John Spencer Visits Washington, DC

Psychology Professor Ushers in Civic Engagement Initiative

While other UI faculty were making final additions to spring semester syllabi, John Spencer (Psychology, CLAS) was visiting the White House. In conjunction with his role as director of the Delta Center and his increasing work in the area of civic science, Spencer was invited to represent the UI as part of a new year-long initiative focused on efforts reclaiming education's public purposes. 

The American Commonwealth Partnership (ACP) is a broad alliance of higher education, P-12 schools and educational groups, philanthropies, businesses and others that are part of a coordinated effort with the White House Office of Public Engagement, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and the Department of Education. ACP's role is to "deepen the civic identity" of educational institutions, moving engagement from activities to strong commitments to education as a public good.

As director of the Delta Center, a multi-disciplinary center at the UI focused

on learning and development, Spencer (pictured at left at the Blair House in Washington, DC) is increasingly committed to making his work and that of his colleagues as accessible and relevant to the public as possible. Rather than working in isolation and then presenting findings, civic science is an approach that attempts to increase public participation in the production and use of scientific knowledge; it includes the public from the beginning.

Next summer, Spencer will direct the annual Obermann Summer Seminar in a two-week workshop that will bring the broader educational community--including parents, P-12 teachers and administrators, and those in the educational non-profit sector--together with national experts on school readiness. The group will examine barriers to school readiness in the community and work to develop a new Iowa school readiness campaign, Get Ready Iowa.

"In addition to planning a very real and useful community-focused campaign, the seminar will be a case in study in civic science--how basic and applied scientists can come together with community partners to solve real-world problems," says Spencer.

Spencer will lead the seminar with assistance from Harry Boyte, co-director of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship, housed at Augsburg College, and a Senior Fellow at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Boyte, who is also directing the ACP initiative, has been an architect of a "public work" approach to civic engagement and democracy promotion, a conceptual framework on citizenship that has gained world-wide recognition for its theoretical innovations and its practical effectiveness.

"Harry is a real force of nature," comments Spencer. "He has an impressive record as a scholar, and also fantastic real-world experience creating change and fostering citizenship." His participation in next summer's workshop, he adds, is a real boon to the project.