Former Tennessee Governors Named To Board Of UT’s New Civics Institute
Image Credit: BakerCenter.UTK.Edu
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
The University of Tennessee has appointed two former Tennessee governors to serve on the board of their new civics institute.
UT System President Randy Boyd recently named former governors, Phil Bredesen and Bill Haslam, along with 11 other individuals, to comprise the first board of the Institute for American Civics, an extension of the Howard H. Baker, Jr., Center for Public Policy.
The purpose of the new program is to “strengthen civic engagement and combat political polarization in our state and nation.”
“This is an exciting moment at the University of Tennessee. We want to be a beacon of light for civil discourse, viewpoint diversity and civic engagement,” said President Boyd in a recent press release. “We want to thank the governor and General Assembly, and every member of this Board of Fellows who will help advise the Institute of American Civics at the Howard Baker Center as it begins its work in this critical effort.”
With the board members now in place, a national search will begin for a director. After a list of finalists is developed, UT Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman will select a director from that list.
“We want to create a venue where people can come together with different opinions, listen to each other, converse, and come to solutions that move our state and country forward,” Plowman said. “Land-grant universities are going to need to take on an expanded role in supporting American democracy, and we are determined to lead our peers in defining that role. The newly appointed board is a significant step toward that goal.”
According to the Institute’s policies, nine of the thirteen board members must be higher education professionals, two must be “distinguished former elected or appointed US officials” from different political parties, and two must be members of the Baker Center Board.
Bredesen served as a Democratic Governor of Tennessee from 2003 to 2011. Most recently, he has started a renewable energy startup.
Billionaire Republican Haslam followed Bredesen as governor from 2011 to 2019. He has since worked as a part-time professor of political science at Vanderbilt University.
“The bipartisan work of the Institute can be a model for how we bring together different perspectives to wrestle with some of the biggest issues of our time,” Haslam said. “I am honored to be a part of the university’s historic effort.”
Bredesen and Haslam join the following other newly appointed board members:
- Jon Meacham – visiting professor and co-chair of Vanderbilt University’s Project on Unity and American Democracy
- A.B. Culvahouse, Jr. – Baker Center Board Member; U.S. Ambassador to Australia under former President Donald Trump
- Marianne Wanamaker – Executive Director of the Baker Center; associate professor of economics
- Danielle Allen – Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University
- Arthur Brooks – Professor of public leadership and business management at Harvard University
- Amy Elias – Director of UT Knoxville’s Humanities Center; English professor
- Daniel Diermeir – Chancellor of Vanderbilt University
- Robert George – Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University
- Claudia Williamson Kramer – Probasco Chair of free enterprise at UT Chattanooga
- Glenn Reynolds – Law professor at UT Knoxville
- Paul Stumb – President of Cumberland University
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
Why did the institute policies require the bulk of the board members be from higher education? Why not have a board that better represents all “walks of life”. Higher institutions statistically are majority left leaning. Based on those selected, Is conservative thought being equally represented on this board? Would like to have seen Dr Carol Swain selected as a board member. On the surface this sounds great and promising but skeptical of its true purpose and objective.
https://tennesseestar.com/2022/09/05/leftist-author-jon-meacham-named-to-board-of-university-of-tennessees-institute-for-american-civics/
And so, it continues
Former politicians on the take
Liberal useless professors seeking to reinforce their tenure
Slush fund
What could go wrong?
Missing;
Carol Swain
John Rich
Just a few Tennesseans
From TCN on Leftist Author Jon Meacham Named to Board of University of Tennessee’s Institute for American Civics on 9/5/22:
In October 2020, Meacham described supporters of then-President Donald Trump as “anguished, nervous” white men with a “lizard brain.”