The Civic Education and Leadership Fellows Program is a three-year program that allows the Maxwell School to host 60 faculty members from underserved universities, colleges, and other post-secondary institutions across the Middle East and North Africa. The aim is to promote civic engagement and media reform in their home countries via teacher training, curriculum development for related social science departments. This will be accomplished through the strengthening of access to information, broad research initiatives and improvement of the means by which students in the Middle East learn about civic engagement and democracy. Utilizing the Maxwell School's faculty and institutes, professional staff, and diverse student population, CELF Fellows with increase their knowledge about democracy and civil society, improve their pedagogy, and develop curriculum for their home institutions in order to communicate this knowledge to students in higher education settings.
The one- or two- semester academic program has both group and individualized components. One part of the program is a series of weekly seminars specifically designed to provide the Fellows with a comprehensive understanding of democratic values, how to manage conflicts and the role of civil society within democratic systems of government. A second component of the program is a series of weekly seminars focused on teaching skills, including pedagogy and curriculum development. The Fellows will also be provided with faculty mentors, based on their interests and expertise, and will meet with them on a weekly basis throughout the semester. In addition, Fellows will be supported to increase and broaden their professional affiliation networks; to observe and contribute as teachers in classroom settings; and to work on collaborative research projects with American academics.
The CELF program is run by Maxwell School's Executive Education Department with sponsorship from the US State Department. Fellows are likely to develop affiliations with the Moynihan Institute for Global Affairs’ Transnational Non-government Organizations Initiative and the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts, as well as Syracuse University’s Middle East Studies Program, the Campbell Institute, the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media, and the Convergence Center.
Welcome to our first cohort of CELF Fellows who will arrive at Maxwell for the Fall 2009 Semester!