Summer 2022 ICAPP Newsletter

The Director's Desk

The Institute for Civics and Public Policy at Ohio Northern (ICAPP) has wrapped up another successful year! In addition to continued civic engagement activities, we launched a new podcast, hosted a number of notable alumni speakers, and continued our “Critical Questions” series which continues to garner media attention. Please take a moment to check out some of the activities we’ve been working on this year.

I invite you to contact me if you have ideas for future programming or would like to know more about how you can become a member of TEAM ICAPP!

Sincerely,

Robert Alexander, BA '94
Founding Director, ICAPP
W. Binkley Endowed Chair of Political Science

"un-CAPP it!" podcast

ICAPP has officially launched the first season of their podcast, “un-CAPP it!” Co-hosts Kennedy Aikey and Hailey Trimpey discuss topics previously written upon in their Critical Question Series and provide their Gen-Z perspectives on it. They are then joined by a guest who provides expertise on the topic. They round out each episode with a “Fact or Cap” section, which they explain as a “Gen-Z spin on true or false,” where the guest is asked to agree or disagree with a hard-hitting statement. They also conclude with a “pupdate” on ICAPP’s mascot and Polar Paws dog Sport Grey. Catch up with the podcast on Anchor, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

Polar Bears in public affairs

Polar Bears in Public Affairs was an event put on by ICAPP and Pi Sigma Alpha that worked to bring alumni back on campus to connect with current students. Throughout the month of February, every Tuesday at 11 a.m. we had students connect with alumni, where the alumni shared their experiences from Ohio Northern, career advice, job application advice, and their wisdom. Each session provided students an opportunity to meet alumni in a variety of different fields from lobbying, law, non-profit, research and government affairs. These alumni included Melissa Kuhn Wheeler, BA '01; MarkSchloemer, BA '08; Scott Miller, BA ‘77; Kelly Morman, BA ‘11; Jeremy Martinez, BA ‘15; Gina Grandillo, BA ‘16; Matt Wiseman, BA ‘11; and Speaker Bob Cupp, BA ‘73, JD ‘76, Hon.D. '11. Students greatly benefited from this experience and the connections that were made. We are hoping to continue this series and provide monthly opportunities for current students to connect with our alumni.

Critical Questions

ICAPP continued its Critical Questions series, producing seven new publications since the start of 2022. Critical Questions examine current events and issues garnering public interest. Recent topics included the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, lobbying, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the media, Presidents’ Day, women in politics and service dogs. Questions are written by ICAPP student fellows and faculty, providing objective research for reader consideration and promoting civic engagement.

Allen Lima leadership event

This spring ICAPP hosted the Allen Lima Leadership group with a number of students from schools in Allen county. The students were able to go through three sessions learning about civics and ways that they can contribute to their communities. The ICAPP Fellows led the first session all about public advocacy with an activity that prompted the students to teach and advocate for a particular policy that interested them. The second lecture was done by Dr. John Curiel from ONU political science, teaching them about redistricting. The final lecture was Dr. Robert Alexander discussing the Electoral College. To round out their day, students were given a tour of campus, lunch, and had time to work on their own leadership projects through the ALL organization. It was a great day for students to connect with each other and to learn more about civics and leadership.

Campus Vote project

ICAAP has recently joined forces with the Campus Vote Project, an organization that is dedicated to improving and increasing voter registration and voter turnout among college students on college campuses across the country. Campus Vote Project has Democracy Fellows for each college campus that work to clear up misconceptions about voting and voter registration, as well as to help students register to vote and educate students about the importance of voting and having your voice heard. The Democracy Fellows for ONU are Nicholas Maccani and Shea Johnson, who have worked closely with ICAAP on ways to help make ONU a voter-friendly campus. In April, ICAAP and CVP held their first joint Voter Registration Drive, and have continued to plan on ways to increase CVP’s presence for the upcoming school year and to help voter registration and turnout among ONU students to increase for the next election.

ICAPP on social media and holidays

ICAPP has increased their presence on all social media platforms. ICAPP is active on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tiktok. They have been able to celebrate all major holidays, including Black History Month and Women’s History Month. Social Media has also been a great way to promote the new podcast and the returning critical question series. ICAPP can be found on all social media platforms with the handle @onu_ICAPP.

Senior spotlight

Our Senior Spotlight is Andrew Manteneiks. Drew majored in Political Science with minors in philosophy and public policy. During his time at ONU, Drew was involved in a number of organizations including serving as President of Student Senate along with being the President of College Democrats. He graduated with honors from Pi Sigma Alpha, Phi Beta Delta and Psi Sigma Tau.

Alumni spotlight

ICAPP is thrilled to highlight the accomplishments of political science alumnus Andrew LaMont Eanes, BA '79. Eanes is currently Vice President and co-founder of Agile Government Services, Inc (AGSI); based in Overland Park Kansas. AGSI is a government contractor specializing in business process, and software development. Since April 2020, AGSI has focused on providing contact tracing services and software for Covid-19 mitigation.

Throughout his career Eanes established a record for “…just getting things done…” per former Utah Senator Orin Hatch during Eanes confirmation hearing. After more than 30 years in private industry, on Feb. 26, 2015, President Obama re-nominated Eanes as the Deputy Commissioner of Social Security after an initial nomination on July 30, 2014.

Eanes has demonstrated the ability to lead large, complex and global organizations in key executive positions throughout his career. Prior to joining the Social Security Administration (SSA), he served in progressively responsible roles in technology and
telecommunications industries, including vice president consumer and business markets, vice president human resources, general manager, executive vice president information technology/service operations, and chief operating officer. He has also co-founded two small businesses. Before fulfilling these positions, Eanes honed his managerial skills in finance, marketing, and customer service roles focusing on improving workforce efficiency and productivity through strategic planning and technology adoption.

Throughout his career, Eanes has demonstrated a commitment to public service. He has served his community through leadership roles on a variety of boards and commissions focusing on children’s issues. His first public service role was in 1979 as a legislative assistant to the Ohio Senate.

In March of 2020, community and business leaders called on Eanes to join a Kansas City areawide task force to support 10 individual public health departments to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic. He agreed and his business Agile Government Services, Inc (AGSI) developed a modern and comprehensive approach to provide contact tracing services on behalf of public health departments. His team developed CTaaS® (Contact Tracing as a Service) software, making it easier to capture, collate and report on disease investigations with speed, agility and scale. The software has been extensively used by university, public health and private enterprise to keep their communities safe during the pandemic.

Eanes earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Ohio Northern University and an MBA from Baldwin Wallace College. He completed marketing management programs at Duke University Executive Program and Columbia University.