The Jack Miller Center sponsors 33 new campus programs for America’s 250th
These campus programs will help reintroduce key themes of the Declaration of Independence into discussions on campuses across the country.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2025
PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Jack Miller Center is pleased to announce 33 new partnerships with university and college campuses in celebration of America’s 250th birthday. These campus programs will help reintroduce key themes of the Declaration of Independence into public discourse on campuses across the country.
This initiative will empower scholars and students as they explore key themes in the Declaration, such as individual rights, government’s role, and ethical self-government. The campus partnerships will play a key role in rekindling appreciation for the ideas that shaped the United States, especially among younger generations.
“As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, our nation’s college students deserve the opportunity to read, discuss, and debate the Declaration of Independence,” JMC President Hans Zeiger said. “The Declaration is as relevant to us as citizens today as it was a quarter millennium ago. Amid all that divides us, the Declaration can bring us together for shared conversations about enduring principles.”
Led by Jack Miller Center scholars, campus partner programs serve as hubs for undergraduate courses, student and faculty events, student fellowships and activities, K-12 teacher education programs, community outreach efforts, and more. Campus programs will engage students both in and out of the classroom. Each partner program holds unique events tailored to their campus, such as debates, reading groups, mock trials, lectures, conferences, and more.
“Our network of scholars is uniquely poised to rekindle study of the Declaration on campuses and inspire the next generation of thoughtful citizens ahead of America’s 250th birthday,” said Tom Cleveland, Executive Director of the American Political Tradition Project at the Jack Miller Center.
The Jack Miller Center partners with colleges and universities each year to advance the teaching of America’s founding principles and documents on campus. This year’s events include academic panels, lectures, and reading groups featuring a range of perspectives from respected historians, political scientists, and legal scholars.
Each partner program has developed events and activities designed to meet their campus needs. Michigan State University created a reading group for undergraduate students that focuses on primary sources of colonial America, to be accompanied by four workshops with invited scholars who study early America. The University of Georgia will host an interactive panel of scholars who will respond to student questions regarding the Declaration while the students role-play historical characters from the time of the Declaration. Christopher Newport University will host a conference on the Declaration, including sessions on Lincoln’s interpretation and contemporary First Amendment concerns.
“With help from the Jack Miller Center, we have designed this year’s Open Academy programs around the main themes of the Declaration of Independence,” said JMC Scholar Ioannis Evrigenis, the Alice Tweed Tuohy Professor of Government and Ethics and director of The Open Academy at Claremont McKenna College. “As we celebrate its 250th anniversary, we are reflecting on the multitude of ways in which its principles have shaped the United States and the world and thinking about how they can help us become better, more thoughtful citizens.”
Jack Miller Fellow and history roundtable participant Jonathan Den Hartog said these campus events will point to key themes in the Declaration to demonstrate to students why the document has proven of enduring value for America and the world.
“This deepening of appreciation for the Declaration is valuable at this moment for at least two reasons,” said Den Hartog, Professor and Chair of the Department of History at Samford University. “First, it will prepare students to celebrate the Declaration’s 250th with greater understanding and appreciation. Second, this greater understanding is more vital now than ever, as many in the country lack a comprehension of the Declaration’s principles which underlay the American endeavor.”
View the full list of this year’s campus programs below:
America250 Campus Partner Programs
Arizona State University
Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics
Belmont Abbey College
The Honors College
Benedictine College
Center for Constitutional Liberty
Boston College
John Marshall Project
Carthage College
History and Political Science
Catholic University of America
Carroll Forum on Citizenship and Public Life
City College of New York
Moynihan Center
Christopher Newport University
Center for American Studies
Claremont McKenna College
Open Academy
Coastal Carolina University
Cincinnatus Center
Duquesne University
Department of Political Science
Hudson Institute
Hudson Institute Political Studies
Institute of World Politics
Civic Thought and Statecraft Fellowship
Lee University
Center for Responsible Citizenship
Michigan State University (James Madison College)
Fife Fellows
Michigan State University
LeFrak Forum
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Concourse
Oglethorpe University
History, Politics, and International Studies
Princeton University
James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions
Purdue University
Program on American Institutional Renewal (PAIR)
Purdue University (Fort Wayne)
Abraham Lincoln Program in Law & Leadership
Saint Vincent College
Political Science Department
Samford University
Colloquium on American Citizenship
Seton Hill University
Political Science Department
SUNY Geneseo
Forum on Constitutionalism and Democracy
University of Florida
Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education
University of Georgia
American Founding Group
University of Houston
Phronēsis Program
University of Nebraska-Omaha
‘The Cause of All Mankind’: A Celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
University of Nevada-Las Vegas
Great Works Program
University of Toledo
Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership
U.S. Military Academy at West Point
American Foundations
Villanova University
Matthew J. Ryan Center
For media inquiries or further information, please contact:
Marlee Promisel
Director of External Relations, Jack Miller Center
media@gojmc.org
About the Jack Miller Center
The Jack Miller Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advancing the work of scholars who teach and study the ideas, documents, and history we hold in common as Americans. We seek to grow the talent pipeline of university educators who teach the American political tradition, to forge new models for university-based training of K-12 civics and history teachers, and to build a diverse coalition of Americans to ignite a civic education renaissance.