About
Through its emphasis on relational, experiential, and socially responsible academic work, Engaged Scholarship develops an active and engaged citizenship equipped to respond to the social and ethical questions facing the wider world.
Background video of aerial view of Harvard University and other b roll video of the inside of campus buildings
History of the Program
Responding to Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust’s call in 2016, Eric (’88) and Stacey Mindich endowed the Mindich Program in Engaged Scholarship, providing the infrastructure to link public service activities directly to the curriculum through support for undergraduate courses that bring together academic work and community engagement. The Mindich family’s generosity also made available funding for Mindich Service Fellowships, summer service opportunities for undergraduates to work with public service organizations that extend and amplify the approaches and skills learned in community engaged coursework. Together, these programs encourage students to develop an understanding of “the importance of public service in shaping the kind of world we hope to build,” in the words of President Faust.
“Service to society is at the heart of Harvard’s mission.”
Drew Gilpin Faust
Harvard President, 2007-2018
From an inaugural cohort of five Engaged Scholarship courses in 2016, the Mindich Program in Engaged Scholarship now offers around 60 undergraduate courses each academic year in every academic division of the College; in departments ranging from Math to Music and Anthropology to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; as well as in the General Education, Expository Writing, and First-Year Seminar programs.
Program Stewards
Student Advisory Committee
The Student Advisory Committee is a group of dedicated undergraduates who are committed to the mission of engaged scholarship. The SAC works to grow the Mindich Program in Engaged Scholarship at Harvard College, increase student engagement, and guide development of the Engaged Scholarship Program. One action area for the SAC is the creation of intellectual communities outside of the curriculum through reflection-based events and opportunities in the Houses.
Interested in joining the SAC?
Applications will reopen in the Spring, or reach out to us at engagedscholarship@fas.harvard.edu.