Overview
About The IAC
The Institute of American Civics is an opportunity to strengthen civic engagement and combat political polarization in our state and nation.
The Institute is a natural extension of the work the Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs has done since its beginning, and the Institute is designed to build on the University of Tennessee’s capabilities in politics, economics, philosophy, American history, and American government. The legislated mission of the Institute is to provide a comprehensive civic education for University undergraduates and the state at large, including America’s founding principles, the economic and political institutions that maintain American democracy and the basics of civic engagement.
Since its founding in 2003, the previously named Howard H. Baker, Jr. Center for Public Policy, now Baker School for Public Policy and Public Affairs, has served as the Knoxville campus’s hub for civic engagement and education.
Board of Fellows
By statute, the Board of Fellows must consist of 13 members, of which: At least nine members must be, or have been, tenured professors or administrators or professors of practice at an institution of U.S. higher education; two members must be distinguished former elected or appointed U.S. officials, and, while serving in their former elected or appointed position, must have been affiliated with different political parties; and two members must be members of the Baker School board.
NEWS
- Dunn Appointed to the National Commission on American History and Civic Education
- Constitution Day with Yale Professor of Law Keith Whittington
- The Baker School and IAC’s mission goes hand in hand with Tennessee’s Youth in Government Programs
- Institute of American Civics To Host Yale Law Professor Keith Whittington for Constitution Day Lecture
