Student projects for the Dominica Course Our civic engagement work in the Eastern Caribbean revolves around an annual twelve- day study abroad course on sustainable development offered each March. This course has generated many ongoing collaborations with NGOs and community organizations in Dominica. Complementing the annual course and extending its academic enrichment in Dominica are research projects, some single authored and others with multiple authors.  More specifically, since 2005, eight master’s and honor’s thesis research projects in Dominica have operationalized civic engagement in a wide variety of ways. Indeed, the many research projects by Miami University students in Dominica enhance the annual course, and vice versa, as a few examples will illustrate. One student created a host family program in a village so that residents could reap more direct benefits from visitors, and to facilitate more direct cultural exchanges. Another student did a water quality analysis at ecotourism sites heavily used by cruise ship visitors. Yet another mapped the potential for landslides, which often reap havoc on the island. Here is a more detailed example. Emma Mullaney, a student in Miami’s geography Masters program 2007- 2009, first visited the island as a participant in the March workshop. This course on international civic engagement and sustainable development afforded a valuable opportunity for her to establish contacts and conduct reconnaissance work in preparation for her thesis research on local land politics during the following summer. Her nine weeks of fieldwork were guided by the same principles of international civic engagement: by living in a homestay for the entire research period, the researcher directed funds into the local economy and also immersed her studies in local spaces. The analytical framework was at once focused on local concerns – debates over land use practices and land tenure policy – and was also shaped by the interviews comprising the field work; the ongoing dialogue with participants in the study. Mullaney informed her methodology through consultations with local community organizations and the elected Carib Council and all products of the research, including the thesis and a published article, will be made accessible to the local community by placing copies in the Council office and neighborhood resource centers. Future versions of the annual course will be enriched by Mullaney’s collaborative work in the Carib territory and her deeper understanding of land politics in the Carib Territory. In all of these examples, international civic engagement began with an annual course which served to catalyze collaborative work towards social change and also to train future scholars according to the principles of mutuality and critical reflection. All of the student projects are enhanced by deep partnerships with local people who articulate their own needs, blend them with the students’ interests, and facilitate the research. Becoming part of the family during the home stay in the village of Boetica.