Notre Dame Law School - Voting Rights Act - Elizabeth Bennion

Join the ACS Notre Dame Student Chapter for a lunch and learn focusing on the Voting Rights Act with Dr. Elizabeth Bennion. Dr. Bennion is Chancellor’s Professor of Political Science and Director of Community Engagement at Indiana University South Bend. As Director of Community Engagement, she supports and promotes community‑engaged teaching, research, service, and partnerships across the region.

Bennion joined the IU South Bend Department of Political Science in 1999 and has served as instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor. She was awarded the rank of Chancellor’s Professor in 2021 in recognition of sustained excellence in teaching, research, and service.

Professor Bennion teaches courses in American politics, with an emphasis on political behavior, elections, and civic engagement. She is the founding director of IU South Bend’s American Democracy Project and has served in that role since 2004. She is past host of Politically Speaking, WNIT’s live weekly public affairs television program, and current president of the Indiana Debate Commission, the nation’s oldest statewide debate commission.

A nationally recognized expert on civic education and political engagement, Dr. Bennion has authored or edited more than 85 publications and has delivered more than 200 invited presentations at academic conferences, colleges, universities, and community venues nationwide. She is a frequent media commentator for local, national, and international news organizations, with approximately 900 media appearances.

Her books include Teaching Civic Engagement: From Student to Active Citizen (2013), Teaching Civic Engagement Across the Disciplines (2017), Teaching Civic Engagement Globally (2021), and Teaching Experimental Political Science (2024). For over two decades, she has encouraged high impact teaching as author of The Teacher‑Scholar, a reoccurring column in The Political Science Educator, a national newsletter for political science educators.

Current research projects include grant‑funded research on reflective patriotism, a national study on student voter mobilization, and two edited volumes under contract, Understanding Experimental Political Science and Teaching Civic Engagement Online.