History and Mission
RICEngaged was founded in 2016 as a partnership among partisan and non-partisan student organization leaders, the Center for Civic Leadership, and Rice faculty and staff committed to organizing and promoting political participation through voter registration, civic education, and mobilization. Above all, we partner with the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, whose vision is “a country in which the electorate mirrors our country’s makeup and college students are democratically engaged on an ongoing basis, during and between elections, and not just at the polls.” Launched in 2016, the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge strives to change civic culture and institutionalize democratic engagement activities and programs on college campuses, making them a defining feature of campus life. The Challenge provides RICEngaged the support to:
-
Make participation in local, state, and federal elections a social norm.
-
Substantially increase the number of college students who are democratically engaged on an ongoing basis, during and between elections, and not just at the polls.
-
Make educating for democratic engagement on college campuses an accepted and expected part of the culture and curriculum so that students graduate with the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and values needed to be informed and active citizens.
To inform our ALL IN Campus Action Plan and with the endorsement and support of Dr. Bridget Gorman, Dean of Undergraduates, we also partner with the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) to understand Rice student registration and voting rates and trends across elections and across student demographics. This year’s plan built off strengths and deficiencies identified in the most recent NSLVE data.
As a result of RICEngaged’s efforts, ALL IN recognized Rice University as a gold campus for achieving 70-80% student voter turnout and gave our 2020 Action Plan its highest categorical rating on account of broad campus engagement, outreach to underrepresented student voting populations, and integration of civic educational opportunities. For the upcoming midterm election, ALL IN designated our 2022 Action Plan as progressing, with recommendations to improve our use of data and dissemination of findings.
2022 Executive Committee
● Caroline Quenemoen, Associate Dean of Undergraduates and Director of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry
● Peyton Ball, Communications and Marketing Specialist, Center for Civic Leadership
● Danika Brown, Director, Center for Civic Leadership
● Joshua Fang, student, President, Civic Duty Rice
● Anna Alves, student, Organizer, MOVE Texas; Vice President, Civic Duty Rice
● Katherine Jeng, student, Democracy Fellow, Campus Vote Project
● Amanda Thomas, User Experience/ Public Service Librarian, Fondren Library
● Anna Xiong, Government Information Coordinator, Kelly Center for Government
Information, Data, and Geospatial Services, Fondren Library
● Melissa Marschall, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Social Policy
Analysis Program
● Vivian Zhang, student, Election Day Alternate Judge for Rice University campus polling
place (Spring 2022), Presiding Judge for Rice University campus polling place (fall 2022)
● Olivia Roark, student, Rice Student Association, Senator and head of Democratic
Engagement subcommittee
● Solomon Ni, student, Rice Student Association, Senator
● Harsh Surana, Graduate Student Association
Please contact Caroline Quenemoen (ckq@rice.edu) if you would like to join RICEngaged.