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 MU’s 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; Mary McDaniel, attorney for PA State Police and Greg Szczyrbak, MU librarian (March 22, 2005). This forum and the one above were ADP collaborations with the League of Women Voters of Lancaster County and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.
    • Students, faculty, local school teachers and administrators attended a lively panel of school officials, educators and legislators to discuss the ramifications of “Not Child Left Behind” for future teachers and school districts (February 9, 2005).
    • As part of the 150th celebration, the Lockey Lecture featured a point/counterpoint conversation on current issues in education with William Bennett and Richard Riley, former U.S. Secretaries of Education (March 16, 2005).
  • Voter Registration Drives
    • During the fall semester, both student and faculty organizations staffed voter registration tables at the Student Memorial Center. The College Democrats, the College Republicans and APSCUF all registered students to vote.
    • Students in a Political Communication course volunteered for local campaign organizations; some were involved in community registration drives.
  • Faculty and Student Development
    • Community-based research will be the theme of sessions with Dr. Barbara Jacoby, Director of the Office of Community Service-Learning, University of Maryland. The day will conclude with the annual Community and Academic Partnerships Dinner, featuring student presentations on their experiences with service learning and community-based research (April 7, 2005).
    • Student Senate has initiated efforts to improve town-gown relationships. As a result of initiatives of Student Senate, the Borough Council now welcomes representation from Student Senate at Borough Council meetings.
    • The Professional Development Day for faculty involved in Women’s 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 Lancaster’s 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 University’s 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 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