People rarely mention Barney Fife and Tupac in the same breath, but Saundra Ardrey doesn’t hesitate.

The political science department head will encourage the connection between rural and urban cultures during her new seminar, When Mayberry Meets the Hood, in the fall.

The Board of Regents’ Academic Affairs Committee approved the creation of the Institute for Citizenship and Social Responsibility on Friday. ICSR seeks to address social issues through seminars, such as Ardrey’s, and service learning projects, she said.

Committee approval is a recommendation to the full board, according the board’s bylaws. The board meets on April 24.

The ICSR aims to bring administrators, faculty, students and staff together to analyze social justice issues and become civically and politically engaged, said Eric Bain-Selbo, philosophy and religion department head.

Western has several initiatives, such as Constitution Week, already focusing on citizenship and social responsibility, he said.

But ICSR will help coordinate efforts of these organizations and create a network between them, Ardrey said.

“We thought we should bring all the initiatives the university has under one umbrella,” she said.

This joining of forces will help make issues of social responsibility and citizenship part of the culture at Western, Bain-Selbo said.

Students can become a part of that culture by taking one of the ICSR seminars, he said. The one- to three-credit-hour courses will address immediate social concerns as well as local and global issues.

The ALIVE Center, a community outreach program, will help ICSR partner faculty with non-profit agencies in the community to provide service learning opportunities, Center Director Paul Markham said.

The service learning projects will provide students with personal experiences while asking them to analyze a larger issue, he said.

For example, students studying homelessness may spend a day working in a soup kitchen and then spend class time discussing what causes homelessness in the community, Markham said.

Faculty can use their service learning projects to conduct research and further their personal academic ambitions, Ardrey said.

The community can also become involved with ICSR through neighborhood learning communities, Bain-Selbo said.

Members of these communities from local neighborhoods and the university will meet to address social issues, he said.

“We can discuss really critical social issues with the understanding that the 83-year-old lady who lives on the west side of town across the tracks is an expert in her community,” Bain-Selbo said.