Darcie Vandegrift was selected as part of the inaugural cohort of Faculty Fellows with the Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation (ENACT) program. The Fellows will convene at Brandeis University in late May 2016. She was selected to work on children and youth issues, particularly in the areas of education funding and public health. Students in her Sociology of Childhood, Sociology of Education, and Social Stratification courses will incorporate legislative advocacy into their community engaged learning activities beginning J-Term 2017.

The Fellows program is sponsored by ENACT. Fellows are from colleges and universities located in or near state capitals, and will work to build a national online network of students, faculty, activists and legislators. Faculty Fellows will work on pedagogies to incorporate lobbying and civic engagement into their work with student learning. The Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation seeks to be a major voice in addressing challenges to American democracy by engaging young people around the country in civic activism built on knowledge, cooperation, justice and integrity. This new major program of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life at Brandeis University is made possible by a generous gift from Ethics Center Board member Norbert Weissberg and his wife, former Board member Judith Schneider.

-Submitted by Darcie Vandegrift, Associate Professor of Sociology, Department Chair