Submitted by The Evergreen State College
The Evergreen State College recently joined the national consortium Project Pericles as a member institution. Founded in 2001 by educational philanthropist Eugene M. Lang, Project Pericles is dedicated to incorporating social responsibility and participatory citizenship as essential elements of college and university education.
Project Pericles works with its member institutions as they individually and collaboratively develop model civic engagement programs in their classrooms, on the campuses, and in their communities. Project Pericles encourages higher education to promote a more just, equitable, and compassionate society by facilitating student leadership at the undergraduate level.
“At its core, Project Pericles is about collaboration and leveraging our collective expertise in order to build stronger and more coherent curricular programs incorporating civic engagement and social responsibility. We are adding campuses that can significantly contribute to and elevate our conversations.” said Jan Liss, Project Pericles Executive Director, “Our board decided to extend an invitation to Evergreen given their demonstrated commitment to civic engagement and their interest in working with Project Pericles and its member institutions. We are extremely pleased to have them join Project Pericles and we look forward to working with their (new) president, George Bridges, and the entire Evergreen community.”
Evergreen’s Academic Grant Manager and Pericles Coordinator, John McLain has long worked with students on civic engagement as part of the Evergreen Student Civic Engagement Institute among other projects. He wants students to explore and cultivate “humility, empathy, persistence, hope, patience, self-reflection, and a commitment to embracing complexity,” or, as he puts it, “the virtues of civility and democratic engagement,” and he believes Project Pericles will provide an even greater support structure toward that end.
Evergreen sends hundreds of volunteers and interns into surrounding communities through a robust internship and independent study programs and also its Center for Community Based Learning and Action, through which students have consistently volunteered over 5,500 hours a year.
Evergreen joins a roster of 29 Periclean colleges and universities nationwide, which includes Hampshire, Pitzer, Occidental, Skidmore, and Swarthmore Colleges.
