Archived News
Provost Invites Faculty to A Capacity to Sustain Democracy Seminar
Responding to an invitation from Provost Rodney Erickson, 35 faculty members, administrators, and community colleagues are participating in the Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy's 2007-08 five session faculty seminar, A Capacity to Sustain Democracy. The seminar carries an implicit recognition that liberty requires more than a simple aggregation of its democratic parts; that democracy belongs in the curriculum; and that the value of a curriculum capable of sustaining democratic engagement rests on the work of the faculty. Directed by Jeremy Cohen, seminar guests will include Diana Mutz (Samuel A. Stouffer Professor of Political Science and Communication at the University of Pennsylvania), Nel Noddings (Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education Emerita at Stanford University), David J. Helfand (Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Columbia University), Nancy Kranich (Chair of the Centre County Public Issues Forum), and Sondra Meyers (founding president of Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania and Senior Fellow for International Civic and Cultural Projects at the University of Scranton).
To view the syllabus for A Capacity to Sustain Democracy click here.
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Public Scholarship Associate Emily Janke Elected to IARSLCE Board
Emily Janke, doctoral candidate in the Higher Education program at Penn State University and research assistant in the Center for the Study of Higher Education, was elected as the first doctoral student on the Board of Directors for the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE) (2007-2009 board term).
IARSLCE is an international, non-profit organization devoted to promoting research and discussion about service-learning and community engagement. IARSLCE was launched in 2005, and incorporated in 2007.
Read more about the association at www.researchslce.org.
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Constitution Day at University Park Sets Voter Registration Record and Engages Hundreds of Students in a Curriculum of Democracy
Over three hundred and fifteen students became registered voters during Penn State’s United States Constitution Day celebration September 17 at University Park. Working with the University’s Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy, students from Represent launched their autumn voter registration drive on the steps of Pattee Library. The non-partisan student group effort set a one-day voter registration at the University Park campus.
Constitution Day is a federally mandated recognition of the Constitution. This year students, staff, and faculty worked together to embed the Constitution’s blueprint for democracy into the curriculum. The results inspired thousands of students to participate in the days activities.
Click here for a complete report with photos.
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Penn State team attends American Democracy Project Workshop in Yellowstone
A Penn State leadership team from Delaware County, Erie, and University Park attended ADP’s Civic Engagement in Action Workshop: Stewardship of Public Lands in August 2007. Using Yellowstone National Park as a case study, the team spent a week in Yellowstone National Park with ADP leadership and the Yellowstone Association, studying controversies over bison, wolves, grizzlies, snowmobiles, and motorboats. Participants considered how-in a democracy-the interests of different constituencies are addressed and resolved. Can common ground be found? What is the role of individual citizens in public debate and in the formulation and execution of public policy? The Penn State Team also considered how programs for students based on the ADP module could be designed and implemented across Penn State. Programs and initiatives for the Penn State community are currently under discussion.
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Take Note with Patty Satalia on WPSU-FM: Bill Siemering Interviewed Sunday, June 25, 2006
Guest: Bill Siemering 
Bill Siemering was interviewed by Patty Satalia for Take Note when he visited campus April 3-5, 2006, as a guest of the Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy and the Office of Undergraduate Education. Bill co-founded National Public Radio and created its flagship program, All Things Considered. In 2000, NPR gave him the Lifetime Achievement Award for his "countless contributions to journalism and public radio." Today, Bill Siemering is helping to spread the power of independent radio to third world nations with his organization Developing Radio Partners, a non-governmental organization dedicated to supporting independent radio stations in young democracies.
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April 2006
Penn State Contributes to the Foundational Literature of Public Scholarship and Democracy
Jossey-Bass has announced the publication of A Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy, a contribution to the literature of public scholarship in the New Directions for Teaching and Learning series. The monograph includes articles by six Penn State faculty, a jointly authored contribution from five Penn State graduate students, and a thoughtful summing up by Judith Ramaley, a former official of the National Science Foundation and a current college president. The collection represents more than a half dozen disciplinary approaches from the sciences, social sciences, and the humanities and helps to distinguish between the good deeds of service, and the special obligations of student and faculty scholars in a democracy. The collection is edited by Rosa Eberly, associate professor of Communication, Arts and Sciences, and English, and Jeremy Cohen, associate vice president and senior associate dean of Undergraduate Education and professor of Mass Communication.
Click here for publisher's description and information.
Click here to preview the monograph in Microsoft Word format.
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