The McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State is launching its third annual speaker series. The theme is “The Choice: 2016” which deals with next year’s presidential election. The series will feature national journalists and political science scholars during the fall semester. All events are free and open to the public.
The first speaker is Lynn Vavreck, professor of political science and communication studies at UCLA and author of "The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election." She will speak on "The Fundamentals of a Campaign: What Matters in the 2016 Presidential Election,” at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10, in the Foster Auditorium (102 Paterno Library) on the University Park campus.
Vavreck is a contributing columnist at the New York Times. She holds a doctorate in political science from the University of Rochester and has previously worked at Princeton University, Dartmouth College, and The White House.
The next speaker in the series will be Julia Angwin, an award-winning investigative journalist at ProPublica and author of "Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance." Angwin will speak on “Making Privacy Public: The Surveillance Crises and the 2016 Election” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, in the Foster Auditorium (102 Paterno Library) on the University Park campus.
The third and final speaker is Rebecca Traister, a writer for New York magazine and a contributing editor at Elle, and the author of "Big Girls Don’t Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women." Traister will speak on “Making the Case For and Against Hillary Clinton” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in the Foster Auditorium (102 Paterno Library) on the University Park campus.
Based in Penn State's College of the Liberal Arts, The McCourtney Institute for Democracy promotes rigorous scholarship and practical innovations to advance the democratic process in the United States and abroad. The Institute examines the interplay of deliberative, electoral, and institutional dynamics. It recognizes that effective deliberation among citizens has the potential to reshape both the character of public opinion and the dynamics of electoral politics, particularly in states and local communities. Likewise, political agendas and institutional processes can shape the ways people frame and discuss issues. The Institute pursues this mission, in part, through supporting the work of the Center for Democratic Deliberation (CDD) and the Center for American Political Responsiveness (CAPR).
Go to http://democracyinstitute.la.psu.edu or email DemocracyInst@psu.edu