Over 1,000 students expected to discuss service and advocacy on college campuses

WHO/WHAT: Northeastern University will welcome over 900 students from hundreds of colleges and universities to the 23^rd annual IMPACT Conference for a discussion about service and advocacy. This National Student Conference on Service, Advocacy & Social Action is a three-day event featuring more than 90 workshops connected to the broad themes of service, activism, and social justice. Topics range from building and strengthening community service groups on campus to the role of investigative journalism in advocacy.

IMPACT is historically the largest convening in the country of campus community members involved in service, activism, politics, advocacy, and other socially responsible work across philosophical and ideological lines. Some 300-400 higher education institutions will be represented during the three-day symposium. This event builds on the legacy set forth by the Campus Outreach Opportunity Leage (COOL) Conference and the Idealist Campus Conference, spanning an incredible 20-plus year history.

Keynote speakers will include:

• Ned Rimer, co-founder of Citizen Schools
• Alexis McGill, executive director of Citizen Change, an organization that engages young people in voting
• Shelby Know, youth activist and subject of the film “The Education of Shelby Knox”
• Jarrett Barrios, president of the Blue Cross of Massachusetts Foundation and former state senator
• Staceyann Chin, artist/activist

WHEN: March 7-9, 2008

WHERE: Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115.

Media is welcome to attend any portion of the conference.

For more information, please visit www.changingthepresent.org/campusconference2008/ or contact Samantha Fodrowski at 617-373-5427 or s.fodrowski@neu.edu.

About Northeastern

Founded in 1898, Northeastern University is a private research university located in the heart of Boston. Northeastern is a leader in interdisciplinary research, urban engagement, and the integration of classroom learning with real-world experience. The university’s distinctive cooperative education program, where students alternate semesters of full-time study with semesters of paid work in fields relevant to their professional interests and major, is one of the largest and most innovative in the world. The University offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and graduate programs leading to degrees through the doctorate in six undergraduate colleges, eight graduate schools, and two part-time divisions. For more information, please visit www.northeastern.edu