Civic Thought Initiative
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Launched in the fall of 2023, the Civic Thought Initiative supports the creation and revision of courses that will 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.
Grants are available to develop or adapt existing courses in the following areas:
FDR
1. Foundations of Liberty: courses that explore the philosophical arguments for political, religious, economic, and intellectual liberty in ancient, medieval, and modern thought; the historical development of free institutions, especially in the Anglo-American tradition; and the expansion of liberty in different historical contexts, all with the aim of understanding the deepest arguments for the liberty we enjoy and the deepest challenges that liberty faces.
Courses funded so far include:
Thomas Paine, Liberalism, and the Enlightenment
Liberty and Empire: Machiavelli
Origin of the Idea of Religious Liberty
Roots of Democracy
Citizenship and Patriotism
Another example of a course we would like to develop is:
The Development of Parliamentary Democracy
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2. Intellectual Pluralism: courses that explore the intellectual sources and most compelling expressions of political views on both the left and right, taught with a view to deepening students’ understanding of important controversies. Each course should thus include multiple perspectives on the ideas explored.
Here are examples of courses we would like to develop or revive, some of which have been taught in the past:
The Liberal Tradition in America
The Conservative Tradition in America
African-American Political Thought
Left and Right in Comparative Perspective
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3. Civil Discourse: Building on the “Civil Discourse and Disagreement” course development grant program offered by the dean in spring 2023, the Jefferson Center provides grants to revise existing courses in a variety of disciplines, introducing activities that teach skills of civil discourse capable of bridging ideological divides. As part of this initiative the Center sponsors afternoon debates on the model promoted by the organization Braver Angels, in which students explore controversial topics in a structured forum that encourages respectful disagreement. Instructors are encouraged to suggest topics for these debates and to grant extra credit to their students for taking part. Occasional lunchtime discussions also allow participating instructors to share their ideas and experiences.
Courses for which grants have been provided so far include:
Constitutional Principles: Core Texts
Masterworks of World Drama
Human Nature and the State of Nature
Law and Justice in the Bible
The Arab-Israeli Conflict
New proposals to revise courses on controversial topics and major conflicts are especially welcome.
Funding and Support
Tenured, tenure-track, and instructional track faculty may apply for grants of $5000 to develop a course under any of the above rubrics, which they will commit to teaching at least twice. Preference will be given to courses built around core texts, but others will be approved as funding allows. Grants may in most cases be taken either in research funds or summer salary.
Departments may subsequently apply to the Jefferson Center to cover the cost of graduate students to teach these courses during the summer or after their sixth year of funding.
Grant Application:
Application deadline for new courses to be offered in fall 2025: October 23, 2024.
Application deadline for new courses to be offered in spring 2026: April 1, 2025.
Applications for civil discourse course revisions may be made any time before the first day of classes in the semester in which they are taught.
Application Form: PDF
The Word Document template can be requested at cti@austin.utexas.edu.
For more information, please contact Lorraine Pangle.
