BGSU awarded nearly $2M federal grant to advance civic education across Ohio

By Branden Ferguson

The Living CIVICs grant will support up to 30 teachers per cohort, over the next three years, allowing thousands of students to be impacted by the program. (BGSU photo)

The three-year award will support Living CIVICs, an innovative professional learning initiative that will provide yearlong professional development for K-12 teachers

The $1.95M grant builds upon Bowling Green’s expanding portfolio of federally supported civic education initiatives. Last year, BGSU received more than $620,000 in federal funding to develop CIVICs 250, an innovative project designed to deepen understanding of the country’s founding and evolution over the past 250 years. Together, the two awards represent a commitment to enhance civic learning by supporting both students and educators while expanding the University’s role as a national leader in civic education.

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Key Highlights

Grant: $1.95M Living CIVICs grant

Opportunity: Civic education for K-12 teachers

When: Recruitment will begin in December; first cohort starts January 2027

Back-to-back federal grants

In addition to the $1.95M Living CIVCs grant, BGSU received $620,000 in federal funding to develop CIVICs 250. Both programs are geared toward educating, helping and providing learning materials to K-12 teachers.

Improving upon the success of CIVICs 250

After successfully hosting the first cohort of K-12 teachers at CIVICs 250, Robert Alexander, Ph.D., a political science professor and the grant's principal investigator, and his team wanted to find a way to improve the educational experience. They decided to emphasize place-based education, bringing teachers directly to Ohio's historical and government buildings.

90 teachers, thousands of students

Up to 30 teachers will be selected for each cohort, with the first group expected to begin in January. With three years of funding, up to 90 teachers will be able to take advantage of Living CIVICs and take their experience back to their classrooms, impacting thousands of Ohio students.

“Rather than bringing teachers to campus for a week, as we do with our CIVICs 250 cohort, we are going to take them on a tour through Ohio. We hope to inspire them to be able to bring that knowledge and experience back to their students and classrooms.”

ROBERT ALEXANDER, PH.D.
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, LIVING CIVICS GRANT

National leader

$1.95M

Living CIVICs grant

This is the second federal grant BGSU received to help K-12 teachers deepen their understanding of the country's founding and evolution.

Bowling Green State University is one of only nine universities nationwide to receive a $1.95 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen civic education and American history instruction for K-12 educators.

The three-year award will support Living CIVICs, an innovative professional learning initiative that will provide yearlong professional development for K-12 teachers through seminars, public programming, mentoring and access to original classroom resources produced by BGSU faculty, staff and students. The program will culminate in a weeklong immersion program during which participants will travel to historical sites throughout Ohio to deepen their knowledge of American history, founding principles and civic life.

The grant builds upon Bowling Green’s expanding portfolio of federally supported civic education initiatives. Last year, BGSU received more than $620,000 in federal funding to develop CIVICs 250, an innovative project designed to deepen understanding of the country’s founding and evolution over the past 250 years. Together, the two awards represent a commitment to enhance civic learning by supporting both students and educators while expanding the University’s role as a national leader in civic education.

teachers gather in a circle to take hand-written notes — Nearly 30 teachers made up the inaugural CIVICs 250 Scholars Program (supplied photo)

"Since its founding in 2024, the Democracy and Public Policy Network has been focused on ensuring students at BGSU, K-12 teachers, high school students and community members have opportunities to meaningfully engage with civics education," said Ellen Schendel, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "The Living CIVICs grant is both a validation of this good work and an opportunity to expand it."

The first cohort will begin in January 2027 and will include up to 30 teachers. With three years of funding allowing for 90 teachers to take part in Living CIVICs, Robert Alexander, Ph.D. a political science professor who is leading the grant, hopes the program will benefit thousands of students across the state and region.

“This project will equip educators with the tools to use original documents to support their teaching, whether it is through historical documents, original public opinion polling we conduct, podcasts students create or through original research produced by our faculty,” he said. “This grant enables us to connect professors, students, teachers and the community in meaningful ways that work to serve the public good.”

The award also expands the work of the Democracy and Public Policy Network, which has earned national recognition for its public opinion polling, civic education initiatives, public forums and research examining democracy and founding principles.

“Public opinion polling has become a valuable resource that teachers can use in their classrooms to bring politics and history to life for their students,” Alexander said. “This grant allows us to do more of that and focus on asking questions about founding principles and documents in American history and government.”