
Our Work
The Institute for Citizens & Scholars has played a significant role in higher education. Since its founding in 1945, the organization that has grown into Citizens & Scholars has come to represent a network of excellence.
From generations of college professors to thousands of K–12 teachers, to policymakers and public servants, we’ve prepared, engaged, and enriched leaders at all levels. Since the late 1950s we’ve also worked to create new pathways for women and people of color.
Over the years more than 27,000 Fellows have contributed to creating a better educated, more thoughtful, and more inclusive America. They continue that work today as Fellows of Citizens & Scholars’ various programs.
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the images below to learn more about our work in these areas
Networking civic leaders
Networking Civic Leaders
Building a Civic Learning Ecosystem
Building a Civic Learning ecosystem
Empowering Youth
Empowering Youth
Pipeline to the Professoriate
Pipeline to the professoriate
Building Gender Studies
Building Gender Studies
Pathways to Public Service
Pathways to Public Service
Careers in Schools
Careers in Schools
Diversity in the Academy
Diversity in the Academy
Convening Diverse Perspectives
Convening Diverse Perspectives
Time and space for scholarship
Time and space for scholarship
Testing Innovative Concepts
Testing Innovative Concepts
Building Momentum
Building Momentum

Our Continuing Journey
Citizens & Scholars continues to support Fellows through individual programs while tapping the power of our network to meet the urgent needs of today. Our work is focused in three areas, each playing a significant role in rebuilding a flourishing society.

- The Civic Spring Project made six grants to youth-led civic engagement and learning initiatives across five states.
- The Civic Learning funders workshop brought together 40 funders from across the ideological spectrum to set best practices for the entire field.
- A white paper authored by Citizens & Scholars President Rajiv Vinnakota outlines how the work of funders, policymakers, educators, researchers, and nonprofit organizations intersects with the current system of civic education.

- A suite of junior faculty programs at Citizens & Scholars has supported tenure progress for more than 300 faculty from underrepresented groups.
- Through dissertation grants, Citizens & Scholars has helped build the field of women’s and gender studies, as well as establish several generations of scholars working on ethics and religion across the humanities and social sciences
- The WW Teaching Fellowship has prepared nearly 1,300 teachers in six states

- The new Brewer Fellowship to Unite America has brought together 17 cross-partisan leaders for personal and professional development, field-building, and capacity-building workshops.
- The Higher Education Policy Fellowship has stewarded joint projects between government and higher education leaders in 12 states.
- Past initiatives like the Public Policy and International Affairs Program have placed hundreds of leaders of color in positions of influence in the public sector.