James Madison College has been awarded a $1.3 million federal grant to establish summer programs for Michigan high school students and teachers exploring America’s founding principles. The initiative will launch as the nation prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next year.
The three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education will fund the James Madison College Academy for Civic Education (ACE), offering intensive seminars built around primary sources including the Declaration, the Constitution, Federalist Papers and pivotal speeches that have shaped American democracy. Programs will begin summer 2026.
The college is among 85 institutions nationwide selected through the American History and Civics-National Activities program and the only higher education institution in Michigan to receive funding.
JMC was founded in 1967 as an independent residential college within Michigan State University focused on public affairs education. It is seen as a model for newer civics schools around the country, and the college’s Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy curriculum, which centers on the enduring questions of justice, citizenship and self-government, is unique in its combination of a classical education in the Western philosophical tradition with the study of American institutions and contemporary public affairs.
Five pillars of the American achievement
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What sets JMC’s Academy for Civic Education apart is its comprehensive approach. The programming explores “five pillars” of the American achievement: political institutions grounded in the Constitution, free market principles, statesmanship, citizenship and civic virtue, and the contribution of scientific and technological innovation.
“Programs that narrowly focus only on one or another of these components are missing the big picture,” explained Prof. Tobin Craig, who is leading the initiative along with colleagues from JMC’s Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy (PTCD) field. “To really capture the American achievement properly at this important juncture in our history, 250 years into the founding of the nation, we really have to recognize all these constitutive elements.”
This interdisciplinary framework reflects JMC’s longstanding curriculum. Core PTCD courses guide students through the theoretical origins and practical challenges of American constitutional democracy, examining not just what the founders wrote and the texts and ideas that inspired them, but how subsequent generations wrestled with those principles. The curriculum explores competing perspectives to help students see beyond contemporary partisan divisions and to recognize essential tensions in the American political tradition, and in political life more generally.
In 2022, the National Education Assessment Program reported that only 14% of eighth graders scored proficient in history and 22% in civics. The JMC ACE curriculum is designed to address these gaps by helping students and educators better understand the American political tradition.
“The American regime is built around a certain set of claims about what a human being is, what makes for a full human life, and what are the essential responsibilities of government,” Craig said. “If you approach political institutions as if there’s nothing behind them, as if there’s no essential claims being made about who human beings are, what government is ultimately for, what are the limits on political action and why, then the institutions are at best only half understood.”
Five faculty members whose expertise spans the five pillars will develop JMC ACE’s programming and serve as instructors. Craig, who directs MSU’s Science, Technology, Environment, and Public Policy minor, serves as project leader. Profs. Eric Petrie and Benjamin Lorch will co-lead the high-school student seminars, bringing expertise in classical philosophy and American statesmanship. Profs. Brianne Wolf and Jordan Cash — who have already secured external funding and run successful teacher seminars at MSU — will lead the educator programming, drawing on their scholarship in political economy, constitutional history and American institutions.
Programs for students and teachers
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Beginning summer 2026, 20-25 rising high school seniors from across Michigan will spend two weeks immersed in college-level seminars at MSU. Each day, students will participate in discussion-based seminars led by JMC faculty, focused on primary texts in the American political tradition. In the first week, students will study “The American Regime,” including not only the Declaration of Independence and American political institutions, but also the role of commerce, science and technology in the founding vision. The second week will study “American Statesmanship and Civic Virtue,” reading works by Alexander Hamilton, Alexis de Tocqueville, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and others.
The residential program also includes visits to the Michigan State Capitol and Supreme Court, tours of the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum and Detroit’s civil rights institutions, plus co-curricular activities like a Lansing Lugnuts game and classic film screenings at a main-street movie theatre. The program is completely free to participants, with travel stipends provided.
A separate week-long program addresses what teachers consistently report as a challenge: how to effectively incorporate primary sources into classroom teaching. Building on JMC faculty’s existing teacher programs — which have seen 25% year-over-year growth — the seminars combine close reading of foundational texts with practical pedagogy sessions.
Teachers will learn strategies for facilitating seminar discussions, using the “Great Debates” format in their classrooms and helping students engage directly with historical documents rather than relying on textbook summaries. Participants receive stipends and professional development credits.
Rather than bringing teachers to campus, the program will rotate locations across Michigan — tentatively Detroit, Grand Rapids and northern Michigan — to reach educators statewide.
Both programs will expand in years two and three to accommodate 40-50 participants each, with plans for additional weekend colloquia for teachers on focused topics like race and American politics, science and technology in democratic thought or U.S. foreign policy.
Supporting dialogue across divides
The grant comes amid what Craig describes as a worrying and paradoxical trend in American civic life: declining trust in institutions paired with intense political passion and hyperpolarization.
“It’s somewhat odd that we see these things happening at the same time,” he noted. “One of the visions behind our efforts is that we might contribute to addressing both at once. We want to position young citizens and future decision-makers to engage thoughtfully and effectively in politics. By understanding of the logic and the history behind our political institutions, they’ll be better able to work for positive change.
The approach reflects what Craig sees in JMC students across the political spectrum: “There is a real hunger to get beyond and past rigid stances that divide us and that characterize our politics. Students really want their education to lead them towards the vantage point of a statesman or a leader.”
Apply to join the 2026 cohorts
Learn more about the JMC Academy for Civic Education online. Applications for summer 2026 programs will open in early 2026. Share your contact information via Qualtrics to receive application information when it is available. Additional details will be announced as planning progresses.