OREM, Utah (July 16, 2025) — The Jack Miller Center (JMC), a key civics-education partner of the Center for Constitutional Studies (CCS) at Utah Valley University (UVU), announced a $1.7 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation in support of the new Civics Foundations Graduate Consortium, a groundbreaking collaboration designed to advance rigorous, content-rich graduate education for civics and U.S. history teachers.

This investment will allow the Consortium to scale up graduate course offerings taught by JMC network professors, add dozens of new institutional partners, and expand UVU’s innovative Master of Arts in Constitutional Government, Civics, and Law (MACGCL), launched in 2024. 

“We developed the Master of Arts in Constitutional Government, Civics & Law to furnish civic educators with a deeper understanding of American Founding principles, the development of our constitutional system, and the civic virtues required to sustain it,” said Matthew Brogdon, senior director and Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation chair at CCS. “This investment by the Templeton Foundation and JMC will put a rigorous graduate education in American civics within reach of teachers from all over the country.”

The Civics Foundations Graduate Consortium is the nation’s first university collaborative dedicated to advancing graduate education for civics and history teachers. Led by the Jack Miller Center, the Consortium offers high-impact, content-rich coursework in American civics and history at reduced cost to teachers, providing a meaningful alternative to more traditional pedagogy- and administration-focused education coursework and degrees. 

“This grant will help us change the model for teacher education and professional development in this country by expanding access nationwide to scholar-led, content-focused graduate coursework in the American political tradition,” said Thomas Kelly, senior vice president and chief program officer at the Jack Miller Center and the project lead for the grant. 

Through high-quality graduate-level instruction designed specifically to support civics and U.S. history teachers, the Consortium seeks to address the urgent need for improved civic literacy among students, as national surveys continue to reveal widespread gaps in understanding of American government and democratic principles.

About the UVU Center for Constitutional Studies

Utah Valley University’s (UVU) Center for Constitutional Studies (CCS) is a nonpartisan academic institute that promotes the instruction, study, and research of constitutionalism. 

Through a multidisciplinary approach, CCS examines important constitutional issues found at the intersections of political thought, public policy, religion, law, history, and economics. Its mandate is to equip a new generation of citizens and leaders with a broad understanding of the ideas and practices critical to preserving constitutional government, ordered liberty, and the rule of law. Learn more at https://www.uvu.edu/ccs/.

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.

For more information, visit www.jackmillercenter.org

About the John Templeton Foundation

Founded in 1987, the John Templeton ​Foundation supports interdisciplinary research ​and catalyzes conversations that inspire awe ​and wonder. We are working to create a world ​where people are curious about the wonders ​of the universe, free to pursue lives of ​meaning and purpose, and motivated by great ​and selfless love.

With an endowment of $3.4 billion and annual ​giving of approximately $140 million, the ​Foundation ranks among the 25 largest ​grantmaking foundations in the United States. ​Headquartered outside Philadelphia, our ​philanthropic activities have engaged all major ​faith traditions and extended to more than 58 ​countries around the world. For more ​information, visit www.templeton.org.