Betty Morgan, associate professor of political science and public administration and director of the Elon University Center for Public Affairs, has received the Higher Education Leader of the Year Award from the National Society for Experiential Education. Details...
Morgan received the honor during NSEE’s annual conference in Nashville Oct. 12.
Morgan was cited for her work in a number of experiential education activities. In addition to connecting her courses in public administration to governmental and nonprofit organizations through course-based service learning, she has developed community-based research and transition-to-work components in her senior seminar course. For several years, she has led a Winter Term study abroad course that includes meetings with European Union officials and business leaders in at least four European countries.
More recently, Morgan has focused on the methods former parts of the Soviet Union are using to teach public policy and administration in a new, more fluid political environment. She has facilitated a student exchange program with the U.S. State Department that brings a Eurasian student to Elon each year, with the requirement that the student must take at least one service learning course and pursue an internship in the local community.
As a result of her Fulbright Scholarship in 2005, Morgan established internship opportunities in Lithuania, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine and the Russian Federation, taking the first group of Elon students to Lithuania for international internships in the summer of 2006. Morgan was also recognized by NSEE for presentations at several conferences in Russia and Europe on the role of experiential education in the training of public servants.