Department of Politics and Government second-year graduate students and Applied Community & Economic Development (ACED) Fellows Grace Northern and Jeff Walsh presented their research at the 80th Annual Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) Conference, which was held April 13-16 in Chicago.
Northern was featured in a panel on Political Socialization via Public Policy for her paper “Combating Youth Voter Decline: How Schools Play an Important Role in Increasing Youth Voter Turnout.” The paper used data Northern has collected during her professional practice with the Illinois Civics Hub and Tufts University’s Center of Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. The research measured the impact of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) civic education standards on youth voter intent for eighth grade students in Illinois.
This was Walsh’s first MPSA conference, and he was surprised at all the opportunities available. Walsh served as a discussant, as well as a presenter, showing his research on homeless veterans, with his presentation of “Hopeless to Homeless to Hired to Housing? Eliminating Housing Insecurity by Getting the Right Job and the Right Job Training to the Right Veteran.”
Both students had the opportunity to not only have engaging conversations with others in their field during the panel sessions, but also attend and contribute to other sessions at the conference. All in all, it was a fantastic four-day display of cutting-edge knowledge, forums, presentations, and friendly networking in the world of political science.
