Content courtesy of Jefferson Public Citizens Program

A project proposed by Michael David Zoghby of Midlothian has been chosen for the inaugural round of funding from the Jefferson Public Citizens program at the University of Virginia.
Zoghby, son of Kathy and Greg Zoghby and a graduate of Clover Hill High School’s Math and Science School, is a third-year student at U.Va. majoring in architecture.

In their project, Zoghby and four other students will work with People Incorporated of Southwest Virginia to bring the green designs of the ecoMOD project to that region. The group plans to develop a modular house for mass-production that is affordable and sustainable.

Zoghby’s team is one of the 16 student group projects U.Va. is funding as part of its newly launched Jefferson Public Citizens program, which grew out of Commission for the Future of the University.

The program is “an intentional effort to connect public service to academics, to prepare students for life after college,” J. Milton Adams, vice provost for academic programs, said in March as the program was announced.

Conceived as a four-year academic public service program that increases in intensity over time, the program will support students and encourage them to reflect, he said.

“It’s all about college students learning and developing as people – not only intellectually, but personally, morally and ethically,” Adams said.

Program director Megan Raymond said the Jefferson Public Citizens program will serve U.Va. students who seek stronger connections between public service, citizen leadership and academic life.

“It is a comprehensive academic public service program that integrates students’ service and research experiences throughout their time at the University. Ultimately, it encourages and prepares them to work with local, national and international communities to effect positive change in the world,” she said.

First- and second-year students take courses designed with a community service component and engage in other civic engagement activities at the University. By their third year, they are ready to form a Jefferson Public Citizens group of their own, identify a faculty adviser and community partner, and launch their own community-based research and service project.

“Essentially, it’s a capstone project for students in their final year of the program,” Raymond said.

Rising third-year students applied for the 16 group research awards in late March.

A 16-member committee of faculty, students and administrators selected the winning projects.

The application process was “rigorous,” Raymond said. “Students in this inaugural class are top-notch.”

With their project awards, the student teams will now research their problems, collect and analyze data, propose solutions and when appropriate, implement them, Raymond said.

Faculty and graduate students guide the student teams, which will discuss their project results at an annual conference in the spring and present them in Public, a new journal created for this purpose also to be published in the spring.

One-third of the projects are international in nature; the rest will take place in Charlottesville or other areas of Virginia, Raymond said.

In all, 80 students (including graduate-student mentors) and 12 faculty members advising them make up the inaugural cohort of Jefferson Public Citizens scholars. They received awards totaling more than $350,000, part of the seed-funding for Commission on the Future initiatives approved by the board in October.

The Jefferson Public Citizens Web site at http://www.virginia.edu/provost/public/jpc/index.html has more information, including the list of projects and participants.