GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida’s Bob Graham Center for Public Service will host its first Robert A. Bryan Public Policy Summit May 16-18 at Pugh Hall on the UF campus. The student-run conference calls on the brightest and most politically engaged students from Florida’s colleges and universities to address critical issues facing our state.
Modeled after the National Campaign Conference, sponsored by Harvard’s Institute of Politics, the public policy summit seeks to promote leadership development and civic engagement. A select group of Florida students, who have been nominated by their academic institutions, will gather at UF to identify problems, propose solutions, and create an action plan for implementing change. This year’s topic is higher education policy in Florida. Participants will focus specifically on the cost of education, the impacts of technology, campus safety and student preparedness.
Keynote speakers for the weekend program include: Belle Wheelan, president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges; Jade Williams, lecturer, Dial Center for Written and Oral Communication; Lynn Leverty, senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science; David Colburn, director of the Bob Graham Center for Public Service; Bob Bradley, vice president for planning and programs, Florida State University; and Joseph Glover, provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs.
The goals of the program are: to establish a tradition of statewide intercollegiate political activism; to educate students about the pressing issues facing the state; to develop the competencies necessary for effective citizenship, to inspire students to seek solutions to complex challenges; and to promote the free exchange of ideas across the ideological spectrum For more information on the Future of Florida Public Policy Summit visit our website at www.bobgrahamcenter.ufl.edu/futureoffloridasummit.