Psychology of Civic Engagement

Dear Colleagues,

I'm preparing to teach an undergraduate course entitled "The Psychology of
Civic Engagement."  Im hoping to cover such content as (1) barriers to
involvement, (2) identifying needs in the community, (3) building
relationships between community and volunteers, (4) building relationships
between volunteers and service recipients (i.e., the individuals who the
volunteers interact with), (5) issues of burnout, (6) initiating and
maintaining involvement, (7) costs of engagement, and (8) benefits of
engagement.

I thought those of you on this list might willing to discuss the merit of
these topics.  In addition, I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions for
additional topics and/or overall course structure.  I'm also in the
process of collecting suggestions for source material (e.g., research
articles, theory papers, reflective essays, experiential reports, books).

I will post a summary of responses to the list (I will also post my
syllabus once its prepared!).

Thanks for sharing your ideas!

Best wishes,

Deb

Debra Mashek, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology 
SUNY Stony Brook 
Stony Brook, NY 11794-2500
Phone: 631.632.9601
Fax: 631.632.7876