The Civic Mission of Museums

Anthony Pennay is the Chief Learning Officer for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute (RRPFI), located onsite at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, CA. Each year, the Reagan Foundation works with more than 40,000 students and 2,000 teachers through field trips, programs, retreats, summer camps, internships, scholarships, and university credit. The mission in their education work is to “cultivate the next generation of citizen-leaders.” Over the course of the past eight years, we have served more than 300,000 students, more than 15,000 educators, and awarded more than $6 million dollars in scholarships. The Foundation’s education programs have earned awards from the California Association of Museums and the American Alliance of Museums. Student alumni have started clubs and non-profits, earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships, and been selected to moderate a conversation with former Secretaries of Education Arne Duncan and John King, Jr. Their partnership with a local school, the Citizen-Scholar Institute, has led to our partners winning the California Civic Learning Award twice, and two of the teachers being selected as Co-Secondary Social Studies Teachers of the Year by the California Council for the Social Studies. Pennay has served as the Chair of EdCom for the American Alliance of Museums, and the Chair of the Awards Committee for the National Council of the Social Studies.