Stewart Family Professor

Dr. Jean A. Garrison is the first recipient of the Stewart Family Professorship in Public Service. In her more than 25-year career at UW, she has taught and conducted research in the areas of foreign policy and the presidency, energy security, civic engagement, and conflict resolution. She has held a number of positions at UW advancing the university’s community engagement goals including serving as special assistant to the provost for community engagement in 2022-23 leading UW’s successful effort to be recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged Campus and serving as special assistant to the president for engagement and then founding director of the Office of Engagement and Outreach and UW’s chief engagement officer (2017-2020). In 2021-22, she held the College of Arts and Sciences Seibold Professorship advancing numerous UW civic engagement activities. Her other administrative positions at UW have included serving as the founding director of the Center for Global Studies (2014-2019; 2020), former director of the Global and Area Studies Program/International Studies Program (2008-14), and interim department head for Modern and Classical Languages.  

 

Garrison has devoted much of her career at UW seeking to bring important conversations on issues of interest to Wyomingites out to Wyoming communities and enhancing public service and experiential learning opportunities for students. This work includes overseeing the Stewart Family Serviceship Award, created in 2021, which supports students working on their own applied community research or service projects that address real-world needs or challenges on a local, state, national or global level. 

 

“It is a great honor to be the first recipient of this prestigious professorship dedicated to advancing public service and civic engagement opportunities,” Garrison said. “I look forward to advancing public service opportunities for our students and to make sure that our work continues to have a positive impact on Wyoming communities, the state, the nation, and beyond.” 

 

Her publications include co-editor of Polarization and Deep Contestations: The Liberal Script in the United States (Oxford University Press, 2024) and author of three books, Games Advisors Play: Foreign Policy in the Nixon and Carter Administrations, The Making of U.S.-China Policy: Nixon to G.W. Bush, and China and the Energy Equation in Asia, as well as author of many articles and book chapters. She has been a fellow at the Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG) – Transformative Power of Europe at the Freie Universität Berlin and is the past recipient of a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship where she served in the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs in the U.S. State Department. Dr. Garrison has also been a visiting fellow with the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation in Washington, DC. She has received numerous teaching awards, the College of Arts and Sciences Extraordinary Merit in Research and Extraordinary Merit in Advising awards, and is past recipient of the President’s Stewardship Award. In 2024, she was named an outstanding alumnus of the UW College of Arts and Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of South Carolina and B.A. from UW also in political science. 

 

The Stewart Professorship has been funded by the Stewart family in honor of their late parents, Clyde and Jerrine Stewart, of Sheridan, who served as daily examples of people immersed in family, community and work. The couple helped address community needs and real-world challenges.