(This is older news originally posted on April 17, 2024)
​​People Powered: Civic Action, Community Engagement, and American Representative Democracy
The year-long Benedum Foundation Grant, sponsored by the Robert Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education (in partnership with the Stubblefield Institute and the Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities at Shepherd University), will come to conclusion on Saturday, April 20, at 9:00 a.m. The project goal was to infuse Social Studies classrooms with experiential learning exploring the dynamics of democratic principles and the archival richness of the Robert Byrd Center. 

Social Studies teachers across the state are competing in this capstone experience for Benedum "People Powered" prizes, ranging from $5000 to $2500, funds that will go directly to programs at their schools for enhancing the teaching of social studies.

(This is older news originally posted on May 17, 2024)
​Five middle and high school teachers were awarded classroom grants after participating in a Benedum Foundation sponsored summer institute run by Shepherd University’s Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education and Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities.

The teachers were among 30 participants in a summer workshop in June 2023 called People Powered: Civic Action, Community Engagement, and American Representative Democracy. The goal was to encourage teachers to transform 10th-12th grade history, social studies, and civics classes, and AP American history classes, by utilizing the rich resources of the Byrd Archives.

Each teacher received a $1,000 stipend for attending the workshop to use for resources and materials. In April they made presentations showing how they utilized the money. The teacher making the most effective presentation was awarded a $5,000 prize for the school to enhance its social studies curriculum and/or to apply toward learning resources and educational initiatives. Judges were Dr. Sylvia Bailey Shurbutt, retired director of the Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities, and Dr. Jason Allen, assistant professor of education.

The $5,000 prize went to Harpers Ferry Middle School for eighth-grade West Virginia studies teacher Caitlin Barker’s project titled “Storer College: Researching Our Local History and the Byrd Archive.”

“Caitlin touched each of the evaluative points and gave her students an exceptional learning experience as well as utilizing the Byrd Center Archive first-hand,” wrote Shurbutt and Allen.

Runner-up prizes of $2,500 went to four other teachers.

Huntington High School 10th- and 11th-grade teacher Heather Fletcher developed a unit called “Our Roots Run Deep: A Small Town with a Big Story, Black Huntington.” Fletcher introduced the work of Black scholars Dr. Bill Turner and Dr. Cicero Fain to her students as they explored the enriching environment of Huntington for African Americans in the early 20th century.

Alicen Galanis, who teaches world history and geography at Spring Mills High School, developed an interdisciplinary teaching unit called “Discovering the Great Depression and Harlem Renaissance in Zora Neale Hurston’s ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God.’”

Ned MacFadden, a seventh-grade media teacher at Eastern Middle School’s Humanities and Communications Magnet Program in Montgomery County, Maryland, introduced his students to a lesson called “West Virginia and Maryland: Shared Problems, Shared Solutions.”

Ashley Malott, a ninth-grade advanced placement and honors world history teacher at Washington High School in Jefferson County, West Virginia, developed a lesson called “Data-Based Questions (DBQ) for AP History Students and the Robert Byrd Center.”

The People Powered project was made possible by a $136,250 grant from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.

by Cecelia Mason, Shepherd University Communications

(This is older news originally posted on May 5, 2025)
​On May 1, The Robert C. Byrd Center was pleased to welcome Mike Fulton, Judy Moore, Mary Legg, Matt Nichols, and Devon Fitzgerald to Shepherd University for the West Virginia Business Link’s “Bridging Innovation Week.” 
Mike Fulton served as a staffer for Robert Mollohan (1979-1982) and Alan Mollohan (1982-1988) and currently serves as Director of the Washington, D.C. Office of the Asher Agency. In addition to housing archival materials from Senator Byrd, the Robert C. Byrd Center also houses materials from the collection of Representative Alan Mollohan and others.

Judy Moore currently serves as Executive Director of the West Virginia Hive, the entrepreneurship program of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority (NRGRDA). Working with Judy, are Mary Legg (Business Capacity Services Department Lead), Matt Nichols (Regional Business Advisor), and Devon Fitzgerald (Regional Business Advisor).
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The mission of the West Virginia Hive is to connect entrepreneurs with the resources and expertise needed to grow successful companies in the Mountain State. Emeritus Director Ray Smock and Archivist Tish Wiggs provided the group with a peek at the Byrd Center Archives during their visit to Shepherd University.

(This is older news originally posted December 15, 2023)
​A 2009 book written by Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education Interim Director Ray Smock is listed in the December 6, 2023, issue of The Wall Street Journal Books and Arts section as one of the five best books on Gilded Age politics. Writer C.W. Goodyear, author of “President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier,” lists Smock’s biography about Booker T. Washington, saying “Smock succeeds where Washington’s previous biographers fell short: distilling the life while losing none of its scale, and deftly untangling Washington’s legacy of appeasement toward whites. Mr. Smock does not dismiss the criticism of Washington, nor does he fault Washington’s attempt to bridge racial divides.”   ​

(This is older news originally posted January 26th 2025) 
Recently Director Emeritus Dr. Ray Smock spoke with Lyn Widmyer about Senator Robert Byrd's involvement with the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal Treaty of 1977 ended US control of the canal and ensured its neutrality. Senator Byrd successfully navigated the treaty through the Senate. You can watch the interview here.