UCI Awarded $1.75M Federal Grant to Strengthen Civics Education

The UC Irvine School of Education, in partnership with the School of Law and collaborators from UC Santa Cruz and the National Writing Project, has received a new $1.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to launch Fortifying Liberty’s Legacy: Cultivating Informed Citizens Through History and Innovation.

This three-year initiative will provide professional learning opportunities to more than 400 secondary history and civics teachers, focusing on foundational U.S. documents, disciplinary literacy, and innovative tools like generative AI to deepen students’ understanding of American citizenship. It will culminate in a national Semiquincentennial conference in 2026—Semiquincentennial (250th anniversary).

Project Investigators:

• PI: Nicole Gilbertson, UCI Teacher Academy
• Co-PI: Cindy Mata, Director, UCI History Project
• Co-PI: Daisy Martin, Director, Civics and History Project at UCSC
• Co-PI: Tamara Tate, Project Scientist in Education, UCI
• Co-PI: Mark Warschauer, Distinguished Professor of Education, UCI

​Congratulations to the project team for this powerful investment in civic education!