Spark life-long commitment to citizenship through the Power + Character Curriculum
The Center for Leadership and Intercultural Engagement is thrilled to offer an opportunity for faculty and staff to train with Citizen University and dive deep into their central citizenship equation: Power + Character = Citizenship. This will be a free, highly engaging, and genuinely fun learning experience for faculty and staff, one that directly supports the work many of us care deeply about: teaching, mentoring, leadership, civic engagement, and student development.
We believe it will be energizing, practical, and immediately useful across roles and disciplines. This training will provide you with tools to bring lessons, activities, and experiences back into the classroom, the work you do, and our community. Training is open to George Mason faculty and staff and will take place on July 27-29, 2026.
- Register now open!
- Questions, contact Dr. Nick Lennon
Why would I be interested in this training?
- You’re looking for citizenship-inspiring activities, modules, or frameworks you can bring to groups of students you already work with
- You’re an experienced teacher or out-of-school educator looking for new tools to help the young people they work with develop a sense of civic identity
- You’re building your skills as a facilitator, activator, or community leader
- You’re yearning for space yourself to make sense of the challenges your own community faces and your role within it
- You’re wanting to create opportunities that invite others to show up and take collective action in intergenerational ways
Why this training and why now?
It’s time to reimagine civics.
Most civic programs stop at knowledge. But in today’s world, young people need more than facts — they need formation. This training helps educators offer experiences that ground students in a sense of self, community, and purpose in public life.
We must couple power and character.
Too often, students learn about civic power without ethical grounding — or learn about “being good” without knowing how to effect change. We teach both. When young people integrate civic fluency with moral clarity, they begin to live like citizens.
This is identity-based, not issue-based.
This isn’t a one-off project or plug-and-play lesson. Our curriculum helps young people explore who they are, who they’re responsible for, and how they want to show up — not just in the classroom, but in the communities they’re a part of.
Educators deserve this too.
We know how much heart you pour into your work. This training is designed to nourish your civic imagination, too. You’ll reflect, connect, and leave ready to lead experiences that change how young people see themselves — and what they believe is possible.
How can I integrate the Power+ Curriculum into the work I do?
George Mason invites members of the training cohort to engage with the Power+ Character curriculum as a flexible, identity-centered framework that can be thoughtfully integrated into existing educational, co-curricular, and community-based work. Rather than positioning the curriculum as a stand-alone program, participants are encouraged to draw on the elements that resonate most with their roles and contexts, embedding its principles, activities, and reflective practices into classrooms, student organizations, leadership initiatives, out-of-school programs, and community partnerships in ways that enhance and strengthen the work they already do.
Through this approach, participants can design citizenship-inspiring experiences that move beyond civic knowledge toward civic formation, ethical grounding, and agency, supporting students in understanding who they are, who they are responsible for, and how they wish to show up in public and communal life. The curriculum also supports participants’ growth as facilitators, activators, and community leaders by fostering spaces for dialogue, reflection, and collective action across differences, while remaining adaptable to local needs and real community challenges. Implementation is intentionally reciprocal and developmental, inviting educators to engage in self-reflection, clarify their own civic identities, and nourish their civic imagination as they guide others. Our hope is that cohort members leave the training equipped to reimagine civics in ways that are ethical, sustained, and deeply human, integrating power with character in service of their communities.
What are the different parts of the curriculum?
Sharpen your citizen senses
- Practice close observation of your community instead of resting on assumptions
- Deepen your capacity to listen curiously to others’ thoughts, experiences, and opinions
- Touch into emotions and explore your memories — reflect on how your story drives you towards active citizenship
Clarify your citizen mind
- Investigate how your thoughts are formed, what lenses you use as you perceive the world, and how you react in heightened situations
- Consider the mind of America: what are the powerful myths, narratives, and foundational concepts that shape how we do or don’t identify with a sense of national pride
Deepen your citizen heart
- Unpack your values and practice applying those priorities to shared civic life
- Add space to your definition of service—and build civic habits and rituals with civic love at the center
Embrace your citizen power
- Practice mapping power in your community and noticing how it flows
- Understand your place in the flow, and learn strategies for disrupting or recirculating power in order to challenge toxic systems
- Create action plans for how you’ll integrate all this learning into your life as a civic catalyst at home
What does the curriculum look like?
We encourage you to check out the links below for curriculum and case study examples:
What do the 3 days look like?
We invite faculty and staff to join us for a three-day professional development experience, taking place in person on July 27-29, 2026. Each day is essential, as the curriculum builds progressively, enriching your learning journey. There is no cost to participate, and lunch will be provided.
- Day 1: Breakfast → Welcome & Connect! → Curriculum Introduction → Creating America → Lunch → Foundations: Civic Character & Civic Power → Connect & Close the Day
- 8:30am (breakfast)
- 9:00am (start time)
- 5:00pm (end time)
- Day 2: Breakfast → Open & Connect → Sharpen Your Civic Senses → Clarify Your Civic Mind → Deepen Your Civic Heart Lunch → Embrace Your Civic Role → Planning to Integrate → Connect & Close the Day
- 8:30am (breakfast)
- 9:00am (start time)
- 5:00pm (end time)
- Day 3: Breakfast → Open & Connect → Closing Ceremony & Celebration → Lunch available & farewell!
- 8:30am (breakfast)
- 9:00am (start time)
- 5:00pm (end time)
Are you a department on campus and interested in partnering with us?
This will be a free, highly engaging, and genuinely fun learning experience for faculty and staff, one that directly supports the work many of us care deeply about: teaching, mentoring, leadership, civic engagement, and student development. We believe it will be energizing, practical, and immediately useful across roles and disciplines. Importantly, co-sponsorship does not require any financial contribution or additional workload. The only commitment involved is helping us recruit and encourage faculty and/or staff from your unit to participate in the program.
In short, co-sponsors are asked to:
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Lend their name/office as a program co-sponsor
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Help promote the program and encourage participation within their networks
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Support broad, cross-campus engagement in this shared learning opportunity
The Center for Leadership and Intercultural Engagement will handle all logistics and program coordination. The program will be facilitated by a very well-respected national organization called "Citizen University." Your partnership helps us reach a diverse and robust group of participants and signals campus-wide support for this work.
If you’re interested in partnering with us, contact Dr. Nick Lennon at [email protected].