Wiemer, Andrew David, authorKuk, Linda, advisorJohnson, Jen, committee memberNorris, Kristin, committee memberTungate, Susan, committee member2023-01-212023-01-212022https://hdl.handle.net/10217/236046The overarching purpose of this research study was to develop a broader understanding of various forms of civic learning and democratic engagement activities that foster a student's development of civic-mindedness and their intentions for future civic participation. The goal of the research was to understand civic-mindedness through the lens of students understanding their own civic-mindedness, how participation and involvement throughout college influenced civic-mindedness, student perception of faculty and staff on their civic-mindedness, perception of experiences not directly related to college influencing civic-mindedness, and how their collegiate experiences contribute to their future civic participation. Ten participants were selected for the study from across the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) institutions. Utilizing interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), participants shared their lived experiences during their time as an undergraduate student. The study is significant and addressed a gap in literature that provides higher education administrators, researchers, and scholars with an increased understanding of how students develop civic-mindedness through civic learning and democratic engagement activities on college campuses. Six major themes arose from the data including: exposure to civic learning and democratic engagement experiences, participation in campus experiences, participation in pre-college civic experiences, support systems, growth in civic-mindedness, and future involvement in civic participation. The overall findings of the study supported the themes and revealed that various experiences can influence the growth and development of civic mindedness. The seven findings included: exposure to experiences, curricular experiences, campus involvement, support systems and mentoring, diversity experiences, pre-college experiences, growth of civic-mindedness, and future intentions. The experiences shared by each of the participants in the study provides insight into how higher education can continue to support the growth and development of civic-mindedness in future generations of students.born digitaldoctoral dissertationsengCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.civic-mindednessleadershipservicedemocracycivicpoliticalText