Public Service as Responsible Citizenship School of Public Affairs and Administration Rutgers University Newark Campus

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1 Public Service as Responsible Citizenship School of Public Affairs and Administration Rutgers University Newark Campus M/T/W/Th 10:15-12:00 PM CPS 104 Summer Instructor: Felix Deat Introduction: This course is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of public service. This course will introduce a brief description of the history of public service in the context of American democracy, examine the current erosion of interest in public service, explore the diversity of action for public service, and allow the students to explore their personal perspectives and experiences. Course Overview: Public Service as Responsible Citizenship is designed to nourish students current and future commitments to the common good. Students will explore their personal values with respect to leadership service and diversity through critical analysis of social issues, reflection and practice. By the end of the course, students should be able to articulate an understanding of public service and apply theories and models of service and leadership to an issue of their choosing. This course critically examines the community service approach to public work and seeks to understand how service might be more effective in improving community life. Students will learn basic strategies and tactics utilized by individuals, groups, and organizations to maintain and improve the quality of life in their communities. This course is constructed around a simple model of public service to describe the options for public service. This model includes participation in public service not only as a core responsibility for everyone of us as citizens and members of the community but also as a fulfilling desire to improve the conditions of living within the community and the society and to make a difference. This engagement cannot be restrained by the simplifying distinction between public and private sector. This course also will focus on the impacts within the community of the diverse alternative of public service, whether through traditional political participation, personal volunteering, careers in public service, service on nonprofit boards, and socially-responsible engagement in corporate careers. The course will argue that all citizens have the chance to engage in public service during their lives the question is therefore, how to improve the odds that they will both make and sustain their commitment? 1

2 Outcomes of the Course: Have a clear understanding of the notion of public service and its application within our modern democratic society Be able to apply theories of citizenship and social contract to current public service practices Be able to connect the theories of public service to practical public service experiences by becoming engaged within the community Academic Integrity: All students are expected to work independently. All assignments should be the student s own work unauthorized collaboration, plagiarism, copying from previous semester answer keys or assignments, and other forms of academic dishonesty are expressly prohibited. Rutgers University s Office of Academic Integrity maintains a website explaining the university s academic honesty procedures: The web site also provides resources for students. It is the student s responsibility to understand the definition of academic honesty, but if you are ever in doubt, please ask me before you do something that could put your academic career in jeopardy. The following websites provides basic guidelines regarding the APA citation style: For any further help with reading, writing or even research skills, students may reach out to the Rutgers, Newark Writing Center, which provides writing tutoring and writing workshops to all undergraduate students currently enrolled in classes on the Rutgers University, Newark Campus. The Newark Writing Center is located in Conklin 126. Contact information may be found on their website: Disability Services: Students who are in need of disability-related academic accommodations must register with the Office of Disability Services (ODS). Students with authorized disability-related accommodations should provide me with a current Accommodation Authorization Letter from ODS. Accommodations are not provided retroactively, so please let me know about them as early as possible. Further information is available at the ODS web site: Participation and Attendance: Class attendance is required and expected. Two or more absences will hurt your grade. Students will be expected to share their knowledge and opinion of lectures, required readings and related materials. This is a course primarily based on class discussion and group participation so class attendance is required. Students who are missing class are responsible to individually obtain the content and the materials discussed for and during the class missed. Most of the communication will be done through Blackboard; students are individually responsible to properly access the information from the website. 2

3 Policies: ü Attendance: Required ü Syllabus: This syllabus serves as general outline. I reserve the right to deviate from any part of the plan as necessary. Students will be notified of any such modifications. ü Late Assignments: Submitting the required assignments is a prerequisite for this class. As such, late assignments will be applied a penalty, namely 10 percent of the assignment for each day between the due date and the submission date. ü Grade Disputes: If students have a grade dispute, they should submit a one-page memo to the instructor presenting evidence for their case. The instructor will review and reconsider the original assignment. This review may lead to a grade increase but equally may lead to a grade decrease based on the new overall evaluation. ü Class Etiquette: In order to make the class as enjoyable as possible for everyone, laptops and cell phones should be turned off during the class. Reading the outside material, talking during lectures, leaving the classes early, text messaging, ing, and surfing the web are prohibited in class. Please arrive on time! Grading ü Attendance & Participation 20% ü Public Service Investigation 25% ü Service Opportunity 15% ü Journal 40% Books & Materials: Jonathan M. Tisch & Karl Weber, Citizen You: How Social Entrepreneurs Are Changing the World, 2011, Three Rivers Press, New York ISBN Schedule: Part 1 History and Extent of Public Service July 8, July 9, July 10, Introduction Democracy and Society ü Journal Entry: What are the principles the Constitution and the American society advocate that support public service Public Service: Early Beginning ü Journal Entry: How have religion, immigration, socio-economic development and urbanization influenced the early stage of public service 3

4 July 11, July 15, Public Service: Professionalization of an Engagement ü Journal Entry: How has public service evolved into a professional and skilled field? Use a public service opportunity to describe those changes Modern Time: Less Engaged R. D. Putnam, The Strange Disappearance of Civic America, American Prospect, 1996, Vol.7, No.24, pp.7-22 ü Journal Entry: Should the Nation worry about non-participation? July 16, The Effects of Tragedies T. H. Sander & R. D. Putnam, Still Bowling Alone? The Post-9/11 Split, Journal of Democracy, 2010, Vol.21, No.1, pp.9-16 ü Journal Entry: How did September 11 th affect your desire to engage? What about Sandy? July 17, Reasons to Engage Tisch & Weber, Citizen You, Chap.1 ü Journal Entry: What are the reasons that have made you decided to get involved? July 18, A Range of Alternatives R. J. Dalton, Citizenship Norms and Expansion of Political Participation, Political Studies, 2008, Vol. 56, pp ü Journal Entry: What forms of engagement are most attractive to you? What are their characteristics? Explore one of the program or initiative available in the U.S. (Select one of the opportunity from Additional Opportunities located in the bottom of the website July 22, Conceptualizing Public Service Today ü Journal Entry: How would you describe public service nowadays? What is the scope of public service? What is its purpose? Part 2 Public Service as an Engagement July 23, Voluntary Engagement Tisch & Weber, Citizen You, Chap.5 ü Journal Entry: What is your history of volunteering? What are the challenges you have experienced? What have you accomplished? 4

5 July 24, Political Participation C. M. Gibson, Thinking Outside the (Ballot) Box: A Broader Political Engagement Strategy for America s Civic Organizations, National Civic Review, 2004,Vol. 94, Issue 2, pp ü Journal Entry: Have recent presidential elections changed the rationality to participate? Explore one fact or trends related to one voting issue related to the 2012 U.S. presidential election from the Pew Research Center July 25, July 29, July 30, Service Opportunity No Class 2 hours Volunteer Experience within an organization of your choice Methods for Increasing Participation ü Journal Entry: What can nonprofit organizations do to increase volunteerism? Local governments to promote participation? Digital Citizenship Tisch & Weber, Citizen You, Chap.6 ü Journal Entry: How have Information and Communication Technologies changed the engagement of the public? July 31, Driving Social Change ü Journal Entry: What is social change? What are some of the recent examples of social change that have affected public service? How? Part 3 Public Service as a Vocation Aug. 1, Aug. 5, A Career in Public Service ü Journal Entry: What are you looking for in a job? A career? Have you ever had a public service internship? If so, how did it affect your interest in public service? If not, why not? Making a Difference in Nonprofit L. M. Dietlin, Transformational Philanthropy: Entrepreneurs and Nonprofits, 2010, Sudbury, MA: Jones & Barlett, Chap.13 Entrepreneurial Stories Julie Azuma ü Journal Entry: How do nonprofit organizations participate to public service? Should we have better control on their activities? How? Explore the information you may find about one nonprofit organization of your choice from one of the following websites (Guidestar, Charity Navigation) 5

6 Aug. 6, Making a Difference in Government N. M. Riccucci, Unsung Heroes: Federal Execucrats Making a Difference, 1995, Georgetown University Press: Washington, D.C., Chap. 8 ü Journal Entry: How do government participate to public service? Should government be the ultimate public service provider? Aug. 7, Engaged Professionals Tisch & Weber, Citizen You, Chap.4 ü Journal Entry: What is a foundation? How do foundations participate to public service? Do they restrain or expand the scope of public service? Explore one example of your choice Aug. 8, Social Entrepreneurship Tisch & Weber, Citizen You, Chap.3 ü Journal Entry: What is a social entrepreneurship? How does social entrepreneurship participate to public service? How is it different from nonprofit? Explore one example of your choice Aug. 12, Citizen BusinessPeople Tisch & Weber, Citizen You, Chap.7 ü Journal Entry: Can business be associated to public service? If so, how? If not, should they? Part 4 - Conclusion Aug. 13, Revitalizing Our Democracy Tisch & Weber, Citizen You, Chap.9 ü Journal Entry: Is it rational to not get engaged? How does engagement promote our democracy? Aug. 14, An International Perspective C. W. Dugger, The New York Times, Peace Price to Pioneer of Loans to Poor No Bank Would Touch, Oct. 14, 2006 ü Journal Entry: How can public service be applied abroad? Should it be? Explore one program from one of the following organization (GlobalCitizenCorps, Gates Foundation, Amnesty International, Care, Medecins Sans Frontieres, WWF, Compassion International) 6

Philosophy in Literature: Italo Calvino (Phil. 331) Fall 2014, M and W 12:00-13:50 p.m.; 103 PETR. Professor Alejandro A. Vallega.

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