The Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage (IACH) was established in September, 2009 by former University of Oklahoma President David Boren.
The IACH is an inter-disciplinary center for the study of American constitutionalism. The notion of a constitutional heritage reflects the Institute’s broad approach to the Constitution in all its aspects: its philosophical underpinnings, its historical context, its legal substance, and its contemporary relevance. The IACH is committed to ensuring that the University of Oklahoma is a place where students can study the ancient roots of law, liberty, and self-governance, the development of liberal and republican thought in the modern world, the historical and ideological background of the American founding, the development of civil rights in American history, and the relevance of the Constitution to contemporary debates over justice and freedom.
Students can pursue a BA in Letters with a concentration in Constitutional Studies or they can pursue a Minor in Constitutional Studies (PDF). The curriculum requires fifteen hours of credit in four distributions: the Ancient Foundations of Constitutional Thought, the Philosophical Background of American Constitutionalism, the American Founding, and the Constitutional Legacy in Modern America.
The affiliated faculty of the IACH includes more than 20 scholars from History, Political Science, Classics & Letters, the Law School, Modern Languages and the Business College (see a complete list here). Through a variety of programming, including an annual Constitutional Studies Symposium, the IACH promotes scholarship on constitutional law, constitutional history, and constitutional theory.
The IACH is housed in the Department of Classics and Letters. The Letters program has been an integral part of the Humanities at OU since 1937, attracting outstanding students with interests in history, philosophy, and literature that transcend departmental boundaries. With its diverse and inter-disciplinary faculty, emphasis on teaching, and broad curriculum, the Letters program is an ideal fit with the Institute’s approach to the U.S. Constitution.
