CLDE Pathway Examples
The CLDE Pathways approach recognizes that participation in democracy is a practice, involving both knowledge and multiple habits of heart and mind. There are many ways to create coherent, intentional, and integrative democracy and civic learning pathways.
Below we provide examples of current curricular pathways at colleges and universities representing a variety of institutional types.
See Chapter 2 of the CLDE Guide and the CLDE Coalition’s Sample Community College Guided Pathway and Sample Four-Year Guided Pathway for more on creating CLDE Pathways.
The inquiry-based AU Core Curriculum includes the following civic and democracy components in its CLDE Pathway:
AU Encounters II is a shared intellectual experience that examines key themes in U.S. society and beyond with a focus on the works and legacy of James Baldwin. The multi-disciplinary seminar is taught to first-year students by full-time faculty and University leaders.
First-year students also enroll in a Complex Problems Seminar. Each seminar focuses on a real-world problem or enduring question and includes co-curricular experiences. Learning outcomes using multiple perspectives to refine understanding of an issue or context, synthesizing and integrating sources to develop and communicate arguments, and incorporating feedback.
Habit of Mind requirements include courses in areas related to civic and democracy learning, particularly Cultural Inquiry, Ethical Reasoning, and Socio-Historical Inquiry. In many cases, these courses are related to student major or minor.
A Diversity and Equity requirement includes the learning outcome of evaluating and reflecting on values, policies, or practices needed to develop a more equitable society.
Civic learning is woven into the undergraduate experience at Cornell University through multiple required pathway components.
The College of Arts and Sciences requires all majors to complete distribution areas in Ethics and the Mind, Global Citizenship, Historical Analysis, and Social Difference, which together build foundations in democratic reasoning, ethical reflection, and global citizenship.
Most undergraduates also take First‑Year Writing Seminars and about one-half of the Spring 2026 First-Year Writing Seminars have explicit civic‑learning or civic‑adjacent themes.
The Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy requires all BA‑track majors to complete a public‑policy course with a community‑engaged learning component.
The David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement coordinates community‑engaged learning across Cornell, embedding partnerships, courses, and civic‑oriented writing into undergraduate education. Through the Engaged College Initiative, it works with seven Cornell colleges to institutionalize community‑engaged learning in curricula and student experiences.
The “Writing and Community‑Engaged Learning” project ties First‑Year Writing Seminars and English‑department courses to community building, public history, and democratic discourse.
At Guttman Community College, general education is aligned with the system-wide CUNY Pathways Initiative and civic engagement is prioritized for all CUNY students. Requirements for the flexible common core at Guttman include the following CLDE Pathway components:
A first-year course on Social Justice with co-curricular experiential learning activities to connect classroom learning with real-world experiences.
Guttman Learning Outcomes are embedded across the curriculum, including Global Learning and Civic Engagement. Guttman’s guided pathways program is set up so that every semester includes at least one course with a civic engagement learning outcome.
Beyond the curriculum, Guttman is an active participant in City University of New York’s civic initiatives, including the CUNY Votes Initiative, Malave Leadership Academy, Rogowsky Internship Program in Government and Public Affairs, and the CUNY Constructive Dialogue Initiative.
Augsburg University's core curriculum is designed to prepare students as effective, informed, and ethical citizens.
Engaging Minneapolis, a course-based element of the AugSem (first-year seminar) curriculum, includes field experiences that connect students to the communities and civic issues around Augsburg University.
The Augsburg Experience, a signature experiential learning requirement, provides opportunities to integrate and apply knowledge, skills, and dispositions to high-impact on- and off-campus internships, faculty-student research, and civic or community engagement opportunities.
These experiences culminate in keystone and capstone courses in the major, deepening discipline-specific opportunities to engage and serve the community. Staff and faculty work to support all students towards Augsburg Local experiences - those that encourage students to learn, engage, work, lead, and invest civically in the Augsburg community.
The Ohio State University’s General Education (GE) program offers students structured pathways to align with individual aspirations and goals through a robust offering of thematic course areas to help students develop a deeper understanding of complex topics that are vital to addressing major 21st-century questions.
All students are required to take Citizenship for a Diverse and Just World plus additional coursework in a theme of their choosing.
To satisfy the requirements of each Theme, students can take either: two 3-credit courses that each take distinct disciplinary approaches to the topic or one 4-credit course that has been designed to be interdisciplinary and integrative. The single, 4-credit courses known as Integrative Practice courses teach using one of five types of research-supported high-impact educational practices including community-based learning (service learning) and engagement in active research or creative practice.
Students begin and conclude their general education pathway with Bookend courses, a pair of 1-credit courses that start and finish the General Education (GE) pathway. The Launch Seminar for first-year students is designed to introduce the goals of general education, a Connection Seminar for transfer students connects prior learning to current goals, and the Reflection Seminar at the end of the general education program helps students reflect on and document their growth, while also preparing students to explain their knowledge and skills to employers.
The General Education Program at Delaware State University is the “University’s commitment to providing breadth and depth to students’ academic, cultural, social, moral, ethical, and physical development during their undergraduate experience.” The curriculum includes:
A core with a first-year seminar, junior seminar on global societies, and capstone experience.
Five educational constructs (5Cs) are integrated throughout the general education program and major curricula. One of the 5Cs is civic engagement and that dimension includes civic knowledge/engagement, intercultural knowledge/competences, ethical reasoning/action, and responsible citizenship.
The senior capstone experience demonstrates advanced communication and problem-solving skills.
The Metro College Success Program at San Francisco State University is a supportive learning community for first- and second-year students, many of whom are first-generation, low-income, or from historically underrepresented communities. The program provides a socially responsive educational experience through a structured CLDE pathway that includes:
A cohort model in which each academy is organized around a broad career or thematic focus.
Block enrollment in two general education courses each semester to strengthen community and student support. One course serves as a home base for advising, academic planning, and community building, while the other focuses on foundational skills such as writing, mathematics, or critical thinking.
Engaging pedagogies and course materials designed to connect learning to students’ lived experiences.
First-year courses that help students build connections to the campus community and their cohort.
Second-year coursework that includes a first-semester course on public health and social justice and a second-semester course on the history of social movements.
The Blazer Core emphasizes high-impact practices to prepare students for civic engagement and the 21st century workplace. Components of the University of Alabama Birmingham’s CLDE Pathway:
Local Beginnings first year experience courses provide students with a meaningful introduction to academic study at UAB that engages them in the process of designing pathways for both their future careers and future engagements as citizens.
Thinking Broadly requirements include courses in the categories of History & Meaning and Humans and their Societies
City as Classroom courses immerse students in undergraduate research, experiential learning, or other high-impact practices that enable them to see the role of knowledge in addressing the challenges and opportunities of Birmingham.
Flags allow students to document course work and co-curricular activities that cultivate skills, perspectives, and habits of mind related to UAB ideals including Justice, Sustainability, and Civic Engagement.
Salt Lake Community College’s General Education program is designed to serve students in “their future education, careers, and lives as citizens in a democratic republic.” Components of their CLDE Pathway for the Associate of Arts/Science include:
A course or course sequence on American Institutions. Options include Economic History of the U.S., Introduction to U.S. Government & Politics, for a one or two course sequence on American History.
A required Diversity course in which students will critically examine the history, contributions of and challenges confronting diverse groups within our multicultural society.
In addition, civic literacy is one of the general education learning outcomes that students reflect on through ePortfolios.
Grounded in its Catholic, Jesuit values, the core curriculum at Santa Clara University is designed to educate students for interdisciplinary understanding and ethically informed participation in civic life.
Learning goals for the core curriculum include civic life, social justice, and civic engagement.
Students are also required to take an Experiential Learning for Social Justice course. These integrative courses include community-based learning, connecting academic work with the community.