North Carolina at Heart of the Martin Institute for Public Good

On Oct. 28, Rhodes Scholar and North Carolina native Madeline Dierauf ’25 will bring her world-class skills to the stage of Tyler-Tallman Hall, alongside the guitarist of the award-winning bluegrass and Americana band Mipso, Joseph Terrell, and banjo player and balladeer Murphy Campbell, all North Carolina-based artists.

The program — “The North Carolina Folk Tradition and the Public Good” — will celebrate Appalachian folk music traditions, and will be hosted by the Bacca Foundation Visiting Scholar and Artist Program, the English Department, the Music Department, and the Grier Martin, Class of 1932, and Louise McMichael Martin Program on Arts in Public Life at the Martin Institute. 

The Martin Institute also is committed to bringing North Carolina’s elected leaders to students. 

In addition to Leader-in-Residence U.S. Senator Thom Tillis — joining Davidson this spring — the Martin Institute will host two alumni legislators — a Democrat and a Republican — within a week of each other in mid-November. 

On Nov. 13, North Carolina Congressman Greg Murphy ’85, a surgeon, will talk about how his training as a physician impacts his views on medical ethics and public policy in conversation with Hugh Lee ’89, the Boone Family Director of the Martin Institute’s Neely and Jack Purcell Program on Ethics, Honor and Leadership. 

On Nov. 18, North Carolina State Representative Beth Gardner Helfrich ’03 will discuss how students can get involved in local and state government with Allison S. and Thomas C. Franco Director of Public Policy and Research and Political Science Professor Ken Menkhaus. The pair will examine the role of state legislators; while squabbles in Washington, D.C., capture national attention, state legislatures are making huge decisions that immediately affect constituents, from voting regulations to road construction. 

Elsewhere in the Martin Institute, the Allison S. and Thomas C. Franco Program on Public Policy and Research recently announced a joint project with the UNC School of Government's ncIMPACT Initiative entitled, “Small Towns, Big Ideas Revisited.” Davidson students and scholars will visit 23 towns featured in a landmark study from 20 years ago to analyze how public policy changes over the past two decades have driven economic and social development across the Tar Heel State. The project will provide actionable lessons for small-town leaders. 

The project also builds on work completed in summer 2026 as a partnership between the Franco Program and the Mulliss Center for Civic Engagement. Funded by the Cannon Family Charitable Trust, student Rural NC Philanthropy Fellows created a database on Western North Carolina’s needs, nonprofits and foundations addressing those needs, and Hurricane Helene response and recovery, ultimately culminating in a database of 100 non-profit organizations in 28 counties. They participated in the Mulliss Center’s Summer Community Leadership Institute. The Mulliss Center has over two decades of demonstrated dedication to North Carolina and frequently sponsors programming in support of non-profit organizations and community needs in the Charlotte area and beyond. For example, this fall, 18 students participated in an Alternative Break program in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity near Asheville, North Carolina. 

Last weekend, the Franco Program also supported the second annual Public Good Data Wrangle in partnership with the Data Science Department. During a 24-hour period, more than 40 students from a variety of majors worked together to analyze policy-relevant data from the North Carolina Rural Center. Students gave presentations on a multitude of subjects, including the relationship between data center construction and rural health care, the complexities of child care gaps in low-income counties, and the impact of Walmart closures on local businesses and economic growth.