Events

MDI co-hosted a three-day National Student Vote Summit for participants to build connections across the nonpartisan student engagement space and share lessons learned and resources toward collective goals to register, mobilize, and educate college voters.

The UMD community came together to learn about the Supreme Court decisions relating to race-conscious considerations for higher education and engaged in discussions about how to best affirm and ensure UMD attracts, supports, serves, and prepares all Maryland students for life, work, and participation in our shared democracy.

Student-leaders in service-learning from Anne Arundel County public schools visited the University of Maryland on October 28th. Students explored how they could continue their commitment to their communities and civic life after high school. The day included speakers from MDI, the Do Good Institute, and Leadership & Community Service-Learning, a panel of current UMD students, and a campus tour.

The Civic Engagement Across the Curriculum (CEAC) at UMD held its first summer seminar on June 25–26, 2024, with twelve faculty members from seven colleges participating in professional development on integrating civic engagement into courses. Attendees explored techniques like dialogue, service learning, and voting, and completed an asynchronous course developed by Salisbury faculty, now available to all UMD faculty. 

This summer, 18 UMD students in the Laufer Democracy Internship Program led civic projects, like organizing a town hall with Vice President Kamala Harris and creating a Spanish voter ID chatbot. Their work, in partnership with organizations like Vote Early Day, was showcased at the Stamp Student Union with program supporters Marsha and Henry Laufer.

To learn more about the interns' experiences, click here.

The inaugural National High School Voting Summit on July 8th brought together 30 leaders from 20 organizations to explore research-driven strategies for high school voter engagement. Speakers from education sectors shared insights, and attendees proposed research ideas, ultimately selecting a project to evaluate state policies supporting high school voter registration.