Following is information (including contact info) about a University of North Carolina at Greensboro course - "PSC 300: Civic Engagement and Political Participation" that includes the planning, implementing, moderating, and evaluating of a National Issues Forums (NIF) deliberative forum.
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When: Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 6-9:30 p.m.
Where: University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina
Contact: UNCG-PSC 300 (Fall 2009), Phone: 336-256-8531 (Dr. Darlene Rodriguez, faculty), E-mail: dxrodrig@uncg.edu University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) PSC 300: Civic Engagement and Political Participation This course focuses on two major themes within the literature on American public life, civic engagement and political participation. Who participates in politics, how, why, and to what effectiveness? Why do social groups adopt particular political strategies and not others? What is the state of American civic engagement, and why should we care? We will approach these questions broadly, considering, for example, the role of voluntary organizations and civic groups in American political life; the factors that lead individuals to (or limit) participation in both electoral (e.g., voting, campaigning) and non-electoral (e.g., group acting, protest) activities; and the ways that these themes relate to concepts of citizenship, civil society, and democracy. As part of the students' semester project, PSC 300 students will plan, implement, moderate, and evaluate a National Issues Forums (NIF) on the UNCG campus. PSC 300 students will use this opportunity to apply theories of civic engagement and community organizing by inviting the University community to a deliberative dialogue on Democracy's Challenge: Reclaiming the Public's Role. Copies of the NIF materials are available: We will use the NIF process to discuss issues of civic engagement and political participation. We will conclude with a summary of where we agree and determine what actions we can take as a campus community to overcome democracy's challenges. For information about how to arrive at the Weatherspoon Art Museum on the UNCG campus click here. You may park for free in the parking lot behind the building. We look forward to hosting the first, of what we hope will be many more, National Issues Forums at UNCG! Thank you. |
