Citizen Scholars put their arts and humanities values, knowledge, skills, and practices into action, leading us toward a more just, inclusive, and open society.
Citizen Scholars is open to ALL first-year students with a major in the College of Arts & Letters.
Citizen Scholars Showcase
This showcase provides an opportunity for our students to share their research, creative activities, and experiences with their peers, our faculty, and the public. Offered near the end of each spring semester, the event showcases the discoveries, growth, and contributions of our students as they pursue their own academic interests, connect with local and global communities, and transform their own lives as they transform the lives of others.
Overview
The MSU Citizen Scholar program is designed to prepare the next generation of diverse, high achieving, and engaged citizen leaders.
Students aspiring to be MSU Arts & Letters Citizen Scholars will be encouraged to succeed academically while gaining experience in high impact learning environments such as study abroad, study away, service learning, and internships. You will build upon the strengths of an arts and humanities education, mobilizing your knowledge and skills to connect to the community and to the world. They will become engaged citizens, respectful members of inclusive communities, and agents of significant, positive social change.
Overview
The MSU Citizen Scholar program is designed to prepare the next generation of diverse, high achieving, and engaged citizen leaders.
Students aspiring to be MSU Arts & Letters Citizen Scholars will be encouraged to succeed academically while gaining experience in high impact learning environments such as study abroad, study away, service learning, and internships. You will build upon the strengths of an arts and humanities education, mobilizing your knowledge and skills to connect to the community and to the world. They will become engaged citizens, respectful members of inclusive communities, and agents of significant, positive social change.
Phases
Exploration - broaden your horizons:
We see Phase 1 of the program as an opportunity for you to push the boundaries of your experience, knowledge, and capabilities, forge new relationships and expand into new communities. It’s a time to take up leadership roles, seek ways to reach out to and foster the growth of others, define your passions, and find your pathways of transformation. In this phase, students aim to become more self-aware, more comfortable in contexts of cultural difference, and more mindful of the conditions and challenges faced by others. In keeping with the program focus on social justice, we expect your explorations to increase your recognition of forms of injustice and inequity, and to begin to see yourself as an agent of positive social transformation.
Immersion – increase your depth:
In Phase 2, you propose an immersive experience that fulfills your academic and personal learning objectives and helps you expand your professional network. Such experiences include study abroad, study away, internships, etc. You also undertake an in-depth discovery project, in which you define a problem, concern, question, or issue relating to social justice, discuss your idea with program mentors and other faculty and students, plan and undertake the research needed to address your focus-issue. During this phase, you will reflect on these transformative experiences and your growth, articulating how your immersion has moved you forward toward your personal and professional objectives.
Implementation – become an agent for change:
In the Phase 3 you will make the outcomes of your discovery project visible to the public. This project will serve as the basis for a collaborative community engagement project, in which you work with a team of students, faculty, and community members toward creating positive social transformation. Such projects should result in clearly defined social benefits, and in potentially sustainable community partnerships. As you complete Phase 3 and prepare to move out from MSU into the world, you take with you the knowledge, skills, values, attitudes, and behaviors that you have cultivated as a Citizen Scholar, and that have prepared you to continue your work as an agent of positive social transformation.