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Know your past. Build our Future
Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies
The Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies is inspired by Ralph Hauenstein's life of leadership and service. In six short years, the Hauenstein Center has become one of the leading presidential studies centers in the nation. Award-winning historian Richard Norton Smith called the Center "a jewel in the crown of Michigan." Award-winning biographer H. W. Brands called Hauenstein Center Director Gleaves Whitney "a real treasure for those of us who do presidential studies and that work in the field of presidential history," and observed that Gleaves is "one of the most effective entrepreneurs in the business of higher education."
Our mission is to illuminate the American presidency to raise civic literacy, learned discourse, and a new generation of leaders. The Center's mission rests on four cornerstone:
Prestigious Leadership Academy
Hauenstein Center leadership fellows have been face-to-face with four U.S. presidents, several presidential candidates, two vice president, four secretaries of state, numerous senators and members of Congress, four state governors, and multiple Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists.
Learn more about the Leadership Academy.
World-Class Events
Hauenstein Center debates and conferences are among West Michigan's most anticipated events. Since 2003, the Center has hosted more than 275 programs, many in partnership with the Gerald R. Ford Foundation and Museum. Four programs have been broadcast by C-SPAN to a national audience, three have been web cast internationally, and one has been watched on YouTube by more than 75,000 people in some 30 nations on all six inhabited continents.
Learn more about our programs.
Cutting-Edge Website
The Hauenstein Center’s dynamic website, www.allpresidents.org, is among the highest-rated presidential studies sites in the world, according to Google. It has attracted more than 21 million hits, and has earned recognition in the New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, Sunday Globe & Mail, Chronicle of Higher Education, and National Review, as well as on PBS and C-SPAN. The website's design and content are fast becoming an online model for academic centers of excellence. Look for us in the blogosphere and on iTunes, YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, and Wikipedia.
Visit our front page.
One-of-a-Kind Library
The Hauenstein Center’s J. Randall Bergers Presidential Studies Collection is the world's only one-stop archive for books written by American presidents. The collection, appraised by the Library of Congress as a "uniquely valuable resource," is comprised of more than 750 original works by the nation's 43 chief executives. Most are first editions; many are autographed. Additionally, in summer 2009, the Center received the Hauenstein-Markle Espionage Collection, compiled of close to 500 works covering various topics in intelligence and American foreign policy. In concert with the Harvey Lemmen Abraham Lincoln Collection, our Bergers Collection and Hauenstein-Markle Collection makes Grand Valley a nationally significant presidential research center.
Learn more about our Library Collection.
Accessible Scholarship
Hauenstein Center scholars conduct original research that provides a unique resource for students and scholars alike. We offer a university-quality education online to individuals inside and outside the walls of Grand Valley State University. Through our pathbreaking work on the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Committee and the Arthur M. Vandenberg Legacy Project, and through feature essays, the Hauenstein Center is raising civic literacy and discourse. Among its peers, the Hauenstein Center stands out as a unique institution bridging the gap between the Ivory Tower and life-long learners in the community.
Read our feature essays and research.
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