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Contact UsFaculty and staff play an important role in community and civic engagement (CCE) both on and off campus. There are many ways to incorporate CCE into the classroom and provide students with a way to engage beyond the classroom.
Faculty Civic Ambassador Program
Auraria Votes is launching the Faculty Civic Ambassador Program, a new faculty program offering three tiers of passive and active activities, with recognition and rewards based on participation.
“Civic Gym” Unify America Partnership:
MSU Denver has partnered with Unify American to bring two dialogue programs—the Unify Challenge—to campus!
Why is this important? Because MSU Denver Faculty have complimentary access to two virtual dialogue programs this fall: the Unify Challenge and the Deep Dive, aka Unify America’s Civic Gym.
MSU Denver students can participate in one—or better yet, both—of these experiences:
- Unify Challenge | September 22–30 ⬅️ Closing soon!
Students are paired with a student from another campus to discuss national issues while practicing collaboration skills. - Deep Dive | November 2–10
Students pair up again to examine one issue in depth, work through fact sets, and reason through scenarios together to solve challenges. Topics include Free Speech, Social Media, Guns, or Voting.
What is a Civic Ambassador?
A Civic Ambassador is a MSU Denver professor who embeds nonpartisan democratic engagement into the classroom. This encourages students to become informed voters and active participants in civic life. Ambassadors partner with Auraria Votes, the non-partisan civic engagement tri-institutional committee, and the Student Civic Ambassadors to build a culture of engagement aligned with our institution’s values of equity, access, and transformative learning.
Program Goals:
- Integrate civic learning into course content across disciplines
- Increase student voter registration and turnout through intentional faculty-student interactions.
- Strengthen campus-wide collaboration through faculty, students, and staff leadership.
Tiers of Civic Engagement
Each activity earns points toward the Roadrunner Rep Recognition. Everything in Tier One is worth 1-2 points each.
- 1 Point – Syllabus statement: Include voter registration in your syllabus. Template provided.
- 1 Point – Voter Care Package Email: Share a digital voter care package created by VESAs
- 2 Points – “How to Vote In CO” video: Share a brief MSU Denver-tailored video about voter registration with your students via email or embed it into your canvas.
Each activity earns points toward the Roadrunner Rep Recognition. Everything in Tier Two is worth 3-4 points each.
- 3 Points – 2 or more Class Announcements: Share voting deadlines, civic holidays or Auraria Votes event information.
- 4 Points – Classroom Visit: Invite the Voter Engagement Student Ambassadors to your class to lead a short, nonpartisan civic engagement presentation (with some swag!)
- 3 Points – Canvas Module: Embed the “Roadrunners Vote” civic module into your course LMS
Each activity earns points toward the Roadrunner Rep Recognition. Everything in Tier Three is worth 5 points each.
- 5 Points – Activate the Class: Bring your class to an Auraria Votes Event
- 5 Points – Create a Civic Learning Assignment: Include a related activity (e.g. Reflection, community research, voter plan) in your course. Templates are available.
- 5 Points – Participate in Unify America (Free for Fall 2025 only, There is a fee for future semesters).
| Level | Points Needed | Reward |
| Bronze | 2-4 Points | Digital Badge And Recognition in Watermark |
| Silver | 5-13 Points | Digital Badge And Recognition in Watermark, Recognition at the Civic Celebration (Date TBD), and $10 gift card |
| Gold | 14-20 Points | Digital Badge And Recognition in Watermark, Recognition at the Civic Celebration (Date TBD), and a $15 gift card |
| Platinum | 20+ Points | All Gold reward plus a Letter of Appreciation from the Provost |
Roadrunner Engagement Highlights from the Early Bird
- Kudos: Celebrating faculty and student excellence in research, writing, and innovation – May 12th, 2025
- Mock Trial team builds case for student success – March 26th, 2025
- This Chemistry processor is making her classes more accessible – and so can you – February 26, 2025
- Voting Preparation tips ahead of the 2024 general election – October 7th, 2024
MSU Denver Applies for 2026 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification – October 24th, 2024 - Fostering Community and Civic Engagement Through Transparency and Collaboration – February 13th, 2024
Roadrunner Resources
- AASCU – American Association of State Colleges and Universities
- ADP – American Democracy Project. ADP’s goal is to “equip students with the knowledge, skills, and experiences to be informed and engaged, ready to tackle current and future issues to ensure a thriving and equitable democracy.”
- AACU (aka AAC&U) – American Association of Colleges and Universities
- Campus Compact – through an array of initiatives and programs, Campus Compact advances “the public purposes of colleges and universities by deepening their ability to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility.”
- The University of Minnesota provides a free online community-engagement training module for leaders and learners, titled From Transaction to Transformation. “The ten-minute module offers a captivating, interactive roadmap for conducting public engagement”, with participants “making scenario-based decisions along the way.”
- Campus Compact maintains a Community Partnerships Knowledge Hub, which contains an array of “information about best practices for establishing ethical, effective, and reciprocal partnerships between higher education institutions and communities.”