Symposium (Friday)

*SOLD OUT* 

When: Friday, December 1, 2017, 8:30A – 4:45P
Where: Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201

 

On Friday, December 1, the symposium will bring together scholars and practitioners from across the country to focus on how the new American electorate sustains its civic engagement with particular attention to moving these critical actors from voters to candidates for elective office. This timely symposium offers an opportunity to build and enhance scholarship on democratic citizenship by engaging the complex challenges to expanding civic engagement and democratic inclusion. We will take as our starting point the premise that while voting is an important expression of political voice, it is not fully sufficient for full democratic inclusion.
 
Of course our conversations are driven by the record voter participation of women, people of color, millennials, and new immigrants—The New American Electorate during the 2008 & 2012 presidential elections, but we will also look ahead to what political behavior will look like for these voters/potential candidates for office in the coming years. 

Symposium Schedule

8:30-9:15 Registration & Breakfast
9:15-9:30 Opening Remarks: Wendy Smooth, Associate Professor, Women’s Gender & Sexuality
                     Studies and Symposium Organizer
                     Welcome: Peter Hahn, Divisional Dean, Arts and Humanities Outreach and Engagement,
                     College of Arts & Sciences
9:30-11:00 Panel I. Mobilizing in the Interim: This panel will focus on the critical challenges of sustaining civic engagement among new or low propensity voters. What we know is that such surge voters perhaps moved by historic firsts of Obama’s 2008 & 2012 campaigns and Clinton’s 2016 campaign are at risk of becoming one time or occasional voters without sustained engagement. Panelists will engage the question of what is necessary to move these voters from initially surge voters to citizens committed to civic engagement–including voting and beyond.
  • Sekou Franklin, Middle Tennessee State University
  • Kip Holley,  Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, The Ohio State University
  • Melissa Michelson, Menlo College
  • Moderator–Jill Bystydzienski, The Ohio State University
11:00-11:15  Break
11:15-12:15 Panel II. Moving from Voters to Candidates I: This panel will examine the long term strategies needed to move habitual voters into the political leadership pipeline as candidates, political strategists and community organizers. In particular, this panel will focus  on women of color as some of the most reliable voters who are primed to strengthen their civic engagement beyond voting.

 

12:15-1:15 Lunch

Author titles available for sale.

 

1:15-2:15 Panel III. Moving from Voters to Candidates (Continued)

  • Christina Bejarano, University of Kansas
  • Kira Sanbonmatsu, Rutgers University New Brunswick and Senior Scholar, Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP)
  • Moderator, Julie Graber, GenderEQA
2:15-2:30 Break
2:30-3:45 Panel IV. Lessons from the Field: Drawing on the good fortune of our location in a key battleground state, this panel will engage with specialists in the field who will share existing best practices for moving beyond simply mobilizing new voters to building sustained civic participation. We will explore the changes and transformations in the electorate and what the future holds for enhancing civic engagement, particularly among marginalized groups.
  • Glynda Carr, Co-founder of Higher Heights for America
  • Christine Chen, Executive Director of Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIA Vote)\
  • Petee Talley, Secretary-Treasurer of Ohio AFL-CIO/ Ohio Unity Coalition
  • Moderator, Hasan Jeffries, The Ohio State University

 

3:45-4:45 Panel V. Research and Activism Going Forward: This panel will recap and illuminate learning outcomes across the symposium highlighting critical areas of need for academic research and activism going forward. This panel will contextualize the symposium outcomes in terms of contemporary politics.

Registration

Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors, there is no cost to attend the event but registration is required. Breakfast and Lunch will be provided for the full-day symposium on Friday, December 1.

Register by November 24, 2017