APGAR FOUNDATION, INC. - "Expanding Horizons and Preserving Traditions"

2017 • 2018 • 2019 • 2020 • 2021 • 2022 • 2023

Programs at the following universities received grants during 2017:

Alexander Hamilton Institute (Hamilton College), Arizona State University, Benedictine College, Carroll College, Clemson University, Hostos Community College-CUNY, MIT, NYU, University of Arizona, and University of Montana.

During 2017, a total of $597,325 were granted to 10 faculty programs at universities and 10 student outreach programs at non-profits.

Successful programs were chosen for their focus on excellence in teaching and their desire to explore the values of Western Civilization and the American experiment in liberty through shared inquiry. Successful applicants seek to expose students to these values, enabling them with the skills and knowledge to think about how and why change occurs in our own complicated times. The foundation seeks to support faculty programs that provide students with a conceptual framework, guided curricular, and extracurricular opportunities to develop a well-grounded understanding of the society in which they live, its roots, its ideals, its successes, and its shortcomings. In the ten years the Apgar Foundation has been making such grants, it has witnessed many great successes in changing student lives through the timely addition, growth, and sustenance of the programs it supports.

Below, please find examples of successful programs achieving the goals of the Apgar Foundation. They are chosen for their illustrative value, in no particular order:

At Carroll College, the Apgar Foundation is supporting a year-long series of events on "Religious Freedom and the American Experiment," which includes support for lectures, student fellowships, essay contests, reading groups, and other public events. A curriculum revision at Carroll College in 2013 resulted in the creation of the Constitutional Studies Center and subsequently, the constitutional studies minor in 2014. Its interdisciplinary programming allows students to gain a broader understanding of American Constitutionalism from varying viewpoints: history, government, international law, philosophy, theology, and other disciplines, all centered on fostering debate and understanding.

At the University of Montana, the Apgar Foundation supports The Project on American Democracy and Citizenship (PADC). The Project focuses on new learning and engagement opportunities (formal and informal) across disciplines for students and the greater community through curricular development and working toward an undergraduate certificate program in Ethics and Public Affairs. To connect the otherwise handful but excellent classes into a path as a minor, it will formally institutionalize the Project's place in the university's curriculum. In addition to faculty-lead, informal reading groups and public lectures, the Project participates in UM's Constitution Day Conference where coverage is streamed live to a wide audience.

At New York University, the Apgar Foundation is supporting NYU's Classical Liberal Institute. The program is an innovator in legal education and scholarship and brings multiple perspectives to a central question: how can systems of private property and free contract advance overall human welfare within a framework of limited, constitutional government. It attracts students preparing rigorously for careers across all disciplines. In addition to its fellows' research, the Institute supports conferences, other individual events, and student-centered activities on the NYU campus. By promoting research and civic education in the classical-liberal tradition, the Institute encourages interaction with like-minded professors interested in connecting law and economics to both historical and contemporary problems.