Webcast Series:

Second in the Series -

Agents and Architects of Democracy:
An Empowering Heritage - Democracy Colleges and Freedom Struggles

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Democracy Webcast ImageOriginal Broadcast: January 28, 2010

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The webinar series, Agents and Architects of Democracy aims to spark discussion and action on the future of higher education and its roles as architects and agents of thriving democratic societies. Join us as we explore the history and future of civic agency, and the theory and practice of empowerment, as an organizing theme for higher education.

Acknowledging higher education’s complex past, this second webcast in the series, “An Empowering Heritage,” looks at forgotten histories useful for today’s change efforts: the ways in which colleges and universities have sometimes functioned as “free spaces” where people develop civic power and confidence. The webcast will explore the roles of higher education in the freedom movement, and look at the history of land grant “democracy colleges.”

Could a renewed focus on agency deepen civic engagement in higher education to include not only activities -- programs, centers, and courses – but also a democracy identity, institutions deeply grounded in their communities and regions and “filled with the democratic spirit,” as former Harvard president Charles Elliott once described his university? Will such an emphasis generate new forms of public scholarship, new approaches to engaged teaching, and partnerships which help communities to gain control over their future in a global environment? What are policy and social change strategies to foster empowering cultures and practices in higher education?

This fast-paced one-hour program will offer an opportunity for questions and answers during the program. Do you have a question now for presenters that you recommend they address during the program? Email your question to webcast.question@scup.org.

Handouts will include the presenters’ PowerPoint images and other supportive articles for your reference.

Who Should Attend This Webcast?

  • Those involved in the community engagement strand of higher education (service learning leaders, participatory action research groups, etc).
  • The engaged teaching/student as collaborator networks, and groups like AAC&U which have made this a major emphasis
  • Those interested in questions of public scholarship -- Imagining America institutions, leaders in disciplines (sociology, history, geography MLA, political science, Social Science Research Council) who have been pushing for "public sociology," "public history, etc.
  • Those concerned about the trends toward higher education becoming a private good, not a public good.

Moderator:

Harry BoyteHarry C. Boyte is founder and co-director of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship now at Augsburg College, and a Senior Fellow at the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota. For more than twenty years, Boyte has helped to organize and direct action research partnerships and projects aimed at developing practice-based theory for what works to engage citizens in public life. Boyte is also the founder of Public Achievement, a civic and political education initiative that aims at developing the civic agency of young people now in hundreds of communities in 23 countries. Boyte has authored eight books on democracy, citizenship, and community organizing.  In the 1960s, Boyte was a field secretary for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization directed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Harry Boyte is married to Marie Louise Ström, a democracy educator with Idasa, the African democracy organization.

Presenters:

Scott PetersScott Peters is an associate professor of education at Cornell University. He holds a B.S. in Education (1983) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an M.A. in Public Policy (1995) from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, and a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administration (1998), also from the University of Minnesota. His research program is centered on the study of American higher education’s public mission, purposes, and work. A key theoretical and practical problem his research seeks to address is that of the dilemma of the relation of expertise and democracy in the American academic profession. His latest book, Democracy and Higher Education: Traditions and Stories of Civic Engagement, will be published in 2010 by Michigan Sate University Press.

Herman BlakeJ. Herman Blake is the Inaugural Humanities Scholar in Residence at the Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston, SC). He is also professor emeritus of Sociology and African American Studies, Iowa State University. Blake received his BA from New York University and his MA and PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. All degrees are in Sociology. Blake is noted for his pioneering work in service learning in grassroots communities in California and South Carolina. His publications include the autobiography of Huey P. Newton, Revolutionary Suicide. His essay “Doctor Can’t Do Me No Good” based on his interviews with elderly descendants of African-born slaves in the sea islands of South Carolina has been republished in several anthologies.

How to Participate in the Webcast

To participate in this program, you will need two components: a telephone with speakerphone capability for the audio, and a computer with Internet access to access the presenter's guided PowerPoint presentation. You can invite as many people as you wish from your single site connection, making this a cost-effective way to share an educational program with a group.

After you register, you will be forwarded instructions on how to join the webcast several days before the broadcast. Watch for an email to come from: “Seminar Materials.” It will contain information about how to test your computer in advance for the visual component of the program and how to dial in to hear the audio portion of the program. It will also give you a link where you can print out a PDF of supportive materials for the program.

If you wish to test your computer now for the webcast, you can do it at this site:
www.krm.com/webextest.htm

One low fee allows a single link to the live broadcast. Share the program with a group at your site by using a data projector and sound amplification for your telephone for that single connection. A CD of the program can also be purchased as a package with your live connection for other shareholders who are unable to attend the live event.

Cannot attend the live program?

An archived CD from the program, or on-demand option (available on the Web) includes a complete recording of the audio and visual portions of the event, including handout materials. Please allow up to two business days following the event for editing for the on-demand option.

To register, click here:

Single Site Connection: $169 USD 
Single Site Connection AND archived CD from the program: $253.50 USD
Archived CD (or on-demand): $169 USD

Miss a Webcast?  Order past sessions from the "Agents and Architects of Democracy" Series:

#1. The Democracy Mission of Higher Education
Order Archived CD-Rom $169.00 USD

This webcast is produced in collaboration with the following:

Questions? Please contact Kate Hanson at kate.hanson@scup.org, 734.764.2008