|
When an autographed copy of former President Jimmy Carter’s memoir was presented to the Zach S. Henderson Library by the Peace Studies Faculty Learning Community, the group did so with additional hopes in mind.
Rosemarie Stallworth-Clark, the founder of the Peace Studies Faculty Learning Community, had the idea of bringing the Carters to speak at Georgia Southern.
“President Carter, the first Southern president in 120 years, set a tone for peace in the White House that drew me to his work and efforts,” she said. “He stood up for civil rights in the South where he and Rosalynn have been workers for peace in the finest sense of the word.”
Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, both born and raised in Georgia, founded the Carter Center in 1982.
The Center is nonprofit, nonpartisan establishment that addresses national and international issues of public policy.
For the past year, the Peace Studies Faculty Learning Community has been working on a proposal of an invitation to send to the Carters.
“The process for getting the Carters to come and speak on campus is anything but easy,” Jonathan Harwell, the Collection Development and Assessment Librarian at Henderson Library and former Peace Studies Faculty Learning Community facilitator, said. “You can’t just call or send an e-mail.”
Talking with a number of resources, discovering information about the invitation process and long hours of preparation has been the Learning Community’s strategy.
“We will soon share the proposal with the college deans on campus and with Lisa Leege, director of the Office of Sustainability,” Stallworth-Clark said. “We hope to have the proposal in the office of Dr. Teresa Thompson, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, by Feb. 1.”
Although the Peace Studies Community has been working on the proposal, it would be GSU President Brooks Keel who would initiate the process by extending an invitation to the Carters.
“The decision to take the proposal to President Keel rests with Dr. Thompson,” Stallworth-Clark said. “She has stated that she is willing to entertain the proposal for bringing the Carters to campus if we can get strong support from the Office of Sustainability and the College of Public Health.”
Stallworth-Clark believes it would be beneficial to students if the Carters came to GSU.
“It is Georgia Southern’s great loss that the Carters have never shared their work and visions here,” Stallworth-Clark said. “Our students need to meet the Carters and to learn from them. They have lessons to teach about leadership and civic engagement that we all need to learn.”
Jimmy Carter’s book, “Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President,” has been added to the other rare books in the Special Collections series located on the fourth floor in the library, but the donation is part of the Peace Studies Collection.
The Collection was started in 2008 by the Peace Studies Learning Community, and anyone can contribute to the collection.
|
