Global and Area Studies Director Jean Garrison received the UW Foundation’s President’s
Faculty Stewardship Award.
The University of Wyoming awarded this year’s President’s Faculty Stewardship Award to Jean Garrison, director of the Global and Area Studies program and professor in the Department of Political Science.
The award recognizes the leadership of a UW faculty member who has excelled in relationship-building and stewardship of alumni and donors through receipt of private gifts, engagement of former students in the activities of UW, and a commitment to strong external relationships to advance the University of Wyoming.
“Jean’s career is an exceptional example of a UW faculty member who consistently goes above and beyond in her work to support the University of Wyoming,” says Ben Blalock, UW Foundation president. “When you truly come to understand fundraising, philanthropy is the result of connections among people. This award recognizes and expresses appreciation to the faculty members who stay connected with their students even following graduation, and who reach out to alumni and friends to continue to engage them in the life of the University of Wyoming. Jean has done this consistently for years and is most deserving of this award.”
“The personal connection that supporters and alumni have with their university is an important one,” says Clayton Hartman, chair of the UW Foundation Board of Directors. “Stewardship by faculty is a significant part of this connection and an essential part of the UW Foundation’s mission. Faculty stewardship helps donors to see firsthand the impact their support has on UW.”
Garrison will receive $5,000, her department will receive $2,500, and she can direct another $2,500 toward a university unit or club. The UW Foundation funds the awards.
A native of Sheridan County, Garrison earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from UW in 1990 and then her master’s and doctorate in political science at the University of South Carolina. She taught at Boston University from 1996–2000.
She received a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship and served in the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs with the U.S. State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and was an election monitor in Mongolia. In 2007-2008, she was a visiting fellow at the Mansfield Foundation in Washington, D.C., doing research on China's quest for energy security in Asia.
She has written three books: “China and the Energy Equation in Asia: Determinants of Policy Choice”; “Making China Policy: Nixon to G.W. Bush”; and “Games Advisors Play: Foreign Policy in the Nixon and Carter Administrations.” She has published numerous articles in journals such as “Asia Policy”; “Foreign Policy Analysis”; and Political Psychology.
Garrison teaches courses in American foreign relations, international relations and comparative foreign policy. Her research focuses on American foreign policy, with an emphasis on U.S.-China relations, energy security, presidential foreign policy advisory systems, bureaucratic politics and group decision-making dynamics. She says her future work will focus specifically on climate change as an energy security issue.
One of Garrison’s distant relatives, Albinus Alonzo Johnson, served as the second UW president from 1891-1896.
“I am humbled and honored to be selected as the second UW faculty member to receive the President’s Stewardship Award,” says Garrison. “I credit any success that I have had to a team effort and specifically recognize that the work that I do would not happen without the support of Global and Area Studies program staff and faculty.”
She adds, “We have a great story to tell at the University of Wyoming, and my efforts in the last five years have taught me that responsible stewardship requires committed communication. I am happy to show our supporters how they make a difference in the lives of students and faculty. With this award, I feel a renewed enthusiasm for this work, its importance, and also a responsibility and commitment to continue these efforts.”
Blalock says the award is designed to bring about a greater knowledge and awareness of effective stewardship practices and relationship-building opportunities, and to give special recognition to those faculty members who make outstanding contributions to the culture of philanthropy at UW.
