Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship (ACES)

Suzanne Morse Moomaw

Inducted in
2016

University of Virginia

Associate Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning/Director, Community Design Research Center/ Academic Lead/ Appalachian Prosperity Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville  

Photo of Suzanne Morse Moomaw

Biographical Abstracts

As a University of Alabama doctoral student, Moomaw was part of the General Motors-UA initiative to save a local plant. This experience launched a career-long commitment to connecting higher education to society’s challenges.

Her joint appointment with the NCR Management College and the Kettering Foundation grounded her understanding of the intersections of higher education and business interests and cemented her research in higher education collaborations. At the Foundation, she directed joint research with college and university faculty on ways to prepare students for more robust roles in society. This collaborative worked with the National Issues on Campus initiative to produce campus discussion guides promoting deliberative dialogue.

Her early work provided a foundation to build a national partnership funded by the Exxon Educational Foundation to support and encourage classroom pedagogy in a range of disciplines around civic competencies and skills. The Public Leadership Education project engaged the service-learning community with college and university in identifying teaching methodologies that enforce and develop civic skills.

Her monograph, Renewing Civic Capacity: Preparing College Students for Service and Citizenship was considered a plan of action for institutions wanting to reinvigorate their civic mission. Her work helped launch a national conversation about the connections between campus life and the abilities of students to engage in the world around them.