UST Honors Program Awarded $30K National Grant to Expand Civic Education

University of St. Thomas' Honors Program was awarded a $30,000 independent chairman's grant by theNational Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The grant proposal, crafted by Thomas Harmon, Ph.D., and Michael Boler, Ph.D., requested funds to undertake a strategic expansion of the Honors Program at UST and to integrate curricular initiatives explicitly aligned with NEH's Celebrate America! Initiative, launching the new "Virtuous Citizenship in America" course for UST honors students.

NEH Acting Chairman Michael McDonald, J.D., Ph.D., was eager to approve the grant request and showed his enthusiasm in a personal message to Drs. Harmon and Boler.

"I'm delighted to learn of a program grounded in the Catholic intellectual tradition and I couldn't agree more with your foundational conviction that the American founding can best be appreciated in light of the broader tradition that informed it," Dr. McDonald said. "I wish you every success in launching the new 'Virtuous Citizenship in America' course and in your overall mission to deepen students' knowledge of attachment to the habits and virtues that sustain American civic life. I very much appreciate the opportunity you have provided me to fund such a worthwhile project."

Dr. Harmon, Division Dean of the Core and Centers for Excellence, and Professor and Scanlan Foundation Chair in Theology; and Dr. Boler, Director of the Honors Program, Associate Professor and Program Director of Classics, will double the number of Honors cohorts from one to two and reimagine the Honors Program's "Foundations of Service" course as a new Junior-year experience: "Virtuous Citizenship in America." This course will synthesize the intellectual foundations laid in earlier semesters with practical civic formation and direct student engagement in acts of local leadership and service.

Dr. Harmon said the grant will allow professors to enhance the student experience beyond their time at UST.

"This grant represents an investment in the future of our students and, through them, in the civic and cultural life of our country," Dr. Harmon said. "We are grateful for the opportunity to expand what is already a thriving Honors Program, to serve more students, and to model for other institutions how the humanities and civic education can work together to prepare a new generation of leaders."

Dr. Boler, who deeply understands the value of the Honors Program, celebrates this accomplishment.

"I graduated from the Honors Program in 2000, so I know what a transformational program it can be for students and the professors who teach in it," he said. "Dr. Harmon and I both want to strengthen and expand the Honors Program to give more students this unique opportunity. This grant will go a long way toward aiding us in this endeavor."

The grant will also support the annual Honors Program student retreat, which cultivates deeper moral and civic imagination in students and increases their understanding of the interpersonal dimension of political community.

Dr. Boler emphasizes that the student retreat is an important tradition in the Honors Program for two reasons.

"First, the retreat allows the freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors to spend time getting to know each other," he said. "While each cohort spends quite a bit of time together, it is important to have events where newer honors students can interact with the senior students. Second, this retreat offers a desperately needed respite from technology where students can read, talk and wander in nature. The retreat has always been free to all honors students, but each year the costs put more of a burden on our budget. This grant allows the retreat to remain free."

The Honors Program, grounded in the Catholic intellectual tradition and committed to liberal education, brings together 10 faculty members from a wide range of disciplines to teach students - through a carefully sequenced great-books curriculum - the moral, political, and philosophical foundations of Western civilization and the "American experiment" in ordered liberty.

Founded in 1988 and currently serving about 70 students from across all majors with more than 400 alumni, the Honors Program cultivates the virtues of intellectual rigor, moral seriousness and civic responsibility. At the heart of the approach is the conviction that the American Founding can best be appreciated in light of the broader tradition that informed it - from Plato and Aristotle to Cicero, Augustine, Aquinas, Locke, Tocqueville and the Federalist Papers.

"Our students do not simply read about America; they are formed in the habits of mind and heart that sustain a free and virtuous citizenry, and that formed the minds and hearts of the Founders themselves," Dr. Harmon said. "By studying these sources, students come to see how America's ideals of liberty, ordered self-government, and human dignity were forged, and how those ideals continue to shape our civic culture today - and, where absent, can be turned to for renewal. This grounding gives them perspective, an ability to see contemporary debates in light of enduring human questions."

The emphasis on virtuous leadership is key to the program as well.

"The Honors Program, and this grant, emphasize that true leadership is rooted in character and the knowledge of the common good, which means the knowledge of the American political good and also of our final destiny in the Triune God," Dr. Harmon said. "Virtuous leadership means cultivating the habits of justice, prudence, courage and temperance so that, when students are called upon to lead, they are prepared to act genuinely for the good of others rather than for personal advantage. This vision of leadership is deeply needed in today's civic life."

With the help of the NEH grant, Drs. Harmon and Boler are keen to enhance this program's rich foundation and to even more articulate the mission of UST.

"University of St. Thomas is committed to forming students in both intellect and character, preparing them to be leaders of faith and reason in the world," Dr. Harmon said. "Expanding the Honors Program allows us to reach more students with a model of education that integrates rigorous study, the life of faith and a dedication to love both God and neighbor - all rooted in the Catholic intellectual tradition. It directly advances our mission to educate students to think critically, act wisely and work skillfully for the common good."