Nancy Smith

Palm Beach Atlantic University

Palm Beach Atlantic University is a private, independent university offering undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees in West Palm Beach, Orlando and online. The University is dedicated to the integration of Christian principles to prepare students for lifelong learning, leadership and service. As a community of learners, the University provides students with a rigorous educational environment that leads to intellectual, spiritual and personal character development. Founded in 1968, Palm Beach Atlantic has a tradition of support for community service and free enterprise principles. Workship is a distinctive community service program that responds to human needs with Christ-like action in the community and the world. Through community service, students can discern their vocation and develop a life-long habit of servant leadership. To date, Palm Beach Atlantic students have volunteered more than 3 million hours. Palm Beach Atlantic's general education curriculum, required of all students, includes a course entitled "Freedom in American Society," which examines the meaning and significance of freedom in the American experience. Students explore such topics as the historical roots of American liberty, with special emphasis on the close link between liberty and Christianity, and the nature of freedom as understood by the chief architects of the American political order. They examine the interdependence between political and economic freedom, in particular, the significance of free-enterprise capitalism for the preservation of liberty. The University's annual American Free Enterprise celebration honors individuals who exemplify free enterprise principles and perpetuate those principles in the marketplace.