EducationNews.org

1. First of all, what is your exact title and what are your responsibilities?

The Center has such a small staff that we don't use titles.I refer to myself simply as a "staff member."My primary responsibilities include conducting our grants programs, selecting speakers for the Congress in the Classroom® summer workshop, managing our archival collections, representing The Center to the community, and working with our Board of Directors.Our other two staff members handle the bulk of promotion, Web design, program logistics, and general office functions.

2. When exactly did The Dirksen Center get started and who funds it?

The Center was chartered in Illinois in 1963 but remained inactive for years.Senator Dirksen actually discouraged fundraising for the organization while he was in office.After he died in 1969, a group of volunteers began to raise money and plan programs.The Center opened formally in 1976.We are a private, non-partisan, nonprofit organization.We have an endowment which generates funds for operations.

3. For those who did not grow up in the fifties or sixties, please tell our readers about Senator Everett Dirksen and his work.

Everett Dirksen was elected to Congress from central Illinois in 1932 and served in the House until an eye ailment forced him to retire in 1949.His health improved so that he ran for the Senate in 1950, winning by defeating the Senate Majority Leader at the time, Democrat Scott Lucas.Dirksen rose to the position of Minority Leader in the Senate in 1959, a post he held until his death.Dirksen was well known for his sonorous voice, his tousled appearance, and his legendary effectiveness in working across the aisle with Democrats to pass the landmark legislation of the John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson administrations:the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, among several others.We have posted much more information about Senator Dirksen at http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_emd_features.htm.

4. What are you trying to accomplish now?

For thirty years, The Center's educational and research programs have helped tens of thousands of Americans better understand the U.S. Congress, its personalities, procedures, and the public policies it produces.That is our mission.Five primary programs anchor our current activities:

Grants.The Center has awarded over $1,000,000 in grants to scholars, teachers, and organizations for projects about the people's branch of government.

Web Suite.With six Web sites designed for teachers and students, The Center's award-winning, Internet-based programs feature comprehensive information about the current Congress, online historical materials, lesson plans for teachers, links to hundreds of Web sites about the federal government, and hundreds of games and quizzes for students.

Congress in the Classroom®. Every summer, high school social studies teachers hear presentations by congressional experts on topics ranging from political campaigns to how a bill becomes law, sessions that bring to life the subjects they teach.Over 500 teachers from more than 250 school districts have participated.

Historical Collections.The 18^th congressional district in Illinois produced two outstanding congressional leaders in the 20^th century, Everett McKinley Dirksen and Robert H. Michel.The Center houses their collections, and 150 others, in a climate-controlled facility opened in 2003.

Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service.In 2007, The Center joined with Bradley University to establish the IPL.Its mission is "to educate ethical, collaborative, and bipartisan leaders who possess an understanding of both current public policy issues and the importance of public service."

5. Why do you feel this is important?

The U.S. Congress may be the least understood of the three branches of government.It certainly commands the least respect as measured in public opinion polls.Most folks see it as a source of frustration rather than the linchpin for our form of government.We believe, perhaps naively, that by helping teachers teach about Congress and assisting researchers in learning about Congress that we end up with a better informed public, one that holds realistic expectations for Congress's performance.

6. How much does the average citizen, in your mind, really know about the workings of the Senate and Congress? How much should they know?

Not much and understandably so.When you talk about Congress, there are really three entities:Congress as a constitutional entity, Congress as an institution, and Congress as represented by Congress members.Most people who have finished high school know at least something about Congress as described in the Constitution—they respect, even honor that version.Today's institution, however, is difficult even for experts to explain—people tend to see it as ineffective, a venue for bickering, stalling, and the battleground of special interests.Congress as its members probably is the most popular—citizens think more highly of their Congress member than they do of the institution.I wish I had the answer to the second part of your question.

7. Other than your Center, are there books, or movies, or pamphlets to help teachers teach about Congress and the Senate?

If you enter "teaching about Congress" in Google, you will generate more than 25 million hits, so the answer is, of course, "yes."On our Web suite we try to identify the most useful online lesson plans and Web sites.

8. What is the exact title of your web page and what will interested teachers, students, and parents find there?

Our Web suite (http://www.dirksencongressionalcenter.org/) consists of six separate but related sites.One site (http://www.dirksencenter.org/) provides information about The Center's research, educational, and archival programs.CongressLink (http://www.congresslink.org/) is directed to teachers of American history and government and furnishes lesson plans, historical materials, suggestions for teaching strategies, and access to the latest information about today's Congress.

AboutGovernment (http://www.aboutgovernment.org/) links visitors to hundreds of Web sites about the federal government, politics, elections, and citizenship.We have designed a site especially for children, too, with games and quizzes to help them understand Congress and government—Congress for Kids (http://www.congressforkids.net/). We have a Web site for teachers who want an online version of our popular summer workshop; it's called Congress in the Classroom® Online (http://www.congressclass.org/). Finally, our web-based monthly newsletter, with more than 20,000 subscribers, is located at http://www.webcommunicator.org/.

You don't need to remember all these urls—any of them will lead you to the others.Return often because we constantly add new features to the Web suite.

9. What is one of the most popular features of your Web suite?

The Civil Rights Documentation Project (http://www.congresslink.org/civilrights/index.htm) might be the most popular.It takes the form of an interactive, Web-based presentation with links to digitized historical materials and other Internet-based resources about civil rights legislation created by museums, historical societies, and government agencies. The site has resources teachers can use to create lesson plans and materials to supplement their teaching of the legislative process, of recent American history, and of the civil rights movement, among other social studies topics.The subject matter has immediacy:the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 continue to shape the American experience to this very day.

The Civil Rights Documentation Project also models other Web-based features in our suite.We have a wonderful collection of print, audio, and pictorial records related to Republican press conferences in the 1960s, for example, at http://www.dirksencenter.org/emd_audio/index.htm.

Published March 8, 2007