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Jack Miller Center and Center for the American University's Veritas Fund Announce
First Round of Awards for Joint Higher Education Initiative

$2 million Dollars to Fund Academic Centers, Post-Doctoral Fellowships to Strengthen
Civic Education at Leading Colleges and Universities

New York/Philadelphia, April 28, 2009—-The Jack Miller Center for Teaching America's Founding Principles and History (JMC) and the Veritas Fund, a donor advised fund created by the Manhattan Institute's Center for the American University (CAU) announced the awards for their joint Higher Education Initiative. The JMC and the CAU seek to advance the teaching and study of America's history, its political and economic institutions, and the central principles, ideas and issues arising from the American and Western traditions which continue to animate national life.

Two million dollars were awarded to support academic centers and post-doctoral fellowships at the following colleges and universities:

Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas, University of Texas-Austin	Constitutional Studies, University of Notre Dame
Program for Constitutionalism and Democracy, University of Virginia	Program in Democracy and Citizenship, Emory University
Tocqueville Forum on the Roots of American Democracy, Georgetown University	Ryan Center for the Study of Free Institutions and the Public Good, Villanova University
Program for the Study of the Western Heritage, Boston College	Project for the Study of Liberal Democracy, Rhodes College
The Tocqueville Program, Furman University	The Forum for Citizenship and Enterprise, Northwood University
Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond	The Gerst Program, Duke University
Program in Constitutional Government, Harvard University

"We are very pleased to work with the Veritas Fund to expand our support for these excellent academic programs," said Dr. Michael Andrews, vice president for Academic Programs at the Jack Miller Center. "These awards will help thousands of students deepen their understanding about our nation's founding principles and history giving them the foundational knowledge they need to be thoughtful and engaged citizens."

Earlier this year the JMC and CAU announced a four-year, two million dollar partnership in a new effort to strengthen higher education in an effort to better prepare students for their civic responsibilities as free men and women. Programs chosen to receive this support were selected on a competitive basis after a review of proposals by a joint committee of JMC and CAU officials. The funds will be used to expand programs at academic centers on college campuses and increase the number of fellowships for young scholars who are committed to a career teaching the great works of the American and Western tradition. .

"These awards recognize outstanding college and university programs in the inter-connected fields of Western civilization, American history, and constitutional government. We congratulate the students and faculty who have worked so hard to establish these programs on their campuses. Their efforts should encourage donors, trustees, and alumni who are looking for ways to bring greater substance to undergraduate teaching," said James Pierson, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and chairman of the Center for the American University's Veritas Fund.

About the Jack Miller Center

The Jack Miller Center for Teaching America's Founding Principles and History, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational organization, works with educators in response to requests for resources to strengthen the teaching of America's founding principles and history. The Jack Miller Center provides programs and resources on college campuses across the United State that support and increase the number of college professors in the humanities and social sciences who teach these principles and who inspire and cultivate an atmosphere of civil discussion. The goal of the Jack Miller Center is to ensure college students receive the best possible education and are prepared to be good stewards of our nation's freedoms and the free institutions that protect all Americans' liberties. The center's headquarters are located in Philadelphia, Pa. More information is available at www.jackmillercenter.org.

About the Manhattan Institute's Center for the American University and the Veritas Fund

The Manhattan Institute's Center for the American University (CAU) is dedicated to restoring the original conception of the university. Through books, conferences, and panel discussions, the Center for the American University works to strengthen the role of the university in a free society. The CAU provides a forum where scholars, philanthropists, journalists, and academic and business leaders can meet to exchange views on the future of the American university. The Center also encourages research and writing on the contemporary academy, and is forming partnerships with scholars and writers who have similar concerns. The Manhattan Institute created the VERITAS Fund for Higher Education at DonorsTrust, a donor-advised fund, to seek out professors at top-tier universities who are committed to bringing intellectual pluralism to their institutions. Working with these professors, we fund centers of academic excellence within universities that help introduce a new generation of students to broader perspectives than are available on most campuses. For more information on CAU or the Veritas Fund, visit http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cau.htm.

The Mission of the Manhattan Institute is to develop and disseminate new ideas
that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.