Institute On Religion And Civic Values

Programs: International developmentircv's founding director traveled to morocco to engage faculty and graduate students at the muhammad v university in the capital rabat. Sessions included discussion of curriculum design, teaching about religion, church-state issues, civil society and human rights.

inter-religious educationircv met with executives and faculty of concordia lutheran seminary in st. Louis, mo to explore the development of courses on civic literacy and church-state issues for religious leaders. Ircv also facilitated home stays for lutheran pastors visiting southern california for cultural competency training. Ircv provided research-based input to the president and dean of claremont school of theology regarding plans to spearhead a new multi-faith university for the training of muslim, jewish and christian leaders.

educationircv attended the california council for the social studies annual conference to engage educators, education leaders and textbook publishers regarding new developments in social studies teaching and coverage of world religions in textbooks. Ircv participated in a panel presentation on "teaching about religion: enhancing civic education for four decades" at the annual conference of the association for supervision and curriculum development. Ircv reviewed articles submitted to the religion & education journal for publication.

public engagementircv participated in a panel presentation during a martin luther king jr. Celebration focusing on "exploring social action through religious diversity. " for the third consecutive year, ircv participated as a semi-final round judge for the first freedom center's student essay competition.

resource developmentircv conducted preliminary research on the topic of humanism in the islamic heritage, which may serve as a foundation for the development of teaching units and lessons in the future (pending funding).

trainingircv hosted 5 international visitor groups totaling 34 individuals from greece, czech republic, france, sudan, yemen, egypt, bahrain, algeria, saudi arabia, iraq, kuwait, mauritania, morocco, oman and syria. As of the end of 2010, ircv has hosted 1028 visitors invited by the u. S. State department from nearly every country. Ircv staff provided insights regarding religious freedom, democracy, education and civic issues, through state department leadership programs on interfaith dialogue and community activism, u. S. Foreign policy towards the middle east and islamic world, and curriculum development.

consultingircv reviewed the entire manuscripts of a world geography textbook and a world history textbook to be published in 2011/2012 by a major k-12 publisher, offering scholarly recommendations to improve coverage of various topics. Ircv also reviewed a supplemental teaching unit on muslim-christian encounters in the medieval period produced by social studies school service.

researchircv attended the release of a major report at the brookings institute on "religious expression in american public life," meeting with colleagues and discussing the state of religious literacy among american citizens. Ircv assessed the emergence of multi-faith leadership training programs at several u. S. Institutions. Ircv remained current on developments in world history standards and coverage of religion in textbooks.