Civic Engagement at Skidmore
A liberal arts education certainly represents a personal good for our graduates, preparing them not only to make a living but also to create a life worth living — a life that truly matters for themselves and others. But a Skidmore education also represents a broader social good that is seldom remarked upon in contemporary discussions of higher education. We highlight this value in our expressed determination to prepare our graduates to live as informed, responsible, and globally and interculturally aware citizens who are not only capable of bringing their personal plans to fruition but who also strive to make the world a better place for all.
Faces of Community Engagement
Stories of community engagement
For the past twelve years, Professor Schneller has introduced his students to the importance and value of learning through teaching by having them teach a lesson designed by Shelburne Farms in Burlington, Vermont, called “The Fab Five in the Garden.” This lesson teaches first, second, and third graders in Saratoga Springs about the five things that plants need to survive: water, soil, air, space, and sunlight.- Skidmore’s FeedMore Club is connecting the campus to the community of Saratoga Springs. In the fall of 2023 alone, FeedMore helped Skidmore donate 3,532 pounds of food. This food would have ended up being discarded and wasted, contributing to greenhouse gasses and climate change; and instead, went to help those in need in the Saratoga Springs community.
The partnership between Skidmore’s Social Work Department and the long-running Saratoga nonprofit, which is led by Skidmore alumna Sybil Newell ’00, has a powerful impact on the students and the struggling populations they’re serving.
Imagining America
The Imagining America consortium (IA) brings together scholars, artists, designers, humanists, and organizers to imagine, study, and enact a more just and liberatory ‘America’ and world. Working across institutional, disciplinary, and community divides, IA strengthens and promotes public scholarship, cultural organizing, and campus change that inspires collective imagination, knowledge-making, and civic action on pressing public issues.
Project Pericles
Project Pericles is a vibrant consortium of 30 colleges and universities that promotes civic engagement within higher education. Building on the innovative vision of Eugene M. Lang, Project Pericles works in the classroom, on the campus, and in the community. Project Pericles is at the forefront of civic engagement and social responsibility in areas including faculty and course development, curricular coherence, and research into best practices.
In the News
Anna Graves ’14 and Danika Robison ’10 are applying Creative Thought Matters to high school, offering at-risk students a rich world of learning opportunities and helping them graduate on time.
Billy Winter ’18 aka Zella Cullatore is working with Drag Out the Vote to mobilize voters ahead of this fall’s election.
The College is joining 60 other college presidents of diverse institutions from across the country to advance higher education’s pivotal role in preparing students to be engaged citizens and to uphold free expression on campus.- The partnership between Skidmore’s Social Work Department and the long-running Saratoga nonprofit, which is led by Skidmore alumna Sybil Newell ’00, has a powerful impact on the students and the struggling populations they’re serving.
Skidmore is joining the College Presidents for Civic Preparedness, a new initiative convened by The Institute for Citizens & Scholars to facilitate shared learning and greater impact through partnership toward the goal of developing college students for democratic engagement as empowered citizens.- Skidmore organized a Nov. 29 faculty panel that offered multiple scholarly perspectives and the webinar “Peacemakers at a Time of War,” presented by the Jewish and Palestinian peace group Roots on Nov. 27.
Faculty, staff, students, and alumni donate time, efforts, goods, and funds through the 18th annual event.
The Skidmore College community mobilized to support local families and community organizations for the 17th consecutive year through the Skidmore Cares community service program.
Skidmore’s dedicated space for prioritizing diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice has been named in recognition of the leadership and support of parents Alicia and Bob Wyckoff.