America's Financial Future, Civic Engagement.

Institutions Fort Lewis College sits in the San Juan Mountains, a part of the Rocky Mountain chain in southwest Colorado. Throughout its history, the College has successfully transformed itself to suit the needs of its students. Flexibility is demonstrated in frequent changes in focus, curriculum, student population, and programming. Founded as an agricultural high school in 1911, the College transitioned to a two-year college in 1927, implemented an agricultural and mechanic two-year degree program in 1933, assumed junior college status in 1948, and finally, in 1962, became a baccalaureate degree-granting institution that centered its educational objectives around a liberal arts philosophy. Additionally, the College's diverse faculty and student population impact the curriculum and programs. Students of differing classes, ethnicities, regions, and faith traditions share intellectual and physical space. Presently, the student population is just under four thousand, and there are approximately two hundred tenure or tenure-track faculty. Eighteen percent of the student population is native, representing over 125 different nations, but principally the Navajo nation. These statistics require the College to adjust its curricular objectives to suit the intellectual levels and goals of its students. Like most students across the country, Fort Lewis first-year students often come to the College with established political interests, and during their time at the College, they become even more politicized. Reflecting their environment, the majority of students are politicized around environmental or native peoples issues. Most students, however, do not arrive on the campus with a sense of personal financial responsibility, let alone any cognizance or interest in government spending. Civically engaging these students is not difficult, but encouraging them to focus on the issues of fiscal responsibility is. Existing between the margins of adolescence and adulthood, students barely understand personal financial responsibility, let alone comprehend the scope of government spending and entitlements. Recognizing the inherent challenges involved in raising students' awareness of national fiscal issues, two faculty membersmyself, Jennifer Stollman from the Department of History, and John Gadbois from the Department of Economicsimplemented several innovative co-curricular programming ideas. This article explores the methods developed and used by Fort Lewis College's America's Future faculty to promote cross-campus financial and civic literacy. Faculty members endeavored to create a comprehensive approach while accepting the challenges of their relatively isolated location. This article explores the successful core curriculum and campus programming designed and implemented during the 2008-2009 academic year, including lectures, course speakers, campuswide readings, panel discussions, games, workshops, live feeds, public information campaigns, and theater programs. I also discuss the challenges encountered by program planners and participants and offer strategies to other individuals endeavoring to construct campus programs and projects that relate to civic engagement and financial literacy. My intention in describing our strategies, programming, and the ensuing successes and challenges is to encourage other colleges to deploy strategies beyond traditional curricula to promote knowledge of this crucial national issueone that will effect each and every person in this country over the next several generations. I believe that implementing such programming is essential to creating an engaged and active citizenry capable of solving some of the most difficult problems facing the nation.