Contact: Kenneth Billings
STARKVILLE, Miss.--May 15 is the registration deadline for a free Mississippi State summer institute for teachers interested in helping promote responsible participation in local and state governments.
Called Project Citizen, the program will be held June 22--24 on the university's Starkville campus. Designed primarily for middle, secondary and post-secondary educators, it provides lodging and meals, a classroom set of program textbooks, and instructional support materials.
Enrollment is limited to 25, with middle and high school teachers strongly encouraged to apply. For a small fee, participants may obtain 2.0 continuing education units.
Project Citizen is administered by the national Center for Civic Education and a network of state and congressional district coordinators. It is conducted with the assistance of the National Conference of State Legislatures, with funding from the U.S. Department of Education and, in some cases, state legislatures.
"Through this training, classroom leaders will be prepared to help their students better understand how public policy may be monitored and influenced," explained Susie Burroughs. "In the process, the students may better appreciate our system of democratic values and principles, among other ideals."
Burroughs, who directs the institute, is interim head of MSU's department of curriculum, instruction and special education.
For more information or to obtain a Project Citizen application, contact Holly Haimes at 662-325-5884 or hmh64@msstate.edu . Burroughs may be reached at 325-3747 or susie.burroughs@msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.