Ep. 9: From the Playground to the Polls: Why Early Civic Education Matters with Diana Owen

In this episode of Civic Café, Austin Trantham sits down with Diana Owen—recipient of the American Political Science Association Civic Engagement Section’s 2024 Established Leader award. Dr. Owen shares her journey from a politically active childhood to becoming a leading voice in civic education research. She discusses the urgent need to strengthen civic education in K-12 schools and highlights her work in building evidence that quality civics programs significantly boost student engagement and knowledge. Dr. Owen emphasizes that young people, often assumed to be digital naturals, still need explicit instruction in media literacy, civil discourse, and responsible digital participation, especially with the rise of social media and artificial intelligence. She stresses the importance of collaboration between K-12 and higher education to ensure students arrive at college with strong civic skills, and calls for more professional development for teachers around AI. Through her Civic Education Research Lab, Dr. Owen aims to provide the research needed to persuade policymakers and educators that civic learning is essential and foundational. She encourages early-career scholars to connect with civic organizations, leverage existing research, and start small to build credibility. The episode underscores that civic readiness must evolve to meet the challenges of the digital age, and that research, teaching, and policy must work together to prepare engaged citizens for the future.

Ep. 8: Building Civic Muscle with Jae Yeon Kim

In this episode of Civic Café, Austin Trantham sits down with Jae Yeon Kim—recipient of the American Political Science Association Civic Engagement Section’s 2024 Emerging Scholar award. Dr. Kim shares his unique path into political science, his passion for community-driven democracy, and how concepts like “civic opportunity” and “civic muscle” shape both his research and vision for democratic participation.

From grassroots relationships to institutional reform, Dr. Kim discusses how civic infrastructure can empower individuals and governments alike to listen, collaborate, and solve problems. He also offers a preview of his upcoming book project on immigrant community organizing during the War on Poverty.

Jae Yeon Kim is an Assistant Research Scientist at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins, a research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, and a fellow at the Better Government Lab. In 2026, he will begin as Assistant Professor of Public Policy at UNC Chapel Hill.

Ep. 7: From Theory to Action: Exploring Democratic Engagement with Jane Mansbridge

“Anyone listening to this knows that we're in pretty bad shape right now, and we're not in just in bad shape because of accidents. We're in bad shape because our democratic mechanisms come out of the 18th century," says Jane Mansbridge, Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She joins Austin Trantham to discuss advancing civic engagement and the importance of bridging theory and practice. She also offers advice for junior faculty interested in civic engagement research, teaching and praxis. 

Austin Trantham is Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Social Sciences at Saint Leo University and Chair of the section’s Awards Committee,  helps facilitate this Civic Cafe.

Ep. 6: Taking Context Seriously: Lessons from Afghanistan and Ukraine ft. Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili

“If we can make a stronger connection between understanding the way that people solve problems and the way that policymakers want to solve problems, we’d be better off,” says Dr. Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh.

As we mark the anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led forces from Afghanistan, Brick Murtazashvili joins us to discuss The Afghanistan Project organized by the Center to assist Afghans seeking asylum resettlement, and other assistance, and similar work with Ukraine. The Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh was awarded the 2023 Outstanding Civic Engagement Project Award for The Afghanistan Project and related initiatives.  

Links in this episode:

• Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh

Austin Trantham is Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Social Sciences at Saint Leo University and Chair of the section’s Awards Committee,  helps facilitate this Civic Cafe.

Ep. 5: What Universities Owe Democracy ft. Ronald Daniels

“Democracy is still very much fragile,” says Ronald Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins University at the Menard Family Center for Democracy at Miami University of Ohio. “Higher education needs to do more to live up to its democratic promise." What do colleges and universities owe democracy and what can they do to ensure democracy survives and thrives in the United States and around the world?

Links in this episode:

• ⁠What Universities Owe Democracy ⁠(Johns Hopkins University Press)

• ⁠Menard Family Center for Democracy at Miami University of Ohio

Ep. 4: Democracies in America ft. Greg Laski and Bert Emerson

Greg Laski, civilian Assistant Professor of English at the United States Air Force Academy, and Bert Emerson, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Honors Program at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington join us to discuss their new book, Democracies in America (Oxford University Press).

The book features twenty-five essays written by a diverse group of leading intellectuals in history, literature, religious studies, political philosophy, rhetoric, and other disciplines, and it is organized around enduring dilemmas for society and governance, including republic versus democracy, citizenship and representation.

Links in this episode:

• Democracies in America: Key Words for the 19th Century and Today (Oxford University Press) Use Code AAFLYG6 for 30% off.

• Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

• Colored Conventions Project

Ep. 3: Creating Civic Pedagogy To Serve Hispanic-Serving Institutions 

How can we create civic pedagogies to best serve students of different backgrounds? What are best practices for students who are not at predominantly White institutions? Dr. Andrew Smith, lecturer of political science at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, identified gaps in our understanding and created pedagogy for students at the country’s largest Hispanic-Serving Institution. “Students that do well-designed service-learning feel that they have more political engagement and social agency coming out of it and believe they can affect change,” says Dr. Smith. 

Andrew Smith won the inaugural “Best Paper” award from the Civic Engagement Section in 2022 for this work. 

Links in this episode: 

Andrew H. Smith (2022) Service-Learning at a Hispanic-Serving Institution: A Preliminary Study, Journal of Political Science Education, DOI: 10.1080/15512169.2022.2116710

Austin Trantham is Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Social Sciences at Saint Leo University and Chair of the section’s Awards Committee,  facilitates this Civic Cafe.

Ep. 2: ‘What Should We Do?’ ft. Peter Levine

“The question of what kind of society we want to have is a value question and civic engagement is a means to achieve it and it’s embedded in the value question,” says Peter Levine, who joins David Campbell in this episode for conversation about the past, present and future of civic engagement scholarship and praxis.

Peter Levine is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship & Public Affairs in Tufts University’s Jonathan Tisch College of Civic Life. In 2022, the APSA Civic Engagement Section gave him the section’s inaugural Established Leader Award. Levine is the author or editor of twelve books, including most recently What Should We Do? A Theory of Civic Life (Oxford University Press 2022). In his new book, Levine asks the questions: How do groups organize? What makes them effective at disagreement? How do they deal with those who are powerful and outsiders that are cruel and unjust? 

David Campbell is the Packey J. Dee Professor of American Democracy at the University of Notre Dame and Co-Chair of the Civic Engagement Section of the American Political Science Association. His research focuses on civic and political engagement, with particular attention to religion and young people. His most recent book is Secular Surge: A New Fault Line in American Politics (with Geoff Layman and John Green), which received the Distinguished Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Links in this episode: 

APSA Civic Engagement Section

Guided activities that build civic skills and capacity

Civic Studies at Tufts University

Common Cause 

Educating for American Democracy

Ep. 1: Improving Civic Engagement and Literacy in Florida ft. Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan

In our inaugural episode, Austin Trantham talks with Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan about what led her to civic-focused work, best practices for working alongside community partners, getting students actively engaged and suggestions for faculty interested in developing civically-engaged projects, programs and research.

Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan is the Frank E. Duckwall Professor of Florida Studies and Founding Director of the Center for Civic Engagement at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. APSA Civic awarded Judithanne the 2022 Outstanding Civic Engagement Project Award for her work with the Florida Civic Fellows, which brings college education programming to high school students in order to improve civic engagement and literacy in Florida.

Austin Trantham is Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Social Sciences at Saint Leo University and Chair of the section’s Awards Committee,  facilitates this Civic Cafe.