MEADVILLE, Pa. - The Robert H. Jackson Center and Allegheny College have finalized a partnership that will include the center hosting Allegheny interns and students doing scholarly research.
The Robert H. Jackson Center is home to transcripts, interviews, scholarly research, historical artifacts and many other resources relating to the central role that Robert H. Jackson and his legacy have played - and continue to play - in domestic and international policy and law.
"One of the benefits of this new affiliation is having a collaboration whereby Jackson's legacy can be utilized by a wonderful academic institution," said Gregory Peterson, who founded the Jackson Center and now serves on its board. Peterson graduated from Allegheny College in 1973.
Serving as Allegheny's liaison with the Jackson Center is Brian M. Harward, director of the Center for Political Participation at the college.
"The goal of the partnership is to broaden and improve what the center and the college can offer separately," Harward said. "The Jackson Center has video, the documents and most important the access to individuals who lived the events Allegheny students and faculty study. The college brings the energy and creativity of students to a mostly archival center. Through affiliation, the emphases and strengths of the two institutions can be linked for the purpose of developing significant and exciting programs that heighten students' and the general public's understandings of Robert H. Jackson, his times, his jurisprudence and his legacy."
Already in the works through a collaboration with the Jackson Center are two events in spring 2013: a photojournalism conference and a mini-conference on the Alien Tort Statute.
Programs under consideration through the new partnership include an annual Robert H. Jackson lecture at the college, a Robert H. Jackson scholar-in-residence program and a symposium series with a focus on law, courts and international human rights.
Also under consideration is a program that would allow Allegheny students to work on their Senior Projects with scholars and practitioners identified by the Jackson Center as preeminent in areas that reflect Jackson's legacy, including civil liberties, executive power, congressional power to regulate interstate commerce and international human rights and law. The Senior Project - a significant piece of independent study, research or creative work conducted under the supervision of one or more faculty members - is a requirement for graduation from Allegheny College.
A number of additional new programs under consideration may be held in conjunction with the college's bicentennial in 2015.
For more information, visit sites.allegheny.edu/jacksoncenter.