About

Why the Cardin Center Matters

The Cardin Center provides a trusted place where students and communities explore complex issues through informed dialogue and civil discourse. It prepares the next generation to move beyond frustration and cynicism toward informed participation, responsible leadership, and meaningful civic engagement.

Students learn not only why civic engagement matters, but how to participate thoughtfully, build coalitions, listen across differences, and contribute to stronger communities.

Civic Responsibility as a Core Action of Democracy, Not an Exception

The Ben and Myrna Cardin Center for Civic Engagement and Civil Discourse at Towson University advances civil discourse and strengthens democratic participation through student engagement, faculty collaboration, and community involvement.

Established in 2025 through a partnership with former U.S. Senator Ben Cardin and Towson University alumna Myrna Cardin, the Cardin Center reflects Towson University's longstanding commitment to civic learning and student engagement alongside the Cardin’s lifelong dedication to public service, education, and democratic participation. Together, those commitments provide a strong foundation for strengthening civic life.

Through programming, events, and experiential opportunities, the Cardin Center fosters an inclusive environment where complex issues are examined with intellectual curiosity, empathy, and mutual respect.

Senator and Mrs. Cardin co-chair the Cardin Center and provide thought leadership and strategic direction in partnership with Towson University leadership, faculty, students, staff, and community partners. Their vision is to prepare students and communities for the work democracy requires informed participation, responsible leadership, respectful dialogue, and a commitment to the common good.

Listening is a Responsibility

At the heart of the Cardin Center is a simple conviction: listening is a responsibility. Speaking out matters, but so does listening carefully, learning from different perspectives, and using that understanding to build stronger solutions.

Through public programming, student engagement, faculty collaboration, civic education, and community partnerships, the Cardin Center helps students understand that meaningful change requires knowledge, strategy, coalition-building, respect, and perseverance.

The Cardin Center meets students where civic life happens—in classrooms, public conversations, community challenges, and the moments when people must decide whether to retreat from disagreement or remain engaged with respect and purpose.

The Cardin Center supports student engagement, connects students with faculty expertise, hosts public programs on urgent issues, convenes leaders from journalism, public policy, democracy, human rights, and civic life, and creates opportunities for students to practice problem-solving across differences.

The Cardin Center's work is collaborative by design. Senator Cardin's role as a Presidential Scholar and co-chair of the Cardin Center allows him to engage students and faculty while complementing the academic work already underway. The Cardin Center strengthens the programs, partnerships, and civic commitments that already exist across Towson University.