Citizenship Under Siege Webinar Series – RSVP today

Clashes Over Citizenship: Promoting, Listening, Learning, and Engagement
A Webinar Series of the Citizenship Under Siege Project

The U.S. Constitution’s preamble speaks of “We the People”—but who is considered part of that sacred circle, and how has this group varied over time? When national identity is hotly contested, what does it mean to experience citizenship as partial, denied, or fully acknowledged? How can the humanities illuminate differing narratives and open up space for understanding, connections, and shared visions of the future?

The Association of American Colleges and Universities and The Democracy Commitment invite faculty, staff, students, and campus community partners to join in one or all of three FREE webinars. These events are designed to expand campus expertise on how to hold constructive conversations about contentious issues and how to institute practices in and out of the classroom that foster engagement across differences.  Register TODAY and join us!

Tomorrow’s Webinar:
Webinar #1: From Fractious Differences to Engaged Dialogues 
October 13, 2016 | 3:00–4:00 p.m. Eastern Time

How can texts and techniques from the humanities disrupt unexamined positions, put human faces to abstract ideas, and help open up spaces where dialogue and consensus might emerge on historic and contemporary questions about citizenship and who deserves it? What models exist for training dialogue facilitators who can help encourage listening and perspective taking across seemingly intractable positions?

Presenters:

• Verdis Robinson, Interim National Manager, The Democracy Commitment
• Caryn McTighe Musil, Senior Director of Civic Learning and Democracy Initiatives, Association of American Colleges and Universities
• John Soltes, Communication Department, County College of Morris
• Jason Zelesky, Dean of Students, Mount Wachusett Community College

RSVP HERE. 

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Upcoming Webinars:
Webinar #2: Income Inequality and the Cost of Citizenship
October 27, 2016 | 3:00–4:00 p.m. Eastern Time

When economic disparities—often intertwined with ethnic, racial, and religious differences—impose real limitations on public participation, how can the humanities provide insights into the historic and persistent reality of differential access to full citizenship rights? Learn how several campuses have engaged their students and communities in examining this issue.

Presenters:

• Steve Davis, History Department, Lone Star College, Kingwood
• Jill A. Schennum, Chair, Anthropology, Social Sciences, and Economics, County College of Morris
• Seth Howard, Assistant Director, Center for Civic Engagement, Lone Star College
• Fagan Forhan, Assistant Dean of K-12 Partnerships and Civic Engagement, Mount Wachusett Community College

Hosts:

• Verdis Robinson, Interim National Manager, The Democracy Commitment
• Caryn McTighe Musil, Senior Director of Civic Learning and Democracy Initiatives, Association of American Colleges and Universities

RSVP HERE.

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Webinar #3:  I Want My Country Back: Immigration, Race, and Citizenship
November 3, 2016 | 3:00–4:00 p.m. Eastern Time

In the midst of sometimes-dramatic demographic and cultural shifts, how have the humanities served to illuminate felt experiences, historical contexts, and ethical issues as the rich mosaic of people in the United States fluctuates? What approaches, courses, and public events lead to shared ends rather than perpetual conflict or feelings of displacement?

Presenters:

• David Kalivas, World History and Director of the Commonwealth Honors Program, Middlesex Community College
• Helen-Margaret Nasser, Associate Director of the Honors Program, Kingsborough Community College
• Dona Cady, Dean, Global Education, and Matthew Olson, Dean, Humanities and Social Sciences, Middlesex Community College
• David Price, History Department, and Vilma E. Fuentes, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, Santa Fe College

Hosts:

• Verdis Robinson, Interim National Manager, The Democracy Commitment
• Caryn McTighe Musil, Senior Director of Civic Learning and Democracy Initiatives, Association of American Colleges and Universities

RSVP HERE.

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Please Share with Any Interested Parties

 

Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and hosted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities & The Democracy Commitment.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations endowment for the expressed in these webinars do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Economic Inequality Initiative at Stockton University

Stockton University (N.J.) is one of 30 ADP and TDC campuses engaged in our joint Economic Inequality Initiative. Learn more about their emerging work and check out their blog! 

By Carra Leah Hood, Assistant Provost for Programs and Planning and Associate Professor of Writing, Stockton University (N.J.)

The Economic Inequality Initiative Stockton Team includes faculty, professional staff, administrators, and students and has representation from all academic Schools. Creating a collaboratively-authored blog is one of the Team’s initial steps to communicate and to educate broadly about economic inequality. The blog “Economic Inequality Initiative at Stockton University” contains resources and posts on a diversity of topics related to economic and other forms of inequality.

In addition to maintaining the blog, the Stockton Team is in the process of composing a survey that it will administer across the campus in the fall 2015 and re-administer during the three-year period of the Economic Inequality Initiative to gauge the effectiveness of the Team’s efforts.

Finally, the members of the Stockton Team have taken on particular projects, among them:

• working with teachers of first year seminars to suggest ways to incorporate economic inequality themes into their courses
• facilitating a peer food bank for students
• applying for internal funding to support the development of a web-based resource page
• considering inviting relevant speakers to the campus.

One Team member is working with Stockton faculty and administrators to increase recruitment and retention of women and other underrepresented groups in STEM majors.

In the future, the Stockton Team plans to create means for the campus and the community to share ideas and approaches to advocacy, to design educational materials, and to open up opportunities for ongoing interventions.

More than 70 Schools Join the AASCU, NASPA TurboVote Partnership

More than 70 colleges and universities have joined a partnership with the American Democracy Project’s (ADP) parent organization, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education and TurboVote. This nonpartisan effort aims to increase voter engagement on college and university campuses.

Through this partnership, TurboVote, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, will bring its innovative “one-stop-shop” voter engagement platform to students at college and university campuses across the country.

Made possible by a grant from the Rita Allen Foundation, the institutions receive a $1,200 subsidy for using TurboVote in their voter engagement efforts this year. The grant is available for up to 100 institutions, so less than half of the slots remain open.

TurboVote’s platform helps colleges and universities meet federal mandates that require institutions provide students with voter registration information. With help from AASCU and NASPA, TurboVote hopes to support institutions in meeting these mandates and set a new standard for voter engagement in higher education.

For more information check out the full news release on AASCU’s website. If you’d like to learn more about or take advantage of this opportunity, please contact Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, ADP’s National Manager at adp@aascu.org.

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As of this week, 70 schools have entered into the partnership, including 28 AASCU/ADP institutions and 2 affiliated The Democracy Commitment (TDC) community colleges.  You can find the full list below; ADP schools are indicated with an asterisk and TDC campuses have two asterisks.

• Alcorn State University*
• Alvernia University
• Arizona State University
• Barry University
• Bloomsburg University*
• Boston College
• Brown University
• Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo*
• California State University, Los Angeles*
• Chapman University
• Chatham University
• Clayton State University*
• Community College of Allegheny County**
• Davis and Elkins College
• Depaul University
• Elmhurst College
• Ferris State University*
• Florida State College at Jacksonville
• Florida State University
• Friends University
• Frostburg State University*
• Georgetown University
• Georgia Gwinnett College
• Harper College
• Howard University*
• Illinois State University*
• Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis*
• Kennesaw State University*
• Lane Community College**
• Louisiana State University
• Marlboro College
• Millersville University*
• Missouri State University*
• Montclair State University*
• North Central College
• Northeastern Illinois University*
• Northeastern State University*
• Northeastern University
• Occidental College
• Palm Beach Atlantic University
• Peru State College*
• Ramapo College of New Jersey*
• Salisbury University*
• San Francisco State University*
• School of the Art Institute of Chicago
• Seton Hall University
• Sewanee: The University of the South
• Southern New Hampshire University
• Stanford University
• SUNY Geneseo
• Texas A&M University-Central Texas*
• The College at Brockport (SUNY)*
• The Ohio State University
• University of California, Irvine
• University of Central Oklahoma*
• University of Florida
• University of Missouri Kansas City
• University of Nebraska – Lincoln*
• University of Nebraska at Kearney*
• University of Saint Joseph
• University of Texas at Arlington
• University of Texas at El Paso
• University of Texas at San Antonio
• University of Texas of the Permian Basin
• University of Texas Northeast Health Center
• University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
• Weber State University*
• West Chester University of Pennsylvania*
• Western Illinois University*
• Wheaton College

 

 

 

 

What We’re Watching: How Democracy Works Now

Courtesy of The Democracy Commitment; see the original posting here.

In the summer of 2001, filmmakers Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini set out to make a documentary film about the “story of how a great think tank becomes a law.” Interested in immigration reform and how democracy actually works, they spent the next six years following stories on comprehensive immigration reform from California to Arizona, from Kansas to Capitol Hill.

In 2011, they also took time to screen selections of their work at our ADP National Meeting in Orlando in June 2011. In Orlando, they presented with Georgia College’s Gregg Kaufman about how the documentaries could be used in the classroom.

Their final product? How Democracy Works Now.

Twelve discrete films about several dozen fascinating people in all kinds of places, each connected by a commitment to change the way that the United States handles the bedrock national identity issue of immigration.  Together, the twelve films make up one very big story, and though we surely didn’t realize it at that point, it’s exactly the story we would have wanted to find in 2001.  

-Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini, About the Series

On the website for the series, you can find background, reviews, and video clips that preview the film, which is now available on Netflix. Additionally, there are also three iBooks available in the iTunes bookstore—How Democracy Works Now, Volumes 1 – 3— that are free to download; each volume covers four films with special suggestions to help educators to identify clips and craft lesson plans.

Happy watching!

 

Economic Inequality: A New ADP/TDC National Initiative

Last February, AASCU’s American Democracy Project (ADP) joined with our community college colleagues in The Democracy Commitment (TDC) and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich at San Francisco State University (Calif.) for a live webcast about his documentary film, Inequality for All. This event served as the inspiration for the first joint ADP/TDC national initiative, an effort centered on economic inequality and co-led by  ADP’s Keene State College (N.H.) and TDC’s Mount Wachusett Community College (Mass.).

Today, ADP and TDC are pleased to join our lead institutions in announcing a call for participation in this new national initiative. We are seeking a small cohort of two- and four-year member institutions to join us in a three-year initiative to understand the impact of economic inequality on our democracy. The goal of this initiative is to help students think about and take action to confront the complex causes of growing economic inequality. We envision developing, implementing and documenting innovative, interactive curricula and experiential learning modules that can be adapted across our campuses and communities. Participating institutions will work together to study the relationship between public policy, economic inequality, economic opportunity and social mobility to prepare undergraduates for lives of informed civic engagement.

Participation in the initiative is open to any TDC or ADP member institution.

You’ll find the full call for participation here, as well as the application to join the initiative.

Questions? Email adp@aascu.org.