Academic Centers

ACADEMIC CENTERS PROMOTE TEACHING AMERICA’S HERITAGE

At a number of campuses across the country, faculty are working to address the dearth of civic knowledge demonstrated by the American civic literacy survey by establishing new academic centers or programs for the teaching of America’s history and founding principles.

Established centers, such as Harvard University’s Program in Constitutional Government, are invigorating efforts on their campuses. A new center was approved at Tufts University earlier this year, and other recently established centers/programs are already operating at the University of Chicago, the University of Colorado-Boulder, Emory University, Georgetown University, the University of Texas-Austin, and the University of Virginia.

These centers are making an impact, promoting on the campuses they serve the best scholarship and teaching on America’s intellectual heritage. Programs differ from center to center, but may include a lecture series, conferences and workshops, student and faculty seminars, alumni and donor events, visiting professors, and graduate and post-doctoral fellowships. The centers may also publish books and house archival projects.

All aim at engaging the wider campus community in programs designed to encourage the understanding of America’s history and traditions.

In addition to the centers mentioned above, similar initiatives are being pursued by senior faculty on 10 other campuses across the country, including Brown University, Florida Atlantic University, Rhodes College, and Christopher Newport University.

“The serious scholarly study of the principles of the American founding is essential to the theoretical understanding of United States government and society as well as to the practical engagement of American citizens,” says Prof. Nathan Tarcov, the founder and director of The Center for the Study of the Principles of the American Founding at the University of Chicago. “Unfortunately, such study has, of late, been too often neglected. Our center attempts to offer a corrective to this general trend.” Tarcov’s center began operating in the 2006-2007 school year, holding lectures on topics ranging from Inventing Judicial Review to Religion and the American Founding to Lincoln’s Founding.

“Several hundred first- and second-year students will participate in the program each year and graduate with much higher levels of civic and cultural knowledge than the average levels reported in ISI’s 2006 report, The Coming Crisis in Citizenship: Higher Education’s Failure to Teach America’s History and Institutions.”—Prof. Mark Bauerlein, Founder, Program in American Citizenship, Emory University

At the University of Texas-Austin, the Center for Western Civilization and American Institutions has created a new disciplinary minor on Western Civilization and American Institutions that is included in the university’s course catalog.

“Employers today would like to see more of a liberal arts curriculum at the college level—not one so focused on vocational training. They want their employees to be able to read, write, speak, and think effectively,” says Dr. Robert C. Koons, professor of philosophy and founder of the center. “The best way for them to acquire this skill set is to engage them with what has been written in the past. That’s what our program does.”

English Prof. Mark Bauerlein of Emory University directs that school’s Program in American Citizenship. It will support six to eight courses per semester on themes, books, and ideas central to the history and culture of the United States. “Several hundred first- and second-year students will participate in the program each year and graduate with much higher levels of civic and cultural knowledge than the average levels reported in ISI’s 2006 report, The Coming Crisis in Citizenship: Higher Education’s Failure to Teach America’s History and Institutions,” says Bauerlein.

“Employers today would like to see more of a liberal arts curriculum at the college level—not one so focused on vocational training. They want their employees to be able to read, write, speak, and think effectively. The best way for them to acquire this skill set is to engage them with what has been written in the past.”—Dr. Robert C. Koons, Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas-Austin