Civics In A Year

What do you really know about American government, the Constitution, and your rights as a citizen?

Civics in a Year is a fast-paced podcast series that delivers essential civic knowledge in just 10 minutes per episode. Over the course of a year, we’ll explore 250 key questions—from the founding documents and branches of government to civil liberties, elections, and public participation.

Rooted in the Civic Literacy Curriculum from the Center for American Civics at Arizona State University, this series is a collaborative project supported by the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. Each episode is designed to spark curiosity, strengthen constitutional understanding, and encourage active citizenship.

Whether you're a student, educator, or lifelong learner, Civics in a Year will guide you through the building blocks of American democracy—one question at a time.

Guest

Professor Samantha Barbas

Samantha Barbas is a legal historian, award-winning author, and the Aliber Family Chair in Law at the University of Iowa. A leading scholar of journalism, privacy, defamation, and the First Amendment, she is the author of seven acclaimed books, including Actual Malice: Civil Rights and Freedom of the Press in New York Times v. Sullivan, named one of The New Yorker’s Best Books of 2023.

Her work has been featured in major outlets such as The New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN, and she frequently lectures on free speech and legal history at institutions including the Library of Congress, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and the New York Historical Society.

Before joining Iowa Law, Barbas spent over a decade on the faculty at the University at Buffalo School of Law, where she directed the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy. She holds a JD from Stanford University and a PhD in history from UC Berkeley.

Guest appearance on:

New York Times v. Sullivan