Photo of a blue Biden School t-shirt folded and stacked beneath a hardback copy of The Odyssey by Homer and a bound copy of the U.S. Constitution

Welcome to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Ithaca Initiative

About the SNF Ithaca Initiative

In the fall of 2021, the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration launched a n​ew civil discourse pilot program supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF). The SNF Ithaca Initiative was named after the home of Odysseus—one of Greek mythology's greatest heroes and whose talent for persuasive discourse was revered in ancient Greece. Ithaca represents not only the beginning of a journey but the ultimate destination. Likewise, the SNF Ithaca Initiative serves as both the beginning of the Biden School students' journey toward becoming engaged and effective citizens and as the ultimate destination for students across the country to come together and work in partnership to develop policy solutions.

Every student at the University of Delaware can now enroll in the Citizenship and Democracy Certificate, a program grounded in the Citizens, Civility, and Change course as well as initiative focus areas including governance, media, and leadership. 

For example, SNF Ithaca Student Leaders presented at the international conference  “A Matter of Trust” hosted by iMEdD (incubator for Media Education and Development) in Athens and authored their own response to the field of journalism in the report “The Door Opens Both Ways: Building Trust Between News Media and Generation Z.”

Education resources have also been developed from the collaborative SNF Ithaca x iMEdD Media & Democracy Summit.

In addition to the student experience, SNF Ithaca is a national hub for scholars through convenings like the SNF Ithaca Leadershi​p Summit, research and publications by Biden School faculty such as “Answering the call: Offering and analyzing civil discourse opportunities in undergraduate public affairs education,” white papers from SNF Ithaca Research Scholars and opportunities like the SNF Ithaca Fellows program that brings in scholars and practitioners to broaden how we understand and study democratic citizenship.

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