AEI’s Academic Programs
The American Enterprise Institute’s Academic Programs team connects colleges and universities with the ideas and networks of AEI. We seek the renewal of healthy civic engagement on college campuses by facilitating educational and professional opportunities for students and faculty.
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Our Programs
Our programs for students aim to provide the rising generation with the skills of civil and substantive discourse, strengthen their commitment to classical liberal ideas and institutions, and motivate them with AEI scholarship and the foundational principles that foster a competition of ideas. While students come to AEI from a wide range of campuses and with varying public policy interests and ideological beliefs, they share a commitment to improving civic engagement on their campuses.
Our programs for faculty aim to resource higher education leaders with the rigorous, data-driven research of AEI scholars. We serve faculty and higher education leaders interested in the scholarship of our think tank and committed to equipping the next generation.
As reflected in the work of AEI scholars and staff, all of our programs and resources for students and faculty advance ideas rooted in our belief in democracy, free enterprise, American strength and global leadership, solidarity with those at the periphery of our society, and a pluralistic, entrepreneurial culture.
Collegiate Network
The AEI Collegiate Network is an intellectual home for current undergraduates to engage with AEI scholarship, connect with AEI scholars, and cultivate relationships with other public-spirited students from campuses around the nation and world. Learn more.
Summer Honors Program
The AEI Summer Honors Program is an intensive, fully-funded educational and professional development opportunity for top undergraduate students in Washington, DC centered on week-long seminars led by AEI scholars and distinguished civic leaders. Learn more.
Winter Honors Program
In 2025, AEI’s Academic Programs is expanding its seminar offerings by launching a Winter Honors Program. This intensive, fully-funded educational and professional development opportunity will feature by in-person and online seminars led by AEI scholars and partner instructors. Learn more.
The Campus Exchange Podcast
The Campus Exchange is AEI’s podcast for college and university students, providing a venue for AEI Collegiate Network members to interview AEI scholars and civic leaders about the pressing policy challenges facing our country and world. Learn more.
Higher Education Leadership
AEI’s growing network of faculty and other higher education leaders is essential to our mission to renew healthy civic engagement on college campuses. Members of our network help recruit students to AEI programs and facilitate events with AEI scholars on their campuses, as well as receive access to complimentary books and invitations to faculty-only gatherings. To learn more, email AEI’s Academic Programs Manager, Walker Wright, at [email protected].
Initiative on Faith & Public Life
From 2009-2021, the Initiative on Faith & Public Life — launched as Values and Capitalism — was a unique outreach effort of AEI to Christian colleges that produced a range of educational resources, including books, essays, videos, and documentaries. See those resources here. Today, many similar programs for students and faculty once offered through the initiative are made available directly with AEI’s Academic Programs.
Latest from Our Scholars
“On Restlessness”: Benjamin Storey in conversation with Anthony Morgan | The Philosopher
Cynicism About Politics: My Experience as Part of the 2023 Summer Honors Academy Cohort
Civic Thought: A Proposal for University-Level Civic Education
Colleges and Universities Shouldn’t Be in the Business of Making Political Statements
The Summer Honors Program Connects College Students with AEI and the Broader DC Policy Community
AEI Hosts Sixth Annual Executive Council Fall Leadership Conference for Undergraduate Students
Rethinking the Mission: Community Colleges and Workforce Education
AEI Hosts Fifth Annual Executive Council Fall Leadership Conference for Undergraduate Students
Happy 106th Birthday Ronald Reagan, He Trusted the People and Believed in the ‘magic of the Marketplace’
Stay Up to Date with AEI Through the Connector
This monthly newsletter connects students, faculty, administrators, and other partners from around the country with AEI’s Academic Programs. Stay up to date with AEI scholarship, browse internships and job openings at AEI and similar organizations, and be the first to hear about unique programs for students and faculty. Subscribe here.