September 10, 2008
For Immediate Release
For an Interview:
David Keller
(801) 863-6363
UVU’s Center for the Study of Ethics was recently granted nearly $200,000 from the Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE) to begin the three-year Utah Democracy Project. The purpose for this venture, according to the grant’s proposal, is to cultivate political literacy and encourage political engagement through a variety of educational programs.
“We need to be a well-educated public electorate,” said Elaine Englehardt, UVU professor of ethics and member of the grant personnel. “We want everyone who participates in the Utah Democracy Project, anyone who comes, to look at the different sides of each issue.”
Hoping to answer the question, “What is fundamental to Democracy?” the Utah Democracy Project includes a series of on-campus public forums. It also consists of media productions and student projects wherein students, faculty, civic leaders and the community come together to address a variety of issues in an effort to build a stronger democracy in the state of Utah.
“UVU is going to be the home of a project to educate people of the responsibilities and opportunities of living in a democracy,” said David Keller, director for the center of the study of ethics. “People have to work to keep [democracy] healthy, it doesn’t just happen.”
The project, whose events are planned semester by semester, commenced the beginning of September with an ethics forum, while the end of this month anticipates Ethics Awareness Week. During this week will be several ethics panel discussions run by UVU faculty and invited guests, along with a poetry reading, keynote address and the Annual Ethics and Public Policy Symposium; all of which are held on the UVU Orem campus.
Also, expected in October are the Second and Third Congressional District Debates, which will be broadcast locally by UVU. Following the debates will be Democracy Week, which coincides with the November 2008 General Election.
For further details of future events, a website, http://www.uvsc.edu/ethics/utahdemocracyproject/, will be constructed as an information hub for the entire project. It is not currently available, but is expected to be up and running within the next month.
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College Marketing Contact:
Megan Laurie
(801) 863-7149
Written by:
Hanna Hopkinson
(801) 863-7205