Dr. Steve Hinch has long been an advocate for Civic Education. As a long-time member of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), he has been guided by the principles that …”the primary  purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.”

As a result of that commitment, Dr. Hinch has been heavily involved at the state, national, and international levels in spreading that message.  He was a member of a NCSS delegation that visited with educators in South Africa to explore the challenges of teaching civics in a post-apartheid society. He later was appointed to the Missouri Bar Advisory Committee for Citizenship Education. In this capacity, Dr. Hinch has served as the International Liaison to Civitas International, the global unit of the Center for Civic Education, The Center is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy in the United States and other countries. Dr. Hinch traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia two years ago to represent Missouri at the 14^th World Congress on Civic Education. More recently, Hinch traveled to South Korea to participate in the Asia-Pacific Forum.

Closer to home, Dr. Hinch has served during the past three election cycles as a member of the Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee for the Missouri Bar Association. In this capacity, Dr. Hinch was a member of a team of citizens who developed Show-Me Courts.org. This web-site provides voters with accurate information about the judicial process in Missouri. With information about each of the current judges and their performance evaluations for the past years, anyone can stay up-to-date with Missouri judges. One of the priorities of this affiliation is to educate people about the Missouri Plan, a non-partisan, merit-based judicial selection plan for all of the United States.

As a result of his life-long commitment to Civic Education, Greenwood Laboratory School has named Dr. Steve Hinch as the 2012 recipient of the John H. Keiser Public Affairs Award. This honor will be bestowed upon Dr. Hinch at the upcoming 4^th Greenwood Public Affairs Symposium to be held at Plaster Student Union on November 15.  Public Affairs is proud to showcase Dr. Hinch as the October Faculty Spotlight!