Higher Education and the Development of Moral and Civic Responsibility

This project examined how colleges and universities in the United States prepared their students for morally and civically responsible lives, and then sought to strengthen those efforts.

Senior Staff

Major Publication

Educating Citizens: Preparing America’s Undergraduates for Lives of Moral and Civic Responsibility
Anne Colby, Thomas Ehrlich, Elizabeth Beaumont, and Jason Stephens. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003.  

What are important elements of moral and civic learning? How can higher education contribute to them effectively? What challenges do institutions face when they try to undertake efforts for moral and civic learning and how can these challenges be addressed? These are the questions that spark this book, and they are also issues at the heart of democracy's future in America. Through a grand tour of American higher education, the authors show how institutions can equip students with the understanding, motivation, and skills of responsible and effective citizenship. 


Carnegie eLibrary

Carnegie Perspectives