Civic Engagement, "Baylor In Deeds," and Engaged Learning

Baylor University’s mission is “to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community.” The University’s current strategic plan, “Baylor in Deeds,” strives to deepen this commitment to preparing our students for civic engagement through academic and character formation and expands our longstanding motto, Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana, with an additional, broader global focus — Pro Mundo. “Baylor in Deeds” is inspired by Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, where he instructs us, “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Among the foundational pillars of this strategic plan is providing students with a “transformational undergraduate educational experience” including experiential learning opportunities outside the classroom.

Baylor’s Office of Engaged Learning (OEL) is a campus hub that connects students to these opportunities for engagement beyond the classroom including research, internships, and public service work in local, state and national communities, endeavoring to embody Paul’s exhortation in the First Epistle to Timothy, “to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share…so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life” (I Timothy 6:18-19). Through these learning experiences, the OEL equips students to “transform the cultural, social, economic, and political contexts around them so that they might help to create a world that is more just, fair, inclusive, equitable, and sustainable — one in which all flourishing is mutual.” We achieve our goals when our students orient their learning toward the needs of others, participating in civic engagement not for self-interested reasons such as bolstering their resumes but in service of the greater good.

We achieve our goals when our students orient their learning toward the needs of others, participating in civic engagement not for self-interested reasons such as bolstering their resumes but in service of the greater good.

One of OEL’s more recent initiatives is working alongside academic departments across campus to build the Engaged Learning Distribution List (ELDL) for Baylor’s College of Arts & Science’s Core Curriculum. While the requirement is only in its second year, the EL DL already boasts approximately 50 unique undergraduate courses from more than 20 distinct departmental prefixes, including disciplines spanning Arts and Sciences divisions as well as offerings from other colleges. Moreover, over 75% of these courses are either newly developed or revised for this requirement, underscoring widely shared enthusiasm for this work that will continue to blossom through “Baylor in Deeds.”

The College’s learning objectives for the ELDL include an explicit commitment to civic engagement: “Students will use knowledge gained and skills developed in the course to cultivate civic virtues and contribute to the public good.” Among the courses currently offered in the ELDL, those in the Philanthropy and Public Service Program (PPS) enroll the most total students, including PPS 1101 Learning for the World and PPS 2101 Community Based Global Learning. Each of these courses requires between ten and twenty hours of community-engaged service during the semester, with most students in PPS 1101 and PPS 2101 volunteering with English as a Second Language (ESL) programs offered at a local church and community college. Data from the Global Engagement Survey (GES) for courses offered in the 2024-2025 academic year is encouraging and indicates that students show improvement in both civic efficacy and global civic responsibility between the pre-test administered at the start of the semester and the post-test administered at the end of the class. These results bear witness to the positive impact that community engaged learning has in our quest to train students for “worldwide leadership and service” grounded in our Christian commitment to love our neighbor as ourselves.