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BY MICHAEL GLUK

In print | September 11, 2008

Last May, Pat James announced her resignation from the College after years of serving as the Lang Center’s Associate Director of Student Programs and Training.

Following James’ resignation, former assistant professor Jennifer Magee has stepped in to take the vacated position.

Elizabeth Crow ’09, a Lang Scholar currently in Romania developing her Lang program, summarized the Center’s feelings on James’s departure and Magee’s arrival.

“I think everyone was surprised when we learned that [James] was leaving. She’s always been a big part of the picture for students in the Lang Scholars Program, but I think she wouldn’t want us to see her departure as a roadblock,” Crow said.

While Crow said she would miss James’s presence at the Lang center, she expressed excitement about Magee assuming her new duties in the position.

“[James] always projected such a positive ‘move on, move forward’ mentality, and this transition has encouraged us all to do so,” Crow said. “I miss having Pat right around the corner, but I’m also really excited to get to know Mrs. Magee.”

The Lang Center’s mission drew Jennifer Magee’s attention to the organization; the opportunity for such mentoring of and personal engagement with Swarthmore’s students opened the possibility of a career within it.

Magee earned her Ph.D. in conflict analysis and resolution, of which social activism is an intrinsic component.

She followed her education by serving as a rowing instructor at the University of Washington, then by matriculating to Swarthmore as an assistant professor in the Peace and Conflict Studies department.

“My career has always involved working with students in some capacity, whether in or out of the classroom,” Magee said.

It is while teaching Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies and a mediation course in the department that she was exposed to the Lang Center.

“My exposure to the Center was by Sarah Willie, [with whom] I had conversations about incorporating a community-based learning component into my class,” she says.

The degree of collaboration and mentorship both with the school at large and among the Center’s staff itself left Magee so deeply impressed that when Pat James’s sudden resignation opened an opportunity for employment in the organization, she jumped in to fill the position.

“It was a big decision,” Magee said, considering her love for working with students in all capacities, “but after realizing that here I would have the opportunity to help students understand and actualize their goals … I decided to throw my hat in the ring.”

The responsibility has been keeping Magee busy since the beginning of August.
“What I started off doing is going through Pat’s files on Lang scholars, reports, and newsletters […] I began by just reading through everything,” Magee said. “But, since students have returned, I’ve begun meeting with students every day.”

This past week, she hosted a Lang Opportunity Scholarship Information Session and a dinner for new Lang scholars, and she has been advising student groups interested in community service, social action, and activism, and working to support service-learning based initiatives on campus. Additionally, she plans to carry out “assessment research” on the efficacy of “the work we do here at the Lang center, and also on students’ individual projects,” she says.

Such a comprehensive assessment has never before been undertaken at the Lang Center, making it an innovative step in the Center’s development.

However, Magee said, “I haven’t started it yet because my first priority is to take care of students […] Just to reiterate, what we really strive for here is to connect people who are interested in making a difference in the world with the necessary resources. If you are about social action and civil engagement, come see me; you’re always very welcome.

The Lang Center, Magee said, “strives to be a hub of activity for students interested in social action, community service, and social justice.”

The institution perhaps most famously offers the coveted Lang Opportunity Scholarship, a grant awarded to only six sophomores annually.

The package includes, according to the scholarship Web site, “a budget of up to $10,000 to support a service project which, in the opinion of the staff of the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, will facilitate social change in a significant way,” eligibility for a paid summer internship, and even money toward graduate studies.

These grants are awarded to students with the capacity, creativity, and dedication to turn their visions of social action into a functional project.

Recipient Hansi Lo Wang ’09, for example, used his funding to launch the Chinatown Youth Radio Philadelphia.

“[It is] a pilot program,” Wang said, “for high school students to create radio stories about Philadelphia Chinatown, with the hope of the project continuing as a long-term, youth-produced radio program about Chinatown issues.”

It is this kind of activism that the Center seeks to foster. Access to the organization’s resources, however, is not limited to such an exclusive clientele.

In addition to the Lang Scholarships, the Lang Center provides transportation to groups who are involved in community-based learning — i.e. shuttles or train tickets to Chester or Philadelphia — as well as numerous smaller grants and scholarships.

Though Magee concedes that “the financial resources are what make this groups different and distinct,” one of the center’s most vital functions is to provide cost-free guidance to those looking to pursue social activism.

“Another recourse we offer is a great space for students to meet that is conducive to student collaboration. For faculty, in addition to meeting places. we offer support for developing community based learning,” Magee said.

Magee also encouraged student groups to seek out Lang as resource.
“Further, my colleagues and I are always available to provide advice to student groups interested in specific project,” Magee said.

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