Post from Community: Alverno College receives platinum seal for excellence in student voter engagement | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Alverno College
November 12, 2019
(Photo courtesy of Alverno College)
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Alverno College was honored at the 2019 ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony with a platinum seal for achieving a student voting rate above 50%. The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge hosted its second biennial awards ceremony today where select higher education institutions, educators, and students were recognized for excellence in student voter engagement during the 2018 midterm elections. Award winners were selected for their exemplary leadership in supporting students form the habits of active and informed citizenship. More than 560 institutions enrolling over six million students are participating in the ALL IN Challenge.
“We are proud to be recognized for our efforts,” said Susan Leister, director of Alverno’s internship program and coordinator of the campus’ student voter initiatives. “Teaching our students to be lifelong effective citizens is woven into the fabric of an Alverno education. Our students have voices, they have opinions, and we show them how important it is for them to exercise their right to vote in order to have their voices heard.”
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From 2014 to 2018 student voter participation across the country more than doubled. The 2018 midterms were dubbed a “remarkable midterm election” by the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, a research study of the Institute for Democracy in Higher Education (IDHE) at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. The 2018 average institutional voting rate of 39.1% is far closer to those of the last two presidential elections (47.6% in 2012, 50.9% in 2016) than to the previous midterm (19.7% in 2014) according to the school’s recent study. Data provided by IDHE shows Alverno’s voting rate increased by 11.7%, from 49.3% in 2014 to 61% in 2018. Among Alverno students who are registered to vote, 82.2% voted in the 2018 midterm election.
“We are excited to honor Alverno College with an ALL IN Challenge platinum seal in recognition of their intentional efforts to increase democratic engagement and full voter participation,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “More institutions like Alverno are changing culture on campus by institutionalizing nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts that are resulting in the incredible student voter turnout rates that we’ve seen across the country.”
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a nonpartisan, national initiative recognizing and supporting campuses as they work to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement and full student voter participation. The Challenge encourages higher education institutions to help students form the habits of active and informed citizenship, and make democratic participation a core value on their campus.
More than 560 campuses, enrolling more than 6.2 million students, have joined the Challenge since its launch in summer 2016. Learn more and see a full list of winning campuses at allinchallenge.org.
About Alverno College
Founded in 1887 by the School Sisters of St. Francis, Alverno College promotes the academic, personal and professional development of its students in a collaborative and inclusive environment. Undergraduate programs for women are offered in more than 60 areas of study, and graduate programs in education, nursing, community psychology, school psychology, music therapy, music and liturgy, and business are open to women and men.
A leader in higher education innovation, Alverno has earned international accolades for its highly effective ability-based, assessment-as-learning approach to education, which emphasizes hands-on experience and develops in-demand skills. The college, Wisconsin’s first Hispanic-Serving Institution, ranks among the top schools in the Midwest for its commitment to undergraduate teaching and innovation by U.S. News & World Report. For the past two years, The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education named Alverno the country’s most inspiring college.
Based in Milwaukee, Wis., Alverno College is a four-year independent, Catholic, liberal arts college.