Wyoming Project Citizen:

Teaching Public Policy Through Student Engagement

January 30-31, 2015 Laramie, Wyoming

Panel Discussion: How Do We Promote Civil Discourse?

The panel will discuss the creation of Heal Up And Hair Over: A Wyoming Civility Reader, as well as the issue of civil discourse in our culture. The panel discussion will be followed by a group discussion of the essay Hamburgers in Jeffrey City by Marko Ruble found on pages 30-32.

Thinking and discussion questions for Hamburgers in Jeffrey City by Mark Ruble, pages 30-32

  1. Based on the reading, how do you establish common ground with someone with whom you disagree?
  2. Is the example unique to Wyoming, or can this be done anywhere and by anyone?
  3. Is this civility or is it something else? Avoidance, live and let live attitude, for example.
  4. Does democracy demand some incivility in order to work?

About the Panel

Teena Gabrielson, University of Wyoming, Political Science Department

or 307-766-5383

Teena Gabrielson is Associate Professor and Department Head in the Political Science Department at the University of Wyoming where she has taught political theory for the past eight years. She is one of the contributing editors of Heal Up and Hair Over. Prior to coming to UW, Gabrielson taught at Southwestern University, a liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas.Trained at the University of California, Davis, Gabrielson’s primary research interests include environmental political theory, citizenship studies, and American political thought. Her research has appeared in American Journal of Political Science, Citizenship Studies, Environmental Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Theory & Event, and elsewhere.

Shannon Smith, Wyoming Humanities Council

or (307) 721-9244

Shannon Smith is the executive director of the Wyoming Humanities Council and leads the organization in their mission to promote critical and creative thinking as a way of improving the quality of life in our state. She is a historian, focusing on women in the American West and also American Indian history. Her book on the history of the Fetterman Fight at Fort Phil Kearny near Buffalo, Wyoming, titled Give Me Eighty Men, Women and the Myth of the Fetterman Fight, won the 2009 Wyoming State Historical Society book award for non-fiction. She came to the humanities council from EDUCAUSE, the non-profit membership organization for IT professionals in higher education where she conducted leadership training and wrote extensively about technology’s impact in the college classroom. Prior to that she taught history and social sciences at Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Reservation for seven years and considers teaching American History to American Indians one of her greatest accomplishments.

Leslie Capps, Wyoming Humanities Council

or (307) 721-9243

Leslie Capps joined the Wyoming Humanities Council staff in 2012. Leslie holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in educational psychology from the University of Wyoming. She has a long and varied work history which includes running the Multicultural Resource Center at the University of Wyoming to guiding sea kayak trips on the Yukon River in Alaska.

Mark Helmsing, University of Wyoming, College of Education, Secondary Education

or (307) 766-3250

Mark Helmsing joined the University of Wyoming in August as the College of Education’s new faculty member for social studies education. An Assistant Professor in the Department of Secondary Education, Mark defends his dissertation this semester at Michigan State University, where he taught social studies education methods for the past five years. Before teaching in higher education, Mark taught high school English and social studies in Indiana, Arizona, and overseas in Italy and the Scottish Highlands. He has done research projects with middle and high school teachers in New York City Public Schools and in districts throughout Michigan. His research examines how various beliefs, understandings, and narratives that define America as a broad concept are taught in social studies classrooms, museums, and in popular culture.

Audrey Shalinsky, University of Wyoming, College of Arts & Sciences, Associate Dean

or (307) 766-4106

Audrey Shalinsky is Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Wyoming. A professor of cultural anthropology and former Anthropology Department head, she has published research on two locations, Afghanistan and Wyoming. She is the A&S liaison to the Wyoming School-University Partnership and was a board member of the Wyoming Humanities Council for ten years.

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