Paul Sarbanes Lecture Series
PACE was launched in 1999 as a nonpartisan center to counter political apathy and to reinvigorate the idea of a state university as a place where civic and political understanding could be developed. As a nonpartisan center, PACE is committed to civic learning and engaged citizenship for the university and surrounding communities of Maryland's Eastern Shore.
When the opportunity to bring outstanding public speakers (Democratic and Republican) to campus for a full day of meetings with students was presented to us by Senator Sarbanes we saw it as both true to the founding principles and faithful to our mission of “civic learning” and “engaged citizenship.”
Senator Sarbanes himself inaugurated the lecture series in 2002 with his reflection on the unanimously supported Sarbanes/Oaxley bill that reformed the banking industry. The series continued annually until the Senator’s retirement and quickly became one of the most anticipated and popular lecture series on campus, culminating in electrifying 2004 lecture in a packed Holloway Hall by Representative John Lewis.
It is that spirit the new memorial Sarbanes lecture series hopes to re-capture.
[Coda: PACE was able to sponsor the lecture series financed out of its own limited resources and Senator Sarbanes’ and his staff’s generous gift of their time. Our new call for donations will help re-launch the series.]