WT, Texas Southern Win $2 Million Federal Grant to Promote Civics Instruction

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, cchandler@wtamu.edu

CANYON, Texas — West Texas A&M University has jointly won a nearly $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to encourage innovative instruction in American history, civics, government and geography.

As part of the federal government’s push to reflect on the principles that have shaped the nation in advance of its 250th anniversary, the American History and Civics National Activities grant will allow WT and partner Texas Southern University in Houston to create a series of seminars for teachers and undergraduates, as well as develop a new civics curriculum.

WT, through its Hill Institute, is partnering with Region 16 Education Service Center and Texas Southern University will work with Houston Independent School District on the project.

“Teaching civics and American history is not merely an academic exercise, it is the foundation of an informed and engaged citizenry,” WT President Walter V. Wendler said. “This grant will allow us to find ways to help students understand our nation’s past and the principles that shaped it, thereby sustaining a free and vibrant republic. Education should not only prepare students for careers but also for citizenship.”

According to the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 22 percent of U.S. eight graders scored at or above proficient in civics.

“The lack of foundational civic understanding—particularly of America’s founding principles and constitutional processes—undermines our constitutional democracy by leaving young people ill-prepared to exercise informed citizenship,” Wendler said. “The need for intensive civic education is especially acute in underserved rural and urban communities, where access to high-quality history and civics instruction is often limited.”

WT, which serves the largely rural Texas Panhandle, and Texas Southern, a historically Black university in Houston’s Third Ward, are “uniquely positioned to address these needs,” Wendler said.

“As we commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the United States in 2026, these efforts by Texas Southern University and West Texas A&M University to improve civic literacy have never been more important,” said Texas Southern President James W. Crawford III. “They will help lay the foundation for the success of the unique American experiment in democracy for the next 250 years.”

The project is expected to increase teachers’ knowledge of American founding principles and documents and improve their civics education instructional practices, as well as increase student knowledge and broaden the dissemination of civics resources.

At WT, the American Civic Tradition at 250 Grant will be administered by Dr. Timothy Bowman, professor of history and head of WT’s Department of History in the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities, and Jamie Allen, project manager.

“I hope this grant contributes to bringing people from across the political divide in this country back together, as least in its own small way,” Bowman said. “Through its series of four undergraduate courses as well as short summer seminars for teachers at Region 16 in Amarillo, WT is really poised to make a big difference in people’s lives.”

Planned seminars would bring together primary and secondary teachers with undergraduate Civics Fellows in a collaborative learning environment. A total of 150 teachers, evenly split between urban and rural schools, and 100 undergraduates, half each from WT and Texas Southern students, would participate over a three-year period.

Participating teachers will continue to share resources, success stories and challenges after the seminars conclude. The project also will produce a suite of high-quality curricular materials, which will be available to other schools and organizations.

The university curriculum, developed collaboratively by WT and Texas Southern faculty, would include a sequence of four classes on Western political thought; American founding and constitutional government; citizenship, rights and civic responsibility; and constitutionalism and civic leadership in the 21st century.

“As we begin to celebrate our great nation’s 250th birthday, we find ourselves in a unique position to examine history in greater detail in hopes of moving forward as a nation and pursuing the goals established at its founding,” Allen said. “Civil discourse viewed through the lens of fact-based history and civics is such a worthy endeavor, and we are excited to find ourselves on the cusp of that exercise.”

Named for Joseph A. Hill, the second president of WT and its longest-serving leader, the Hill Institute centers on 10 values: trust, family life, hard work, regard for others, personal responsibility, compatriotism and patriotism, virtue, faith, personal and civic loyalty, and rugged individualism.

The Hill Institute officially was approved by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents in February 2022. Since that time, WT officials have worked to secure funding and continue refining the Institute’s mission. The Institute is funded through philanthropic dollars rather than government funding.

Providing access to excellent foundational educational programs is a key principle of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign, which is now winding down, has raised more than $175 million.

About West Texas A&M University

A Regional Research University, West Texas A&M University is redefining excellence in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. A Hispanic Serving Institution since 2016, WT boasts an enrollment of more than 9,000 and offers 66 undergraduate degree programs, including eight associate degrees; and 44 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor’s and master’s degree, a specialist degree and two doctoral degrees. WT recently earned a Carnegie Foundation classification as a Research College and University. The University also is home to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, the largest history museum in the state and the home of one of the Southwest’s finest art collections. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 16 men’s and women’s athletics programs.

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