In June, 2001, Hillsdale College launched the Charles R. and Kathleen K. Hoogland Center for Teacher Excellence, a program committed to instructing teachers in the best of the liberal arts tradition for the advancement of liberty.

Building upon the mission of the Hillsdale Academy, a private co-educational K-12 school, the Center for Teacher Excellence (CTE) expands the reach of Hillsdale College's message of classical curricula and subject mastery to a nationwide audience of teachers. The CTE seeks to reinvigorate civic education with the spirit of liberty that animated America's founding.

Nearly 3,000 public, private and homeschool teachers from 41 states have participated in the seminar series in American civics education. The CTE has conducted 59 seminars in twelve states. Seminar topics include the following:

• Teaching the Declaration of Independence: Are These Truths Self-Evident Today?
• A More Perfect Union: Teaching the Constitution of the United States
• Founding Father: George Washington and the American Founding 
•  “All Possess Alike Liberty of Conscience”: The First Amendment, Religious Liberty, and the American Founding
• Life, Liberty, and Property: Economics and the American Founding
• Abraham Lincoln, Slavery, and Secession: Understanding the Civil War
• Natural Rights and Justice: Teaching the American Civil Rights Movement
• The Cold War: Understanding America's Clash with Communism
• Will Free Markets Protect the Planet? Economics and the Environment
• Life, Liberty, and Property: Globalization and the Commercial Republic
• A Living Constitution? Progressives and the American Regime
• Winston Churchill and the Virtues of Statesmanship
  

The civics seminars feature distinguished Hillsdale College faculty members including:

• Dr. Larry Arnn, President
• Dr. Bradley Birzer, Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies, Director of the American Studies Program, and Associate Professor of History
• Dr. David Bobb, Director, Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional STudies and Citizenship, and Lecturer in Politics
• Dr. Mickey Craig, Dean of the Social Sciences, William and Berniece Grewcock Professor of Politics, and Chairman, Department of Politics
• Dr. Robert Eden, Professor of Politics
• Dr. Burton Folsom, Charles F. Cline Chair in History and Management and Professor of History
• Sir Martin Gilbert, William and Berniece Grewcock Distinguished Fellow in History and Fellow, Merton College, Oxford University; official biographer of Winston Churchill
• Dr. Mark Kalthoff, Henry Salvatori Chair in History and Traditional Values, Chairman and Professor of History
• The Hon. Stephen Markman, Michigan Supreme Court Justice, and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Political Science
• Dr. Terrence Moore, Assistant Professor of History
• Dr. Paul Moreno, Dean of Faculty; William and Berniece Grewcock Chair in Constitutional History, and Associate Professor of History
• Dr. Will Morrisey, William and Patricia LaMothe Chair in the U.S. Constitution and Associate Professor of Politics
• Dr. Ronald Pestritto, Charles and Lucia Shipley Chair in the American Constitution and Associate Professor of Politics
• Dr. Kevin Portteus, Assistant Professor of Politics
• Dr. David Raney, Director of Honors Program and Associate Professor of History
• Dr. Nathan Schlueter, Assistant Professor of Political Science
• Dr. Gary Wolfram, William E. Simon Professor in Economics and Public Policy; Director of the Economics Program; and Professor of Political Economy
  

Hillsdale College faculty are joined by nationally-known guest lecturers including:

• Dr. Sallie Balliunas, Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Dr. Arnold Beichman, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace
• Dr. Herman Belz, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Maryland-College Park
• Prof. Eric Claeys, Associate Professor of Law, George Mason University
• Dr. John Eastman, Dean, Chapman University Law School
• Dr. Edward Erler, Professor of Political Science, California State University–San Bernardino
• Dr. Allen Guelzo, Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era and Professor of History, Gettysburg College
• Dr. John Marini, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Nevada–Reno
• Dr. Dan Monroe, Assistant Professor of History, Millikin University
• Dr. Lucas Morel, Associate Professor of Political Science, Washington and Lee University
• Dr. John Ramsden, Professor Emeritus of Modern History and Director of the Graduate School in Humanities and Social Sciences, Queen Mary College, University of London 
• Dr. Larry Schweikart, Professor of History, University of Dayton
• Dr. Fred Singer, President, The Science & Environmental Policy Project, and Distinguished Research Professor, George Mason University
• Dr. Elizabeth Spalding, Associate Professor of Goverment and Director, Claremont McKenna College Washington Program
• Dr. Matthew Spalding, Director, B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation
• Dr. Thomas West, Professor of Politics, University of Dallas