Center for Public Service
Armington 427
publicservice@upike.edu
(606) 218-4493



“Oasis of Excellence”
– American Council of Trustees and Alumni

Civic Educators Fellowship

A selective, three-week summer seminar hosted at the University of Pikeville for rising high school students.

Dates: July 6 – 24 | Schedule TBA | Location: UPIKE Campus

The Allegheny Civic Fellowship is Eastern Kentucky’s flagship summer civics academy. Students will have the opportunity to spend three weeks strengthening their academic writing and critical thinking skills through reading foundational texts and discussing democracy, justice, and America’s ideals. Led by Yale graduates and UPIKE faculty, the program invites students to UPIKE’s campus for three weeks. Meals, books, and other costs are covered by the Fellowship at no charge for students. During the program, students will grapple with the great questions of Western civilization:

  • How do people live together in political communities? How should they?
  • What are the blessings and limitations of democracy?
  • How has America realized and struggled with the ideals of ancient philosophers?

Fellowship seminars immerse teachers in deep engagement with America’s founding documents, including:

  • The Declaration of Independence
  • The Gettysburg Address
  • Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

Through close reading, discussion, and collaborative lesson design, Fellows explore the timeless themes running through these texts—liberty, equality, and constitutionalism—and work together to translate that scholarship into classroom-ready teaching. Rather than treating the founding as settled trivia,
the Fellowship approaches it as a set of enduring questions: What do we owe one another as citizens? What does it mean to govern ourselves? How do communities balance liberty and order?

Fellows leave equipped not just with content knowledge, but with practical tools, primary-source materials, and pedagogical strategies they can bring directly back to their own students

The Fellowship is designed for social studies teachers across Central Appalachia who want to deepen their own understanding of civics and strengthen how they teach it—whether they are early in their careers or decades into the classroom.

The Civic Educators Fellowship is made possible through the generous support of the United States Department of Education. For more information on applying, contact the Center for Public Service or visit our program pages.

Our syllabus begins in Ancient Athens, the first democracy known to man, and stretches through
Early Modern England, the Founding, and modern America. Our goal is not to master thinkers or
ideas, but rather to introduce students to fundamental questions present across time and place.
American political culture is our ultimate focus, but we believe that in examining that story one has
much to gain from the traditions which gave rise to it.

Week Two: The American Promise

  • Declaration of Independence
  • Constitution & Bill of Rights
  • Federalist Papers (1, 9-10, 47, 51, 70)
  • Tocqueville’s Democracy in America
TimeMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
9–10:15amLecture: DeclarationLecture: ConstitutionLecture: FederalismLecture: Democracy ChallengesDebate: Was the Revolution Revolutionary?
10:15–11:30amSeminarSeminarSeminarSeminar
11:30–12:15pmLunchLunchLunchLunchLunch
12:15–2pmSpeech LabModel UN SimulationArt DiscussionEssay LabGuest Speaker

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