About Us
Activities and Programs

Symposia
Two national symposia will be held annually and bring elected officials, faculty, students, and the community together for in-depth debates on some of our nation's most pressing and profound issues.

The Lou Frey Collection
Cong. Lou Frey Jr.'s Official Papers are available for use by researchers in the Special Collections Reading Room (Rm. 501 in the Main Campus Library). These papers include correspondence, photographs, video cassette tapes, campaign materials, articles, minutes, printed government documents, framed materials and artifacts that document Cong. Frey's life of public service. Generally, the Papers cover three separate time periods: first, his early years in the Orange County Young Republicans and Florida's Republican Party (from 1947-1976); second, his ten years in the U.S. Congress (1969-1979), which includes the time of the Watergate scandal; and, third, more recent years (1971-2005) when he ran for governor and senator, worked on the Florida Energy Commission and the Millennial Housing Commission and participated in the Association of Former Members of Congress. His work for the latter organization has taken him on fact-finding missions to several countries and led to his co-authoring Inside the House: Former Members Reveal How Congress Really Works (University Press of America 2001). Information on all these topics appears in this collection. A complete finding aid may be found at http://library.ucf.edu/SpecialCollections/FindingAids/Frey.xml and information about opening hours using the collection may be found at http://library.ucf.edu/SpecialCollections/Default.htm.

Civic Education for Teachers and Students
Another focus of the Institute will be student outreach. The Institute will seek to provide more opportunities to both UCF and high school students. For instance, the Institute will seek to sponsor political and governmental internships and jobs for students. It will also hold best-paper competitions tied to the symposium topics with cash prizes for winning students. The Institute will serve as a clearinghouse to provide guest speakers to both college and high school classes. In 2002 the Institute co-sponsored a full-day workshop on civic responsibility at UCF with the Law and Order Program of University High School in Orange County. About 100 students attended the workshop, which featured eight guest speakers and workgroups where students addressed the question: How do we instill civic responsibility into young adults of our community? The Institute seeks to sponsor more events with local high schools.

Research and Graduate Education
The Institute supports graduate students pursuing a master's degree in political science who will help further the research and educational mission of the Institute. The graduate students work under the supervision of faculty, pursuing their own research projects and providing coordination for the Institute's activities.

Congressional Office Learning Center
The Institute will establish a congressional office in the new library expansion area, using furniture from Congressman Frey's congressional office. The office would have computers which could tie into past records and the Congress on an ongoing basis. It would be staffed at certain times by people who were on Congressman Frey's staff or other legislative staffs. It would also be used as a place for small meetings of students who wanted to talk about topical issues.