The UMBC delegation to last week's 2019 Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Meeting in Fort Lauderdale shared insights and forged connections with colleagues from across the U.S. 20 members of the UMBC community participated, including Provost Philip Rous and leaders from the Shriver Center, Honors College, Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program, Student Affairs, SGA, and other student organizations (full list at the end of this post).

Throughout the conference, the organizers ran a survey asking participants to share a one-word definition of civic learning and democratic engagement. Here's a word cloud of the participants' responses.

10 of the UMBC participants led a session entitled "Change the Meanings, Change the Culture," about how UMBC has developed a robust civic culture that bridges academic affairs and student affairs. 

The Center for Democracy and Civic Life's David Hoffman and Romy Hübler led a session called "Engaged Pedagogy and Civic Learning: Promoting Civic Agency" with Erica Kohl-Arenas, Faculty Director of Imagining America, and Robin Bachin, Assistant Provost for Civic and Community Engagement at the University of Miami. David and Romy also led "Thrive Your Pedagogy: Creating Mutual and Reciprocal Environments for Student Learning" with Craig Berger, a former UMBC colleague now at Kent State University.

David also spoke at the opening plenary session about the Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Theory of Change, a forward-looking document around which the past three national CLDE meetings have been organized. The CLDE Theory of Change draws heavily on UMBC experiences and examples. In addition, Romy and David worked with colleagues from Grand Valley State University and Kent State University to launch a process of developing new tools to promote civic courage, one of the CLDE Theory of Change learning outcomes. Their work on those tools is supported by a grant from Bringing Theory to Practice.

UMBC participants in CLDE 2019 were:

• Brittini Brown, Assistant Vice President, Student Affairs
• Scott Buchan, undergraduate student; Treasurer, SGA
• Justin Conner, undergraduate student; Finance Board Representative, SGA
• Vrinda Deshpande, undergraduate student; President, SGA
• Elizabeth Eakes, undergraduate student; President, Environmental Task Force
• Laura Hussey, Director, Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program and Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
• David Hoffman, Director, Center for Democracy and Civic Life
• Romy Hübler, Assistant Director, Center for Democracy and Civic Life
• Charis Lawson, undergraduate student; STRiVE Coach, Center for Democracy and Civic Life
• Lauren Mauriello, Assistant Director, Residential Life
• Tess McRae, undergraduate student; Civic Design Intern and STRiVE Coach, Center for Democracy and Civic Life
• Kaleigh Mrowka, Assistant Director, Residential Life
• Wangui Nganga, undergraduate student; Senator, SGA
• Zane Poffenberger, undergraduate student; Vice President for Student Organizations, SGA
• Philip Rous, Provost
• Simon Stacey, Director, Honors College
• Lexi Stevenson, undergraduate student; STRiVE Coach, Center for Democracy and Civic Life
• Frances Watson, undergraduate student; Executive Vice President, SGA
• Jenna Williams, undergraduate student; President, Black Lives Matter
• Michele Wolff, Director, The Shriver Center