Building an Engaged University: The River Building as a Spatial Reflection of Carleton University’s Social Mission

This thesis explores the use of space to identify the similarities and differences between the rhetoric of engagement within the university and the practices on the ground. This research emerges from tensions between shifts in the structure and purpose of the university as a social institution and a growing commitment to engagement evident in the rhetoric of the university. This thesis analyzes Carleton University’s proposed commitment to engagement, as presented in its strategic and academic plans, and the conceptions of engagement that are reflected in and supported by the design, mandate, and administration of the River Building. This thesis concludes that only studying the rhetoric of the university does not present an accurate picture of the university and that space can be used to further identify the similarities and differences between this rhetoric and the practices and policies implemented in a particular space of the university.