Cheryl Cook-Kallio, Director
Cheryl Cook-Kallio has a long history of public service and volunteerism. She has an M.A. in history with an emphasis on the United States Constitution that she earned from San Jose State University as a James Madison Fellow, CA ’97. She has served Senator Dianne Feinstein and as a Madison Congressional Fellow in 2002 and served the Federal Courts in D.C. as a Madison Fellow in 2005. She also is a member of the California State K-12 Civic Education Task Force Advisory Board. Ms. Cook-Kallio served as a board member for the Pleasanton Partnership in Education Foundation and as a member of the CA Civic Learning Task Force Advisory Board. She also served as a member of the Teacher Advisory Board for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s iCivics Foundation. She is a 39-year veteran teacher specializing in high school civics. She received the American Civic Education Teacher Award in 2008, one of only three in the nation. Ms. Cook-Kallio was honored by the Fremont Education Foundation for Excellence in Education in 2006. She was named Citizen of the Year 2006 by California State Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, Irvington High School’s Teacher of the Year 2005, Woman of the Year 2004 by State Senator Liz Figueroa, and Teacher of the Year by the Sons of the American Revolution 1997. In 1997, Ms. Cook-Kallio was also awarded a James Madison Memorial Foundation Fellowship, a prestigious merit scholarship awarded to only one teacher per state each year to pursue a master’s degree with an emphasis on the United States Constitution. Ms. Cook-Kallio also served on the city council of Pleasanton, California, from 2006 through 2014. She is currently serving as state coordinator for the We the People and Project Citizen Programs provided by the Center for Civic Education.