ThePalm Center was athink tank founded in 1998 at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara, that produced scholarship designed to improve the quality of public dialogue about critical and controversialpublic policy issues. It commissioned and disseminated research in the areas of gender, sexuality, and the military that had been published in leading social scientific journals and cited in the press. The Palm Center was a resource for university-affiliated as well as independent scholars, students, journalists, opinion leaders, and members of the public.
At its founding in 1998, it was known as the Center for the Study ofSexual Minorities in the Military. It was renamed in 2006 in recognition of a one million dollar endowment gift from the Michael D. Palm Foundation.[1]
The Palm Center's research has been cited on the floor of Congress and covered by newspapers and radio and television stations throughout the world. Palm scholars have delivered briefings and lectures at theBritish Ministry of Defence, theUnited States Military Academy at West Point, theUnited States Naval Academy, theUnited States Air Force Academy, theArmy War College and theNational Defense University.
The director of the Palm Center wasAaron Belkin.[2] The Center ceased operations in 2022.[3]
