The Plenaries: Reason #2 You Should Come to #ADPTDC13

By Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, National Manager, ADP

Yet another reason to attend the 2013 ADP/TDC National Meeting in Denver from June 6-8: our incredible array of plenary (keynote) speakers! We’re excited to welcome to our stage Denise Fairchild of Emerald Cities Collaborative; CIRCLE’s Peter Levine; four incredible students: Bianca Brown, Justin Machelski, Quinta Tangoh, and Rachel Wintz (all winners of our student video contest); and David Scobey of The New School for Public Engagement. We know that these speakers are certain to educate and entertain meeting attendees and to encourage us to ponder sets of thought-provoking questions as we consider our plans to act in the world as informed, engaged citizens and to help prepare others to do the same.

The Plenaries:

Thursday, June 6, 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Opening Plenary: Empowering Millennials to Create Change
This is the both the best of times and the worst of times. The worst is the unprecedented level of global change and the uncertainty and insecurity that come with change.  Our environment, our economy, our civil society are in a tailspin. The tools for mediating these new and often turbulent terrains are evolving slower than the change itself. The good news is that a new generation of idealists – the Millennials – are coming of age to navigate these murky waters. But this is only if we effectively prepare them for this brave new world. We cannot use old methods for addressing this new world; we need to redesign our educational system for major social and economic transformation. Millennials need skills to tackle tomorrow’s key challenges, including sustainability, civility and global citizenship, and above all, ambiguity.  These challenges are best addressed through experiential learning focused less on service-learning (learning how to do what is already being done) and more on innovating social change experiences for Millennials, so that they may deliver in these new times.
Presenter: Denise Fairchild, President & CEO, Emerald Cities Collaborative

Friday, June 7, 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Plenary Session:  A Defense of Higher Education and its Civic Mission
The liberal arts and the civic mission of higher education are under attack in this time of economic crisis and political polarization. In several states, policies are pending to raise tuition for majors that do not lead directly to jobs. We should not be offended by this kind of critique. We charge a lot of money for tuition, and citizens are entitled to ask what we produce for it. But we can proudly and forthrightly make the case for the civic mission of the higher education. The purpose of the liberal arts is to prepare people for responsible citizenship, and the best forms of civic engagement are intellectually challenging; they are the liberal arts in action. Research shows that civic education at the college level makes people into better workers. And engaged universities address many serious public problems, including unemployment, that matter to citizens and policymakers.
Presenter: Peter Levine, Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship and Public Affairs and Director of CIRCLE, Tisch College/CIRCLE, Tufts University

Saturday, June 8, 8:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
Plenary Session:  ADP/TDC Student Panel
Meet the winners of the ADP/TDC Student Video contest and hear them reflect about their own civic learning and engagement as well as suggest how our campuses can better foster learning environments that encourage all students to be the informed, engaged citizens our communities need.
Presenters: Bianca Brown, Western Kentucky University; Justin Machelski, Delta College (Mich.); Quinta Tangoh, Cuyahoga Community College (Ohio); and Rachel Wintz, University of Alaska Anchorage

Saturday, June 8, 4:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Closing Plenary:  Post-Traditional Undergraduates and the Copernican Moment: New Models of Engaged Learning for the New Majority Student
It has become a commonplace in our current educational discussions that the higher education sector in the U.S. is living a moment of dramatic disruption and change. One key aspect of this new “Copernican moment” is the emergence of non-traditional adult students fitting education into complex lives of work, community and family — as the new majority of undergraduates. How do we offer great, engaged education to these students? How do these post-traditionals serve as a laboratory for positive change as we live through the current disruptions?
Presenter: David Scobey, Executive Dean, The New School for Public Engagement (N.Y.)