David Hoffman, Assistant Director, Student Life for Civic Agency
David Hoffman, ’13 Ph.D., Language, Literacy, and Culture, joined the UMBC community in 2003 as a coordinator for leadership and engagement initiatives, and became assistant director of student life for civic agency in 2009. His leadership and dedication to helping students become engaged citizens has had a significant impact on the campus and garnered national attention for UMBC.
In addition to guiding Student Life’s programs, initiatives, and services for leadership development, civic agency, and campus involvement on a daily basis, Hoffman spearheaded the effort to create BreakingGround, a nationally recognized, cross-campus collaboration that promotes civic agency and supports students, faculty, and staff in making innovative contributions to their communities. Since its launch in fall 2012, BreakingGround has rapidly become a touchstone of campus culture and a connection point for people making a difference through research, teaching, and community projects.
Hoffman developed and co-teaches Civic Agency and Social Entrepreneurship, a model for empowering undergraduates to develop campus and community change projects. He received two Kauffman Departmental Innovation Grants to seed students’ projects and share lessons from teaching the course with faculty. He chairs the Division of Student Affairs Civic Engagement Task Force and coordinates UMBC’s active involvement with the American Democracy Project, along with several other national higher education collaborations promoting innovations in civic engagement.
He created and co-authors Co-Create UMBC, a blog that helps engage and empower students and build community on campus. He also co-created and serves annually as a coach/facilitator for STRiVE, UMBC’s homegrown, five-day intensive student leadership development and social change retreat.
Hoffman received his B.A. from UCLA, his Master of Public Policy and J.D. from Harvard University, and his Ph.D. from UMBC.