American Democracy Project coordinator, 308.865.8171
Fifteen political science students from the University of Nebraska at Kearney will travel to Brooklyn, N.Y., next week (March 13-17) during spring break to conduct research on democracy.
The students in Democratic Communities: Urban and Rural, a political science class taught by Dr. John Anderson, will explore democracy in progress at the neighborhood and community level.
The students in Dr. Anderson’s political science class have been challenged to develop a theory of ideal democratic communities and provide an evaluation of how democracy is working in Brooklyn and Elm Creek.
Working in cooperation with Brooklyn College and Medgar Evers College in the City University of New York (CUNY) system, these students will have the opportunity to observe working neighborhoods in Brooklyn, universities, schools, churches, neighborhood organizations and congressional district offices.
Dr. Anderson noted that the relationship with CUNY was made possible through UNK’s involvement in the National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER).
“Our engagement in the NNER is the result of work by a wide variety of people, but its initial development was spearheaded by Dr. Marilyn Hadley,” he said. Dr. Hadley is dean of the UNK College of Education.
Students taking the trip will be required to do a community assessment of both Brooklyn and Elm Creek, which can be shared with the towns and the people they meet during the experience.
Students will learn through their first-hand experiences, sharing observations with others, and the immersion in the city environment in order to learn from it, Dr. Anderson said, adding, “Students will benefit from a broadened world view, exposure to multicultural settings and a more thorough understanding of our political arrangement and American democracy.”
Funding for the trip came from Dr. Frank Harrold, dean of the College of Natural and Social Sciences, Pepsi funds, SET fee funds, the Center for Active Citizenship and the students.
Students participating in the class and field research are listed below, alphabetically by hometown:
Arapahoe – Patrick Nott
Bellevue – Adam Ecklund
Bertrand – Brooke McGee
Columbus – Amber Bonk
Curtis – Lisa Elson
Elm Creek – Sarah Marshall
Fullerton – Kalie Wetovick
Giltner – Lindsey Humston
Grant – Stewart Clouse
Kearney – Sarah Anderson
Lincoln – Sara Bom
North Platte – Amanda Mollet
Ord – Timothy Hruza
Ravenna – Tom Schlund
Schuyler – Isis Ortiz
