Millersville University: American Democracy Project

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Civic Engagement
Register to Vote!!
Campus Audit
Hurricane Relief
ADP Report

Upcoming Events
Constitution Week
September 19-21, 2006

Past Events
Dialog on Civic
Engagement
January 26, 2006
Constitution Day
September 15-16, 2005

American Democracy Project (ADP)

Millersville University joined the American Democracy Project in late spring
2004. Our first activity was to send a team of faculty, administrators and staff to
the August 2004 national ADP meetings in Albuquerque, NM. Our steering
committee, composed of faculty, students and staff appointed by the Provost,
began its work in September 2004. In November 2004, we sent a team to
Bloomsburg University to participate in the System-wide ADP meeting. Our
focus for AY 2004-05 has been two fold: to foster and promote activities that
cultivate civic engagement at Millersville, and to collect data to describe and
assess the nature of civic engagement at Millersville University.

Activities that Cultivate Civic Engagement

Community Forums (selected events)
In conjunction with the kick off of MUs 150th celebration, ADP
promoted a community forum featuring Al Hunt, executive
editor of the Wall Street Journal, and Robert Walker, Wexler
and Walker Public Policy Associate, engaged students in
questions and answers about current issues (September 10th,
2004). Many of the questions focused on media coverage of the
political campaigns.
Is the Patriot Act Patriotic?a forum featuring Dr. Halstuk,
Senior Fellow of the PA Center for the First Amendment, C.
William Michaels, attorney and moderated by Dr. Richard
Glenn, Associate Professor of Government (September 14th,
2004).
The Right to Know: Accessing Public Information in the Patriot
Act Era.Panelist include Lucy Dalglish, Executive Director of
the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; Teri
Hening, media law counsel for the PA Newspaper Association;

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Borough Council now welcomes representation from Student

Senate at Borough Council meetings.
The Professional Development Day for faculty involved in
Womens Studies, African American Studies and Latino/a
Studies will focus on best practices of integrating community
service and advocacy research in the context on
interdisciplinary studies (April 28, 2005).
Students in an advanced writing course take on a community
issue and develop an action plan for addressing the issue. One
such project became the Lakuriqi Initiative for Civic
Engagement among Youths. Led by a Millersville University
senior, the project guides high school sophomores at
McCaskey High School in the development of projects to
address community problems.
Community Service and Service Learning (selected examples)
Service learning activities included 3,550 students who
volunteered 108,848 hours of service to 248 agencies with an
estimated financial contribution of $1,871,579.
MU was awarded a PA Campus Compact VISTA member who
assisted with the recruitment of 70% of the tutors for the
Migrant Education After-School program, as well as 12 faculty,
students and staff who assisted disadvantaged 11th graders
from the School District of Lancasters Gear-Up program to
prepare portfolios for college admission.
Through our Freshman Year Experience Program, 314 faculty
and first year students participated in the United Day of Caring
on behalf of the United Way in fall 2004.
11 students have committed to provide 450 hours of volunteer
service through the Scholars in Service to Pennsylvania. Upon
completion of the program, the students will receive a
scholarship award.
75 students participated in the Martin Luther King Day of
Service by participating in projects in the community.
Non-credit bearing voluntary community service activities
included 23,000 hours in initiatives such as 90 students
mentoring school-age children in the Second Mile Project, and
280 students providing 1,700 hours of service in the Into the
Streets Program.
The annual Empty Bowls Dinner is part of a national initiative to
address hunger in local communities as a part of National
Hunger Awareness month (March 21, 2005). Over the years,
the event has raised and donated more than $10,000 to local
organizations for hunger relief.
Curriculum Development
MU is in the process of revising the general education program.
The proposed program purpose statement calls for the holistic
development of our graduates so that they may become
responsible citizens in a democracy that exists within an
increasingly complex global society. The General Education
Review Committee is hosting a series of conversations among
faculty to discuss how we accomplish the purposes of general
education curriculum. A pilot freshman seminar program that
incorporates reflection on civic responsibility as an objective is
slated for fall 05.
Millersville University established the Center for Disaster
Research and Education (CDRE). In addition to student and
faculty research, grants and community service activities, the
Center is the home to a minor in emergency management. A
graduate program is under development. In conjunction with the
150th Anniversary celebration, CDRE hosted a 2-day
symposium on Homeland Security. Juliette Kayyem, head of
the national security program at Harvard Universitys Kennedy
School of Government, spoke on Are We There Yet? A
Progress Report on Homeland Security. Dr. Jay Davis, former
director and retired National Security Fellow for the Defense
Threat Reduction Agency, Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, spoke on Putting Science into the Fight: Getting
Tools into Hands and Hearts.

Data Collection and Assessment

Millersville University continued participation in the National

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Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) in fall 04 to obtain

comparative data on student engagement.
For the first time, Millersville University participated in the
Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) Faculty Survey to
obtain baseline data on faculty engagement.
The ADP Steering Committee is currently gathering data for a
campus audit of civic engagement. The committee is in the
process of planning a presentation of the findings to the
campus community in fall 05. In addition to NSSE and HERI
data, a team of public relations students is working to collect
qualitative data on engagement from Millersville freshman and
seniors and quantitative data from faculty. The student team will
propose a plan for promoting civic engagement at Millersville.
As part of the Student Senate budget request process, the
Student Senate President (who is a member of the ADP
steering committee) has initiated a process whereby student
organizations requesting funding from Student Senate are
surveyed about their civic engagement and community service
activities.
Diane Zimmerman Umble
ADP Coordinator
Acting Associate Dean, School of Humanities and Social Science
Phone: 717-871-5631; email: diane.umble@millersville.edu

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Millersville University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity institution;
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