National Youth Voter Advocate Hollander Speaks August 24

SALISBURY, MD---Americans ages 18-20 earned the right to vote in 1972. Three decades later, fewer than ever exercise that right. In 1998, only 20 percent of potential voters 18-24 turned out at the polls. Dr. Elizabeth Hollander, executive director of Campus Compact, a coalition of more than 900 college and university presidents to promote civic engagement nationwide, wants to see that number increase this year. Civic engagement and the feeling of community is an important key in encouraging young people to vote, Hollander has said. At Salisbury University, Drs. Harry Basehart and Fran Kane considered the same philosophy in 1998, founding the Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (PACE). Tuesday, August 24, all three political thinkers gather to share that message during SU’s annual Faculty Development Day. Hollander speaks on “Politics Does Matter: Engaging 21st Century Students as Citizens” 9 a.m. in Henson Science Hall Room 243. Topics include the responsibilities of faculty to engage students in civic affairs, the longevity of apathy in youth voting and ways to engage students without indoctrination. Prior to her appointment to Campus Compact in 1997, Hollander served as executive director of the Monsignor John J. Egan Urban Center at DePaul University, which works with the university to address critical urban problems, alleviate poverty and promote social justice in the metropolitan community through teaching, service, and scholarship. She also was president of the Government Assistance Program in Illinois and Chicago’s director of planning under Mayor Harold Washington. While in Chicago, she served on the boards of trustees at Chicago State University and the Illinois Institute of Technology. Since 1992 she has been a member of the Truman Regional Scholarship Committee. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. She also serves on the advisory boards of the American Association of Colleges & Universities Diversity Web, the online Journal of College and Character and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at the University of Maryland, and the American Committee of the International Consortium on Higher Education. She received an honorary doctorate from Millikin University in 2001, and DePaul University in 2003. For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.