The New York Times salutes the American Democracy Project (ADP) on Sunday, February 5, 2012. The New York Times Knowledge Network, the educational division of The Times and co-founder of ADP, is publishing an insert on education which will reach an estimated 8,000,000 readers. The full back page of the insert recognizes the American Democracy Project and its community college sister organization, The Democracy Commitment.

George Mehaffy, Vice President for Academic Affairs at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and founder of ADP, remarked: “Since 2003, The New York Times has been steadfast in its support of the American Democracy Project and our efforts to produce informed, engaged citizens for our democracy. This salute is yet another example of the marvelous support of Felice Nudelman and her colleagues at The New York Times.”

The American Democracy Project offers a whole-hearted thank you to The New York Times Knowledge Network for their continued support and for their commitment to support education for informed, engaged citizenship in our democracy. Join us in celebrating our civic work together!

Please watch for ADP in The New York Times on Sunday, February 5^th!

I encourage you to submit your own work for review by the eJournal. You might also consider submitting an application to review for the eJournal. Read on for a full description of the eJournal of Public Affairs — a collaboration between the American Democracy Project and Missouri State University.

– Jen Domagal-Goldman, National Manager, American Democracy Project

The eJournal of Public Affairs is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, open-access journal published by Missouri State University and affiliated with the American Democracy Project. By providing an academic, nationally refereed venue for such work, the eJournal aims to advance the status of public scholarship.

Editorial

Andrew P. Lokie, Jr. and Marc Cooper, Ph.D.
Jan 17, 2012 • Volume 1, Issue 1

Because the missions of the American Democracy Project and Missouri State University focus on civic education and engagement, it seemed natural for the ADP to partner with MSU to publish an academic journal focusing on the public scholarship. The eJournal of Public Affairs seeks to advance academic discussions arising out of attempts by universities to democratize their curricula and research programs.

The Civil Citizen

Paul Lachelier, Ph.D.
Jan 11, 2012 • Volume 1, Issue 1

_______________________________________________________________________________

About the Journal

The journal is focused on scholarship related to engagement in the public arena and, in particular, to the following themes:

• Considerations of citizenship and what it means to be a citizen, including global citizenship and eCitizenship
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, problem solving, and leadership related to citizenship and civic engagement
• Assessment of civic-engagement projects
• The relationship between social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) and civic engagement

The journal publishes scholarly articles, with or without embedded multimedia in the articles, including research studies, best practices, reviews of the literature, and book reviews. The journal will also consider publishing scholarly and creative endeavors in alternate forms of media (e.g., videos). Please contact Andrew Lokie, Editor, eJournal of Public Affairs, or Marc Copper, Managing Editor, both at ejournalPA@missouristate.edu to discuss how to submit your materials to the eJournal.

Missouri State University will hold copyright to all published manuscripts. Authors will retain license to use their published manuscripts for other purposes and in other forms. Article reprints must include citation of original publication. Manuscripts submitted are reviewed on a rolling basis, so authors can email them to ejournalPA@missouristate.edu at any time they reach closure. Final manuscripts will be subjected to a copy-editing review prior to publication.

Mission Statement

The mission of the eJournal of Public Affairs is to provide college and university faculty, students, staff, and community partners with a substantive forum for publishing their scholarship related to civic engagement. The eJournal’s website is intended to be an opportunity for the exchange of ideas, resources, and activities related to civic engagement scholarship, practice, and pedagogies.

________________________________________________________________________________

Call for Submissions

The eJournal of Public Affairs invites scholars from all disciplines to submit work related to one or more of the stated themes:

• Considerations of citizenship and what it means to be a citizen, including global citizenship and eCitizenship
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, problem solving, and leadership related to citizenship and civic engagement
• Assessment of civic-engagement projects
• The relationship between social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) and civic engagement

Submit articles to:

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically via email as an attachment to: eJournalpa@missouristate.edu

• In the subject line, please put “Last name, date, and eJournal Submission.”
• In the email message, please include the full name and current affiliation for each author, the complete article title, and the article abstract.

Types of manuscripts considered

• Research articles
• Literature reviews
• Best practices
• Assessment of civic engagement projects
• Book reviews
• Theoretical analyses

_______________________________________________________________________________

eJournal of Public Affairs website: http://ejournal.missouristate.edu/

Subscribe via email (free): http://feeds.feedburner.com/msuejournal

I hope you’ll join us!

Jen Domagal-Goldman, National Manager, American Democracy Project

By Carra Cheslin, Earth Day University Campaign Coordinator, Earth Day Network

College and university students have consistently been at the forefront of the environmental movement, rallying and taking a stand for our planet. 2012 will be a critical year for the environment; as our climate and natural environment are rapidly changing, a host of major national elections occur, and the prominent Rio+20 Summit on Sustainable Development takes the world stage. Thus the time is now for universities to again lead the way in creating environmental change.

As part of Earth Day Network’s global effort to Mobilize The Earth™, Earth Day University is activating college students to join the MobilizeU movement and enable their campus environmental initiatives to have a greater impact than ever before.

MobilizeU is an international competition between colleges and universities that calls upon students to mobilize their campus communities around four weeks of environmental activism surrounding Earth Day 2012 (March 29 – April 29). Over the month-long competition, students will organize activities such as campus clean-ups, new voter registration drives and Earth Day events, as well as amplify environmental initiatives they are already working on at their schools.

Each of these activities will be broken down into a calculable number of “acts of green” – actions that either educate someone about the environment or reduce an individual’s carbon footprint. During each week of the competition, School Coordinators from each participating university will report the number of acts of green they generated and post a creative photo or video documenting their efforts to the MobilizeU Facebook hub. A central objective of MobilizeU is to build an international movement of student environmental activists. Thus, student Regional Coordinators will be working to initiate an exchange of ideas as well as a sense of community between students across the world.

Every act of green generated during MobilizeU will contribute to Earth Day Network’s global A Billion Acts of Green® initiative which will be presented to world leaders at the Rio+20 Summit on Sustainable Development this June. Thus, MobilizeU provides a platform for college students to amplify their environmental initiatives on an international level have a significant influence on global environmental change.

Students: Join the movement and Mobilize your U today as a Regional Coordinator or a School Coordinator.

You can view the MobilizeU YouTube video here.

You can download the MobilizeU Toolkit MobilizeU Tooklit.

Contact MobilizeU@earthday.org for more information.

ENGAGE: e Citizenship at UAA, hosted in the Center for Community Engagement & Learning and supervised by Director Dr. Judith Owens-Manley, has created an active group of ENGAGE Social Issue Liaisons, students committed to connecting faculty, students, and community partners around social issues and community goals and through social media.  ENGAGE Social Issue Liaisons interviewed faculty and gathered student and community information over the course of last year to generate our new website pages at www.uaa.alaska.edu/engage.  In January 2012 ENGAGE Liaisons will begin supervising 6-8 new service-learning projects in the Anchorage, Alaska community.  AmeriCorps VISTA Project Coordinator Kris Katkus is coordinating the ENGAGE Social Issue Liaison projects this year.

An Engaged University

ENGAGE took a departure from technology in October, 2011 and met person to person for our first ENGAGE Week, brought to UAA by one of our ENGAGE Students, Alyssa Logan, who attended the Impact Conference last spring in Deland, Florida at Stetson University. The IMPACT Conference is historically the largest gathering in the country focused on the civic engagement of college students in community service, service-learning, community-based research, advocacy and other forms of social action.  Alyssa attended a session from another campus that was doing a week of similar activities and came back to Alaska determined to create our own week!  ENGAGE Week was held Oct. 17-21 as 5 days of brown bag lunches, service activities, and discussion panels in the late afternoon/early evening focused on social issues of importance to the Anchorage community.

ENGAGE week was sponsored by the Center for Community Engagement & Learning in Academic Affairs and Student Life and Leadership in the Dean of Student’s Office.  Each day had a theme such as Poverty, Education, Health, Immigration, and Environment.  More than 400 students, faculty and staff participated in ENGAGE Week events, culminating in two special events on Friday.

Student reflections on ENGAGE Week confirmed our belief that this is a program that we would want to hold every year.  Their comments point to the connections, awareness, new learning, and call to action that we hope to create in our eCitizenship project and in events like this one.

• ENGAGE Week was an important series of events to me because it was a chance to connect with new people who share the same interests I have in environmental issues and sustainability. I had a great time during the Recycling Relay and met several people I expect to collaborate with for future environmentally-focused projects.
• It was truly amazing to see the reactions of students when they engaged in a visual activity representing the division of poverty in the world. Sitting back and watching their reactions, comments, and behaviors made it clear that this was forcing them to open their eyes to how things are for people in other places, or even other situations, than themselves.
• I had the opportunity to learn about courses I can attend right here at UAA that I never knew about before. I would definitely recommend these courses to my friends because it sounds fun, interesting, and incredibly relevant to Alaskan citizens.
• Only one other student who attended [Invisible Children documentary] had previously heard about the Invisible Children campaign. Now an entire room full of people knows about the longest-lasting war in Africa and is inspired to do something about the injustice we learned about. One of the students who saw the film decided to start a club at UAA about Invisible Children! This event was an amazing success at engaging students in their world.

Community Partner Speed Dating was one special event that was attended by approximately 50 community agency representatives and faculty, with each “couple” spending 5 minutes together brainstorming connections for community projects before moving on to the next partner.  These 5 minute discussions followed a breakfast and welcome by Louise Van Rhyn, an internationally renowned South African expert on building community.

Community members thanked us for hosting Community Partner Speed Dating, which we will include again as a culmination to ENGAGE Week next year. Agency representatives told us:

• We have gotten results – exposure, direct connections, new ideas.
•  This is a great event with many interesting conversations and short enough that it was easy to do!

Faculty members reported benefits and appreciation of the opportunity to meet others:

• I’ve gotten to talk with agencies whom I have met for the first time who provide new opportunities.
• It’s helpful as I engage with students . . . I’m more aware of what’s out there.

And students, who were invited to attend at the end of Speed Dating, were enthusiastic:

• I discovered SO many community organizations that I never knew existed in Anchorage. I went to speed dating in the hopes of being able to find somewhere to volunteer, and now I have lists of local volunteer opportunities that I can choose from!
• It was fun talking to new people about engaging in the community and finding that there are other people in the community who are excited about being engaged, too!

As a second special event on Friday, Dean of Students Dr. Dewain Lee hosted a celebration luncheon for ENGAGE week students and participants in a new student “Emerging Leaders” program that Dean Lee initiated this year.  Community programs featured during Engage Week included Homeward Bound; Project Puqigtut, an Alaska Native Education program; The Alaska Immigration Justice Project; and Refugee and Immigrant Services Program.  Student Clubs hosted the luncheon events: Oxfam Club, The Heifer Club, Social Work Coalition, Panhellenic Council, American Medical Student Association, Sustainability Club, and the Student Nurses Association.

For more information about UAA’s Center for Community Engagement and Learning, check out their annual report here.

I spent part of my day “off” cleaning up my neighborhood and talking with my neighbors. I also took time to reflect on King’s important messages about the importance of participation in our democracy and helping to forge it into the kind of society we believe it has the capacity to be — a more just, equitable, educated, and engaging public realm.

How did your campus commemorate yesterday’s federal holiday honoring the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Below are a few links to the reflections and actions of other people and organizations about MLK day. I’d love to hear from you!

• A SUNY Brockport class studying Protest performed service-learning in Memphis, TN over their holiday break. They visited Mason Temple (MLK:  “I have seen the Promised Land” and the National Civil Rights Museum. They also cleared brush and documented graves in an abandoned cemetery founded by former slaves on Friday and listened to a talk by Noam Chomsky. You can read students’ reflections on the course and their time in Memphis on their blog.

• University of Nebraska-Kearney recognized Martin Luther King Jr. Day with events and guest speakers.
  The Ethnic Studies Program and the American Democracy Project sponsored three special events for
  Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Dr. Haroon Kharem and Dr. Noel Anderson, both of Brooklyn College of the
  CUNY system were special invited guests for the occasions. The events were held Monday evening with
  a vigil at the amphitheater. On Tuesday evening Dr. Kharem and Dr. Anderson engaged in a discussion of “Education as Freedom,” along with a panel of participants including Dr. Potthoff, Dr. Louishomme, Rashon Harvey, Barbara Johnson and guests.

• UA Fort Smith American Democracy Project will host “A Celebration of Unsung Heroes” tomorrow.

• Northeastern State University students participated in volunteer work at local K-12 schools. Read the story here.

• National League of Women Voters:  Martin Luther King: A Crusader for Voting Rights

• Harry Boyte: Democracy Colleges as Schools for Citizenship (a reflection on the March on Washington)

The live stream video of “For Democracy’s Future” has been archived on the White House YouTube channel, and can be viewed here.

Northern Arizona University and Western Kentucky University representing their important civic agency work.

Secretary Duncan remarked on the importance of connecting college, career and citizenship. The efforts of Northern Arizona University and Western Kentucky University – two American Democracy Project schools – were highlighted in the panel presentations. George Mehaffy, Vice President of Academic Leadership and Change at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and founder of the American Democracy Project, led a breakout session about building and strengthening community-campus partnerships. AASCU President Muriel Howard was featured in a video that was screened talking about colleges and universities acting as stewards of place.

The event coincided with the release of A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future, a report from the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement.  The report, which was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, argues for civic learning across the curriculum and offers a call to action to colleges and universities to renew their long-standing mission to educate students for informed, engaged citizenship.

The event also marks the release of the Department of Education’s own report, “Civic Learning and Engagement in Democracy: A Road Map and Call to Action,” and highlights the American Commonwealth Partnership, which brings together schools, colleges, and other civic partners to promote civic education and civic identity throughout American education.

The new American Commonwealth Partnership aims to bring together thousands of universities, colleges, community colleges, schools and other civic partners to promote civic education, civic mission and civic identity throughout all of education in the United States.

Campuses and community partners are encouraged to host their own conversations about how higher education can reclaim our civic mission. Institutions are welcome to use the following discussion guide to frame their conversations:

• Discussion Guide [MS Word, 318K]

Email CivicLearning@ed.gov to learn more about the U.S. Department of Education’s efforts to advance education for citizenship and democracy or to share your own ideas about this important topic.

Registration is now open for the American Democracy Project’s 10^th annual national meeting June 7-9, 2012 in San Antonio, Texas. You’ll find important information below about dates and registration fees, how to reserve a room at the Marriott Rivercenter, and about how to submit a proposal.

Each year, the American Democracy Project National Meeting brings together a community of individuals committed to civic renewal. This year we celebrate our 10^th anniversary by reflecting on our most successful programs and initiatives, while also envisioning together new signature pedagogies and practices to strengthen our democracy. In a time of bitter partisanship and deep concerns about the future of our country, our work today is more important now than ever!

Our community college colleagues from The Democracy Commitment will join us in San Antonio as we again blend our annual meetings. Knowing that fifty percent of AASCU students come to us from community colleges, we look forward to enriching conversations about ways we can better work together to ensure that higher education is producing informed, engaged citizens for our democracy.

Registration Open for Annual Meeting

June 7-9, 2012 | Marriott Rivercenter | San Antonio, Texas

Civic Engagement 2.0: Re-Imagining, Strengthening & Deepening Our Civic Work

Registration for the American Democracy Projects 10^th annual national meeting is now open. The annual meeting begins on Thursday, June 7 with day-long pre-conference workshops and an opening plenary at 4 p.m. The meeting culminates with a closing speaker followed by a closing reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 9.

Registration Fees:
The registration fee includes all program sessions and materials; wine and cheese reception on Thursday; breakfast on Friday; breakfast, lunch and closing reception on Saturday; and refreshments at all breaks.

Individual fee: $545
Register as an individual if only one person from your campus is attending

Team Member Registration Fee: $485
If more than one person from your campus is attending the ADP meeting, you may use the Team Member Registration Fee.

Student Registration Fee: $395

Register Online to attend the ADP/TDC National Meeting
Download Registration Form (pdf)

You may also contact Felicia Durham at (202) 478-4673 to register for this meeting.

Hotel Accommodations

Reserve your room at our special group rate by May 15, 2012!

Marriott Rivercenter
101 Bowie Street
San Antonio, Texas 78205 USA

Phone: 210-223-1000
Toll-free: 800-648-4462
Fax: 210-223-6239

Hotel accommodations for the 2012 ADP/TDC National Meeting can be booked directly with the hotel by calling 800-648-4462 and referring to the group rate for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities American Democracy Project National Meeting.
You may also reserve your room online

Room Rate:

The special conference rate is $185 (single/double) plus 16.75% tax (current tax rate may change). To obtain this rate, you must call the hotel by May 15, 2012.

Check-in at the hotel is at 4 p.m. and check-out is at Noon.
Public areas and guest rooms are equipped with wireless, high-speed internet.
On-site parking fee: $25/day; valet parking fee: $33/day.

Call for Proposals

Due March 12, 2012

Civic Engagement 2.0: Re-Imagining, Strengthening and Deepening Our Civic Work

The theme for this year’s meeting, Civic Engagement 2.0: Re-Imagining, Strengthening and Deepening Our Civic Work, is inspired by web 2.0 applications (e.g., social media, blogs, Wikis) that are not only the next iteration of an existing application, but also facilitate collaboration, information sharing, and user-centered design. The theme poses the following set of questions: How can we make existing civic education and engagement efforts more student and citizen centered? What can we do to make ADP and TDC more interactive, participative and discovery driven? How can we harness new technologies to engage more students and/or to make our teaching and programming more effective? During our meeting in San Antonio, we will explore innovative ways in which to advance our civic work.

The 2012 meeting will be an outstanding program, with approximately 350 attendees, including provosts, other administrators, faculty members, students and community partners. The conference structure includes four plenary sessions, a set of featured speaker presentations and a series of concurrent sessions with multiple presenters.

Read the Call for Proposals (download pdf)
To submit a proposal click here

The American Democracy Project will be participating in a White House event launching the American Commonwealth Partnership (ACP) and marking the release of an AAC&U Report A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST.

This event will be streamed live on the internet on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST at http://www.whitehouse.gov/live.

The American Commonwealth Partnership is a new collaboration between national organizations and colleges and universities known for their commitment to advancing civic learning and democratic engagement, such as The Democracy Commitment, Imagining America, Winona State University, the Kettering Foundation, Northern Arizona University, CIRCLE, Western Kentucky University, NERCHE, and the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg College. The American Commonwealth Project is undertaking a yearlong “For Democracy’s Future” initiative to promote higher education as an agent of democracy and a force for public good. For more information about ACP, read a previous blog post here.

The ACP also has an active social media campaign, DemocracyU. All are invited to contribute to their blog (http://democracyu.wordpress.com/), and to interact with ACP on Facebook (www.facebook.com/democracyu) and Twitter (@democracyu).

A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future is a report that maps the next generation of college and university efforts regarding civic learning and democratic engagement. The report is informed by the collective recommendations of civic leaders who participated in a series of national roundtables sponsored by AAC&U, the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement, and the U.S. Department of Education.

I encourage you to tune into this important event. The American Democracy Project is honored to be participating in the American Commonwealth Partnership, a national effort to promote higher education’s democratic and civic missions.

The American Democracy Project will celebrate its 10^th anniversary during 2012-2013. Our 10^th annual national meeting will take place in San Antonio, TX at the Marriott Rivercenter June 7-9, 2012. The theme of the meeting is Civic Engagement 2.0: Re-Imagining, Strengthening and Deepening Our Civic Work. Registration is now open and you can register, reserve a hotel room, and submit a proposal here.

Our signature anniversary project will be a Civic Health Assessment and Action Plan Initiative, which will begin at the annual national meeting in June. The Civic Health Initiative will allow institutions to investigate the civic health of their own campus and local community. The Civic Health Initiative will also provide opportunities for campuses to develop and execute action plans in areas that in which they identify room for growth.

Our Stewardship of Public Lands Initiative will launch its 8^th week-long faculty-development seminar in Yellowstone National Park July 30 – August 4, 2012. Read more about it and how to register here.

The new eJournal of Public Affairs, a partnership between Missouri State University and the American Democracy Project, will officially launch in Winter 2012. The eJournal will be a space for peer-reviewed scholarship related to civic engagement. Volunteer to be a reviewer or submit an original manuscript:

• eJournal of Public Affairs_Call for Submissions
• eJournal of Public Affairs_Call for Reviewers

We will launch an ADP Book Club with an inaugural book discussion in San Antonio. Details will be announced soon!

In addition to our own work, ADP will continue to work with our community college colleagues at The Democracy Commitment (TDC), a new civic engagement initiative which currently has more than 50 participating institutions. TDC will again join ADP at our annual meeting in San Antonio! Read more about The Democracy Commitment here.

We’re busy making and keeping civic commitments and would love to hear your personal and institutional civic commitments as well!

Check out the new DemocracyU website, the internet home to the American Commonwealth Partnership of which ADP is a partner. The website highlights the inspiring work that engaged students are achieving at universities, colleges and communities across the country. The site includes students’ personal stories of off-campus activities as well as discussion and debate on the evolving role of university and college students in engaging in public work that benefits society. DemocracyU will officially launch in January at the White House as part of a project called the American Commonwealth Partnership (ACP), but is live now.

DemocracyU is asking students to sign up for their newsletter to stay in touch with the initiative. They are also are asking that students to answer this question: What problem most urgently needs addressing where you are and how can students make a difference? Share your stories, thoughts and ideas on Facebook and Twitter @DemocracyU and inspire other students to do the same. Also take a look at the DemocracyU blog! Spread the word about DemocracyU !

If you’re interested in sharing your ADP and other civic engagement work on the DemocracyU blog, contact Karin Kamp at karinkamp@gmail.com.

Blog posts should be a few hundred words and focused on civic work on and off campus.  These questions can serve as a guideline for their posts:

Briefly describe the type of civic initiatives are you working on.

• Why is this work important to you?
• What have you learned through the experience?
• Why is it important for students to be engaged in civic initiatives?

The ACP is part of a coordinated effort with the White House Office of Public Engagement, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and the Department of Education, to begin a year of activity called, “For Democracy’s Future – Reclaiming Our Civic Mission.” It will kick off on the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act, signed by President Lincoln in 1862, another year of crisis in the nation. The Morrill Act created colleges known for their commitment to democracy. As part of the initiative, the Department of Education is preparing a policy initiative to strengthen civic learning and democratic engagement in higher education and education broadly.