Salve Regina University's Civic Action Plan seeks to strengthen our commitment to living out our Mercy mission and vision in increasingly tangible and measurable ways. This plan envisions a transformation of our institution by focusing on the Five Critical Concerns of the Sisters of Mercy (Earth, Immigration, Women, Racism, and Non-Violence) as the basis for social action. We will adopt a four-year cycle with each year focused on one of the Critical Concerns and a baseline of non-violence. This thematic approach will allow for coordinated as well as unit-specific programs, opportunities to engage with multiple community partners, and the assurance that each student cohort will encounter Salve Regina’s mission in action—embodied in the Mercy Critical Concerns. It positions Salve Regina, a community of learners and teachers, as a site for building relationships of trust and mutual respect that enable purposeful action with our partners for the common good. A campus-wide Community and Civic Engagement Steering Committee with provide overall guidance and monitoring of our Civic Action Plan’s implementation. Full implementation will roll-out over a four year period as tied to our four-year Critical Concerns cycle:
- Year One (2017-2018) – Race
- Year Two (2018-2019) – Earth
- Year Three (2019-2020) – Women
- Year Four (2020-2021) – Immigration
- All Four Years – Non-violence
The Salve Regina University Civic Action Plan, while attentive to all five of the Campus Compact commitments, prioritizes two. The outcomes listed below provide a foundation for us to operationalize the Critical Concerns of the Sisters of Mercy in our community and civic engagement work.
- We prepare our students for lives of engaged citizenship, with the motivation and capacity to deliberate, act, and lead in pursuit of the public good.
- We harness the capacity of our institutions – through research, teaching, partnerships, and institutional practice – to challenge the prevailing social and economic inequalities that threaten our democratic future.
Our plan is anchored by division-specific signature programs that embed civic engagement and community learning into academic and campus life with the intent to develop awareness of the responsibilities of citizenship and stewardship of the earth and change-oriented strategies that transform individuals, our institution, and the larger community. Focusing on socioeconomic inequality underscores our mission's focus on promoting universal justice. Coordinating and assessing our efforts with intentionality will promote institutionalization of civic and community action and the transformation of our culture and administrative structures.