Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy

The Kinder Foundation endowed The University of Missouri with a $25 million grant to establish the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy in October 2015.

University of Missouri campus
The M.A. cohort in Atlantic History & Politics with the University of Missouri's Kinder Institute and College of Arts & Science explores the Corpus Christi College at University of Oxford. Photo courtesy of Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy.
The M.A. cohort in Atlantic History & Politics with the University of Missouri's Kinder Institute and College of Arts & Science explores the Corpus Christi College at University of Oxford. Photo courtesy of Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy.
Rich and Nancy Kinder, taken November 1, 2022, at the announcement of the Kinder Foundation's $25 million gift to the University of Missouri's Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy.
Jay Sexton, director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy, explains the impact on students and learning of the $25 million gift from Rich and Nancy Kinder and the Kinder Foundation for the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy. November 1, 2022.
Rich Kinder address the audience during the $25 million gift announcement event on November 1, 2022.
Students, faculty and staff of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy pose for a group photo with donors Rich and Nancy Kinder on November 1, 2022.
In this photo, taken November 12, 2019 at the event announcing a $10 million gift to support new degree opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy and the College of Arts and Science, Kinder Foundation Chairman Rich Kinder shares that the Institute has made incredible strides in only four years, which is why he and Kinder Foundation President and CEO Nancy Kinder (left) were excited to continue to financially support their work.

This interdisciplinary, signature academic center is dedicated to excellence in research, teaching, and community engagement on the subjects of American political thought, history, and institutions, with a particular emphasis on the ideas and events of the American Founding and their continued global impact and relevance today.

In November 2019, the Kinder Foundation gave the University of Missouri an additional $10 million grant to support new degree opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy and the College of Arts and Science. The grant supports two new degrees at MU: a bachelor of arts in constitutional democracy and a master of arts in Atlantic history and politics. The grant also will support a living and learning community for first-year students pursuing the bachelor’s degree, as well as study abroad opportunities with University of Oxford’s Corpus Christi College.

In November 2022, the Kinder Foundation granted $25 million to the University of Missouri to increase educational opportunities within the Kinder Institute, bringing the total philanthropy to the institute by Rich and Nancy Kinder and the foundation to $60 million. The new grant will expand faculty and popular program offerings, such as the Washington D.C. summer academic internship program from 20 to 40 undergraduate students, and grow the undergraduate study abroad program at Oxford University in England from a one-week pilot over spring break to a summer term offering.

The Institute is housed under the Office of the Provost in collaboration with the department of history and Truman School of government and public affairs in the MU college of arts and science. In 2024, Director Jay Sexton received the SEC Faculty Achievement Award.

democracy.missouri.edu
“Future generations should have the opportunity to study and understand the history and importance of how our country and government system was created. I am confident this gift will create a world-class Institute.”
—Rich Kinder

News & Press