Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program
Civics Education That's Just Right for Wyoming!
The Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program at the University of Wyoming is housed
in the School of Politics, Public Affairs, and International Studies in the College
of Arts and Sciences. It works in conjunction with community college and K-12 faculty
to host projects and meaningful dialogue on local, state, national, and international
issues of significant interest to Wyoming communities. The Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement
Program supports three program areas – organizing community and school event programming,
funding student research/internships, and supporting faculty engagement projects.
The program is overseen by Dr. Jean Garrison, professor of political science and international studies, who launched the Malcolm
Wallop Civic Engagement Program in 2017 to reach out to Wyoming communities as well
as support faculty and student opportunities. She, along with Dr. Jason McConnell, assistant professor of political science, co-direct the Wallop Civic Engagement
K-12 Curriculum Project; the program’s signature initiative launched in fall 2020,
which provides free multimedia lessons for social studies teachers across the state
as well as professional development workshops.
The Wallop Program was launched to address the need for Wyoming’s institutions of
higher education to be contributing, meaningful, and relevant partners in K-12 civics
and social studies education. It addresses core issues critical to Wyoming communities,
as well as state, national and international topics, by focusing on three areas of
civics education:
- Civic Knowledge and Skills. We work with teachers to help their students understand our history and how government
institutions work, constitutional rights, and cultural contexts in Wyoming and beyond
(including a specific focus on indigenous peoples of Wyoming)
- Civic Values and Dispositions. We work with teachers to provide multi-media content that speaks directly to state
social studies standards and professional development opportunities through summer
professional development workshops to prepare teachers with the tools to help students
appreciate civil discourse, free speech, and engaging with perspectives different
from their own.
- Civic Behaviors. We work with teachers to help students develop a sense of personal agency and to develop their confidence to engage with their communities and participate
in the civic life of the state/nation through voting, volunteerism, informed discourse,
and lifelong involvement.
Across the 2023-24 academic year, the Wallop Project will directly deliver and expand
civics education and social studies teacher resources and professional development
opportunities, and overall reach of the project. In addition to increasing the volume
of resources in the digital catalog and broadening awareness of the catalog to all
social studies teachers in Wyoming, the Wallop Project seeks to utilize the video
and resource page model with other academic disciplines, i.e. English Language Arts
and grade levels, and formalize a statewide P-16 learning community in social studies.
Click here for more details on how this project is addressing the pressing need for civics education.
The Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program and it's Directors and Staff would like
to thank the Wyoming School - University Partnership for helping to make the K-12
Curriculum, Project resources and our K-12 Professional Development Workshop possible.
To learn more about this project, or to support the program, contact Jean Garrison
or Jason McConnell at
wallop@uwyo.edu.
The Team
