What is the Center for Civic Engagement?

The Center was designed to make USF St. Petersburg distinctive in its commitment to civic and community engagement through the development of the citizen-scholar model.

The objective of the "citizen scholar" model is to combine academic instruction with implementation of concepts learned in the classroom into the local community. The "local community" is broadly defined to include business, educational and social service agencies as well as the local "laboratories" faculty use to further their research agendas.

Our goal is to ensure that, within five years, every student will have the opportunity to take at least one course with a civic engagement component within in his or her major.

The Center has spearheaded a number of initiatives. During its inaugural year (2006-07 academic year) the Center organized a faculty development workshop series, sponsored a faculty course development grant program (funded by a Campus Compact grant), co-hosted a Civic Engagement Fair (with the Office of Volunteer Services) to assist faculty in providing service learning opportunities for their students, created a Community Partner and Service Learning Placement Directory, compiled a CCE Library of more than 200 books and articles for faculty, co-sponsored a number of service events with the CCE Student Advisory Board (e.g., spring break beach clean up, clothing drive), and hosted a number of events and programs (such as Constitution Day with Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, R. Fred Lewis, and a campus-wide voter registration drive).

In March 2006, the Strategic Planning Committee's Subcommittee on Community Engagement convened to discuss how USFSP will become distinctive in the area of civic engagement. Click here to view the Report and Recommendations document.

CENTER FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT STAFF

 Professor Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan

Founding Director

jsm2@stpt.usf.edu

Dr. Scourfield McLauchlan is an Assistant Professor of Government and International Affairs and Pre-Law Advisor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, where she teaches courses in American Government and Public Law.  Her latest book, Congressional Participation as Amicus Curiae before the U.S. Supreme Court, explores how Members of Congress attempt to influence Supreme Court decision-making in specific cases. In addition to her scholarly activities, Professor McLauchlan has extensive experience in American government and politics. McLauchlan worked at the US Supreme Court, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, the US Department of Justice, and the White House.  A veteran of several presidential campaigns, she has managed statewide operations across the US, from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon.

Hannah McKnight

FWS Graduate Assistant

hmmcknig@mail.usf.edu

CENTER FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT COLLEGE LIAISONS

Jay Sokolovsky, Ph.D.

College of Arts & Sciences Liaison

jsokolov@stpt.usf.edu

Dr. Sokolovsky is the Anthropology Program Coordinator, a cultural anthropologist with specialties in urban anthropology, the anthropology of aging, rural development in Mexico, and video documentation. His book, "The Cultural Context of Old Age" (1997) won the Kalish award in innovative publications. This past summer Dr. Sokolovsky was awarded a Senior Investigator Grant ($6496) from USF St. Petersburg for "Globalization and the Transformation of An Indigenous Region in Mexico," a study on how globalization is affecting youth and the elderly in a Mexican village. This will allow him to regionally expand his work surrounding the central Mexican Municipio of Texcoco. During his upcoming research trip to Mexico this May/June he will be presenting a talk on this research at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and presenting and discussing his new ethnographic video "Urban Garden: Fighting for Life and Beauty" at the Colegio de Postgraduados Desarrollo Rural in Montecillos.

Jay is continuing his ethnographic video work on ethnic identity of immigrants to Tampa Bay with a focus on Thai Americans and their connection to Buddhist Temples in the area. He is working on this project with undergraduate student Mike Meyers who is a dual major in Mass Communications and Anthropology. He has previously completed videos on West African and Italians in St. Petersburg.

Richard B. Smith, Ph.D.

College of Business Liaison

smithrb@stpt.usf.edu

Dr. Smith joined the faculty in 2003 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. (Economics) from the University of Connecticut in 2001.  His focus is in health economics with research interests in the role of patient knowledge in health markets, and the economics of public health programs. Prior to graduate school he worked for eight years a systems and investment analyst at the Travelers Insurance Cos.

Brianne L. Reck, Ph.D.

College of Education Liaison

breck@stpt.usf.edu

Dr. Reck, an assistant professor and coordinator of the Educational Leadership Development Program, Chair of the College of Education’s Community Partnership Committee, and member of the Administrative Council, joined the faculty at USF St. Petersburg in 2002.  One of her primary interests is developing innovative administrator preparation programs that address the changing nature of educational leadership in the context of high stakes accountability for student achievement.  Dr. Reck has authored articles and book chapters on the moral and ethical dimensions of zero tolerance policy implementation, educational reform, and instructional delivery models for administrator preparation programs.  Her research interestsinclude coaching and mentoring models for increased student achievement, supervision and professional development of teachers, the micro-political implications of high stakes accountability for distributed leadership, and the creation of affirming school environments for traditionally marginalized youth.

The Center's efforts in promoting civic engagement at USF St. Petersburg has been mentioned in USF Magazine.