Opportunities for Students
The Menard Family Center for Democracy offers students unique opportunities to engage in meaningful discussions, hands-on learning, and collaborative research on civic engagement, public policy, and democratic governance. The Center helps students to develop critical skills to become informed leaders and active participants in shaping our democratic society.
Menard Family Center High School Civic Scholars Program
The Menard Family Center’s High School Civic Scholars brings together rising high school juniors and seniors from across the country for an immersive summer program on Miami’s Oxford campus. In the classroom students debate constitutional principles, participate in legislative simulations, and learn about techniques of effective civic engagement. The program is co-led by John Forren and Anne Whitesell.
Menard Family Center Civic Fellows Program
The Menard Family Center’s Civic Summer Fellows Program places significant numbers of current Miami undergraduates into intensive community-based civic learning and service environments for extended periods of time. Students who successfully complete their Civic Summer Fellows projects are eligible to receive $2500 scholarships from the Menard Family Center in recognition and support of their participation in the program.
Through the Civic Fellows Program, students have:
Produced films on subjects related to American history, culture, and politics (with Professor Andy Rice in Miami’s Department of Media, Journalism, and Film)
Examined the history of the International Criminal Court and its relationship with the United States (with Center director John Forren)
Worked as reporting interns at news outlets, including the Hamilton Journal-News and Milwaukee Magazine (under the supervision of Professors Professors Joe Sampson and Rosemary Pennington in the Department of Media, Journalism and Film)
Interned at educational nonprofits in Illinois, Maryland, and Ohio (under the supervision of Dr. Kathleen Knight-Abowitz in the Department of Educational Leadership)
Analyzes the influence of religious organizations on state-level ballot initiatives (with Associate Director Anne Whitesell)
Menard Family Center Pre-Semester First-Year Immersion Program
The Menard Family Center hosts incoming first-year Miami undergraduates on the Oxford campus for an intensive pre-semester introduction to college-level civic engagement. During this four-day workshop, co-facilitated by Center director John Forren and Center associate director Anne Whitesell, participating students engage in a broad variety of in-class simulations, moderated debates and guided discussions of selected legal and political issues.
Other Student Programs and Outreach
Democracy and Citizenship Week
ExploreWinter Term and Summer Term Programs
Menard Family Center Mini-Internship Pilot Program – January 2023
Center Executive Director John Forren and Dr. Thomas Misco (Department of Teaching, Curriculum and Educational Inquiry) co-directed a two-week, non-credit-bearing immersion program in London (UK) in January 2023 that exposed six Miami undergraduates from various academic majors to the work of a UK-based nonprofit organization. The first week of the program, modeled somewhat after Miami’s successful Inside Washington Program, immersed participating students in the legal, political and economic environments in which leaders and front-line staff members of nonprofits regularly operate. The second week engaged participating students in individualized work projects – in website optimization, marketing, social media communications, graphic design and public outreach -- that aligned with students’ particular skill sets while also addressing organizational needs identified by our cooperating nonprofit partner (Ukrainian Action, a 501(c)3 organization founded by a Miami University alumnus).
Menard Family Center for Democracy
Oxford Campus
321 Harrison Hall349 East High Street
Oxford, Ohio 45056
Hamilton Campus
532A Mosler Hall1601 University Blvd.
Hamilton Campus, 45011