Academic Centers
Academic centers offer the greatest potential to develop student interest in learning about America's founding principles, and to cultivate future generations of teachers who are equipped to teach them. In many university settings, an academic center on America's founding principles can provide a focus for institutional recognition of studies related to the founding principles. Many centers offer courses and undergraduate degrees and build student demand for new programs.
The Miller Center provides start-up funds and support for new centers, and assists in identifying fund sources for growth and capacity building phases of existing Centers. The Miller Center supports a range of efforts that are undertaken by centers including lectures, conferences, workshops, graduate student and post-doctoral fellowships, visiting professorships, publishing and reading rooms.
A center can serve as a focal point for diverse academic disciplines to engage in civil discussion and cross-fertilization of ideas. While the majority of scholars engaged in the study of the founding principles come from the humanities and social sciences, academic centers provide opportunities for scholars in business, law, and economics to contribute to and benefit from the central ideas that are the source of our nation's strength.
Because higher education providers are diverse, ranging from Ivy League schools to large public universities to community colleges, academic center initiatives require tailored goals and strategies. Consequently, the Miller Center works with partners to develop models appropriate to each type of university or college. These models then can be emulated by peer institutions and can significantly impact the number of faculty teaching and the number of students learning the founding principles of our nation.
To assist in their creation and development, the Miller Center conducts annual Center Building Summits that provide networking opportunities, training and best practices sharing among existing Center professionals and those seeking to develop new Centers. The Miller Center also offers on-going professional resources and guidance in the areas of development, curriculum, programming, fundraising, capacity building and public relations.
Read more about this topic: Jack Miller Center, Programs
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