The Miami Student Visits and Showcases the Menard Family Center mission
The Miami Student Visits and Showcases the Menard Family Center mission
The Menard Center: A place to flourish civically and intellectually
by Reagan Rude | Senior Campus & Community Editor
August 22, 2023 | 12:00pm EDT
High school teenagers gather in a circle, engaged in passionate discussions of contemporary politics. Six college students work with a nonprofit to provide aid for displaced refugees. Another student assists a summer camp for homeless children, and another creates a documentary about the importance of public libraries.
These scenes may appear to belong in a civic utopia, but in reality, they are much more local — all have been the work of Miami University’s Menard Family Center for Democracy.
John Forren has been the executive director of the Menard Center since its inception in 2019, as well as chair and associate professor in the Department of Justice and Community Studies and a faculty affiliate of the Department of Political Science.
Forren said the center was created to involve everyone — students, faculty, staff and the surrounding community — in politics and civic affairs.
