Pierce Institute for Leadership & Community Engagement

The Pierce Institute for Leadership and Community Engagement consists of more than twenty affiliated programs that help to prepare thoughtful, committed, and socially-responsible graduates of Oxford College.  Our primary goal is to provide opportunities for students to assume roles of leadership and service at Oxford College and in the community by integrating academic study, leadership development, and community engagement.

The Pierce Institute began with a generous gift from the D. Abbott Turner family, and it sponsors its nineteen programs within four "Pillars":  Community Engagement, Leadership, Global Engagement, and the Pierce Program in Religion.

I.  Pillar of Community Engagement

• The Bonner Leaders Program for Service Based Scholarships provides service-based scholarships for approximately twenty Oxford students.
• The Ethics and Servant Leadership Summer Internship Program promotes the principles of transformative servant leadership.
• Theory-Practice/Service Learning (TPSL) courses integrate the theory of the classroom with actual experiences in the local community.
• Volunteer Oxford (VO) is a student organization that provides Oxford students with service opportunities that enhance learning about themselves and society.

II. Pillar of Leadership

• Experience in Cultivating Excellence in Leaders (ExCEL) is a leadership-training program for sophomores interested in improving, understanding, or developing their leadership abilities.
• The Oxford Student Leadership Program integrates leadership activities with academic coursework.  It includes a Leadership Lecture Series that brings to campus experts on leadership who assist students in developing ethical leadership skills and preparing them to assume positions of leadership on campus and in the community.
• Leadership Oxford (LO) prepares student leaders for their leadership duties in campus organizations.
• The Oxford Scholars Program (sponsored in conjunction with the Center for Academic Excellence is dedicated to the academic enrichment of Oxford College as well as to promoting a sense of community among Oxford Scholars, including leadership development.
• Oxford Research Scholars Program offers selected students the opportunity to work directly with faculty members on disciplinary research projects or projects related to scholarships of teaching and learning. 
• Summer Undergraduate Research at Emory at Oxford The SURE-Oxford program is an extension of Emory University's Summer Undergraduate Research at Emory (SURE) program funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
• Supplemental Instruction (SI) offers students in historically challenging courses the opportunity to attend weekly review sessions led by students who not only have mastered the difficult courses but who also have demonstrated their ability to lead future students through the course material.
• Faculty Development Funds for Teaching Excellence  Through the Office of Academic Affairs, the Pirece Institute funds faculty development projects that seek to improve Oxford's excellence in teaching and the curriculum.  
• The Pierce Award for Staff Leadership honors those staff members who demonstrate admirable leadership, dedication, and service to Oxford College and its students.

III. Pillar of Global Engagement 

• Global Connections is an Oxford College inter-religious program run by the Chaplain's Office that engages students in religious, ethical, and social studies in various communities around the world.
• Journeys of Reconciliation is an inter-religious project promoting relationships between Emory University and communities around the world that have a history of violence.
• Off campus courses such as Social Problems and Social Change in Developing Countries that have significant ethical components as well as other courses such as Geology and Culture in Scotland and Desert Geology .
• Oxford Scholars Travel Scholarships will be awarded (beginning 2008-2009) to Oxford Scholars who are selected to serve as assistant leaders for off-campus courses and programs.

IV. Pillar of the Pierce Program in Religion

• The Pierce Visiting Scholar Program with Oxford University is a faculty exchange program between Oxford College and the University of Oxford in England that brings notable scholars from the University of Oxford to Oxford College for a yearly lecture series.
• The Department of Religion consists of Dr. Eve Mullen (Asian Religious Traditions), Dr. Florian Pohl (Western Religious Traditions), and Dr. David B. Gowler (Biblical Studies).
• The Oxford College Chaplain's Office is directed by Rev. Lyn Pace.
• The Pierce Program in Religion Lecture Series brings to campus a number of distinguished lecturers in Religious Studies or related disciplines.
• Emory Studies in Early Christianity is a book monograph series that investigates early Christian literature in the context of Mediterranean literature, religion, society, and culture.  Dr. Vernon K. Robbins (Emory College) and Dr. David B. Gowler (Pierce Professor, Oxford College) serve as co-editors.
• The Samuel W. Mills Peace Lecture Series is named in memory of Samuel Worley Mills, a former student of Oxford College.  The Samuel Mills Peace Lecturer must be a Georgian who has contributed significantly to world peace and understanding.
• The Pierce Professor of Religion is one of the Distinguished Chairholders of Emory University.

All of the above programs must operate within one or more of the following rubrics:

1.   Connect students' intellectual, spiritual, and leadership capacities for positive civic engagement.

2.   Promote the intellectual rigor and moral virtues that engender an ethic of service, a concern for justice, and a desire for reconciliation.

3.   Encourage civic engagement and social responsibility through service learning and community service.

4.   Promote fundamental principles and practices associated with ethical leadership skills and collaborative decision-making.

5.   Support courses and programs that emphasize practical ethics, diverse leadership dynamics, and service learning.

For more information, please contact Dr. David B. Gowler (dgowler@emory.edu), Pierce Professor of Religion