2026 Teresa Lupinek Endowment Award
David Hoffman, Ph.D. ’13
Director, Center for Democracy and Civic Life
David Hoffman, Ph.D.’13, language, literacy, and culture, is the founding director of UMBC’s Center for Democracy and Civic Life. Before coming to UMBC in 2003, he was a practicing attorney and a leader in nonprofit organizations that addressed social challenges through community organizing. Initially as the first full-time advisor to the Student Government Association and later as an Honors College Faculty Fellow and leader of collaborative campus initiatives, he has developed groundbreaking, inclusive approaches to civic learning that have earned national recognition for UMBC and have inspired, empowered, and connected thousands of students, many of whom now serve in public leadership roles.
David serves as a member (and past chair) of the Steering Committee for AASCU’s American Democracy Project and previously served as a member of the National Advisory Board for Imagining America. In addition to UMBC, he is an alumnus of UCLA (B.A.), the Harvard Kennedy School (M.P.P.), and the Harvard Law School (J.D.).