Kerri McCarthy, a graduate student in her final semester of the Master of Public Policy Program, was named to the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge Student Voting Honor Roll for her leadership in nonpartisan campus civic engagement.
McCarthy, who earned her undergraduate degree in criminology from TCNJ in 2025, serves as a graduate assistant in the Office of Co-Curricular Leadership Development, where she has worked closely with the TCNJ Votes initiative to plan and implement the college’s nonpartisan voter engagement efforts.
“For the past year, civic engagement has been a major focus of my work, so it’s really meaningful to have that recognized,” McCarthy said. “TCNJ Votes is about giving students the tools to be informed and involved. Our role is to give students access, whether that meant helping them register, providing ballots, or even walking them through the process step by step.”
She helped lead a range of initiatives designed to increase student participation in the democratic process, including voter registration drives, campus tabling events, and coordinating transportation for students to polling locations on Election Day. She also played a key role in organizing the New Jersey Voting Summit, which brought together New Jersey campuses to support nonpartisan voter engagement ahead of the November 2025 Election.
In addition to her work on campus, McCarthy recently began a full-time role as an intelligence analyst with Major League Baseball’s Global Intelligence division, where she evaluates and investigates potential threats and collaborates on efforts to help protect players, personnel, and facilities. She says it’s work that draws on the same analytical and nonpartisan approach she developed through her public policy studies and civic engagement efforts.
“That analytical mindset — breaking things down and understanding context — is something I use every day.”
McCarthy is one of 168 students nationwide, including nine from New Jersey, to earn the honor from ALL IN.
“Kerri has been a great part of the Co-Curricular and Leadership Development team,” Avani Rana, director of co-curricular and leadership development, said. “She has developed creative ways to engage student-athletes and a variety of student organizations in civic engagement. Kerri’s energy, positivity, and creativity have been valuable assets to our office.”
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a national awards program that recognizes colleges and universities for their commitment to increasing student voting rates. ALL IN encourages higher education institutions to help students form the habits of active and informed citizenship, make democratic participation a core value on their campuses, and cultivate generations of engaged citizens who are essential to a healthy democracy.
— Emily W. Dodd ’03