KVK Board Member Named the CHAIRMAN OF KIDS VOTING USA

Kids Voting USA announced the election of Dr. Diana Carlin as Chairman of the Board of Directors.   Dr. Carlin is a professor of communication studies and former dean of the Graduate School and International Programs at the University of Kansas, where she has been a faculty member since 1987.  Her research is in political communication with an emphasis on political debates, youth involvement in politics, speechwriting and women in politics. Carlin served on the advisory board for the Commission on Presidential Debates from 1987-2000 and created DebateWatch, a voter education program for the Commission, through a grant from the Ford Foundation. Carlin and her research partners recently published a book on the DebateWatch project. Carlin is serving her second term on the Kids Voting USA board.  She also has served on the Board of Directors of Kids Voting Kansas since 1993 and served as chair from 1999-2004. 

 

Other members of the Kids Voting USA Board of Directors are: Mary Petty, vice chair, St. Petersburg Times; Javier Aldape, secretary-treasurer, the E.W. Scripps Company; Geoff Gonella, past chair, Cornerstone Governmental Affairs; Peter Harkness, Governing magazine; Pamela Johnson, Reynolds Journalism Institute, University of Missouri; and Mark Morneau, Gannett Co., Inc.

Kids Voting USA Moves to Topeka, Kansas

The Kansas Press Association (KPA) has won a contract to manage the Kids Voting USA organization.  KPA assumed management of Kids Voting USA’s day-to-day business operations May 1^st. Rachel Willis, formerly executive director of Kids Voting Kansas, is the new Kids Voting USA executive director.  This arrangement is very much similar to the agreement that KPA has with the Kids Voting Kansas organization. KPA has successfully managed the Kids Voting Kansas program since 2002.  Under its leadership the organization has expanded from 8 participating programs to 63.   Willis said, “Kids Voting USA and KPA will work together to ensure that a knowledgeable and committed staff are available to serve the network of 52 affiliates around the nation and further the ideals of the Kids Voting organization, while moving forward the strategic plan to bring the richness of the program to a broader and more diverse set of young people.”  The Kansas Press Association plans to announce who the new Kids Voting Kansas Coordinator is soon.