FHSU University Relations and Marketing
HAYS, Kan. — Dr. Chapman Rackaway, professor of political science, and Carolyn Campbell, admissions counselor at Fort Hays State University, have published a chapter on enhancing civic participation through social media in the just released book “Civic Education in the Twenty-First Century: A Multidimensional Inquiry.”
The book addresses a perceived crisis in American civic literacy and addresses what it calls a formal and informal substantial decline in civic education.
The book takes a more expansive view of civic engagement, including community participation, political engagement, and political voice. In that light, Rackaway and Campbell document the strategies and approaches used by FHSU’s American Democracy Project to engage students through social media. A multifaceted approach using a variety of social networking sites and in-person engagement produces a self-reinforcing culture of engagement that has helped FHSU earn a reputation as a national leader in civic engagement.
Rackaway and Campbell worked on the chapter, “Democratizing Information: Web 2.0 Tools at Fort Hays State University,” while Campbell was an undergraduate student at FHSU and the student coordinator for the American Democracy Project.