Examine civic conflicts and controversies, with a view to understanding their root causes. Explore readings from classic and contemporary texts on political theory, ethics, and practice.

Examine classic texts that explore what it means to be human and consider their implications for politics, economics, society, morality, and religion.

Survey social science research on the key determinants of human happiness and considers the implications of this research for civic life.

Discuss foundations for success in life, college, and career. Develop skills for civic leadership, well-being, and academic scholarship.

Discuss career discernment, explore career opportunities, and develop skills for civic leadership, internship, and career success.

Examine what humans can know, how they reason, what thinking is, and how humans communicate to persuade others. Discuss readings in logic, epistemology, and rhetoric including classical writers such as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian as well as modern and contemporary thinkers and leaders, with emphasis on case studies of effective persuasion.

Explores the origins of social scientific thought in the history of political philosophy and traces the development of one or more of the social sciences in modern times. Focuses on fundamental ideas about human nature, civil society, and politics, explored through reading such authors as Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Freud.

Examine debates about constitutionalism and citizenship in American and Texas political experience. Investigate the philosophical and historic foundations of American institutions from the founding period through the contemporary era. Discuss the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

Examine the roots of American institutions and practices from ancient times (Greek city-states, the Mosaic law, Roman politics), medieval practices and institutions, English constitutional history (Magna Carta, Glorious Revolution), and the Enlightenment (Locke, Montesquieu, Sydney). Discuss the American colonial experiment in self-government. Explore the Revolution, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitutional convention. Address the early republic and significant constitutional moments in American experience.

Examine classical liberal thought as it relates to political and economic liberty. Investigate how classical liberal ideas about political and economic liberty influence the modern development of democracy and capitalism. Explore potential tensions between democracy and capitalism. Study empirical evidence and classic writings on relationship between democracy, capitalism, and human flourishing.

Introduction to statistical methods used in civics with emphasis on concepts and applications. Utilize a variety of real data to discuss key concepts, such as sampling distributions and basic data analyses.

Investigate the nature, grounds, and consequences of moral excellence in political communities. Discuss close reading of classical texts (such as Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, Cicero, Aquinas), contemporary philosophical analysis (such as Foot, Anscombe, MacIntyre), results of scientific research, and reflections on history, biography, and literature (such as Shakespeare, Austen). Focus on application to contemporary problems.

Study selected plays of Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, and others with a focus on themes of virtue, justice, and leadership qualities.

Study selected plays of Shakespeare, focusing on themes virtue, justice, and leadership qualities.

Close readings from primary texts that have shaped or that reflect deeply upon American democracy, including the Declaration of Independence, The Federalist Papers, and Tocqueville's Democracy in America.

Discuss classic and contemporary texts on civic leadership from a range of cultures and periods, including different ways of understanding, organizing, and leading in civic life.

This course is used to record credit the student earns while enrolled at another institution in a program administered by the University's Study Abroad Office. Credit is recorded as assigned by the study abroad adviser in the School of Civic Leadership. University credit is awarded for work in an exchange program; it may be counted as coursework taken in residence. Transfer credit is awarded for work in an affiliated studies program. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Examine the ancient and medieval origins of modern constitutionalism. Explore the works of authors such as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Gibbon, Hamilton, Madison, Tocqueville, Thoreau, Marx, Mill, Arendt, Berlin, Rawls, and Nozick.

Investigate economic growth as a function of constitutions that protect the rule of law and well-defined property rights. Examine social and economic outcomes under different rules. Explore constitutional disputes over economic issues such as taxation, eminent domain, labor law, and regulation. Consider how different constitutional arrangements affect economic well-being.

Examine how human communities are structured, and how this structure can foster or distort moral character and promote or obstruct happiness. Explore socialization; social capital; the role of rituals, symbols, hierarchy, historical memory, arts and literature, and religion. Discuss readings from classical texts and from contemporary sociology, social psychology, political theory, history, and literature.

Examine the relationship between theology (both revealed and natural) and political theory in the Western world. Discuss the political significance of theological ideas such as the proposition that all human beings are created equal; that all human beings are created in the image of God; beliefs in divine providence and judgment; metaphysical foundations of natural law and free will.

Analyze the ethical challenges civic leaders face. Explore different ethical frameworks for approaching the responsibility of civic leadership. Discuss case studies of leaders and difficult leadership decisions through biographies, historical studies, and films.

Discuss a practical application of the studies of strategic behavior to leadership. Examine games leaders must play and strategies they can use to orient a team toward a common goal.

This course is used to record credit the student earns while enrolled at another institution in a program administered by the University's Study Abroad Office. Credit is recorded as assigned by the study abroad adviser in the School of Civic Leadership. University credit is awarded for work in an exchange program; it may be counted as coursework taken in residence. Transfer credit is awarded for work in an affiliated studies program. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Survey the ideas that have structured the American economic system and the implications of these ideas for civic life and citizenship. Explore the philosophical and theoretical questions of political economy, as well as the policy challenges of the modern welfare state and globalization. Discuss readings that may include Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as well as modern economists and social scientists.

Introduction to statistics, econometrics, and data science as tools necessary for policy and social science research. Discuss policy questions as well as policy and social science tools to evaluate those questions. Apply these tools to real-world data to answer crucial policy questions. Investigate appropriate data usage, employ cutting-edge statistical tools, and evaluate how to use these tools to understand the world.

Examine the evolution of the United States Constitution from the founding to the present, with a focus on the major forces and fault lines that have made the Constitution today one of the world's most difficult to amend.

Analyze the history of the writing, approval, development, and interpretation of the United States Constitution.

Discuss one or more great works influencing the development of the Western intellectual tradition by such authors as Sophocles, Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Tacitus, Augustine, Aquinas, and Dante.

Discuss an advanced study of ethical considerations in leadership and ethical resources for leadership.

Discuss an advanced study of topics in rights, freedoms, and the rule of law.

Discuss an advanced study of topics in civic thought and culture.

Discuss an advanced study of topics in strategy and statecraft.

Discuss advanced topics that examine a single major work in civics, significant theme in civics, or select works of a significant author in civics.

Develop resume, cover letters, job search profiles, networking, and interviewing techniques. Build skills for internship, including how to think, how to lead, and how to follow. Study ethical and strategic exemplars in leadership. Analyze ethical and strategic lessons of internship.

Address issues related to career planning to establish an internship search. Develop resume, cover letters, job search profiles, networking, and interviewing techniques. Conduct informational interviews. Apply for internships.

Build skills for internship, including how to think, how to lead, and how to follow. Understand workplace cultures. Study ethical and strategic exemplars in leadership.

Write substantial reflection that connects internship experience with themes in civics coursework. Analyze ethical and strategic lessons of internship.

Participate in a professional internship in civic leadership. Reflect on internship to improve ability to both articulate preferences and skills, and to match them with appropriate career-related choices.

Participate in a professional internship in civic leadership. Reflect on internship to improve ability to both articulate preferences and skills, and to match them with appropriate career-related choices.

Perform fieldwork in research and analysis related to civic leadership.

Capstone of the civics honor degree. Develop and defend a coherent and persuasive argument on a significant question.

Capstone of the civics honors degree. Develop and defend a coherent and persuasive argument on a significant question.