June Klees, PhD

Bringing civic strategies to your organization’s vision!

June is a civic wellness and political culture reform organizer with over thirty years of professional experience in and out of the classroom.

She’s a creative visionary, project consultant, dialogue facilitator, speaker, strategist, and mindset coach.

Creative Consulting and Brainstorming

June brings boundless imagination, vision, and professional expertise in support of individual or organizational goals. She has co-founded civic wellness and dialogue organizations, is active in national civic work, and serves as the education and creative director for a national dialogue project. Together, June can help move ideas into visionary action!

Mindset Coaching

June is a highly-qualified humanities and social-behavioral science educator with decades of experience. She has advised and coached thousands on mindset development, goal setting, time management, and project design and completion.

Motivational Speaking and Presenting

With over three decades of public speaking experience, June brings an inspirational, engaging, and humorous approach to audiences on a variety of topics. She specializes in motivational speaking tied to teaching and learning, civic service and engagement, civic identity formation, and political culture reform. June is also available for podcast interviews.

Dialogue Facilitator

June is a national leader in the United States Civic Wellness Movement and in various dialogue and understanding skills development projects. She specializes in intergenerational dialogue design, support, and facilitation. Together, June can explore how dialogue can strengthen a group’s goals and mission for the greater civic good.

Workshop Design and Facilitation

With years of teaching experience and expertise, as a visionary and creative, June can take an array of diverse and complex information and ideas and translate them into meaningful and effective workshop designs for any group or organization’s needs. She is also available for motivational presentations and speaking.

Podcaster and Writer

June is a podcaster who has developed and co-hosted several shows in both professional and personal contexts. She has interviewed national civic reform leaders, technologists, and innovators, bringing a welcoming and fun experience to listeners. Her primary podcast is America’s Caravan, co-hosted with Gregory Anderson, which explores independent mindsets in modern American culture.

“To be the change,

you must envision the change.”

2025 Appearances:

Outrage Overload with David Beckemeyer. (Coming August 2025)

Upper Michigan Today Explores Civic Wellness. TV6 WLCU, Upper Michigan Today, Aired June 10, 2025.

Interview on The Social Contract podcast with Joe Walsh (airs week of March 31st – April 4th).

Terrified Nation podcast (recorded March 13th) Season 3, Episode 14: Imagining Our Civic Future – A People-Powered Path Forward.

In person at the American Merchant Marine Veterans (AMMV) annual convention, Norfolk, VA (Tuesday, April 1st).

Previous Appearances:

Educate Yourself about the United States Civic Wellness Movement. TV6 WLUC, Upper Michigan Today, Aired: September 12, 2024

Upper Michigan Today Learns New Approaches toward Civic Wellness. TV6 WLCU, Upper Michigan Today, Aired: May 29, 2024.

Delta Chats Sparks Healthy Community Conversations with Music of Our Lives Event. TV6 WLCU, Upper Michigan Today, Aired: April 11, 2024.

Decoding How We Should Put Civility Back into Civics for a More Compassionate America, AI Decodes the System, Amber Ivy, Episode 17. Aired: March 15, 2021.

The Blue Print for a Compassionate America with June Klees. The Political Independent, Gregory Anderson, S1: E4. Aired: October 6, 2020.

Compassionate America: Easy Hands. More in Common, Rodney Campbell and Keith Richardson S4: E09. Aired: October 1, 2020.

Presentations:

Upcoming: “The US Civic Wellness Movement: Civic Engagement & Innovation in the Early 21st Century,” Healthy Democracy Michigan, October 15, 2025.

Upcoming: “DIY-ing America: Civic Engagement & Innovation,” for Fix Democracy First, July 30, 2025.

“Intergenerational Witnessing as a Path to Public Kinship” at the Frontiers of Democracy conference, Tufts University, Boston, MA, July 14th, 2023

Webinar Panelist, “Braver Angels Debate Analysis,” Waging Dialogue, April 24, 2022

Civic and America to students at the Delta County Intermediate School District, Escanaba, MI, December 2018

Conspiracy Theories in American History presented to Player’s de Noc, April 24, 2014

History Careers at America’s 1,200 Community Colleges at the Organization of American Historians’ annual conference, in Atlanta, Georgia, April 11, 2014.

George Washington in American Memory and Culture to Rotary, Escanaba, Michigan, February 23, 2011  

The 21st Century Classroom:  Teaching with Technologies. Bay College, Escanaba, MI,January 2008

Diversity Issues in the Classroom: Bay College as an Achieving the Dream School. UNITED Diversity Conference, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan, October 2007

External Threats and Consequences: John Bull Rhetoric in Northern Political Culture during the United States Civil War (paper presentation) “Writers Series.”  Bay College, Escanaba, MI, November 2006

Do You Have DOLTS in Your Classes?  Discussions Online Teaching Strategies, (presentation) Bay College, January 2003

Adventures in Policy Making: Policy Development at the Delta County Historical Society and Archives, (paper presentation) Michigan Archival Association, Marquette, Michigan, June 2002  

General Education: A Governance Model, (document and presentation) Bay College, Escanaba, MI August 2000   

Publications and Exhibits:

“No, Thank You” to Civic War! Waging Dialogue, May 28, 2024.

The United States Civic Wellness Movement: An Observational Report. Waging Dialogue, October 7, 2023.

External Threads and Consequences: John Bull Rhetoric in Northern Political Culture During the United States Civil War. Advances in the History of Rhetoric 10(1): 73-104.

“The Christmas Tree Ship & Maritime Holiday Traditions,” American Merchant Marine Veterans News Magazine, fall 2023.

 “The United States Civic Wellness Movement:  An Observational Report,”Waging Dialogue.org, August 2023.

 “AMMV as History’s Caretakers.”  American Merchant Marine Veterans News Magazine, Spring/Summer 2023.

“Democracy Starts with Dialogue:  An Invitation,” Renew America Foundation Newsletter, op-ed, April 9, 2022.

Public Kinship Think Tank, website blog “Public Kinship in the Motor City:  A Reflection,” Public Kinship Institute Blog, August 18, 2021.

“Family, Gender, and Race:  Children.”  The World of the American West: A Daily Life Encyclopedia.  Bakken, Gordon Morris, ed.  Volume 2.  Denver, Colorado:  Greenwood, ABC-CLIO, LCC., 2017.

Developer, Academic Consultant, and Writer for “Selling Nahma:  A Story of Endurance,” William Bonifas Fine Arts Center Exhibit, Escanaba, MI.  June – August, 2014

“Why Do I Need This Class?”  On Course Newsletter, ed.  Skip Downing. February 17, 2010.

“That, And…” article for “Innovation Abstracts” published by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD).  College of Education, the University of Texas at Austin, September 3, 2004.

Primary Organizational Affiliations:

Awards and Honors:

  • Outstanding Volunteer Award, American Merchant Marine Veterans, April 2024.
  • Outstanding Educator, Full-Time Faculty Award, Bay College, April 2024
  • Outstanding Educator, Full-Time Faculty Award, Bay College, April 2018
  • Outstanding Person in Education, Bay College chapter of the Michigan Education Association, May 2014
  • Short List Finalist, American Historical Association’s Eugene Asher  Distinguished Teaching Award, 2008.