Mike Brickner ’04 certainly was busy while a student at Hiram College. In addition to his major in sociology/anthropology and his three minors in gender studies, history, and Spanish, he also was involved in a number of student groups, including the Student Senate, Model UN, Newman Center, Student Against Social Injustice, and the Minority Roundtable. Thanks to his participation in these groups, Brickner felt prepared for his professional career.

After graduating from Hiram, Brickner went to work with the ACLU of Ohio as a program associate, helping the organization with its efforts to lead police reform. After his first year, Brickner rose within the organization, ultimately being promoted to senior policy director and creating several advocacy campaigns regarding voting, disability, and LGBTQ+ rights, to name a few.

In 2018, Brickner left the ACLU of Ohio after 15 years to serve as the Ohio state director of All Voting is Local, an organization fighting against discriminatory voting practices. In May 2020, Brickner rejoined the ACLU, this time in Delaware, as the executive director. Brickner speaks highly of the opportunities he gets every day to make an impact. “Hiram taught me about the importance of us giving back, and advancing justice and freedom for all fills me with so much pride and joy,” he says.

Outside of his work with the ACLU, Brickner is an avid traveler with the goal to visit each continent. And even in his spare time, he continues to help his community as an adjunct professor in non-profit law for Kent State University and as a board member for the Brush Foundation, which advocates for reproductive health and rights. Brickner attributes his drive for advocacy to many of the people he met while at Hiram College: “I was surrounded by so many intelligent, thoughtful, passionate people who made me better, and want to do better, that I hope a little bit of it rubbed off on me.”