The American College and University Presidents Commitment to Civic Engagement is a nationwide effort by presidents and chancellors to set in motion institutional mechanisms to equip America’s youth for a lifetime of civic engagement. They recognize that academia is uniquely poised to support young people on their path towards active citizenship and stewardship of American democracy. 

This is an incredible moment for young Americans. Already this year, young voters are taking action at the polls – doubling, tripling and quadrupling turnout in early primary states - building on the historic turnout of 2004 & 2006. The Presidents Commitment to Civic Engagement seeks to build on the momentum of young voters in recent years and put the power of institutions of higher education behind them.

Representing the diversity of higher education, the signatories of the Presidents Commitment to Civic Engagement have each committed, with the weight of their institutions behind them, to promote efforts to increase student voting and civic participation on campus. 

This involves:

Initiating the development of a comprehensive plan to support youth civic engagement

Meet their obligation under the voter registration provision of the Higher Education Act of 1998, to “make a good faith effort” to make voter registration widely available 

Allowing access to residence halls and high traffic areas to students and student organizations working to increase voter participation on campus

Providing permanent financial resources to support non-partisan voter engagement efforts by students 

The presidents and chancellors who are leading the Commitment believe deeply that the future of our open society depends on the engagement of the Millenial Generation. Forty-four million strong, the Millenial Generation is the largest generation in history and represents more than one-fifth of the electorate.

We live at a remarkable moment of opportunity to strengthen the engagement of this generation and harness their power for progressive change. And this opportunity couldn’t come at a more critical time as our nation faces issues of war, economic insecurity, and the deterioration of our basic rights. We must mobilize the Millennial Generation to use their right to elect leaders and determine their future, as the outcome of this year’s election will determine the composition of our Supreme Court, the fate of our troops, the direction of our economy, health care, education and criminal justice systems, the state of our environment, and the lives of billions of people worldwide.

The college and university presidents and chancellors who are joining and leading the Commitment believe that exerting leadership in addressing climate change will stabilize and reduce their long-term energy costs, attract excellent students and faculty, attract new sources of funding, and increase the support of alumni and local communities. 

Leadership Circle

The following signatories have stepped up to steer the direction of the Presidents Commitment and to promote the Commitment among colleagues and friends.

Dr. G.P. "Bud" Peterson
Chancellor, University of Colorado - Boulder
G.P. "Bud" Peterson was appointed Chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder beginning July 15, 2006. Prior to assuming this role, he served six years as provost at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

As Chancellor, Dr. Peterson is the chief academic and administrative officer of the CU-Boulder campus. Throughout his career, he has played an active role in helping to establish the national education and research agendas, serving on numerous industry, government and academic task forces and committees.

Born in San Francisco and raised in Prairie Village, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City, Dr. Peterson attended Kansas State University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and a second Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. In 1980 he received a Master of Science in Engineering.

In 1985 he received a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University. He served as a Visiting Research Scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center before returning to Texas A&M as a faculty member in the Mechanical Engineering Department, where he conducted research and taught courses in thermodynamics and heat transfer. He was later named the Halliburton Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the College of Engineering's Tenneco Professor. While at Texas A&M, he held leadership positions as Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Executive Associate Dean of the College of Engineering, and Associate Vice Chancellor for the Texas A&M University System. In 1993-94 he served as Program Director for the Thermal Transport and Thermal Processing Division of the National Science Foundation.

A Fellow of both the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Dr. Peterson is the author or co-author of 12 books or book chapters, 160 refereed journal articles, more than 150 conference publications and holds eight patents. He is a member of several professional organizations and the recipient of numerous national and international honors and awards for both teaching and research. Dr. Peterson and his wife Val have four grown children. 

Dr. M. Lee Pelton
President, Willamette University

Dr. M. Lee Pelton was appointed Willamette University's 22nd president July 1999. Under his leadership, the University has increased its academic profile, successfully employing strategies to attract the best faculty and the brightest students from the state, the nation and the world.

In 1999, Dr. Pelton and the Board of Trustees approved a plan to enhance the undergraduate experience at Willamette through the creation and development of residential commons that foster programming and opportunities for intellectual discourse beyond the classroom setting. In fall 2006, Kaneko Commons opened its doors to 350 students. Kaneko Commons is the first step in the University's plan to completely redesign the living-learning experience for Willamette undergraduates through the creation of a comprehensive residential commons program.

In 2005, President Pelton created a vision for centers of excellence. These centers, which are rare for a small independent liberal arts university, will strengthen opportunities for faculty and student development, research and scholarship in several different disciplines. In 2007, Dr. Pelton announced the establishment of four academic centers: Center for Ancient Studies and Archaeology, Center for Asian Studies, Center for the Study of Democracy, Religion, and Law and Center for Sustainable Communities.

President Pelton is committed to advancing Willamette University's academic profile. Under Dr. Pelton’s leadership, the number of College of Liberal Arts faculty will increase by 20 percent over the next few years as part of an effort to reduce faculty teaching loads in order to increase capacity for faculty research and enhanced pedagogy. In 2008, Willamette will break ground on a 42,000 square-foot academic building which will house the departments of mathematics, computer science and rhetoric and media studies. The building will also house the latest technology for Willamette's digital arts program, including visual arts, digital music and film studies.

Dr. Pelton also seeks to enhance Willamette's contributions to the greater Salem community. He has partnered with other community leaders and employers to find ways to foster economic growth and infuse energy and vitality in Salem’s downtown business core, such as creation of a downtown arts and cultural district. Additionally, developing opportunities for civic engagement and community service on the part of both students and staff at Willamette continues to be a high priority, with more than 52,000 hours of service provided by students to the Salem community each year. (See www.willamette.edu/about/community/partnership/).

Dr. Pelton is a recognized leader in higher education and has lectured and written extensively on the topic. He has served as a member of several leading national educational boards and committees, including the Harvard University Board of Overseers (former vice chair), American Council on Education (chair), American Association of Higher Education, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, Oregon Independent Colleges Association (chair), Oregon Symphony Association, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Oregon World Affairs Council, Oregon Humanities Council, and Oregon 529 Plan.

President Pelton holds a doctorate from Harvard University and an undergraduate degree in English and psychology from Wichita State University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1974. His area of academic focus is in 19th century British prose and poetry.

He served as dean of the college at Colgate University (1988-91) and Dartmouth College (1991-98). At Harvard he taught in the English Department and was the dean of one of Harvard’s 13 undergraduate colleges.

Nancy L. Zimpher
President, University of Cincinnati

Nancy L. Zimpher a widely recognized leader in higher education, civic engagement, economic development and urban education reform – serves as the president of the University of Cincinnati, one of the nation’s top public research universities. She became UC's 25th president and its first woman president in October 2003. Under her leadership, UC embarked on an unprecedented consultation process that involved a wide spectrum of the university's stakeholders and resulted in the strategic vision, UC|21: Defining the New Urban Research University.

Under President Zimpher's direction, the university continues to make significant strides in its UC|21 vision to become a leading urban research institution for the 21st century. The university has experienced enrollment growth to over 36,500 students, increased retention and graduation rates, improved student satisfaction and enhanced national rankings, including breaking into the Princeton Review's 2008 best colleges list. These achievements have been accomplished through a number of strategic actions that President Zimpher implemented, among them restructuring the university's decision-making process and introducing comprehensive state-of-the-art business practices; raising admissions standards while growing enrollment and maintaining the university's deep commitment to access and a diverse student body; introducing a series of academic reforms related to Strategic Enrollment Management, program offerings and performance-based budgeting; redesigning mechanisms for research support and opportunities for commercialization on intellectual property; as well as transforming decanal leadership through the completion of several national searches.

Additional examples of President Zimpher's achievements at UC include:

• Completion of the final phases of a $1.7 billion, 15-year capital transformation of the urban UC campus in Uptown Cincinnati;
• Creation of a university Academy of Fellows for Teaching and Learning;
• Initiating the largest campaign in UC history;
• Stepping up freshman innovations, an assessment center and undergraduate research opportunities;
• Establishment of UC's new Center for the City, designed to facilitate innovative and productive partnerships that leverage university and public expertise to work toward the betterment of the community;
• Chairing the Uptown Consortium, a five-member partnership in neighborhood development that involves five of the largest employers in the Uptown area surrounding the UC campus; and
• Founding of Strive, a Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky partnership focused on college access and success. President Zimpher is a co-founder of this partnership, which involves higher education institutions in the region, urban P-12 school districts in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, as well as business, civic and nonprofit organizations.

Prior to her arrival at UC, Dr. Zimpher served as the Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she led the university from 1998 to 2003, developing The Milwaukee Idea strategic vision and holding a faculty position in the School of Education. Prior to her appointment in Wisconsin, she was the Executive Dean of the Professional Colleges and Dean of the College of Education at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. During her career at OSU, she worked in various administrative positions and engaged in research and development efforts concerned with improving the preparation of teachers, especially teachers for urban contexts.

President Zimpher is highly engaged on the national and regional level and remains committed to an active role as a thought-leader in the 21st century. She serves as past-chair of the Board of Directors for National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), the nation's primary alliance of public universities as well as the oldest higher education association in the United States, now consisting of 215 members. Dr. Zimpher also chairs a national network of presidents called the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU), an organization committed to the urban agenda and the role of urban-located universities in their communities. In November 2007, she represented urban universities at the launch of the Blueprint for American Prosperity at the Brookings Institution. In addition, she serves as the Big East representative to the Division I Board of Directors of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and on the national board for the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). A past president of a national education reform network, The Holmes Partnership, she has previously served on the Executive Board of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and the AACTE, on the board of the American Council on Education (ACE), as chair of NASULGC's Commission on International Programs and as Project Director for a U.S. Department of Education Teacher Quality Grant.

Dr. Zimpher participates on numerous state, regional, civic and community commissions and boards. Presently, she co-chairs the Ohio Board of Regents' Articulation & Transfer Advisory Council. She serves as chair of the board of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce. She also serves on the Cincinnati Business Committee, co-chairing its Education Task Force; serves on the boards of the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC), and the United Way of Greater Cincinnati.

Dr. Zimpher is the co-author and co-editor of books on university leadership as well as books on teacher education and urban education. She also has authored and co-authored many monographs, book chapters, and academic journal articles related to academic leadership, school/university partnerships and teacher education, and in many instances her co-author has been her husband, Dr. Kenneth R. Howey, a research professor in education at UC. She often is sought after as a key participant at both national and international conferences, making numerous presentations for groups such as ACE,  NASULGC, American Educational Research Association (AERA), Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), and Association of Teacher Educators (ATE).

She is the recipient of numerous awards including the People of Vision Award from Prevent Blindness Ohio; the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education’s Chief Executive Leadership Award; Ohio State University’s Alumni Association Professional Achievement Award; the Urban Appalachian Council’s Kinship Award; the Association of Teacher Educators’ Distinguished Research Award; the AACTE’s Edward C. Pomeroy Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education; and Virginia Commonwealth University’s Distinguished Woman Scholar Award.  In 1998, she was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, and she has been recognized with the YWCA’s Women of Achievement award in Columbus, Milwaukee and Cincinnati.

President Zimpher holds a bachelor’s degree in English education and speech, a master’s degree in English literature, and a PhD in teacher education and administration in higher education, all from The Ohio State University.

Supporting Organizations

The Presidents Commitment is supported by the Student PIRGs, SAVE, and United States Student Association Foundation. The supporting organizations work to recruit additional signatories, work with campuses to implement the Commitment, promote the Commitment in the media, and fundraise for the commitment.