Center for American Studies and Civic Leadership founded at CNU
News Release - September 24, 2007
Media Contact:
Emily L. Lucier
emily.lucier@cnu.edu
(757) 594-8428
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) - The Center for American Studies and Civic Leadership (CASCL) has been founded at Christopher Newport University. The Center will serve the Commonwealth and the local community by providing a forum for the true intellectual exchange of ideas relating to America’s foundation, evolution, and core values. Ultimately, the Center’s programs will provide a venue for scholars, policymakers, and students from across America and across the world to examine the American experience in order to promote active citizenship, democratic responsibility, and sensible leadership. According to the Center’s founding document, CASCL’s mission is “to foster greater civic awareness by promoting classical liberal education in the area of American Studies, including America’s philosophical roots, history, economic foundation, literature, and place in the wider global community.” President Paul Trible credited the founding of this interdisciplinary initiative to the successful work of CNU’s American Studies Development Committee, which was charged with the task of creating an interdisciplinary major in American Studies, and by the generous $250,000 contribution for the study of capitalism from the BB&T Charitable Foundation, based in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The University has named Elizabeth Kaufer Busch, Assistant Professor of American Studies, as the Center’s Director. Dr. Kaufer explains in the Center Mission, “The conception for the Center is premised on the belief that the perpetuation of democratic institutions requires a proper understanding of the ways in which America’s intellectual foundations have shaped the nation’s practices, values, and ideals.” Kaufer was a member of the CNU planning committee for the new major and minor in American Studies. She received a competitive $10,000 grant from the Jack Miller Center, an organization that aids institutions in the development and planning of centers for the teaching of America’s founding principles. Grant funds will support an annual conference series, the first initiative for the new interdisciplinary American Studies and Civic Leadership Center at CNU.
The $250,000 contribution by BB&T established a professorship held by Associate Professor of Economics Michelle Vachris. As part of the professorship, Dr. Vachris has organized the BB&T Colloquium Series on the moral foundations and current issues of American Capitalism. Additional information on the Colloquium Series will be announced in the near future. Ultimately, the Center plans to coordinate interdisciplinary programs for students, work with the BB&T Professor to support the study of capitalism, sponsor student internship opportunities, promote student outreach programs to local high schools, and continue its annual conference series. An Advisory Committee comprised of faculty from CNU’s History, Government, Leadership Studies, Classical Studies, Economics, and Master of Arts in Teaching programs has been hard at work creating the Center’s fundraising plan and drafting these new initiatives.
For more information about the Center for American Studies and Civic Leadership and the BB&T Professorship, please contact Dr. Michelle Vachris at (757) 594-7719 or mvachris@cnu.edu.
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 4,800 students in programs through its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Luter School of Business and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor. Visit us at www.cnu.edu.