“Our institution is proud to receive this national recognition for our efforts. Our faculty, staff, administrators and students are committed to working together to reduce apathy, increase engagement and graduate civic-minded students prepared to solve the most pressing challenges facing our country and the world,” said Pam Curtis, director of the Office of Student Involvement.

UofL won a silver award last year. This is UofL’s first year for a gold award. Data reveals a 9.7% increase in UofL’s voting engagement since 2014.

Student participation in elections nationwide has increased from the 2014 midterm election to the recent midterm election. According to Tufts University’s National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement, voter turnout at more than 1,000 institutions participating in the study increased by 21 points from 19% to 40%.

“We are excited to honor University of Louisville with an ALL IN Challenge gold seal in recognition of their intentional efforts to increase democratic engagement and full voter participation,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “More institutions like UofL are changing the culture on campus by institutionalizing nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts that are resulting in the incredible student voter turnout rates that we’ve seen across the country.”

The is a nonpartisan, national initiative recognizing and supporting campuses as they work to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement and full student voter participation. 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.

More than 560 campuses, enrolling more than 6.2 million students, have joined the Challenge since its launch in summer 2016.

The recognition is given by the national nonpartisan organizations Campus Vote Project and NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher ����ֱ��. UofL is one of 83 campuses in 23 states to receive the recognition. The institutions designated voter-friendly campuses represent a wide range of 2-year, 4-year, public, private, rural and urban campuses, with a total enrollment of nearly 1.4 million students.

To receive the recognition, institutions were accountable for planning and implementing practices that encouraged students to register and vote in the 2016 general election as well as future elections.

Uofl’s effort was led by Student Leadership and Service within the Division of Student Affairs. Director Pam Curtis said she learned of the designation through national organizations and said that it fit her department’s emphasis on civic engagement.

The effort began by forming a campus coalition of partners from across the campus and community, including Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office, who could have an impact on driving students to vote. The coalition needed to also draw together all of the programming on campus related to voting to assess the levels of engagement.

Concurrent to the coalition, UofL also received funding from Vote Everywhere, which allowed for the hiring of a few students to lead voter registration drives on campus.

Curtis said the coalition was pleased to receive the designation, especially in the first year.

“The goal is to keep the coalition together and to really see how we get students involved in future elections,” Curtis said.