Iowa State’s Cyclone Civics conference informed faculty members on civic literacy at the Memorial Union on Wednesday.

140 attendees were at the event, according to Kelly Shaw, associate director for Cyclone Civics and teaching professor in the political science department.

The event is one of the first of a new initiative started by President Wendy Wintersteen that aims to educate students, faculty and staff about civic engagement.

“Our goal today is to do some stocktaking in terms of how much our students, our faculty and our staff know about civic engagement, civic dialog, and then for us as a university to find ways to address some of those gaps in knowledge and figure out how we will grow from here,” Shaw said.

Shaw mentioned that the program will be structured to provide information on a variety of topics.

“Our goal is to teach civic literacy, which ranges everywhere from understanding of the Constitution to ‘How do I register to vote? How do I run for office?’ those types of things,” Shaw said. 

Karen M. Kedrowski, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics and professor of political science, said one outcome students might first experience is a celebration of the 250th birthday of the United States next year. 

“As we are celebrating America at 250, there’ll be lots of opportunities for students to engage,” Kedrowski said. ”We are planning a number of events, lectures and forums related to the 250th birthday of the United States.”

In addition to that, Kedrowski hopes Wednesday’s conference will spark an interest in faculty to incorporate civic skills into courses across disciplines.

“All of our disciplines at some level interact with government regulations and citizenship, so having students be more aware about that and to realize that they can influence those decisions through the skills that they would be building here at Iowa State,” Kedrowski said.

To learn more about Cyclone Civics, visit their website.