CAUSE: Consortium for the Advancement of Underrepresented Student Engagement
“Socially it does not suffice that university organizations produce new scientific insight. It will be necessary to install fact-finding procedures, social eyes and ears, right into social research (Lewin, 1948, p. 206).”
The above quote from psychologist Kurt Lewin is timely. Today, universities still are exploring ways in which they can connect most effectively with their local communities. The Consortium for the Advancement of Underrepresented Student Engagement (CAUSE) examines the importance of including students in university sponsored community engagement activities. We examine ways in which linkages between what students are learning at college and what goes on in communities, connecting learning at colleges and universities with personal experiences and communities, can improve student retention as well as student academic engagement, sense of belonging, and perceptions of a supportive climate at their university.
Principal investigators and evaluators
Geoffrey Maruyuama, Ph.D.University of Minnesota, project director & principal investigator
Andrew Furco, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota, co-principal investigator
David Cox, Ph.D.University of Memphis, subcontract principal investigator
Regina Day Langhout, Ph.D.
University of California at Santa Cruz, subcontract principal investigator
Michelle Fine, Ph.D.City University of New York, subcontract principal investigator
Shannon Wilder, Ph.D.
University of Georgia, subcontract principal investigator
Teresa Cordova, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago, principal investigator
Debra Ingram, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota, external evaluator
