Iowa State establishes new civics education center, per board and lawmaker directives

AMES — In response to Board of Regents directives and proposed legislation, Iowa State University is transitioning its “Cyclones Civics” initiative into an official center focused on closing civics-related knowledge gaps on things like founding documents, functions of government, principles of American democracy, and “the nature of civil liberties.”

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“The Center for Cyclone Civics will address these gaps by promoting civic education and free speech through curriculum and instruction, public events and programming, research, and outreach through extension,” according to a center proposal the Board of Regents approved Thursday. “Through this broad portfolio of activities, Cyclone Civics will promote civic literacy, enhance civic skills, and foster civic dispositions among the ISU community and throughout the state.”

ISU President Wendy Wintersteen in November launched the first iteration of Cyclone Civics — as an initiative — after regents a year earlier included among their anti-DEI directives one urging the campuses to explore a proposal to establish an initiative “that includes opportunities for education and research on free speech and civic education.”

The University of Northern Iowa two months earlier in September 2024 had brought to the board a request to establish a "Center for Civic Education“ in its College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

“The need for enhanced civic education is widely recognized,” according to the UNI proposal, which officials said, “reflects significant university efforts in this area both before and since that (regent) directive was established.”

In addition to the board directive, lawmakers this session proposed a bill requiring Iowa’s public universities to make all students pursuing a bachelor’s degree complete of a survey course in American history and civil government.

Another bill would mandate among the campuses’ general education requirements three semester hours of American heritage — including courses in American history, Iowa history, American government, or American literature.

Center for Intellectual Freedom

Specific to the University of Iowa, lawmakers have proposed a bill to establish a “Center for Intellectual Freedom” — charged with conducting teaching and research “in the historical ideas, traditions, and texts that have shaped the American constitutional order and society.”

That bill, which has passed the House and Senate, includes language requiring the new UI center to “coordinate with the Center for Cyclone Civics at Iowa State University and the Center for Civic Education at the University of Northern Iowa to enable academic offerings that may be offered to students at any of the regents institutions.”

When lawmakers first aired the intellectual freedom bill in January, UI lobbyist Keith Saunders said the university already was planning to create a new “Center for Civic Dialogue and Leadership.”

Saunders at the time said plans had been submitted to the board for consideration at the February meeting.

“The center that's envisioned at the University of Iowa would be very similar to what UNI and Iowa State have already proposed,” Saunders said at the time.

A proposal for that center — which would have been housed in the UI Office of the Provost — never came before the board, as the Intellectual Freedom bill advanced instead.

Per the legislation, the UI Center for Intellectual Freedom would be an independent academic center overseen by an advisory council of at least nine members — including no more than one UI employee. The council will conduct a national search for a center director, who’ll have “sole and exclusive authority to manage the recruitment and hiring process, and to extend offers for employment of the center and to terminate employment of all staff.”

A draft of the original UI Center for Civic Dialogue proposal shared with some lawmakers described governance by an “external advisory board” of members from a “wide range of backgrounds, perspectives, experiences, and ideas.”

“The board will be co-chaired by two external leaders who will also serve in an advisory role to the president and provost,” according to the proposal, which would have appointed the UI associate provost for undergraduate education as center director.

Cyclone Civics

The newly-established ISU Center for Cyclone Civics will have a part-time director and a part-time staffer and be administered by the ISU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Current leadership includes political science professor Karen Kedrowski, who directs the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics; political science professor Kelly Shaw; and UI College of Liberal Arts and Science Dean Benjamin Withers.

“A part-time director for the center has not yet been named,” ISU spokeswoman Angie Hunt told The Gazette.

In its first year, the ISU civics initiative kick-started its work with a professional development conference in February — welcoming guest speakers and holding breakout sessions with titles like, “Public Discourse and the Big Questions: Iowa's Tradition”; “Building a Culture of Civil Discourse, One Conversation at a Time”; and “Scientists as Activists: Organizing Experts and Creating Impact.”

“We really wanted to start conversations among faculty and staff that work with students to begin to figure out how we can infuse civics and related topics into multiple courses in the curriculum,” Kedrowski told The Gazette.

The new center also is engaged in an effort through its extension offices to work with community leaders concerned about being unable to find people to run for public office. Through the effort, the center aims to educate community members on what city government does, what school boards do, and how can someone get involved.

And the center is engaged in an assessment of Iowa State seniors — to see what they really do know about civics.

“In addition to all the indirect or anecdotal evidence that we had, we decided we needed some hard evidence as to what our students know and don't know, so that we can come up with appropriate curricular changes moving forward,” Kedrowski said.

In the coming year, Cyclone Civics plans to craft a research agenda and focus its events and programming on the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Both Iowa State and UI — in their respective proposals — said they’d commit $250,000 annually to the new centers, in hopes of supplementing with gifts and donations. UNI’s proposed budget for its center includes annual campus contributions of between $100,000 and $300,000. UNI also has asked the legislature to appropriate $1 million in the 2026 budget year for its new civics center.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com