School of Politics, Public Affairs & International Studies
Arts & Sciences Building 208
Dept. 3197
1000 E. University Ave.
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-6484
Email: sppais@uwyo.edu
American foreign policy, international relations, US-China relations, energy security
Academic Areas of Expertise:
American Foreign Policy, International Relations, U.S.-Chinese Relations, Energy Security, Civic Engagement
Dr. Garrison has worked at the University of Wyoming since 2000. She is the College of Arts and Sciences Seibold Professor for 2021-22 and Director of the Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program. Her work in civic engagement focuses on creating a partnership across all levels of education in Wyoming to create greater depth and access in virtual civic engagement programming for K-12 social studies teachers. She led UW’s community engagement initiative from June 2017-August 2020 first as special assistant to the president for engagement and founding director of the Office of Engagement and Outreach and UW’s chief engagement officer.
Her administrative positions have included serving as the founding director of the Center for Global Studies (2014-2019; 2020), which provides international funding opportunities for faculty and student research and organized a variety of outreach programs around the state, former director of the Global and Area Studies Program/International Studies Program (2008-14), and interim department head for Modern and Classical Languages (2014-15).
In Fall 2015 she was 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. She also has been a visiting fellow with the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation in Washington, DC.
She is the 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, and numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in the area of American foreign policy. Her research areas focus on American foreign policy, U.S.-China relations, energy security, and civic engagement. She holds a Ph.D. in political science (international relations) from the University of South Carolina and B.A. from UW also in political science.
She is the past recipient of various awards including UW’s Presidential Stewardship Award, the Mortar Board ‘Top Prof’ Award, the A&S Thumbs Up Teaching Award, and for Outstanding Merit in Research and Advising in the College of Arts and Sciences. She teaches courses on American foreign relations, human security, and energy security.
With partners (Dr. Tanja Börzel and Dr. Thomas Risse) from the Freie Universität Berlin and the Contestations of the Liberal Script (SCRIPTS) Project, she is working on a joint book project, along with Dr. Stephanie Anderson from UW on “Global Leadership Crisis, Rising Inequalities, and Culture Wars Contestations of the Liberal Script in North America.” Her particular contribution focuses on U.S. foreign policy during the Trump presidency. Her second research area is an outgrowth of work in the Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program focusing on civics education and civic engagement more generally. This research is a joint project with Dr. Jason McConnell (UW) and partners in the UW College of Education.
She is related to UW’s second president, Albinus Alonzo Johnson, and enjoys watercolor landscape painting.
School of Politics, Public Affairs & International Studies
Arts & Sciences Building 208
Dept. 3197
1000 E. University Ave.
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-6484
Email: sppais@uwyo.edu