Chris Myers Asch
Chris Myers Asch, co-founder of the U.S. Public Service Academy, will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 17, in the Geneva Room.
Asch is the co-founder of the U.S. Public Service Academy, which, when completed, would be a national civilian university modeled on military service academies to provide a rigorous undergraduate education to students who will then devote five years of civilian service as a teacher, park ranger, police officer, border agent or other critical public service job at the local, state, national or international level. Asch is a former member of Teach for America and the founder of the Sunflower County Freedom Project, an intensive academic enrichment and leadership development program for middle and high school students.
His proposal has been given wide exposure. An Aug. 30 article in Time magazine, “A Time to Serve,” featured the Academy as a vital component of voluntary universal national service. The idea also has bipartisan support: Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton and Republican Sen. Arlen Specter are co-sponsors of a bill that would allocate $164 million per year for the envisioned 5,000-student academy.
Asch holds a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a master’s and Ph.D. in American History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
This information is accurate for the time period that this person(s) spoke at Hobart and William Smith.