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CRITERION ONE: MISSION
BUTLER UNIVERSITY SELF-STUDY REPORT
goals, students in ICR-designated courses (a) make significant gains in disciplinary knowledge, (b)
enhance their understanding of personal and social responsibility, (c) engage with diverse individuals
and develop intercultural competencies, and (d) learn civic-mindedness through practicing skills of
citizenship.
The ICR requires that all Butler students, regardless of major, “take one course in any part of the
University that involves active engagement with the Indianapolis community” (see page 21 in Core
Curriculum Report). As it is designed, the ICR is not a course per se but rather a pedagogical approach
or process that is used to teach the content of an existing course whether the course is in the
core, is in the major, or is an elective. While the service-learning pedagogy provides a model for some
ICR courses, others are based on the Center for Citizenship and Community’s critical listening model
or the SENCER (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities) paradigm.
Despite this being a relatively new addition to the criteria we require our students to meet, more than
44 unique courses have been offered with the Indianapolis Community Requirement designation since
the implementation of our new core. Courses have engaged students in local community organizations,
including the Nur-Allah Islamic Center, the Martin Luther King Community Center, and the
Immigrant Welcome Center.
The stated learning outcomes of the Indianapolis Community Requirement align with the University’s
commitment to diversity:
1. To have an active learning experience that integrates classroom knowledge with activities in the
Indianapolis community.
2. To use an experience in Indianapolis to further the individual student’s understanding of the
nature of community and the relationship between community and him or herself.
3. To further students’ commitment to service and ongoing involvement as community actors.
More information on the specifics of core courses and the ICR can be found in the discussion in support
of Criterion Three.
Academic Programs
In addition to diversity emphases in the Core Curriculum, several academic programs, leading to majors,
minors, or concentrations, are founded upon a special commitment to diversity, domestic or international.
Majors such as gender, women’s, and sexuality studies; international studies; international
business; and peace and conflict studies provide students an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge,
with particular emphases on diversity. In addition a minor is available in African studies and a medical
Spanish track is offered to pharmacy students.
Within many other programs of study at Butler, students can select from courses linked specifically to
diversity or opt for internships at for-profit and non-profit organizations that focus on diverse communities.
For example, a student participating in Butler’s Washington Learning Program in spring 2012
interned with the Congressional Black Caucus, another in the program was an intern at Emily’s List (a
non-profit which works to get women elected to public office), and two pharmacy students completed
rotations at the So Others Might Eat clinic, which serves the homeless in the D.C. area. Students
sponsored by the CFV have interned at the Indianapolis Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic, which
has begun to serve a growing Latino community in the city.
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