NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

11/07/2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES -A recent civil rights conference held at Northwestern State University was honored at the annual meeting of the Southern Consortium of the American Democracy Project held in at Morehead State University in Morehead, Ky.

The conference, "Pathways to Empowerment," was awarded second place in the co-curricular competition. The conference also received second place in the same category last year.

"Those who judged the competition were impressed by the involvement of so many organizations in the Civil Rights Conference," said Dr. Greg Granger, director of the School of Social Sciences at NSU, who also represented the University of Louisiana System at the meeting. "The university was able to work with other governmental agencies, local businesses and non-profit groups to develop a conference that will have a long-lasting impact in the community."

The conference was co-sponsored by the Northwestern State University School of Social Sciences as part of the American Democracy Project, the NSU Office of Cultural Diversity, the Northwestern Student Government Association and The Real Views.

Panels discussed entrepreneurship and business development, healthcare, solutions to poverty, overcoming disabilities and the STEP Program as well as civic engagement and education.

The conference was co-chaired by Professor of Political Science Dr. Alex Aichinger and Stacy Fontenot, project coordinator for the School of Social Sciences.

In conjunction with the conference, an art show created by individuals from Pinecrest Developmental Center, "Internal Expression-Connecting People through Art,"
was displayed in NSU's Watson Library. Several Northwestern students also wrote poetry to compliment the works in the show.

The University of Louisiana System won first place in the Institutional category for its Xtreme Spring Break project in which students from UL System institutions volunteered to assist hurricane victims in south Louisiana.

"The University of Louisiana System was well represented, which shows the commitment each university has to service learning," said Granger.

According to Granger, who oversees service learning and civic engagement activities at Northwestern, a campus survey is underway to determine what service activities are being done by student organizations at NSU. Once the survey is complete, faculty, staff and additional students will be surveyed to develop a complete database of service activities.

"Service learning is a high priority at Northwestern," said Granger. "Our students are willing to get involved in their community and all areas of the university are working together to gain the most possible benefit."

American Democracy Project South covers 13 states and was the first ADP regional organization.

For more information, go to www.adpsouth.org.

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