Educating Future Leaders in Every Field
A Community of Scholars and Students
Debating Questions of Enduring Significance
"Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion."
- Thomas Jefferson
About the Jefferson Center
The aim of the Thomas Jefferson Center is to realize Jefferson's vision of educating citizens and leaders to understand the meaning of liberty and to exercise it wisely. We share Jefferson's conviction that one of the best ways to attain a liberal education—an education suited for a free individual in a free society—is through a serious study of the great books. In our courses, students engage in a direct, respectful, but probing and critical study of major creative and theoretical works that have shaped human thought and history. They enter into debates about human nature, ethics, and the meaning of life. They learn skills of critical reasoning, close reading, and clear, cogent writing.
The Jefferson Center is a community of scholars and students drawn from many departments and many schools of thought, united by a passion for fundamental questions, a spirit of open inquiry, and a willingness to engage in critical self-scrutiny. It is a safe zone for the vigorous discussion of unsafe ideas. It is a place where intellectual diversity and debate are encouraged rather than suppressed, where no one is cancelled for articulating one’s beliefs and ideas, and where students are trained in the art and practice of having constructive discussions on fraught questions, both urgent and timeless.
We offer the Certificate Program in Core Texts and Ideas, providing a coherent path through UT's core curriculum for students in all colleges; the Jefferson Scholars Program, an integrated learning community for students pursuing the certificate; an interdisciplinary major in European Thought; post-doctoral fellowships; a book club; and lectures and symposia for the university and broader community.
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Civic Thought Initiative
The Jefferson Center is launching a new program of course development grants in the College of Liberal Arts to deepen students’ understanding of the theoretical foundations of liberty, the historical development of free institutions, the modern traditions of liberal and conservative thought, and the practices of constructive civil discourse.
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The aim of the Thomas Jefferson Center is to realize Jefferson's vision of educating citizens and leaders to understand the meaning of liberty and to exercise it wisely. We share Jefferson's conviction that one of the best ways to attain a liberal education—an education suited for a free individual in a free society—is through a serious study of the great books. In our courses, students engage in a direct, respectful, but probing and critical study of major creative and theoretical works that have shaped human thought and history. They enter into debates about human nature, ethics, and the meaning of life. They learn skills of critical reasoning, close reading, and clear, cogent writing.
The Jefferson Center is a community of scholars and students drawn from many departments and many schools of thought, united by a passion for fundamental questions, a spirit of open inquiry, and a willingness to engage in critical self-scrutiny. It is a safe zone for the vigorous discussion of unsafe ideas. It is a place where intellectual diversity and debate are encouraged rather than suppressed, where no one is cancelled for articulating one’s beliefs and ideas, and where students are trained in the art and practice of having constructive discussions on fraught questions, both urgent and timeless.
We offer the Certificate Program in Core Texts and Ideas, which provides a coherent path through UT's core curriculum for students in all colleges; the Jefferson Scholars Program, an integrated learning community for students pursuing the certificate; an interdisciplinary major; post-doctoral fellowships; a book club; and lectures and symposia for the university and broader community.
Student Reflections
Undergraduate Student Reflections:
Aurelia Savener
I'm a sophomore Jefferson Scholar, a psychology major, and a premed student. I was drawn to this program by the opportunity to study many subjects outside my chosen field. What I’ve especially come to value is the vibrant community and the great friendships that have sprung up around reading and discussing important books.
A Graduate Student's Perspective:
Evan Cree Gee
The Jefferson Center provides invaluable opportunities for graduate students from the beginning of our careers. We are able to hold discussion groups as TAs, lead book club meetings, and most importantly, teach our own courses. If the project of defending liberal education is to be successful, it must include cultivating future professors who have an experience in--and appreciation for--liberal education itself.
Undergraduate Student Reflections:
Zach Springer
I am tremendously grateful for The Jefferson Center for the ways it has enriched my time as an undergraduate student here at UT. I have loved my Core Texts and Ideas courses, particularly The Bible and Its Interpreters, The History of Christian Philosophy, and Might and Right Among Nations. Through the Jefferson Center’s programs and in its lounge and library I have cultivated friendships and had conversations that have proven deeply formative for me as a thinker.
Jefferson Scholars
The Jefferson Scholars Program is a challenging, six-course integrated sequence in the great books and ideas of the ancient, medieval, and modern worlds.
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Donations
We welcome gifts both to cover current year expenses and to build an endowment. Endowment funds may be designated for any purpose but are especially needed for the Jefferson Scholars Program.
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Certificate Program in Core Texts and Ideas
The Certificate Program in Core Texts and Ideas, our recommended program for undergraduates, is an introduction to the liberal arts through the study of the great books. It complements any major with an integrated sequence of six courses that can also satisfy UT general education requirements.
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Book Club
The Jefferson Book Club, open to all interested University of Texas undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty, is a forum for informal discussions of the great books. Copies of the readings for each meeting will be made available about a week beforehand.
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Civic Thought Initiative
The Jefferson Center is launching a new program of course development grants in the College of Liberal Arts to deepen students’ understanding of the theoretical foundations of liberty, the historical development of free institutions, the modern traditions of liberal and conservative thought, and the practices of constructive civil discourse.
Learn MoreFaculty Book Spotlight
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Geoffrey S. Smith & Brent C. Landau
In this book, Geoffrey S. Smith and Brent C. Landau enter into the controversy surrounding this document and argue that the Secret Gospel of Mark is neither a first-century alternative gospel nor a twentieth-century forgery by the scholar who announced its discovery. Instead, this account is intimately bound up with the history of Mar Saba, one of the oldest monasteries in the Christian world. In this fascinating work, Smith and Landau present the realities and misconceptions surrounding not only the now-lost manuscript but also its brilliant, enigmatic, and acerbic discoverer, Morton Smith.
Essays and Lectures
