A conceptualization of social responsibility among faculty of a private liberal arts college

This qualitative study investigated how social responsibility was conceptualized and practiced by interpreting the narratives of 15 faculty members at a Midwestern private liberal arts college. Key findings indicated that social responsibility at the college was found in the collective focus on how best to develop students’ (graduates’, citizens’) cognitive and moral understandings and their subsequent propensities to live their lives in accordance with those principles. Faculty efforts to address social responsibility were intentional but were not the same as those described in the literature. The definition understood and enacted by faculty at Midwest College was specific and particular and was a link from the edge of the broader social responsibility literature to the literature on student development. Social responsibility was embedded in practice, primarily in teaching, and was exemplified through faculty efforts at fostering the holistic development of students. Social responsibility was evidenced through the conception of values that undergird faculty members’ approaches to teaching at the college.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Ed Organization and Leadership

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Cecil, Kyle

Contributors dc:contributor

• Cain, Timothy R.
• Ikenberry, Stanley O.
• Kuchinke, K. Peter
• Alter, Theodore

• higher education
• liberal arts college
• social responsibility

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2013 Kyle Cecil

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/45357

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/45357