Project Pericles Inc. is a non-profit organization composed of liberal arts colleges and universities geared towards the ideas that social responsibility and participatory citizenship are essential parts of an undergraduate curriculum, in the classroom, on campus, and in the community.
Conceived by Eugene M. Lang, a retired businessman known for his educational philanthropy, Project Pericles seeks to counter the growing political cynicism and civic disengagement of young people. Convinced that higher education must promote social and civic engagement, in 1999 Lang organized a planning committee and consulted with college presidents, trustees, faculty, students, and others. By the end of 2000, the objectives, policies, and startup plans of Project Pericles were set. Ten colleges and universities became “founding Pericleans.”
The Boards of the Pericleans formally committed their institutions to the policies and objectives of Project Pericles. Their presidents formed a Presidents’ Council to cooperate in policy-making and program development and implementation. The planning committee became the board of directors. Distinguished educational, business, political, and community leaders became the national board of advisors.
In April 2003, the first ten Pericleans met in New York for the first national conference of Project Pericles. Delegates included presidents, provosts, deans, faculty, students, and alumni. In August 2003, Project Pericles established an independent office and hired Karen E. Holt as executive director. In November 2005, Jan R. Liss became its second executive director.
In 2004 and 2005, a select group of new Pericleans added to the diversity of Project Pericles. The spirit of Pericleans and cumulative experience continue to strengthen Project Pericles in its mission as a transforming force for higher education.
Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Together they are known as the Five College Consortium. The campus also houses the National Yiddish Book Center and Eric Carle Museum, and hosts the annual Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics.
Eugene Michael Lang was an American philanthropist who founded REFAC Technology Development Corporation in 1951. REFAC held patents relating to LCDs, ATMs, credit card verification systems, bar code scanners, VCRs, cassette players, camcorders, electronic keyboards, and spreadsheets, and filed thousands of lawsuits against other corporations to secure licensing fees or out-of-court settlements, a business practice often criticized as patent trolling. He was also the chairman of the board at Swarthmore College.
Stephen J. Reno was Chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire from 2000 to 2009. The university system comprises four institutions, the University of New Hampshire, Keene State College, Plymouth State University, and Granite State College. He is currently the executive director of Leadership New Hampshire, a leadership development program created to "increase civic engagement and strengthen communities through connecting and educating a diverse pool of engaged or emerging leaders about the state of New Hampshire".
The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. Since then, the school has grown to house five divisions within the university. These include the Parsons School of Design, the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, The New School for Social Research, the Schools of Public Engagement, and the College of Performing Arts which consists of the Mannes School of Music, the School of Drama, and the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music.
Mark Daniel Gearan is a public servant, lawyer, higher education expert, and the director of the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. From 1999 to 2017, Gearan was the president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, the longest serving president in the history of HWS. On March 1, 2018, Gearan became the 19th Director of The Institute of Politics (IOP) at Harvard University.
Civic engagement or civic participation is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern. Civic engagement includes communities working together or individuals working alone in both political and non-political actions to protect public values or make a change in a community. The goal of civic engagement is to address public concerns and promote the quality of the community.
Neil R. Grabois is a mathematician and a former university administrator. He held positions as the dean, provost, and chair of the department of mathematical sciences of Williams College; as the thirteenth President of Colgate University, from 1988 to 1999; as Vice President at the Carnegie Corporation in New York; and as the dean of the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy at The New School, where he served from 2010 until his departure in 2013.
University of Gezira, or U of G, is a public university located in Wad Medani, Sudan. It is a member of the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World.
The Pepperdine University School of Public Policy (SPP) is a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree program, located in Malibu, California with summer classes offered in Washington, DC. It is one of four graduate schools at Pepperdine University. The MPP is customized with specializations in Applied Economic Policy, American Policy and Politics, International Relations and National Security, State and Local Policy, and Public Policy Dispute Resolution.
The Talloires Declaration on the Civic Roles and Social Responsibilities of Higher Education is a document which commits its university signatories to expanding and strengthening their civic engagement and social responsibility work through teaching, learning, research, and service.
Leo Michael Lambert, Ph.D. is President Emeritus of Elon University, a private university located in Elon, North Carolina. Lambert served as Elon's eighth president from 1999 to 2018 and assumed the title of President Emeritus on March 1, 2018. He was succeeded by Connie Ledoux Book.
The National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening civic life in America. They pursue their mission through a nationwide network of partners involved in a cutting-edge Civic Health Initiative, annual cross-sector conferences, and engagement with a broad spectrum of individuals and organizations interested in utilizing civic engagement principles and practices to enhance their work. Connecting people for the purpose of strengthening civic life is NCoC's goal. At the core of NCoC's joint efforts is the belief that every person has the ability to help his or her community and country thrive.
Antioch University Los Angeles (AULA) is a campus of Antioch University in Culver City, California.
The University of Virginia Center for Politics was founded in 1998 by professor and political analyst Larry Sabato to put into practice his belief that "Politics is a good thing!" The Center for Politics is a nonpartisan organization based in Charlottesville, Virginia, which seeks to increase civic knowledge and involvement among all citizens. The Center for Politics is part of the University of Virginia and draws its funding from a variety of public and private sources. It has its own dedicated staff and building, operating out of historic Montesano, on property once owned by U.S. Senator Thomas S. Martin.
The Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire is located in Huddleston Hall, on the campus of the University of New Hampshire in Durham. The school publishes approximately 40 policy-relevant briefs per year, offers three masters degree programs, and encourages and facilitates constructive dialogue on divisive public policy issues.
The Center for Regional Change is a university-affiliated and non-partisan research center within the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The center also hosts a Distinguished Lecture Series annually in which scholars and leaders in the field are invited to share their knowledge with the campus community.
Daniel R. Porterfield is an American nonprofit executive, academic administrator, and government official serving as the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute. Porterfield previously served as the 15th president of Franklin & Marshall College, senior vice president for strategic development and English professor at Georgetown University, and communications director and chief speechwriter for the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary during the Clinton Administration.
The Center for Engaged Democracy is located within Merrimack College’s School of Education. The center develops, coordinates, and supports academic programs around the country that are focused on civic and community engagement. The center supports such academic programs through a variety of initiatives for faculty, administrators, and community partners. There are currently over fifty academic programs focused on community engagement.
Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York (CCNY) is a nonpartisan educational, training, and research center named for its founder, General Colin L. Powell, USA (Retired), a graduate of CCNY. The goals of the Powell School are to build leaders for the common good, promote civic engagement, and strengthen connections between the campus and neighboring communities.
William Barclay Allen is an American political scientist. He has been Professor of Political Philosophy and dean of James Madison College at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. He was a member of the National Council on the Humanities 1984–87 and chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 1988 to 1989.