About

Robert M. Ceresa and the Politics Lab of the James L. Farmer House.

Robert M. Ceresa is Associate Professor of Political Science at Huston-Tillotson University and Founding Director of the Politics Lab of the James L. Farmer House. His work defines and builds the field of civic architecture, the study of how democratic institutions are designed so that ordinary citizens hold durable power and responsibility. He grounds that work in the Black institutional tradition, from the Jeanes teachers and Rosenwald schools to the Freedom Schools of the civil rights movement.

Dr. Ceresa directs the Texas HBCU Democracy Schools Alliance, which brings the state’s nine Historically Black Colleges and Universities together in an annual conference series, and he edits Freedom Schools: A Journal of Democracy and Community, published by the University of Texas Press. He helped establish the Texas HBCU Legislative Caucus, the first bipartisan HBCU caucus in any state legislature, and serves on its leadership. A founding member of the Civic Scholars Council of Braver Angels, he writes for general as well as scholarly readers.

Dr. Ceresa is the author of Cuban American Political Culture and Civic Organizing (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) and of recent work on civic architecture and on Civic AI. A book manuscript, Civic Architecture, is under review for publication. Before entering the academy he worked in community organizing, development, and education in Chicago, Miami, Omaha, and Pine Bluff, and holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from Florida International University, a Master of Public Affairs from the Hubert H. Humphrey School at the University of Minnesota, and a B.A. from the University of Michigan.

The Farmer House

The Politics Lab of the James L. Farmer House, founded in 2022 at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas, is the founding institutional home of civic architecture. It honors James L. Farmer Jr., founder of the Congress of Racial Equality and organizer of the 1961 Freedom Rides, whose father taught at Samuel Huston College and whose childhood home stands blocks from the campus. The Farmer House runs Public Leadership in Faith and Social Justice Traditions, its experiential program in civic formation; the Texas HBCU Democracy Schools Alliance and conference series; the journal Freedom Schools; and the Civic AI Lab, whose Civic LLM work is developed with Juan E. Ceresa. Its page at Huston-Tillotson is htu.edu/farmerhouse.

Contact

Huston-Tillotson University, 900 Chicon Street, Austin, Texas 78702. Faculty page: htu.edu/faculty-directory/dr-robert-m-ceresa.