UMD Hosts Inaugural Big Ten Democracy Summit

The first Big Ten Democracy Summit will convene Feb. 10-11 at the University of Maryland, highlighting the vital role of higher education in fostering a thriving democracy.

Led by the UMD School of Public Policy and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, the summit will bring together academic leaders and students from the conference’s members with policymakers, civic organizations and community partners to develop actionable solutions that strengthen democratic engagement and institutions nationwide.

“Higher education has a profound responsibility to equip our next generation with the tools and knowledge to engage meaningfully in democracy,” said UMD School of Public Policy Dean Robert C. Orr. “This summit is an opportunity to leverage the collective expertise and resources of Big Ten institutions and foster impactful partnerships that promote civic engagement and bipartisan solutions.”

The summit will feature a policy simulation for students on the bipartisan Building Civic Bridges Act, led by Elisabeth Gerber, the Jack L. Walker, Jr. Collegiate Professor of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

It will also include discussions with Rockefeller Foundation Senior Vice President Derek Kilmer and Maryland Secretary of Service and Civic Innovation Paul Monteiro ’02 on higher education’s role in democracy, panels on civic engagement initiatives and democratic innovation, a keynote on countering disinformation led by former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara McQuade, and sessions on university partnerships for enabling election service and innovative civic practice.

The event will conclude with reflections from three former congressmen—U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin and Reps. John Sarbanes and Fred Upton—followed by an evening reception in Washington, D.C.