In 2002, Salisbury University inaugurated "The Paul S. Sarbanes Lecture Series" which is designed to bring to the University each year a distinguished public figure who “will speak to the University and its surrounding community on issues of public life, with special emphasis on those issues that are of deep concern to our students.”

        This program, the brainchild of Drs. Harry Basehart and Francis Kane at the Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (PACE) at Salisbury University, seeks to counter the often-stereotyped images young people have about politics, politicians and the political process.

        Senator Paul S. Sarbanes, who grew up in Salisbury, was the inaugural speaker in October 2002, discussing "The Crisis in Corporate America: The Legislative Response." Sarbanes was the chief architect of legislation responding to the loss of investor confidence resulting from the Enron and WorldCom scandals. That legislation became the law of the land in July 2002 and is now known as the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act.”

        In March 2003, Senator Richard Lugar, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered the second lecture focusing on “The Changing World.”

        And in March 2004, civil rights leader and Georgia Congressman, John Lewis, delivered the third annual address.

        The mission of the Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (PACE) is to serve the public communities on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the students and faculty of Salisbury University by enhancing understanding of the public good, by fostering, in a non-partisan way, a more informed and responsible citizenry, and by promoting ethics and good government at the local and state levels through policy and polling research, through educational programs, and through projects in civic engagement. Ms. Pauline Gehnrich is the Managing Director of PACE and can be reached at (410) 677-5045 or by e-mail at pace@ssu.edu.

Sarbanes and Georgia Congressman John Lewis meet with Salisbury University students after the third annual Paul S. Sarbanes Lecture Series.