January 2006 newsletter

The Periclean Progress E-Newsletter
Volume 2, Issue 6 -- January 2006

Project Pericles ® Announcements

For Your Calendar: Many Pericleans will be among those convening in Washington, D.C. January 25-28 for the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). To see the entire Program for "Demanding Excellence: Liberal Education in an Era of Global Competition, Anti-Intellectualism, and Disinvestment," click here. For a list of panels and lectures featuring members of Periclean colleges and universities, click here. For a list of Pericleans attending, click here.

Action Without Borders (known through its website Idealist.org) is accepting registrations and workshop proposals for its 2006 C.O.O.L. Idealist National Conference at Vanderbilt University, March 3-5. Conference website.

A group of national organizations is planning "Achieving the Promise of Authentic Community-Higher Education Partnerships," a Community Partner Summit that will be held April 24-26 at the Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, Wisconsin. Contact Sarena Seifer of Community-Campus Partnerships for Health with recommendations of community partners to invite and suggestions of articles, reports, and other materials that describe community perspectives on community-higher education partnerships.

Congratulations: Hendrix College President J. Timothy Cloyd has been elected to serve on the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) board of directors. Cloyd will begin his three-year term in February.

Periclean People

A breakfast meeting of Periclean Presidents was held on January 6 before the day's sessions of the Council of Independent College's (CIC) Presidents Institute in Naples, Florida. Presidents Esther L. Barazzone (Chatham College), David A. Caputo (Pace University), Richard J. Cook (Allegheny College), Richard Guarasci (Wagner College), Trudie Kibbe Reed (Bethune-Cookman College), Larry D. Shinn (Berea College), John Strassburger (Ursinus College), and Laura Skandera Trombley (Pitzer College) were in attendance.

Advocates in ActionAdvocacy is primary among the skills of the most engaged citizens as they seek to express and promote their views in local and state government. Recognizing this, Chatham College has developed "Ready to be Heard," an advocacy training program for women from the college and community who want to learn how to affect policies at the local and state levels, interact with public officials, and participate in public affairs. On January 27-28, Chatham will hold a "Ready to be Heard" workshop that will include professional lobbyists as trainers and panelists, tracks for for-profit and non-profit professionals, networking, applied case studies and exercises, and take-home resource guides. Contact Chatham Project Pericles Program Director Dr. Allyson Lowe for more information.

War News Radio (WNR), Swarthmore College's student-produced weekly radio show that seeks to broaden understanding of the Iraq war and its impact on Americans and Iraqis, is an outstanding example of student advocacy. WNR, which is podcast over the web where it draws as many as 3,000 listeners a day, has been gaining national attention and media coverage and was picked up for broadcast by Carleton College in Minnesota and an FM station in Canberra, Australia, among others. Amelia Templeton, one of the student editors cited in a recent New Yorker article, has also had a piece on WNR on the NPR program "Justice Talking" as well as on the BBC program "The World." To read the New Yorker article, click here. To listen to WNR online, click here. If your radio station is interested in collaborating with WNR, contact Marty Goldensohn.

Do you have examples of Periclean-initiated actions that address issues of local, national, or international concern? Email us at
projectpericles@projectpericles.org.

Notable Program Activities: Campus, Classroom, Community

Campus: Berea College observed World AIDS day over several days and through several campus events in December. Students contributed to the Berea AIDS quilt project, received information on AIDS prevention and testing as well as the ONE Campaign, and participated in prayer, meditation, candle lighting, and the memory book in the school chapel. More.

Widener University honors Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with a series of events from January 16-21. As part of the "Living the Legacy" programming, students, faculty, and staff performed community service activities in the city of Chester, Pennsylvania and walked to the former Crozer Theological Seminary from which Dr. King graduated. Widener collaborated with nearby Swarthmore College in planning an interactive discussion -- focusing on the nonviolent teachings of Dr. King, members of both communities came together and talked about the future of student leadership in service, advocacy, and activism in Chester. The week culminates with Widener's Annual Martin Luther King Commemorative Service, which showcases essays by middle school students in the Chester area and announces the Martin Luther King scholarship to a Widener undergraduate student. For more information, contact Widener Project Pericles Program Director Dr. Marcine Pickron-Davis.

The New School will hold a national undergraduate conference on ethnicity and race March 30-April 1. The conference will serve as a forum for innovative academic inquiry by undergraduates through plenary and workshop sessions, and strive to foster a dialogue on practical applications for knowledge gleaned from the study of ethnicity and race. For more information, or to send in proposals for papers, email Professor Ferentz Lafargue.

Classroom: Pace University is offering a course this spring on changing public policy. In "Theory and Practice: Community Applied Legislative
Advocacy," Pete Sikora, the college outreach coordinator for Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, will teach students how to lobby and mobilize grassroots and media campaigns with the goal of passing legislation to lower the prices of prescription drugs. Alejandro Pedreira, a junior enrolled in the class, said it is a good start to increasing student civic engagement. "When there is a cause and it's strong, students will fight for it. This could be a model for other schools." Heather Novak, Assistant Director of Project Pericles at Pace, said the course was a good example of what Project Pericles is about. "It is a collaboration of academic and real-life process. The skills the students learn in the class can be applied to any field." This course -- and its relevance to the work of Project Pericles at Pace -- has been featured in The Journal News (Westchester, New York). To read the article, click here.

Classes resumed for Dillard University students on January 9 in and around New Orleans. Dillard faculty, through a program established by the regional technology laboratory of Southwestern University, spent two weeks at the Austin, Texas campus in December planning for the spring semester. Participants in the visiting scholars program focused on ways to make their course materials safe and portable electronically, including posting syllabi on department websites and holding office hours online. The Chronicle of Higher Education featured this work in a January 6 article by Katherine S. Mangan, "Resurrection in the Tech Lab." Chronicle subscribers may read the article here. For information on a $500,000 grant awarded to Dillard by the Teagle Foundation to help students return to New Orleans and to their studies, click here.

Berea College Professor and Project Pericles Program Director Meta Mendel-Reyes offered a service learning course "Rebuilding through Service: Lessons from Katrina" over Berea's winter term that combined classroom learning with a service trip to the Gulf Coast. Students considered questions surrounding relief work such as What is the difference between service to people and service with them?, How do race and poverty affect the impact of a natural disaster, and responses to it?, and How can services be offered in culturally-sensitive, culturally-specific ways? The students' final assignment was to send a report to their Congressional representatives. For more information, contact Meta Mendel-Reyes.

Fifteen students enrolled in Elon University's General Studies course \u201cVolunteerism, Social Justice & Civic Engagement in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina,\u201d which was taught over Elon's Winter Term. Ocek Eke, assistant professor of communications, developed the course after traveling to hurricane stricken areas with Elon's fall break service trip group. The course examined civic responsibilities of citizens in times of natural disasters with a focus on Hurricane Katrina. After spending a week in the classroom studying topics such as media coverage of Hurricane Katrina, students traveled to the Bay St. Louis/Gulfport, Mississippi area to volunteer. The group also made a one-day trip to New Orleans to visit the lower 9th ward and see other areas severely impacted by the hurricane and flooding. More.

"Public Voice: Re-exploring Democracy and Representation," an English Writing cours taught by Occidental College Professor Katie Mills, collaborated with a class from Eagle Rock High School as an exercise in civic engagement and community based learning. The students viewed the documentary film "Supersize Me" about the fast food industry and then completed assignments relating to health, eating, and exercise. Through these activities, the college and high school students increased their literacy of film, advertisements, and computer-generated information. For more information, contact Occidental Project Pericles Program Director Maria Avila.

Community: On January 21, Rhodes College students will stage a Mock Refugee Camp on campus to raise awareness of the plight of refugees around the world, including the hardships the refugees living in Memphis face and their need for support. Designed with help from the community, the Camp will be open to the public; it will serve food similar to what is available in Sudanese and Somali refugee camps, and will have a nutrition center, a food distribution tent, and a medical tent. Rhodes S.T.A.N.D (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) members, University of Tennessee medical students, United Action International workers, International Community for Refugee Women and Children volunteers, and Somali, Sudanese, and Afghani refugees will guide visitors around the Camp describing everyday life, giving personal narratives, and explaining the current situation and dangers for refugees. The refugee Camp is the final event in Rhodes' week-long series honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. "In the Spirit of Unity and Service -- Remember! Celebrate! Act!" Press Release. For more information, contact the Mock Refugee Camp coordinator, Rachel Boulden, a Rhodes senior and international studies major.

Six Swarthmore College students spent the final week of their winter break in New Orleans doing hurricane relief work under the auspices of the Common Ground Collective. Patricia James, a co-Program Director of Project Pericles at Swarthmore, invites Pericleans to contact her at pjames1@swarthmore.edu regarding collaborations on spring break and summer relief projects in the Gulf Coast region.

Innovative InitiativesStudents, faculty, and staff from Elon University, the University of Namibia, and the Polytechnic of Namibia have joined together to plan and implement a unique summit for proposing student-enacted solutions to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Namibia, Africa. The Summit -- which is being sponsored by Project Pericles at Elon, Family Health International, and the American Cultural Center of the U.S. Embassy in Windhoek -- will be held in Windhoek, Namibia from January 22-24. The Summit's goals include hearing, recording, and sharing the views of Namibian youth on the current struggle against HIV/AIDS, and creating a lasting, international network of students devoted to realizing a more just world for all. Summit delegates -- led by Dr. Tom Arcaro, Project Pericles Program Director at Elon -- have written position papers and proposed solutions that will be shared with politicians, relief organizations, and non-governmental organizations. For more information and materials generated by the Summit, visit the Summit's website.

Swarthmore College students are organizing the Beyond the Box 2006 conference "Retooling for the Revolution: Dismantling Systems of Inequality on Our Campuses, in Our Communities and Across the Nation," which will take place February 24-26 at the college. Beyond the Box was started by Swarthmore students to "bring together people from small liberal arts colleges to talk about issues of diversity and come up with specific plans and ideas." More.

Grants and Resources

Student Opportunities:
Academic Seminar: The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars is offering students from Periclean institutions the opportunity to participate in a program in Washington, D.C. from May 13-19 led by Dr. Harry Boyte, Co-Director of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota. "From Government to Governance: Rethinking Democracy, Citizenship and Politics for the 21st Century," will feature an array of speakers involved in promoting civic engagement and leadership and will focus on specific policy areas in which citizens can make a difference. Early Deadline: February 1. Regular Deadline: April 1. Apply.

Academic Internship Program: The Washington Internship Institute (WII) is offering Building Democracy, a semester-long civic engagement internship program in Washington, D.C. for students from Periclean institutions, in the Fall 2006. Building Democracy combines academic coursework and networking, and devotes attention to developing a lifetime of responsible citizenship. Early Deadline: April 15. For more information and to apply, contact Mary Ryan, President, WII.

Fellowship Opportunity: The National Urban Fellows (NUF) seeks applicants for its Fellows Program, which, through graduate academic education and a mentorship experience with the organization, prepares people to become leaders in government, nonprofit, and private-sector businesses to sustain and enhance urban communities. Fellows will earn a Master of Public Administration degree from Bernard M. Baruch College, and receive full tuition as well as a $25,000 stipend. Deadline: February 24. More.

Grant Opportunities: The New Voices National Fellowship Program, a project of the Academy for Educational Development, will award twelve salary-support grants to nonprofit organizations that offer innovative solutions to pressing human concerns in areas such as human rights, women's rights, and migrant and refugee rights as a way of supporting promising new leaders committed to social justice. Deadline: February 13. More.
The Tony Cox Community Fund seeks to encourage community-based AIDS organizations and cable outlets to partner in joint community outreach efforts, or to produce and distribute new, locally focused HIV/AIDS-related programs and public service announcements. Through Cable Positive, grants for such programs are available for up to $5,000. Deadline: March 10. More.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is seeking applications from graduate and undergraduate students for the 2006 Budweiser Conservation Scholarship Program, which will provide scholarships of up to $10,000. Awards will consider students' ability and commitment to develop innovative solutions that address today's most pressing conservation issues. Deadline: January 27. More.

Through the Third Annual National Teach-In, $200 mini-grants are available to middle and high schools for peer education in American democracy. Participating classes will write to their Congressional representatives about their work. The first 100 classes to register will receive the grants. Deadline: January 31. More.

Call for Nominations: Share stories about your civic engagement work in the wake of the Gulf Coast hurricanes in the Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement's Profiles of Engagement Investments. More.

Civic Ventures invites nominations for the Purpose Prize, five $100,000 grants to individuals over the age of sixty for their social innovations. The program will also honor sixty semi-finalists ("60 at 60+"). Winners will be announced in June at the national Experience Leadership Summit. Deadline: February 28. More.

Independent Sector invites nominations for the John W. Gardner Leadership Award ($10,000), which honors an individual who has advanced the common good by building, mobilizing, and unifying people, institutions, or causes. Deadline: January 31. More.

The Periclean Progress is issued each month during the academic year and is posted on the Project Pericles Forum.
To subscribe, email us at projectpericles@projectpericles.org.
To submit Periclean-related information for publication, email Heather Ohaneson at projectpericles@projectpericles.org.
"CLAIMING THE LEGACY OF PERICLES"®

Periclean Colleges & Universities
Allegheny College * Berea College * Bethune-Cookman College * 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 *
Swarthmore College * Ursinus College * Wagner College * Widener University
National Office
Executive Director: Jan R. Liss,
jan.liss@projectpericles.org
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.