UIC News Release
January 10, 2012

CONTACT: Anne Brooks Ranallo, (312) 355-2523, aranallo@uic.edu

UIC FUNDS NEW RESEARCH ON CITIZENS' ROLE IN PUBLIC POLICY

Five research projects at the University of Illinois at Chicago dealing
with the citizen’s role in public policy have received $20,000 awards.

The awards, given by the UIC Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement,
are funding faculty research aimed at improving citizen participation
in government services, often through the use of technology.

Recent projects supported by the institute include software that helps
students understand the political redistricting process, technology for
persons with disabilities to communicate their policy preferences, and
tools for public exhibits to display information specific to each
viewer. In addition, the institute has supported the study of political
participation among immigrant communities in the Chicago region.

The institute runs Civic Source, a web portal at
http://www.civicsource.org/ that hosts civic engagement and policy
information, learning tools and opportunities for civic engagement.

The five research projects for 2012 are:

-Digital libraries: Eugene Fregetto, clinical associate professor of
managerial studies, will focus on the emerging digital library,
learning how patron demand will drive a change in library collections
and the skills of library staffs.

"Current undergraduates are less excited and more skeptical of today’s
digital media and social networks," Fregetto said. "Interestingly, many
express an adult-type regret when talking about how their younger
siblings are hooked on the digital media."

-Public service careers among diverse groups: Margaret LaPorte,
visiting director of graduate student services in the department of
public administration, will research why college students of various
ethnic backgrounds pursue public service careers and what factors lead
to their success.

"All sectors of public governance -- federal, state, local, nonprofit
-- will need talented and well-trained young professionals to fill the
void left when current employees retire or leave to work in other
sectors," LaPorte said.

-Habits of democratic citizenship: Anthony Laden, associate professor
of philosophy, will evaluate civic engagement to distinguish actions
that foster habits of democratic citizenship from other forms of
public-spirited action.

"Habits of democracy include capacities for listening to others and
taking what they say seriously, even if it is unfamiliar to us or we
disagree with it, and treating others with respect rather than merely
as the objects of our pity or charity or contempt or dismay," Laden
said. 

-Illinois' fiscal crisis: David Merriman, professor of public
administration, will produce materials that will help citizens
understand the budget process, become involved in the policy debate,
and demand that the government respond to their concerns about fiscal
solvency.

"Incomplete and confusing budget reports disguise the true extent of
the problem and the catastrophe has been prolonged by lack of political
will," Merriman said.

-Community foundations' impact: David Perry, professor in UIC's Great
Cities Institute, will partner with Terry Mazany, chief executive
officer of the Chicago Community Trust, to compile national case
studies of civic engagement that increased the effectiveness of
community foundations. 

“We’re asking community foundation heads around the country, ‘Are
community foundations really place-based, or have they lost their
meaning?’“ Perry said.

UIC ranks among the nation's leading research universities and is
Chicago's largest university with 27,000 students, 12,000 faculty and
staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A
hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which
UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate,
foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve
the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world. For more
information about UIC, please visit www.uic.edu.

- UIC -

NOTE: Please refer to the institution as the University of Illinois at
Chicago on first reference and UIC on second reference.
"University of Illinois" and "U. of I." are often assumed to refer to
our sister campus in Urbana-Champaign.