In This Issue:

Press Release: ASC Receives Grant!

The Future of Alcuin Study Center

Recommended Reading

Our Latest Videos

Avis Foundation Awards Alcuin Study Center Grant (Press Release):

November 1, 2023, Muncie, Ind. — Alcuin Study Center (ASC) has received a $50,000 grant from the Avis Foundation, Inc. The grant is to be used as a catalyst for development throughout 2024. The Avis Foundation’s investment provides Alcuin Study Center the resources it needs to continue its excellent programming while further cultivating its constituency and donor base.

Alcuin Study Center, an educational 501(c)(3) incorporated on August 1, 2020, provides educational and cultural opportunities for the broader university community with an emphasis on civil discourse, the moral imagination, and the common good. Since its inception it has served hundreds of individuals through its programming, which includes everything from seminars on medical ethics to Sundance short film viewings; from book groups on Macbeth, The Odyssey, and Flannery O’Connor to semester-long classes on logic and epistemology. All of Alcuin Study Center’s programs are free and open to the public.

“The through-line in all of our diverse programming is a recognition of the role that the Christian tradition has played in preserving that which is good, true, and beautiful,” says Alcuin Study Center Executive Director Dan Daugherty. “We don’t proselytize. We provide a safe space for honest inquiry and charitable disagreement regarding enduring human questions. We desire to work for the welfare of the city and the university, and we believe that empathy and understanding are key components to that end. We are deeply grateful for and honored by the Avis Foundation’s interest and investment in the work that we are doing. The Avis Foundation’s gift is a major step toward the financial stability we need for ASC and its mission to endure.”

Alcuin Study Center is named after Alcuin of York and is a member of the Consortium of Christian Study Centers, a national coalition of independent centers on over 35 university campuses.

The Future of Alcuin Study Center: our GIVING TUESDAY call to action

Over the last three years, we have steadily grown in every way. We have more people attending our programming than ever before. We have more students involved than ever before. We have a larger space and our network and budget continue to grow. We are in pretty good shape for a 3-year old startup, but we are not hitting cruise control just yet.

The grant is a huge blessing, but it is only a step toward long-term viability.

The purpose of the grant is to give ASC the funds to hire some part-time help to free me up to pursue more funding by continuing to build relationships with like-minded individuals who are willing to learn the mission and vision of Alcuin Study Center and help us to tell our story to others.

If you are reading this, you are already one of those people. Thank you for your ongoing prayer, encouragement, and support.

As we work together toward raising another $150,000 in annual pledges, we ask for your help in the following ways:

  1. Tell others why you are excited about Alcuin Study Center.
  2. If you are not excited about Alcuin Study Center, please let me know. Give me the chance to light the fire in you. The work we do is not easily distilled into an elevator pitch. Our mission takes a bit of time to digest, and our labor takes the long view, but I honestly believe that nearly anyone who grasps the mission and vision of Alcuin Study Center will recognize the unique and necessary place that an institution like ours fills. So let’s talk.
  3. Click on the button below. It will take you to our Sustainability Pledge. If you have not yet made an ongoing pledge, please consider doing so. Read the pledge and make a commitment. I am convinced that in our particular time and place, this is one of the best investments a Christian can make. I’ve given my life to it.
Sustainability Pledge

Articles on Christian Study Centers:

Brad Littlejohn wrote a great little piece for World Magazine entitled

Investing in the Christian mind: Christian study centers show what universities were meant to be

And here’s a longer piece from 2020 by Andrew Hansen, Program Director and Fellows Tutor at Anselm House, a sister study center in Minneapolis:

A Christian college in a food truck? Christian study centers and moral formation

Alcuin Study Center is a member of the Consortium of Christian Study Centers, and we hope that these articles give you a better idea of what we’re about.

Our Most Recent Guest Lectures

Hillsdale professor Ian Church speaks on Experimental Philosophy and the Problem of Evil
Dr. Paul Ranieri revisits the thought of Isocrates and applies it to higher education and the early church

There is much more to show and tell about the work being done here at Alcuin Study Center—the beginning of our fellowship program, our next big medical ethics symposium, our work with the Institute for the Study of Political Economy…but it’ll all have to wait until our next letter.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for caring. Thank you for being a vital part of Alcuin Study Center.

In the pursuit of human flourishing,

Dan Daugherty

Executive Director

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