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Dear Colleagues,

I write to offer you updates about ºÚÁÏÍø’s Institutes for Advanced Study: the Lampert Institute for Civic and Global Affairs, the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute, the Upstate Institute, and their counterpart, the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization.

At their inception two decades ago, the Institutes were conceived primarily as centers for faculty research. Over time, their mission has grown: the Upstate Institute began engaging students in regional research through its summer field school; the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization created opportunities for self-designed student summer projects; and the Lampert Institute launched a scholars program with a summer internship component. Shifting from being support sources for faculty research, our Institutes have come to join faculty and students in focused, sustained intellectual projects.

Today, we are announcing our intention to broaden the ambit of all the Institutes. Each will continue to fund and support faculty research while also offering new avenues for student intellectual engagement and providing public-facing programming that brings ºÚÁÏÍø’s scholarship into conversation with the wider world. Through these new efforts, the Institutes will collectively enrich our teaching, extend our reach beyond campus, and connect alumni and external partners more fully to the intellectual life of the University.

I am pleased to announce the following developments, which together provide yet another reflection of our commitment, through the Third-Century Plan, to making ºÚÁÏÍø the nation’s finest undergraduate institution:

The Kraynak Institute for the Study of Freedom and Western Traditions

Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization. To honor its founder and long-time director, Robert Kraynak, Professor of Political Science, and to recognize the center’s enduring contributions to the University, we are elevating it to an Institute for Advanced Study: The Kraynak Institute for the Study of Freedom and Western Traditions. Now under the co-directorship of Carolyn Guile, Associate Professor of Art, and David Dudrick, George Carleton Jr. Professor of Philosophy, with Bob serving as Founding Director, the Institute’s guiding mission remains to cultivate intellectual diversity within a liberal arts education, a commitment that will now be deepened through the expanded reach and resources of an institute.

The Kraynak Institute advances its mission in three central ways. First, it upholds the ideal of a classical liberal arts education: a rigorous engagement with political theory, intellectual history, religious belief, and the cultural heritage of Western traditions. Second, the Institute supports the serious study of free speech, free enterprise, and constitutional democracy, both in the early American Republic and in the contemporary world, seeing an understanding of these ideals and institutions as essential to educating citizens and leaders who can engage thoughtfully and critically with the challenges of their time. Third, through its public lectures and summer scholars programs, the Institute encourages students to encounter intellectually diverse viewpoints in a collegial environment, promotes students’ independent thought, and sponsors student research related to the intellectual legacy of the Western tradition.

To broaden faculty and staff engagement with — and debate about — the core concerns of the Kraynak Institute, I am pleased to announce three new forums (fora). These reading and discussion groups are designed to foster robust consideration of the following themes: The Past and Future of Democracy; Freedom in Public and Private Life; and Education for a Good Life and Character Formation for a Good Society. The forums will include extensive student engagement, with future support planned for extended studies and team-teaching grants. If you are interested in joining a forum, please contact Carolyn or David.

In addition to these updates, I encourage you to mark your calendars for the — one of the signature events of the (now) Kraynak Institute’s annual programming cycle. On September 18, legal scholars Jonathan Turley (George Washington University Law) and Michael Klarman (Harvard Law School) will debate whether or not the nation is in a constitutional crisis. 

The Lampert Institute for Civic and Global Affairs

I am delighted to announce new opportunities associated with the Lampert Institute, arising from a generous new gift from Ed ’62 and Robin Lampert P’10. The Lamperts have endowed the directorship of the institute: Chad Sparber, W. Bradford Wiley Chair in International Economics and Professor of Economics, will now hold the new title of Storing-Hou Director of the Lampert Institute. The directorship name honors two faculty members who influenced Mr. Lampert when he was a ºÚÁÏÍø student: Professor of Political Science James A. Storing and Professor of Economics Chi-Ming Hou.

The Lampert Institute engages ºÚÁÏÍø students and faculty with the most pressing public policy issues shaping the trajectory of the 21st century. It fosters an intellectual community of students, faculty, experts, and practitioners who analyze significant problems and advance discussions in a balanced, rigorous, and public-minded way. Its work centers on two initiatives: The Changing World Order Initiative, which examines geopolitical and economic developments in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America — issues such as trade relations, the rise of populism, and global production patterns; and The Science, Technology, and Public Policy Initiative, which explores the political, economic, and social consequences of advances in science and technology, including ethical questions around artificial intelligence and the impacts of technology diffusion on labor markets and global competition.

The institute also runs the selective Lampert Scholars Program for rising seniors, offering a year-long program of academic and professional experiences beginning with a summer internship. Thanks to the additional gifts from the original donors, two new student-facing programs are being added: a Sophomore Residential Seminar, with the inaugural course being led by Chad Sparber and having a travel component to India; and summer research fellowships supporting up to six students to embark on immersive, self-directed projects off campus.

The Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute

The Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute promotes collaborative research by supporting ºÚÁÏÍø faculty members undertaking internal and external research collaborations. Successful Picker ISI grants bring expertise from disparate disciplines to bear on scientific problems that remain intractable using single-discipline methods. This coming year, under the directorship of Ahmet Ay, Professor of Biology and Mathematics, the institute will be broadening its scope to open new opportunities for interdisciplinary research, student engagement in interdisciplinary science, and public-facing programming. In November, we will provide a detailed update on new opportunities available through the Science Institute.

The Upstate Institute

The Upstate Institute fosters connections between ºÚÁÏÍø and the regional community, engaging students, faculty, staff, and residents through scholarly collaborations that support our Upstate region. Its goal is to promote and advance a broad understanding of the cultural, social, economic, and environmental resources of Upstate New York through community-based research, civic engagement, and reciprocal knowledge transfer.

This past year, faculty director Cat Cardelús, Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies, and Julie Dudrick, newly promoted to Director of the Upstate Institute, ably led an intensive self-study of community engagement at ºÚÁÏÍø as part of ºÚÁÏÍø’s application to receive the Carnegie Foundation’s Elective Classification for Community Engagement. ºÚÁÏÍø will learn whether it has received the classification later this academic year. Independent of that decision, the Upstate will, over time, be widening its purview to support community-engaged scholarship beyond the upstate region.

I am appreciative of the many faculty and staff whose energy and creativity are making these new directions possible, and grateful to those alumni whose support allows us to further the mission of our institutes. If you are interested in learning more about the new work being done or contributing to the work of our institutes, please feel free to contact me or the relevant institute’s director(s).

In their next chapter, ºÚÁÏÍø’s Institutes will offer a compelling avenue for the University to extend its programs and activities well beyond the campus border; to explore issues and activities that go beyond traditional academic department activities, particularly in matters of policy; to bring to the campus experts in various fields, including those not formally in the academy; and to engage alumni and others more fully in the intellectual life of the University. I look forward to seeing the impact these developments will have on our students, our scholarship, and the broader community.

With warm regards,
Lesleigh

Lesleigh Cushing
Provost and Dean of the Faculty
Mark S. Siegel University Professor in Religion and Jewish Studies