Summit on April 4 to define public service goals over the next decade

A student-initiated summit that aims to build a shared vision for strengthening the role of public service in the mission and identity of the university, and to begin coming up with a roadmap to do so over the next decade, will be held on Saturday, April 4.

The Stanford Service Summit, presented by the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU), will feature two afternoon panels of faculty, alumni, students and community members experienced in high-impact public service. The first panel will focus on health, environment, public interest law and social entrepreneurship. The second panel will address global poverty, local community service, technological solutions to social challenges and national service.

In addition to engaging Stanford students, faculty, staff administrators and alumni, organizers of the summit invite members of the broader community who are interested in public service to attend.

"We intend for the summit to expand the circle of people who consider themselves a part of the public service community at Stanford," the event's objective statement reads. "The summit will consider public service broadly defined, to include all work that aims at impact in the public interest, from advocacy and policy-making to social entrepreneurship and direct community service."

The panel discussions will take place in the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building that afternoon. Then from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in Annenberg Auditorium, the summit's keynote event will feature an address by Steve Westly, a Stanford alumnus and former state controller of California, and "fireside chat" by Larry Brilliant, chief philanthropy evangelist at Google.org.

The overall goal of the summit is to produce a vision for public service at Stanford in the year 2020. In addition to the ASSU, organizing partners include the Haas Center for Public Service and the offices of the President and the Vice Provost for Student Affairs. In addition, all seven schools, each of the ethnic community centers on campus and a broad spectrum of Stanford student organizations are providing support for the summit.

This first-ever event is free and open to the public, but space for the panel discussions is limited. To register, go to http://servicesummit.stanford.edu.

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