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Message from the Director
This is an exciting moment in the history of the Center for the Study of Citizenship. Since the last biennial report, the Center took significant strides toward fulfilling its educational, research, and public missions. In addition to expanding our annual Conference in Citizenship Studies to accommodate a increasing number of scholars in the field, we now have an audio archive of Center-sponsored programs available online at our newly redesigned website. We are also continuing to offer stimulating programming such as our annual Citizenship and Constitution Day Lecture, Corporate Citizenship Symposium, and Theatre and Citizenship Series—all with the goal of reaching a diverse audience of students, scholars, businesspeople, and engaged community members.
If the Center’s achievements thus far are considerable, its future appears even brighter. The Center expects to enhance citizenship education in the K-12 schools by introducing a summer teacher’s institute about citizenship in cooperation with schools in southeastern Michigan. The products of the teachers’ work will become available to educators everywhere through the Center’s website. In addition, the Center, in collaboration with the University’s Honors Program and the Technology Resource Center, will use digital technology to strengthen service learning in the Honors Program: the goal will be change in curriculum that can be used throughout Wayne State and at other colleges and universities. The Center, too, is establishing new programs on the relationship between citizenship and journalism. Developed in partnership with local media professionals and the journalism program in the Department of Communication, our spring conference on civic media will be highlighted by the distinguished television and print journalist Nick Clooney. Finally, the Center will be sponsoring H-Citizenship, an online humanities network that will draw together scholars and interested people outside of the academy into an international conversation about citizenship. Together, these initiatives will move the Center closer to becoming an international leader in the field of citizenship studies.
Marc W. Kruman
Detroit, Michigan
September 17, 2007 – Citizenship Day
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