorps Term via Thayne Center.
***Ask your advisor for more information.
The CES program prides itself in being equitable and accessible to the many different students that SLCC serves. Therefore, the online aspect of CES through the usage of Canvas allows a self-paced and virtual experience for students of CES. The Canvas course is non-credit, which means it does not affect your academic transcript, but rather is a co-curricular experience. By taking the education that SLCC provides into CES, the Canvas course allows you to reflect on past experiences, learn new ways to strategize, and build connections between your lived realities and civic applications.
The result of the CES Canvas Course, once fully completed, is an ePortfolio with material of your civic engagement. This can serve as a resource for future academic and professional endeavors, providing a way to access your past work through an organized online portfolio. The Course must be done by the time you officially graduate from your program and/or degree at SLCC.
The Civic Leadership Conference is held every year during the first weekend of November. This conference is hosted by both the University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College. The Conference is an opportunity for students from both Universities to come together and learn about the application of civic engagement in the community. To satisfy this requirement, the student needs to attend at least once during their time at SLCC. The student must reflect on the conference in their ePortfolio to verify they attended the Conference. However, a student can also satisfy this requirement if they attended a similar conference during their time at SLCC.
Program Benefits
Upon graduation, the student will receive a special distinction on their transcript, a designation at Graduation with an Honors Cord (blue), front row placement during Commencement (permitting CDC guidelines), a letter from President of SLCC for Graduation, a letter of recommendation from CES Coordinator if requested, an e-Portfolio with civic engagement material, a reference for future employment/housing, and being able to network and be referred to institutions of higher education, including:
- University of Utah’s Bennion Scholars
- Utah State University’s Community Engaged Scholars
- Utah Valley University’s Social Impact Scholars
- Weber State University’s Civitas
How to Join
- Fill out the registration form
- Take the Pathways Survey
- Schedule a meeting with CES Coordinator
- Have your Survey results be readily accessible