College of Liberal Arts
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About

The Jefferson Center serves as a locus for the study of the great books at UT Austin. The heart of the Center’s work is the promotion and support of great books education and the serious study of classic texts. It is home to the prestigious Jefferson Scholars Program, in which highly qualified undergraduates from colleges and schools across the university earn the Core Texts and Ideas Certificate. In addition to the study of foundational texts, the Center aims to promote civic engagement and responsible citizenship. Our educational mission is to help students become more reflective about their own beliefs, more capacious in their sympathies, and better prepared to engage in civil and respectful dialogue. Click here for more.

Overview of Our Programs

Jefferson Scholars Program

Founded in 2014, the Jefferson Scholars Program is a prestigious, selective program in which undergraduates pursue the CTI certificate in an integrated learning community built around small classes, beginning in their freshman year. In addition to the CTI courses, the Jefferson Scholars Program includes lunch lectures, books clubs, civil discourse debates, and a host of other opportunities. Through our activity fund, Jefferson Scholars are able to partake of sponsored cultural experiences, such as trips to the theatre, ballet, the symphony, museum outings, and more.

The Jefferson Scholars Program also has a living-learning community in Moore-Hill dormitory, and an afterschool tutoring program run by one of the peer mentors.

 

Civic Thought Initiative

The Jefferson Center offers course development grants to faculty wishing to develop courses that contribute to the fields of foundations of liberty, intellectual pluralism, and civil discourse. Launched in 2023, the Jefferson Center’s Civic Thought Initiative has given over a dozen grants to date. For more on the Civic Thought Initiative, click here.

 

Sustaining Democracy

In addition, the Jefferson Center is a proud sponsor of Sustaining Democracy, a group devoted to maintaining the health of our democracy. Sustaining Democracy is an informal non-partisan watchdog group that focuses on constitutional governance and threats to its flourishing. Through readings and film screenings, lectures, and discussions, they explore how liberal democracy and the rule of law are undermined by authoritarianism, tribalism, and political corruption.