Critical Issues in America provides funds for educational and public programming to support courses, conferences, and related programs that bring together faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, community members, and visiting scholars or public officials to discuss an important topic of contemporary concern or significance. It is administered each year by the College of Letters & Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Critical Issues in America series has been running continuously since 1995, and is often co-sponsored by other units or departments.  We thank Marcy Carsey H'04 for establishing the Critical Issues in America Endowment