Promote Democracy

Promote Democracy Leadership:

• Mary-Rose Papandrea, Samuel Ashe Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law
• Nicholas Sengstaken, Program Coordinator for Operational Excellence and Strategic Initiatives 
• Rick Wernoski, Senior Vice Provost for Business Operations

About:

The overreaching goal of Promote Democracy is to make Carolina—the nation’s first public university–the beacon for principled and effective democracy worldwide. The strategic captain of Promote Democracy Mary-Rose Papandrea, Samuel Ashe Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law, and Nick Sengstaken, formed processes for ongoing collaboration between the initiative and Operational Excellence. Through this partnership, the website democracy.unc.edu launched to promote existing democratic events on campus and disseminate information on voting. In addition, various professors, administrators, and key voices on democratic issues across campus have been invited and begun to serve in advisory groups for the three prongs of Promote Democracy – Civic Engagement, Civil Discourse and Interdisciplinary Research.

While supporting this Democracy Initiative, OE was able to assist by facilitating visioning exercises in advisory meetings, producing content for the website, and otherwise engaging in project and change management to help propel ideas into infrastructure.

Project Dates: March 2021-August 2022