To the Editor:
Thank you for your newspaper’s Sept. 10 article on Salisbury University’s Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (PACE). I share the sense of regret expressed in the article regarding the Presidential Citizen Scholar program being put on hiatus, but that reality challenges us to bring the program back stronger than ever, and we already have some great ideas about how to do that. The article overall was positive and optimistic about PACE’s future, and I share that outlook as we regroup and expand PACE’s ability to get students active in civic life as a meaningful and integral part of their SU experience.
Thank you for your newspaper’s Sept. 10 article on Salisbury University’s Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (PACE). I share the sense of regret expressed in the article regarding the Presidential Citizen Scholar program being put on hiatus, but that reality challenges us to bring the program back stronger than ever, and we already have some great ideas about how to do that. The article overall was positive and optimistic about PACE’s future, and I share that outlook as we regroup and expand PACE’s ability to get students active in civic life as a meaningful and integral part of their SU experience.
PACE itself is not on hiatus, and I am very pleased to relate that Mr. Jacob Day has joined us as PACE’s Interim Managing Director. He is already at work developing experiential learning opportunities for students to participate in civic life by deploying their talents and energies at different levels of government, whether at the local, state or even federal level. PACE also will be developing programming, aimed at the campus and wider community, to illuminate issues that concern us as citizens. For example, 2014 brings another gubernatorial election to Maryland, and we are already at work developing programming related to that. PACE did a terrific job with that in 2012, I would add, in addition to working with colleagues across campus to ensure that all students were registered to vote. I have assembled a steering committee to help us strategize for the future, and we will engage the faculty in discussion of how civic engagement fits into the curriculum across the disciplines. Of course we would like to hear from students as well about the issues that concern them most.
Finally, I would note that PACE will be moving in the next few weeks, trading spaces with the Fulton School’s Environmental Studies Department. So PACE actually is returning to the main campus, and we welcome interested faculty and students to stop by their new offices on the third floor of Holloway Hall after they have a chance to settle in.
Sincerely,
Maarten Pereboom
Dean
Fulton School of Liberal Arts
Salisbury University