Through our social media, news sources, daily conversations, personal experiences, and even some of our classes, we have become increasingly aware of the world’s many immediate and chronic problems, their characteristics, and their complex relationships. Starting somewhere – anywhere – to try to solve these issues can often seem overwhelming. Sometimes these issues are right at our front doors, within our local and regional communities, waiting for a helpful response from our politicians, cities, students, activists, or leaders! How do we make a difference in this complex world of ours? In this seminar, you will learn not only about the historical background and context for the idea of “civic engagement” but about the ways, both big and small, that an engaged citizenry can help shape our communities and world for the better. What does a positive and effective civic engagement look and act like? What are the limitations of certain kinds of civic engagement, and how do we improve these so as to improve our outlook of our justice system, our ways of governing, or even the water we drink? These are the kinds of questions that we will ask and debate throughout the course of this semester. Your class participation, discussion assignments, interdisciplinary research paper, “flash” civic engagement papers, and even your unique contributions to our “teaching day” presentations will encourage you to think in new ways when it comes to our word’s complex challenges. This seminar will help you take steps to contextualize and understand some of these challenges and to propose, and formulate, some of the steps needed to create meaningful change.