Library

Publications

The Kettering Foundation shares its research through a variety of publications, including books, brochures, occasional papers, and reports.


Connections

Connections 2022 is a deep dive into Kettering research: what we’ve done—and where we want to move in the future. The issue, edited by KF director of strategic initiatives Melinda Gilmore with KF senior associate Maura Casey, features research spearheaded by Kettering program staff and colleagues. It includes articles focused on how citizens and professionals are tackling the challenges of democracy, from elementary students developing deliberative citizenship to journalists rethinking how they engage with the community. One common theme runs throughout: the work of democracy includes experimenting and learning together. The authors invite you to learn with them and consider how you might innovate for democracy in your community.


Cousins Research Group Reports

The Cousins Research Group is one of the internal research divisions of the Kettering Foundation. Named for Norman Cousins, a leading American journalist and Kettering Foundation board member from 1967 to 1987, the group synthesizes different lines of study into books and articles and also proposes new lines of inquiry.


Higher Education Exchange

This annual periodical serves as a forum for new ideas and dialogue between scholars and the larger public. Essays explore ways that students, administrators, and faculty can initiate and sustain an ongoing conversation about the public life they share.


Historic Decisions Guides

Historic Decisions issue guides are used for deliberative forums in secondary schools, colleges, museums, and civic organizations. The issue guides were developed by the museums in collaboration with the Kettering Foundation. They are designed to stimulate deliberation about complex historical issues by examining the difficult choices faced at the time of the historical decision. The content is historically accurate and incorporates primary sources. The guides don’t offer counter-factual or hypothetical history, but do include individual and community concerns, such as the freedom to make choices, community stability, and being treated fairly.

The insights generated during a Historic Decisions forum can enrich our understanding of history and of the present moment. Engaging with our past through this problem-based approach nurtures the individual commitment, knowledge, and skills needed for a thriving democracy. When understood as decisions made by individuals working together, democracy is not limited to what governments do, but includes the ways in which everyday people can effectively address shared challenges. To learn more, click here to read Historic Decisions: Looking Deliberatively at the Past.


Kettering Review

The Kettering Review is a journal of ideas dedicated to improving the quality of public life in the American democracy.


Videos

Kettering’s videos include interviews with fellow travelers, thought pieces that illustrate insights from our research, highlights from research events, and short films that share the work of citizens going on in communities around the world.