The Periclean Progress E-Newsletter

Volume 3, Issue 8 – May-June 2007

The Periclean Progress is a publication of Project Pericles, Inc., a not-for-profit organization that encourages and facilitates commitments by colleges and universities to include education for social responsibility and participatory citizenship as an essential part of their educational programs, in the classroom, on the campus, and in the community.

Director's Welcome

I am pleased to announce that President Brian C. Rosenberg of Macalester College is the new Chair and President Richard Guarasci of Wagner College, the new Vice-Chair of the Presidents' Council of Project Pericles. Rosenberg and Guarasci will build upon the progress of Project Pericles during President David A. Caputo's(Pace University) two-year tenure as Chair. On behalf of all of us, I want to thank David for his extraordinary leadership and vision.

This will be a busy summer at the Project Pericles national office. While continuing with the development of our signature programs, Civic Engagement Courses and Debating for Democracy, we will be organizing three major events:

  • The Periclean Program Directors' Conference will be hosted by Hampshire College and its President Ralph J. Hexter on October 3 and 4.
  • The annual meeting of the Presidents' Council will be held in New York City on December 12.
  • Project Pericles will host a Debating for Democracy (D4D) event in New York City during the first week in April for all colleges participating in D4D. The event will bring together students, faculty and civic leaders to discuss this year's theme, Democracy at Risk.

This May/June issue of the Periclean Progress concludes the academic year. The Periclean Progress will resume its publication with the fall semester. The staff of the national office hope that you have a good summer.

Jan R. Liss, Executive Director

A 2006-2007 Retrospective

This academic year has been a exciting and productive one for Project Pericles. Our progress is the result of the hard work and commitment of our Pericleans. A selection of accomplishments during the past year:

  • Meetings: On November 13th, the Ford Foundation hosted the inaugural meeting of the National Board of Advisors of Project Pericles. The meeting, "Building Our Future", was co-chaired by Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker and Kurt L. Schmoke and was held jointly with the Project Pericles Board of Directors. In December, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund hosted our fifth annual meeting of the Presidents' Council. In October, Pace University and The New School hosted a two-day meeting of the Periclean Program Directors.
  • Debating for Democracy (D4D): The Debating for Democracy (D4D) Student Forum highlighted student research and progress on three important issues: immigration, voting rights, and privacy rights surrounding online social networking websites. Students from the six D4D pilot schools, Bates College, Bethune-Cookman University, Elon University, Pace University, Wagner College, and Widener University, met on March 10 - 11 at Wagner College to showcase their initiatives, highlight their collaborative efforts, and share research findings.
  • Newly Designed Website: The redesigned Project Pericles website was launched in June 2006. The website is searchable and provides a number of new features for users.(www.projectpericles.org)
  • Civic Engagement Courses (CEC) : In June, the National Office announced that it awarded Civic Engagement Course Grants to 16 Periclean colleges and universities. This program, funded with the support from the Teagle Foundation and the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation, grants funds to faculty to facilitate the development, teaching and evaluation of 44 courses in more than 30 disciplines in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. After the courses have been taught and evaluated, a white paper based on the findings will serve as a guide for incorporating civic engagement issues into higher education curriculum. Courses will be taught at Allegheny, Berea, Bethune-Cookman, Chatham, Elon, Hampshire, Hendrix, Macalester, New England College, The New School, Occidental, Pace, Pitzer, Ursinus, Wagner, and Widener.
  • Governance: Nadinne Cruz and Richard A. Detweiler joined the National Board of Advisors. David A. Caputo, Brian Rosenberg and Mark A. Vander Ploeg joined the Board of Directors.

National Office Announcements

Pace University awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters to Eugene M. Lang, founder of Project Pericles, during its graduation ceremony at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on May 23.

Debating for Democracy Retreat: Sixteen representatives from the six Debating for Democracy pilot schools (Bates College, Bethune-Cookman University, Elon University, Pace University, Wagner College and Widener University) and Project Pericles staff were hosted by Bates College. Attendees discussed the pilot year of Debating for Democracy and designed the framework for the 2007-2008 school year. Next year's program will begin in September 2007 and will run through December 2008. The theme of the program will be Democracy at Risk. All Pericleans will be invited to participate.

David Rippon joined Project Pericles as the new Assistant Director. Previously, he was the Associate Director at the JK Watson Fellowship, a program of the Thomas Watson Foundation and was the Director of Student Affairs in the Office of Federal Student Aid at the U.S. Department of Education during the Clinton Administration. He received his MPA from Columbia University and his BA from the Colorado College. He can be reached by e-mail at david.rippon@projectpericles.org.

Periclean Schools in Action

Periclean Schools are increasingly becoming involved in initiatives to make their campuses better stewards of the environment. Allegheny College, Bates College, Chatham University and Pitzer College recently signed, as founding members of the leadership circle, the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment. The commitment is a challenge to colleges and universities to develop a comprehensive plan to eliminate their global warming emissions and expand educational resources for students in the fields of sustainability and the environment.

St. Mary's College of Maryland will be the first college in Maryland to use electricity from "green energy" only, thanks to a student initiative to fund the purchase of renewable energy credits. Students recently voted to tax themselves $45,000 a year and give the funds towards lowering the college's carbon footprint. The campus celebrated with an Earth Day Sustainability Soiree on April 21.

Project Pericles at Hendrix College has designed an exemplary program to involve alumni-Hendrix Alumni Doing Democracy The first program took place April 17 and featured two alumni who have successfully engaged in lobbying in the Arkansas legislature. Rosi Smith '78 is a professional lobbyist on health matters, presently serving as governmental relations director for Arkansas Children's Hospital; one of Smith's major projects was playing a vital role in the passage of the state's law banning smoking in most workplaces in 2006. Erin Vinett '98 was drawn to lobbying because of her interest in making breast feeding more acceptable in Arkansas; as chair of the Arkansas Breastfeeding Coalition, Vinett worked in her first legislative session in 2007 for the successful passage of HB 2411 that exempts public breastfeeding from the state's indecency laws.

Hendrix College is one of 11 colleges and universities nationwide that have been selected to participate in "Deliberation about Things That Matter," a series of events sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa for teaching and learning deliberative skills through the discussion of major issues of meaning or value. Events at the 11 institutions will be funded by a $100,000 grant to the Phi Beta Kappa Society from the Teagle Foundation.

Marcine Pickron-Davis, the Program Director at Widener University, and Robert Freiling, a Debating for Democracy student at Widener, presented at the American Democracy Project national meeting in Philadelphia. Marcine and Robert discussed the D4D project at Widener: "Dialogue, Deliberation, and Debate on Facebook and the First Amendment".

Occidental College started the Great Strides program this fall. The goal of the program is to educate young girls about healthy eating patterns and exercise in an attempt to curb the growing rate of obesity and dietary related diseases affecting American children today. Once a week, a group of Occidental students goes to Garvanza Elementary to work with fourth and fifth grade girls.

Presidents' Corner

Pace University announced that its President, David A. Caputo, retired from the presidency on June 3. "We are deeply grateful for Dr. Caputo's seven years of achievements and devoted service to Pace," said Aniello A. Bianco, chairman of Pace's Board of Trustees. Project Pericles is pleased that Dr. Caputo will continue his service to Project Pericles as a member of the Board of Directors. The Pace Board of Trustees appointed Stephen J. Friedman, dean of the Pace University School of Law, to the position of interim president.

Richard J. Cook, President of Allegheny College since 1996, announced that the 2007-2008 academic year will be his last year of active service as the college's president. President Cook is a founding member of the Project Pericles Presidents' Council and has been a driving force on the national stage in educating students to be engaged and productive citizens.

Chatham College has been renamed Chatham University. The announcement was made jointly by S. Murray Rust III, chair of the Board of Trustees, and President Esther L. Barazzone. Chatham University will be a coeducational university with a women's undergraduate college at its heart. "After tremendous growth in students and degree programs, with 1,700 students from across the country and around the world, as well as 41 bachelor's degrees, 23 master's degrees and four doctoral degrees, the Board of Trustees and the administration realized that Chatham was truly a university in every aspect but its name," Mr. Rust explained.

Website of the Month

National Issues Forums is a nonpartisan, nationwide network of locally sponsored public forums for the consideration of public policy issues. It is rooted in the notion that people need to come together to reason and talk - to deliberate about common problems. Each year the National Issues Forums Institute identifies several public issues of national concern. Nonpartisan issue discussion materials are prepared that are intended to stimulate serious public deliberation about these issues by the public. The Issue Books section of the website provides free nonpartisan issue discussion materials on a variety of subjects ranging from civil rights to education.

Resources and Publications

Do Something, a not-for-profit organization that works to inspire, support, and celebrate young social entrepreneurs and community activists, is accepting applications for $500 grants for young social entrepreneurs for community action and sustainability projects. Visit the Do Something for more information.

Coro Fellows Program: The Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs is a nine-month, full-time, post-graduate experiential leadership training program which introduces young public servants to all aspects of the public affairs arena. Sixty-eight Fellows are chosen annually through a highly competitive selection process. The Fellows Program in Public Affairs is conducted in Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and St. Louis. Applications will be available this summer at the Coro website.

theScoop08.com: Two students are launching a "new" kind of paper this August. According to their website, thescoop08.com will be "a truly new kind of newspaper, in which readers matter more than editors, in which stories come from the bottom-up, not the top-down, in which every word furthers our mission of satisfying the curiosity and real needs of our audience, and in which innovation matters as much as, if not more than, convention." The project is seeking more than 100 student writers, multimedia experts and editors. There will be correspondents for each of the candidates, states and important policy areas. Students interested in participating should visit the website.

 

 

The Periclean Progress is issued each month during the academic year and is posted on the Project Pericles website.
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"CLAIMING THE LEGACY OF PERICLES"®

Periclean Colleges & Universities
Allegheny College • Bates College • Berea College • Bethune-Cookman University
Chatham College • Dillard University • Elon University • Hampshire College
Hendrix College • Macalester College • New England College • The New School
Occidental College • Pace University • Pitzer College • Rhodes College
St. Mary's College of Maryland • Spelman College • Swarthmore College
Ursinus College • Wagner College • Widener University

National Office
Executive Director: Jan R. Liss

Board of Directors
Chair: Eugene M. Lang

Presidents' Council
Chair: David A. Caputo, Pace University

National Board of Advisors
Co-Chairs: Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker & Hon. Kurt L. Schmoke

The title "Project Pericles ®," and its embodiment in the Logo, are registered service marks of Project Pericles, Inc. All rights reserved.