The American Democracy Project (ADP) celebrated its tenth anniversary this past summer at their national conference held in San Antonio, Texas. Ten professionals from Missouri State University were among the record-setting 508 in attendance. These ten included Mary Ann Wood, Director of Public Affairs Support; Nasser Darabi, Test Proctoring; Paula Moore, ELI Academic Specialist; Andy Lokie, Coordinator of Special Projects and Editor of the eJournal of Public Affairs; Rachelle Darabi, Associate Provost of Student Development and Public Affairs; Marc Cooper, Professor in the History Department; Mike Stout, Assistant Professor of Sociology; Katherine Nordyke, Director of the Office of Citizenship and Service Learning; Brian Calfano, Associate Professor of Political Science; and, J. Dane’ Wallace, Per Course Faculty-Modern and Classical Languages/Global Studies.

The conference included several nationally renowned speakers with multiple sessions from which attendees could take ideas back to their respective schools.   A new ADP initiative was also announced, the Campus and Community Civic Health of which 25 institutions were selected to spearhead this initiative. Missouri State University is proud and excited to be one of these 25 institutions.  In addition to attending a special Civic Health Workshop for those 25 schools, Missouri State professionals also contributed their ideas as speakers at the ADP Conference. The speakers covered several topics dealing with university life, civic engagement an service-learning.

The following sessions were led by Missouri State faculty and staff:

eCitizenship Pre-Conference Workshop: An Interactive Introduction to Campus Programs, Tools, Assessment and Results, presented by Michael Stout, Assistant Professor of Sociology

eJournal of Public Affairs Editorial Board Meeting, facilitated by Dr. Rachelle Darabi, Associate Provost for Student Development and Public Affairs

Promoting Engagement Among First-Year Students In and Out of the Classroom: Civic Engagement in the First Year, presented by Dr. Rachelle Darabi, Associate Provost for Student Development and Public Affairs

Getting Students Involved inVeterans Recognition and Support Programs: Engaging Students to Connect with Heroes, presented by Mary Ann Wood, Director of Public Affairs Support and Katherine Nordyke, Director of the Office of Citizenship and Service-Learning

Sharing and Promoting the Scholarship of Civic Engagement: Extending Our Conversations through the eJournal of Public Affairs, presented by Dr. Rachelle Darabi, Associate Provost for Student Development and Public Affairs, Marc Cooper, Professor, and Andrew Lokie, Coordinator of Special Projects & Editor of eJournal of Public Affairs

Building a Better Civic Engagement Experience: Building Research Skills for International Students Through Global Challenges, presented by Paula Moore, English as a Second Language Academic Specialist, and Katherine Nordyke, Director of the Office of Citizenship and Service-Learning

Youth and Seniors — Americn Democracy: An American Partnership, presented by Katherine Nordyke, Director of the Office of Citizenship and Service-Learning

For more information about the ADP Conference, click here.