Practicing Democracy: Voter Education and Engagement on Campus
Join AASCU’s American Democracy Project in helping our campuses prepare students and communities to participate in the 2024 local, state, and national elections.
Diagnosing the issue.
Explore ways to address political polarization and enhance well-being on campus.
The momentous 2024 election season will bring many challenges to AASCU campuses, and this non-partisan project aims to encourage conversation, demonstrate best practices, and provide critical resources so that our campuses can build capacity and a campus culture that encourages engagement in building a strong democracy.
Register for any sessions that would enhance and assist your work.
- Voter Education Workshops
March 8: Reducing Political Extremism on Campus
March 15: How to Incorporate a Political Diagnostic in Your Work
March 22: Integrating Civic Awareness Across Disciplines - Voter Engagement Workshops
March 4: Know Your Ballot
March 11: Assessing Learning Outcomes for Student Civic Fellowships
March 18: Physical and Mental Health During Election Years
Who should attend?
- Faculty
- Staff
- Administrators
- Librarians
How will you benefit?
- Develop support systems and gain access to resources for voter education and voter engagement
- Integrate and apply voter education into learning settings across multiple disciplines
- Review, validate, build, implement, and assess voter engagement plans for campuses
- Connect to colleagues to build a campus culture that fosters voter engagement
Voter Education Workshops
Voter education is defined as building knowledge, civic skills, and democratic values. Sessions include best practices to build knowledge, skills, and democratic values; informational overviews; resource spotlights; and trainings designed to incorporate civics into curriculum and co-curriculum. They are designed for faculty and staff who wish to incorporate information literacy, deliberative dialogues, and issue-based discussions into their campus during fall 2024.
March 8, 2024 | 12-1 p.m.
Reducing Political Extremism on Campus
Explore evidence-based strategies to prevent and address supremacist rhetoric and violence, polarization, misogyny, and disinformation on campus. Led by American University’s Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab with support from the Lumina Foundation and rooted in the Building Resilient and Inclusive Communities of Knowledge Toolkit, this workshop will help expand the focus on reactive accountability toward proactive strategies to reduce the fertile ground in which harmful beliefs and behaviors take root and thrive.
March 15, 2024 | 3-4 p.m.
How to Incorporate a Political Diagnostic in Your Work
This session provides an opportunity for participants to participate in and learn about an online political ideology diagnostic and how it can be integrated in and out of the classroom. The diagnostic fosters enhanced critical thinking, and diagnostic de-briefing provides opportunities to promote political inclusiveness and explore dissonance.
Patrick
Dolenc
Professor of Economics
Keene State College (NH)
Teresa
Martinez
Interim Co-director for the Center for Community Engaged Learning
Weber State University (UT)
Leah
Murray
Director, Olene S. Walker Institute of Politics & Public Service
Weber State University (UT)
Kim
Schmidl-Gagne
Program Manager for Accreditation Processes and for Diversity and Multicultural Student Initiatives
Keene State College (NH)
March 22, 2024 | 12-1 p.m.
Integrating Civic Awareness Across Disciplines
Join us for case studies and discussion on how to incorporate civic education across the disciplines.
Riva
Brown
Global Learning Specialist, Center for Global Learning and Engagement; Associate Professor of Public Relations
University of Central Arkansas
Jessica
Traylor
Assistant Professor and Human Services Internship Coordinator
Gordon State College (GA)
Willie
Redmond
Professor of Economics, Chair of the Department of Marketing, and Director of International Business Programs
Southeast Missouri State University
Willie
Rockward
Department Chair and Professor of Physics
Morgan State University (MD)
Voter Engagement Workshops
Voter Engagement encourages and supports peaceful and meaningful participation in elections within our communities. Sessions include strategies for building, implementing, and assessing campus voting plans and; understanding legislation about voting on campuses. They are designed for campus leaders who support student and community voting.
March 4, 2024 | 3-4 p.m.
Know Your Ballot
Learn how to develop programming and materials that assists students in understanding the fall 2024 ballot format and initiatives.
VOTE411 DEMONSTRATIONS
Here are some helpful SAMPLE voter guides using VOTE411.org (put in the addresses listed to see the different guides)
- Indiana: 1617 Bartlett Ave, Evansville, IN 47711 – A good example of a three-candidate, three-party, mayoral race.
- Florida: 735 8th St. South Naples, FL 34012 – A good example of a NONPARTISAN city council race.
- California: 1705 Pacific Coast Hwy, Long Beach, CA 90810 – A good example of how you can use Vote411 to educate the public about ballot measure questions.
Elizabeth
Bennion
Chancellor’s Professor of Political Science/Director of Community Engagement
Indiana University South Bend
Kara
Dillard
Associate Director, Madison Center for Civic Engagement and Assistant Professor, School of Communication Studies
James Madison University (VA)
Elizabeth
Parmelee
Associate Vice President of Undergraduate Studies
Metropolitan State University of Denver (CO)
March 11, 2024 | 3-4 p.m.
Assessing Learning Outcomes for Student Civic Fellowships
A number of organizations support undergraduate students in nonpartisan voter engagement work. How, though, can your campus assess how differing learning outcomes merge with your institutional mission and values? Allison D. Rank (SUNY Oswego) will discuss the various learning outcomes and the degree to which programming supported by off- and on-campus actors incorporate activities associated with high impact learning practices. This session will help you craft student nonpartisan voter work that is strategic for your university.
March 18, 2024 | 3-4 p.m.
Physical and Mental Health During Election Years
The American Medical Association classified voting as a social determinant of health. Explore how universities can prioritize the health of students and employees by encouraging voting.
Practicing Democracy Series Partner
Have questions about the Practicing Democracy Series? Let us know.
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