One of the ways NAS works for higher education reform is to build and encourage the development of specialized programs that fill a gap in today's college curriculum. Such programs offer courses in subjects that have been largely neglected by mainstream institutions: American history and freedom, Constitutionalism, Western civilization, free markets, Great Books, and civic leadership.
NAS has compiled a database of these campus-based programs and lists them on the "Excellent Programs" page on our website. Our chairman Steve Balch helped build many of the nearly 50 listed.
We are always updating our Excellent Programs page; check out the newest additions, below. We invite you to browse our list and send the link (http://www.nas.org/polExcellentPrograms.cfm) to interested friends.
The list of programs can be accessed by clicking the blue “Excellent Programs” tab on the left sidebar of the NAS homepage.
* * *
Indiana University – The Tocqueville Program
Website: http://www.indiana.edu/~tcqville/
Directed by Aurelian Craiutu, the program sponsors lectures, prize competitions, round tables to foster an understanding of the central importance of principles of freedom and equality for democratic government and moral responsibility, as well as for economic and cultural life. It seeks to teach students how to ask the right questions about the good society, justice, freedom, responsibility, rights, and duties in light of the ideas that also inspired the Founding Fathers of the American democracy two centuries and a half ago. In the future the program aims to offer undergraduate courses and pre- and post-doctoral fellowships.
University of Richmond – The John Marshall International Center for the Study of Statesmanship
Website: http://jepson.richmond.edu/marshall/
The John Marshall International Center for the Study of Statesmanship approaches the study and practice of statesmanship through a program that combines scholarly and practical attention to constitutionalism, political economy, politics, and ethical reasoning. At its core is a great-books approach to both understanding and practicing responsible leadership.
The center implements the great-books approach through seminars and conferences and hosts a series of public lecturers from around the world who speak on the problems and prospects of leadership in international perspective. A vital part of the center's work includes visiting post-doctoral fellows who pursue their research within the context of the history of political, legal, economic, and constitutional ideas.
Programs include seminars, conferences, and a series of public lecturers. The center is directed by professors Gary L. McDowell and Terry L. Price.
