C&S Announces New Cohort of Campuswide Immersion College Campuses

PRINCETON, N.J., October 8, 2026—C&S today announced the fourth cohort of Campuswide Immersion: 21 colleges and universities that will spend the next several years building civic preparation into everyday campus life.

The cohort includes liberal arts colleges, public research universities, regional universities, and an honors college. Each campus is forming an Action Council of faculty, staff, and students to look at how students are learning these skills now and build an Action Plan to reach every student in courses, residence halls, and student activities.

Campuswide Immersion is an offering of C&S’s College Presidents for Civic Preparedness, a national coalition of more than 140 college and university presidents representing more than 1 million students. C&S supports each campus for several years with coaching, project management, ideas from peer campuses, and shared ways to measure progress. With the addition of Cohort 4, 21 colleges and universities now take part.

“College is one of the best places to learn how to disagree with someone and still get something done together,” said Rajiv Vinnakota, president of C&S. “The campuses in this cohort are starting from very different places. Some have been doing this work for years, and some are just getting started. All of them want their students to leave with that ability, and they’re ready to learn from each other to get there. We’re grateful for their partnership.”

Hear from campus leaders in their own words:

• Brooke Vick of Swarthmore College wants students to listen to people they disagree with “not to be persuaded necessarily, but to gain understanding, build empathy, and learn to be in community.” By the end of the cohort, she hopes Swarthmore will have a clear plan for a campus dialogue program, built with its community.
• Kyle Gillette of Trinity University wants students to “harness disagreement to make more thoughtful and democratic decisions” and to see their liberal arts education “as a laboratory for democracy.”
• Dave Dulio of Oakland University wants students to be able to talk about important issues “without thinking the other one is evil because of an opinion.”
• Christine Dehne of Manhattanville University wants every student to leave “knowing they matter, that they belong.” She hopes this work becomes “part of our culture at Manhattanville, not just another initiative.”

For Luis F. Paredes of Wheaton College (MA), it comes down to students who can “hold complexity without retreating into certainty.”

“Civic life isn’t only voting or debate,” Paredes said. “It’s the everyday practice of showing up, taking responsibility, and building community with people they didn’t choose.”

Cohort members are also eager to learn from one another. Alicia Schatteman of Northern Illinois University wants to see how other campuses help students participate “given their other obligations of work and family.” Raymond Patton of Macaulay Honors College (CUNY) wants to learn how campuses “overcome the gap” between academic life and civic action. And Lanethea Mathews-Schultz of Muhlenberg College is looking for practical, proven ideas that work “even in a context defined by resource constraint.”

Cohort 4 kicked off in September.

For more on Campuswide Immersion, visit https://cands.org/campuswide-immersion/

Meet the Cohort 4 Campus Leads

• Warren Anderson, Vice President for Community and Equity, Occidental College
• Karen Angemi, Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board of Trustees, Harvey Mudd College
• Gerald Butters, Professor of History, Aurora University
• James Canniff, Provost, Bunker Hill Community College
• Chris Chapp, Professor of Political Science, St. Olaf College
• Colette Coleman, Vice President for Student Affairs, George Washington University
• Tim Dacey, Assistant Professor, SUNY Oswego
• Christine Dehne, Provost and Executive Vice President, Manhattanville University
• Dave Dulio, Chief Community Engagement Officer, Director of the Center for Civic Engagement, and Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Oakland University
• Teresa Garrett, Executive Vice President and Provost, Hendrix College
• Kyle Gillette, Associate Provost for Student Success, Trinity University
• Kara Lindaman, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Winona State University
• Lanethea Mathews-Schultz, Professor of Political Science, Muhlenberg College
• Marisol Morales, Vice President for Outreach, Engagement, and Regional Development, Northern Illinois University
• Tim O’Donnell, Provost, University of Mary Washington
• Luis F. Paredes, Associate Vice President for Inclusive Excellence and Community Engagement, Wheaton College (MA)
• Raymond Patton, Professor, Director of Honors at John Jay College, and Civic Learning Faculty Liaison, Macaulay Honors College (CUNY)
• Andrew Pollom, Vice President of Student Affairs, University of Southern Maine
• Michael Rohdin, Senior Director of Institutional Strategy and Planning, Macaulay Honors College (CUNY)
• Alicia Schatteman, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Northern Illinois University
• Shavonne Shorter, Associate Provost for Community Relations and Compliance, University of Mary Washington
• Kathryn Silva, Dean of Behavioral, Social Sciences, and Global Learning, Bunker Hill Community College
• Paul Spradley, Executive Director of the Ketteler Center for Peace, Justice, and Inclusion, La Roche University
• Franklyn Taylor, Associate Provost, Bunker Hill Community College
• Jonathan Tirrell, Research Professor, Tisch College, Tufts University
• Brooke Vick, Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Swarthmore College
• Paul Wahlbeck, Dean of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, George Washington University
• Sarah White, Dean of Students and Title IX Coordinator, La Roche University

About C&S
Founded in 1945 as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, C&S (cands.org) sparks young people to help build a strong and thriving America. Guided by the Power of &, C&S is grounded in a simple belief: young people with ideas—not institutions with ideologies—make our country stronger. We meet young people where they are—on campuses, at work, and in their communities—creating clear pathways for discovery, collaboration, and fresh civic solutions. Across all our work, C&S helps young people practice three essential civic skills: having productive conversations; using credible information; and collaborating to create solutions. Learn more at cands.org.   

Media Contact
Zach Coville Carney
Brodeur Partners for C&S
zcarney@brodeur.com