Ideas for
Prosperity

Tomorrow’s leaders need better, bolder ideas about how to make our society freer and more prosperous. That’s why the Civitas Institute exists, plain and simple.

Through research, commentary, and public outreach, we explore all aspects of a free and vibrant society, including economic dynamism, individual flourishing, civic virtue, and constitutionalism.

The Civitas Institute is part of the University of Texas at Austin.

Independent thought, civil discourse, free speech, reasoned deliberation and intellectual curiosity are central to our ethos.

The Civitas Institute takes its name from The University of Texas at Austin motto,  Disciplina Praesidium Civitatis, a condensed Latin rendering of Mirabeau Lamar’s famous statement that a “cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy.”

This origin reflects both the university’s institutional heritage and the Institute’s interest in the link between knowledge and liberty.

Our history

July 2022
  • Following its formation by the University of Texas, the Civitas Institute launches with Justin Dyer as founding director
July
2022
May 2023
  • Civitas becomes part of UT Austin’s newly established School of Civic Leadership
May
2023
September 2023
  • Ryan Streeter joins Civitas as executive director
September
2023
March 2024
  • Following a national search, Justin Dyer becomes dean of the School of Civic Leadership
March
2024
March 2024
  • In partnership with UT Austin’s College of Liberal Arts and the University of Austin (UATX), Civitas hosts Civil Discord, a series of moderated arguments featuring some our nation’s best scholars and writers
March
2024
May 2024
  • Civitas hosts The Austin Symposium, a gathering of top scholars interested in increasing dynamism in America and reversing stagnation wherever it is found
May
2024
December 2024
  • Civitas launches its online magazine, titled Civitas Outlook, and begins publishing commentary for a general readership
December
2024
Our team

We are dedicated to exploring the ideas and institutions that create flourishing societies.

Meet the team
The latest from

Civitas Outlook

View all

America’s Roundabout Revolution

Increased implementation of the roundabout would prove beneficial to the United States.

Jonathan Miltimore
Pursuit of Happiness
Feb 24, 2026

The Administrative State’s Sludge

Congress has delegated so much power across so many statutes that it’s hard to find a question of any public importance to which some agency cannot point to policymaking authority.

Aaron L. Nielson
Constitutionalism
Feb 24, 2026

The Roberts Court Invokes Congress and the Constitution

The Court's message is that ultimate policy authority lies in the hands of Congress.

Constitutionalism
Feb 23, 2026

Slavery and the Republic

As America begins to celebrate its semiquincentennial, much ink has been spilled questioning whether that event is worth commemorating at all. Joseph Ellis’s The Great Contradiction could not be timelier.

David Lewis Schaefer
Constitutionalism
Feb 20, 2026

When Duvall Played Stalin

It’s strange to compliment an actor for impersonating a tyrant, but it is an act of courage.

Titus Techera
Politics
Feb 20, 2026
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