Preparing for America250 with Colleen Shogan & Lucas Morel

You are invited for a special evening looking forward to America’s 250th birthday, featuring a conversation with former Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan and esteemed author and political scientist Lucas Morel. We’ll talk about plans for the upcoming national anniversary celebrations, the importance of the Declaration of Independence, and the opportunity to build a generational movement for civic education that lasts long after the fireworks are over.

Reception will begin at 6pm. Conversation is from 6:30pm – 7:30pm.

If you have any questions, please contact Patrick Troy at ptroy@gojmc.org.

Dr. Colleen J. Shogan served as the 11th Archivist of the United States, the first woman in American history appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to lead the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). A noted author and political scientist, Colleen is deeply committed to civics education and prioritized sharing the records of the National Archives to a wider audience. Under her leadership, NARA launched numerous strategic initiatives to enhance services and make its holdings more accessible, both in-person and online, with the goal of cultivating public participation and strengthening our nation’s democracy.

Prior to becoming Archivist, Colleen served in several cultural heritage leadership roles. She was Senior Vice President and Director of the David M. Rubenstein Center at the White House Historical Association, worked in the United States Senate, and served as a senior executive at the Library of Congress and its Congressional Research Service. She was the Vice Chair of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission and currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Board of Directors at the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation.

A native of the Pittsburgh area, she holds a B.A. in Political Science from Boston College and a Ph.D. in American Politics from Yale University, where she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow. Colleen is the 2024 recipient of the American Political Science Association’s Hubert Humphrey Award for outstanding public service.

In addition to her role as Senior Advisor at More Perfect, she is also a Senior Fellow in Civics Education at Stand Together and an Adjunct Professor of Government at Georgetown University.

Professor Lucas Morel has taught at Washington and Lee University since July 1999. He also teaches in the summer Master’s Program in American History and Government at Ashland University in Ohio; summer programs for the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy; and high school teacher workshops sponsored by the Ashbrook Center, the Gilder-Lehrman Institute, the Jack Miller Center, the Bill of Rights Institute, and the Liberty Fund. He serves on the Jack Miller Center Board of Directors, Academic Council, and as a Founding Civics Initiative Faculty member.

In 2008-09, he was the Garwood Visiting Research Fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.

Professor Morel is a trustee of the Supreme Court Historical Society, former president of the Abraham Lincoln Institute, a consultant on Library of Congress exhibits on Lincoln and the Civil War, and was a member of the scholarly board of advisors for the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. He currently serves on the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which will plan activities to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, and Richmond Times-Dispatch.