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NIU will host ‘Elect Her’ training in 2011

November 29, 2010

Logos of Elect Her, Running Start and Women's Campaign ForumNorthern Illinois University has been selected as one of 11 colleges from across the nation and Jamaica that will host Elect Her – Campus Women Win in 2011, a unique campus-based program that teaches women how to run for campus-based elective office.

The program, a collaboration between the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and Running Start, will return to its nine original program sites and will debut at 11 new campuses in 2011. The expansion enables Elect Her – Campus Women Win to reach nearly every region in the nation, from Duke University in the South to the University of Wyoming in the West.

Currently, women hold just 17 percent of the seats in Congress and 24 percent of the seats in state legislatures. Elect Her – Campus Women Win is training a whole new generation of college women for running for office later in life.

“We are so honored to have been selected as one of the Elect Her sites for 2011,” said Jill Dunlap, director of the NIU Women’s Resource Center. “NIU has only had two female Student Association presidents in its history, so this is a program that we believe can have a big impact on the future of the Student Association at NIU.” 

Since 2007, AAUW and Running Start have collaborated to encourage college women to run for student government. Building on those successes, the organizations developed and initiated the Elect Her – Campus Women Win training program last year, and the effort is already showing results for young women. From the nine campus sites in 2010, participant evaluations show practically double the number of students planning to run for student government and planning to run for political office post-college.

The Elect Her – Campus Women Win Training is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 5, in the Regency Room at the Holmes Student Center. For questions about NIU’s training session, contact Dunlap at (815) 753-9613 or jdunlap@niu.edu.