Welcome

The Annette Strauss Institute was founded in 2000 on the belief that active, engaged citizens are made, not born, and that society benefits when citizens take part. Through research, the Institute cultivates future generations of citizens and leaders.

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Posed photo of six people smiling at the camera and holding up tiny cars and stop signs

Team Engage members holding up tiny cars and stop signs: (Left to Right) Principle Investigator Dr. Keri Stephens, Co-Principal Investigator Susan Nold, Courtney Powers, Jefferson Grimes, Anatazja Harris, and Brett Robertson.

Engaging communities, encouraging participation, and planning how to involve as many people as possible are important goals in a state that is growing as rapidly as Texas. Team Engage is a new partnership between the Annette Strauss Institute, The UT Austin Communication Studies Department, and the Texas Department of Transportation to identify the best practices in Texas and in the US that encourage the public to become involved in transportation planning.

To find out more about Team Engage, please visit the following link.

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Educational Programs and Research

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College Programs

College programs include New Politics Forum and TX Votes. New Politics forum offers nonpartisan training, educational seminars, and conferences across the state. TX Votes is a student-led organization on the University of Texas at Austin's campus that practices Get Out The Vote activities.

Annette Strauss Institute kindergarten through twelfth grade Program Icon

K-12 Programs

Speak Up! Speak Out! is a K-12 civic education program, in which students identify a community problem and collaborate in a small group to solve that issue. TexElects is a statewide competition for high school students, in which students create art projects that encourage their community to vote during presidential and midterm election cycles.