2022 Student Vote Research Network Grants
In 2022, SVRN awarded grants to five academic teams for projects to increase nonpartisan civic learning, political engagement, and voter participation among college students. Results from these projects will be shared at the 2023 SVRN Workshop.
2022 SVRN GrantEES
University and College Student Election Turnout in St. Louis, Missouri: Motivating and Overcoming Barriers to Voter Registration and Engagement.
Saint Louis University
A team of Saint Louis University researchers and students have developed an initiative to increase the number of registered voters and voter turnout among college students, with a focus on low-income and racial minority students at three urban institutions: Saint Louis University, Harris-Stowe State University, and St. Louis Community College-Forest Park Campus.
Dr. Sabrina Tyuse
Dr. Leah Sweetman
Reassuring and Bolstering Identity in College Voters
Center for American Political Engagement
When scholars research student voting, they often seek the most effective interventions to increase registration and turnout by looking at how students think and feel about voting. Our proposal takes a different tack: we focus on how students think and feel about themselves. We focus on three main areas: social pressure; level of attachment to a campus-based voting location; and level of attachment to a home-based voting location. Overall, we seek ways to bolster confidence in young voters' identity and sense of place to increase voting turnout among students at community colleges, HBCUs, and MSIs.
Sydney Fahn
Embracing Political Difference to Increase Student Voter Engagement
Marquette Civic Dialogues Program
Can peer-to-peer discussions that engage students’ differences in political thought and lived experience increase turnout and student leadership in civic engagement efforts? To answer this question, we combine an experimental study of Marquette’s new “dialogue dinner” program with in-depth focus groups of first-year students. Findings will inform strategies to increase student turnout, improve campus climate and build grassroots civic leadership.
Learning from Commuter Students’ Voting and Civic Engagement Experiences
University of Michigan - Dearborn
This research seeks to better understand the political engagement of commuting students at UM-Dearborn and at a local community college. Research assistants will develop and lead focus groups with other students on their participation in the 2022 midterm elections and any intersections, opportunities, or challenges they experienced as community members with responsibilities extending beyond the campus, and as members of groups historically represented in American politics. Focus groups will explore types of overlapping campus/community engagement, the cultural and community networks that are relevant to their engagement, and their perspectives as members of those communities.
What works? MSI Strategies to engage First-Year Students (FYS) in Democracy
Governors State University
Governors State University (GSU) is a public research and land-grant Minority Serving Institution (MSI) in University Park, IL approximately 30 miles south of Chicago. We serve over 4400 students; minority-serving institutions such as GSU often serve populations that experience reduced access to public services, fewer employment options, and who are impacted by other systemic barriers to full citizenship. This research project proposes to understand how first-year college students navigate the decision to become first-time voters, develop democratic and civic values and respond to voter education efforts. During the fall 2022 semester, three groups of FYS students will be interviewed before and after the election cycle in order to examine the impact of three types of pedagogical strategies. Additionally, the corresponding faculty will be interviewed about their approach to curriculum, assignments, and teaching methods within the courses taken by the students.
Savannah Charles
Dr. Brian F. Harrison
Jahnavi Rao
Dr. Amber Wichowsky
Dr. Lara Rusch
Dr. Crystal Harris
