Event Highlight
Lectures & Events
September 7, 2010
Candidate Forum for Maryland Congressional District 5
6:30 pm St. Mary's Hall
Co-sponsored by the St. Mary's County Branch of the NAACP
Human Rights Film Series: "Torturing Democracy"
Featuring a discussion with documentarian Sherry Jones
6 pm Cole Cinema
October 21, 2010
Maryland Politics: Past and Present
Theodore Sheckels
6 pm Glendening Annex
October 25 and 27, 2010
Candidate Forum for St. Mary's County
6:30 pm St. Mary's Hall
Co-sponsored by the St. Mary's County League of Women Voters and the NAACP
Film Screening: Tar Creek
Immediately followed by discussion of the film
6 pm Cole Cinema
Co-sponsored by Environmental Studies and the League of Women Voters
November 23, 2010
Conference on Turkish & Eurasian Affairs
A free conference to address critical issues affecting Turkish and Eurasian societies with national policymakers
9:00am | Daugherty Palmer Commons
Co-Sponsored by The Washington Review of Turkish & Eurasian Affairs
December 4, 2010
Student Workshop on Citizen Activism and Advocacy
A free one day workshop to learn more about advocacy and organizing including effective communication, values-based leadership, and strategic planning
Debating for Democracy: D4D on the Road, Center for Progressive Leadership
10:00am-4:00pm | Daugherty Palmer Commons
Co-Sponsored by Project Pericles
Program Highlight
In addition to our website, the Center has created a Facebook paged to allow us reach our constituency in as many ways as possible to up to date you on upcoming events and lectures. Through the applications available on Facebook, we will add photo albums from our events and lectures, maintain an events calendar, and update our fan group on any changes or announcements regarding the Center. Click here to find us on Facebook.
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Student Spotlight
St. Mary's Votes!
Since its inception in 2004, the club has registered over 850 young people to vote in State and National elections. In 2008, the club expanded its role in civic engagement to include working as election and poll judges during primary and general elections.
Announcements
Fall 2009 Events Spring 2010 Events
Welcome
The Center for the Study of Democracy focuses on different dimensions of liberty and democracy in national and international contexts. The Center regularly investigates and discusses Maryland democratic history and contemporary Maryland politics; international dimensions of democratic development and U.S engagement in world affairs. Students, faculty, and community members are encouraged to join our programs and participate in understanding our history and in discussing democracy in our world today.
The Center promotes a wide range of student activities that include curricula and coursework, special educational events and community activities. The Center currently provides support for the democracy studies minor at St. Mary's College and funds summer internship offerings in state, federal and local government service. The Center also promotes citizen engagement in the political process by supporting student organizations that advocate for student participation in elections and government.
The Center supports student organizations interested in the many languages of democracy by funding activities of interest to them-whether they are speakers, exhibits, literary or artistic performances. We ask students to join the discussions we host on campus and to recommend new speakers and dialogues on contemporary problems we face.
The Center strives to give SMCM students the intellectual and experiential foundations for all aspects of responsible citizenship and to empower them with the knowledge that they can make a positive difference. Through its programs and activities, the Center promotes a diverse set of democratic practices, including the importance of engaging in civil discourse, illustrating a wide range of free speech activities to enable respect of diverse opinions, service to the community and civic engagement activities for students.
The Center has also helped foster discussion and debate about what democracy means in the 21st century, while promoting scholarly discussions about Maryland's democratic promise and failures. The Center's programs benefit SMCM's nearly 2,000 undergraduates, the larger college and local communities, and Marylanders as a whole. International students from diverse parts of the world have been awarded scholarships from the Center while other foreign visitors have been hosted to investigate and explore American democracy.
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) We the People initiative awarded the Center a $500,000 challenge grant in September 2004. In 2008, the Center certified $1.5 in private and non-federal funds to receive the full $500,000 federal matching grant. The Center expects to reach a $2 million endowment in late 2009.
