Posted by Jean-Ann Kubler
A month after the college received a $250,000 grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations to encourage civic engagement, the money has still not been allocated.
The college has previously said that the grant money will help support the Responsible Citizenship Task Force, a group that is working to develop ways to integrate service learning into the academic curriculum.
The grant will also help fund the training of students and faculty members to work in the new civic engagement programs.
Administrators were scheduled to meet on March 14 to discuss more specific allocation of the grant money to individual departments and programs, but the meeting was delayed, according to Assistant Dean of Student Affairs David Karp.
When the meeting finally took place later in the month, no concrete decisions were made about how the money would be divided among programs and departments.
"We did identify potential candidates for being the director of the project and faculty fellow positions," Karp said.
The names of faculty members being considered for the director position are still confidential, but Karp said the administration is looking for someone who is tenured, a strong leader and committed to civic engagement.
"The fellows wouldn't have to quite meet this standard, but [will have to] champion the project within their divisions," Karp said.
A director will hopefully be chosen within the next two weeks, Karp said. Once a director is selected, the process of allocating funds will begin.
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation is a philanthropic organization based in Jacksonville, Florida. Established by the American industrialist Arthur Vining Davis, the foundation provides grants to educational organizations, public television, health care and religious organizations.