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The man who played a pivotal role in bringing “intellectual diversity centers” to five �������� universities recently gave an update as to how the rollout is going. 

Lee Strang, executive director of the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at �������� State University, gave testimony to the �������� Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee on Dec. 18.  

“The five �������� civics centers will enhance their research and teaching of civic thought through cooperation,” Strang said.

The intellectual diversity centers are at �������� State, the University of Toledo, Cleveland State University, Miami University and Wright State University. 

�������� Gov. Mike DeWine signed the five centers into law last summer when he signed the state budget. ��������’s budget allocates $24 million for the centers — $5 million each fiscal year to �������� State, $1 million each fiscal year to Toledo and $2 million each fiscal year for each center at Miami, Cleveland State and Wright State. 

Wright State recently appointed Air Force Colonel Jason Anderson as the center’s director. Miami and Cleveland State are planning on naming their directors within the next couple of months, Strang said.

Several professors and students spoke out against these centers when they had testimony last year, so State Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, asked if Strang was aware of “significant numbers of departures” from a faculty standpoint. 

“I’m aware of nobody departing because of the civic centers,” Strang said. “It’s a large university system. Maybe there’s some people who have left. I’ve not heard of anybody.”

Better educating people on the basic knowledge of the United States was one of the reasons Strang wanted to create these centers. 

“These centers are an intentional response to the twin problems of lack of knowledge of our common civic tradition and our current incivility,” Strang said. “The Chase Center and other centers will equip students with the knowledge, the skills and the disposition that �������� and America needs in our young people to continue our experiment of republican self-government.”

Strong worked with lawmakers on creating the bill that eventually was woven into the state budget. He first had the idea for the center back in 2019 after visiting the Georgetown Center for the Constitution and Princeton University’s James Madison Program. 

State Sen. Bill Reineke, R-Tiffin, asked what the reception has been like for the centers on the five college campuses. 

“I’ve had many faculty at �������� State come to me after maybe being initially skeptical saying, ‘I’m seeing what you’re doing, but in fact, you’re living out this mission which people of all viewpoints agree in,’” Strang said. 

The Chase Center

While Strang gave some general updates about the centers, he mostly talked about �������� State’s Chase Center, an independent academic unit housed in the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. 

The Chase Center, which will have at least 15 tenure-track faculty members, will start hiring faculty next semester, Strang said. Faculty from the University of Oxford, Princeton University, Washington University, the University of Notre Dame, and Johns Hopkins University have expressed interest in applying, he said. 

“At the heart of my vision for the Chase Center is that it will be a dynamic academic community of faculty and students who together form an intellectual kinship, united around the study of American citizenship,” Strang said. 

The Chase Center will offer a certificate in the spring of 2026, a minor in the fall of 2026 and a major in the spring of 2027, he said. 

The Chase Center also plans on reaching the K-12 level by offering continuing education for K-12 teachers and providing course materials teachers can use in their classes, Strang said. 

“��������’s five centers are going to collaborate to enhance K-12 education throughout the entire state,” he said. 

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