This was a presentation made by Judithanne McLauchlan, Fulbright

1. Civic Engagement at US Universities Place Photo Here, Otherwise Delete Box Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan, Ph.D. Fulbright Scholar

2. Civic Engagement Civic Health measured by looking at five key areas: Service Participating in a Group Connecting to Information and Current Events Social Connectedness Political action http://civic.serve.gov/

3. Corporation for National and Community ServiceData on Civic Life in America http://civic.serve.gov/national Trends and Highlights on Civic Engagement across the United States There are many ways that individuals engage civically across the nation. For example, 62 million Americans volunteered with an organization (26.6% of adults). 20.8 million Americans worked with neighbors to fix a community problem (7.2% of adults). Almost half of adults (49.4%) donated money, assets, or property with a combined value of more than $25 to charitable or religious organizations. 58.2% of residents voted in the 2008 Presidential election (64.9% were registered to vote in 2008).

4. Volunteer Service

5. Voting

6. Political Action

7. Participating in a Group

8. Social Connectedness

9. One of the new questions on the citizenship test: “What are 2 ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?” Acceptable answers include VOTE Join a political party Help with a campaign Join a civic group Join a community group Give an elected official your opinion on an issue Call senators or representatives Publicly support or oppose an issue or policy Run for office Write to a newspaper

10. Other ways for citizens to participate? Becoming informed about gov’t officials and activities; becoming informed about public problems Participating in political discussions Sign a petition Contribute money to political party or candidate Lobbying for laws that are of special interest to you Taking part in marches, boycotts, sit-ins, or other forms of protest Serve the country through military service Litigation

11. In what other ways can students become engaged? Assess political interests – read the newspaper, watch the news, stay abreast of current events Watch C-Span to watch Congress or its committees Discuss political issues with family, friends, classmates Call in to a radio talk show Articulate your views on the issue – blogging (see www.stpt.usf.edu/whitehouse) “virtual community” Facebook, MySpace Visit local office of state or federal legislator (find out what the office does, how much staff it maintains, and how the legislator spends her time) Have government officials, campaign staff, and/or party officials visit classroom Visit a courtroom, spend at least an hour observing the activities Attend school board meeting, county commission meeting, city council meeting (what issues were discussed, how many people attended, was the public allowed to speak, how did the public officials treat the public, what was your opinion of the public officials after the visit) Visit/contact local party HQ, campaign HQ, re becoming involved Collect examples of campaign literature; what is the appeal? Are they asking for $$, do the samples address issues? Promote personalities? How effective do you think they will be in persuading voters? Internet research – campaigns, government agencies, legislation “Buycotting”

12. Civic Education Reasonably well-informed, capable, engaged, and public-spirited citizens are essential if a democracy is to flourish For active, engaged participation, need KNOWLEDGE Knowledgeable citizens are better able to act on their political interests Knowledge of Government Must understand the “rules of the game” Knowledge of Politics Must understand what is at stake in the political world Knowledge of Democratic Principles liberty, equality, democracy

13. USFSP . Place Photo Here, Otherwise Delete Box • The Center for Civic Engagement is designed to make USF St. Petersburg distinctive in its commitment to civic and community engagement through the development of the “Citizen Scholar” model. The objective of the “citizen scholar” model is to combine academic instruction with implementation of concepts learned in the classroom into the local community.

14. www.stpt.usf.edu/community Programs and Initiatives to expand civic engagement across the curriculum Civic Engagement Fair Faculty Course Development Grant Program Faculty Development Workshops Community Partner and Service Learning Placement Directory Citizen Scholar Course Catalog

15. The Road to the White House www.stpt.usf.edu/whitehouse Course Objective: To study the history and politics of U.S. presidential campaigns, including an intensive 10-day internship in New Hampshire leading up to the first-in-the-nation primary. 19 Undergraduate and Graduate Students 11 Campaigns 3 Cities

16. Learning Citizenship by DoingEvaluating the Effects of a Required Political Campaign Internship in American Government See http://www.servicelearning.org/library/resource/8814 for the full text of the article About the Course Logistics The Results

17. Pre-Test/Post Test Surveys . Can you make a difference by getting involved in a campaign?

18. Pre-Test/Post-Test Surveys Do elections make government pay attention to what people think?