Nina Kasniunas Honored
On October 19, at the first-ever ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates, Nina Kasniunas, Arsht Professor in Ethics and Leadership at Goucher College, received a Champion Award for being a standout faculty member.
Kasniunas was nominated by José Antonio Bowen, President of Goucher College and selected by ALL IN Challenge Advisory Board members in recognition of her commitment and exemplary leadership in working to increase voting rates, helping students form the habits of active and informed citizenship, and advancing the work of the ALL IN Challenge. More than 30 awards were announced at the event that took place at the Knight Conference Center at the Newseum.
Student participation in elections has increased in the past few years. A recent report, “Democracy Counts: A Report on U.S. College and University Student Voting” from the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, an initiative of Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy in Higher Education, shows that between the 2012 presidential election, and the 2016 presidential election, student voting went from 45.1% of eligible voters in 2012 to 48.3% in 2016 – a 7% improvement.
The All IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a national awards program. 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.
Nearly 300 campuses, enrolling more than 4 million students, have joined the Challenge since its launch in summer 2016.