The Institute Scholarship Program

The Institute for the Study of Western Civilization in Cupertino CA is a non-profit organization for higher education founded in 2002. Our courses and lectures seek to improve our collective understanding of how we in the twenty-first century West came to be who we are, why we think the way we do, and what assumptions about the world and human nature are traceable back to earlier periods in the five-thousand-year story of Western civilization. William H. Fredlund, Ph.D., the Institute’s founder and director, leads our distinguished faculty.

An important part of the Institute’s mission is the extension of full tuition scholarships and cash grants to instructors who are currently teaching social sciences or humanities (history, literature, philosophy, art, for example) or other courses in Bay Area middle and secondary schools and colleges.

The Institute scholarship award for the 2024-2025 academic year (October 6, 2025 to June 3, 2026) covers:

  • One academic year (30 weeks) of full tuition for an Institute core course (applicants may choose whichever course is most appropriate to their area of professional focus).  This benefit is extended to all teachers in our scholarship program for as long as they wish to continue taking classes at the Institute.
  • A $1,000 cash grant, for first year scholarship teachers only, which may be used for the teacher’s own classroom or other educational expenses.
  • Eight (8) semester units of Continuing Education (C.E.) units for the year granted by the University of the Pacific, for  teachers in the first three years of the scholarship program who indicate they need units (some teachers do not). The Institute runs on the quarter system (Fall, Winter, Spring), but the C.E. units are granted on the University of the Pacific semester system—that is, 4 units at the end of the UoP Fall semester (which occurs at the midpoint of the Institute’s Winter quarter), and 4 more units at the end of the UoP Spring semester (and our year-end)—for a total of 8 semester C.E. units for the academic year.
  • All required books, provided to all teachers in our scholarship program.

All courses are conducted live at the Institute building at 10060 Bubb Road, Cupertino CA, and in-person attendance is subject to health safety rules in effect at the time. The live course is simulcast via high-quality video streaming with interactive Q&A, and recordings of the sessions are available thereafter.

No grades or tests are required, and the scholarship recipient is not required to account for classroom or other expenditures that are defrayed by the cash grant. However, regular attendance and lively participation in the applicant’s selected class are REQUIRED. In-person attendance is vastly preferable to best experience the collegiality of the program, but teachers have the option of participating online if they live at a distance or for occasional convenience (we know teachers have many life demands). However, in either case, engagement with the subject matter is absolutely necessary.

The instructor is William H. Fredlund, Ph.D., the Director of the Institute, who obtained his B.A. and M.A. from UCLA, where he specialized in European history and art history. He then studied in Italy on a Fulbright Fellowship and completed a double Ph.D. in history and humanities at Stanford, specializing in Renaissance Italy. Dr. Fredlund, who is one of Silicon Valley’s most popular lecturers, has taught for UCLA, the University of Florence, Stanford, and UCSC Extension.

Applications

Please download, fill out, scan, and email the application form to:

  • office(at)westernciv(dot)com

Or print your completed application form and mail it to:

  • Institute for the Study of Western Civilization
  • 10060 Bubb Road, Cupertino CA 95014

Deadline for submission: October 1, 2025 (space permitting ~ scholarships to qualified candidates will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis until the program is full).

The Institute Scholarship Program is made possible by a generous grant from The Valley Foundation.