FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MORSE TO ADDRESS DCC STUDENTS AT THIRD ANNUAL CONVOCATION

Dr. Suzanne W. Morse

DANVILLE, VA, September 12, 2007 — Dr. Suzanne W. Morse, President of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change will address Danville Community College students, faculty, staff and administrators at the Third Annual Fall Convocation on Thursday, September 20, at 11 a.m. The Convocation will be held on the school’s athletic field. The ceremony also features an opportunity for students to pledge their support for academic integrity, honesty and excellence.

As president of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, Morse leads a team that provides solutions to community and civic engagement problems in America. Her work as an author, speaker, and advocate for the importance of civic collaboration and citizen leadership to strong democratic communities is widely recognized.  Morse’s latest book, Smart Communities: How Citizens and Local Leaders Can Use Strategic Thinking to Build a Brighter Future (Jossey-Bass, 2004), uses examples of successful civic change initiatives in the United States to argue for a strategic approach to sustainable, long-term community change. She is a regular keynote speaker to national groups on topics ranging from ethics to community building to the civic engagement of higher education. Her articles and opinion pieces have appeared in national journals, as well as leading newspapers and trade journals.

Prior to establishing the Pew Partnership in 1992, Morse was at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation in Dayton, OH, where she concluded her tenure as Director of Programs for the Foundation. She also serves as a trustee of the Charles F. Kettering and Aicher Foundations and is a member of the Boards of Advisors at the University of Texas’s LBJ School of Public Affairs, the Hart Leadership Program at Duke University, Piedmont Virginia Community College, Virginia LEAD, and the Montpelier Foundation’s Constitutional Studies Center.

She is also a fellow at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond, serves as a fellow of the Center for Organizational & Technological Advancement (COTA) at Virginia Tech, and a member of the faculty of McGregor School at Antioch University. In 2002, she received the Ethical Leadership Award from the Content of our Character Project at Duke University.

Dr. B. Carlyle Ramsey, DCC President, said that the Convocation is a tradition which gathers together faculty, staff, administrators and students at the beginning of the school year. The event is also an opportunity to display academic regalia and other symbols such as the college’s mace.

“(Convocation) complements our Quality Enhancement Plan, which has the theme: Enhancing Student Learning and Success through Academic Integrity,” Ramsey explained.

For more information about the Convocation, contact the college at 434.797.2222, or click here