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target="" > Giving </a> </li> </ul> </nav> </header> <main class="flex-1"> <h1 class="max-w-screen-xl px-4 mt-12 mx-auto">People</h1> <div class="wp-block-cover" style="min-height:430px;aspect-ratio:unset;"><span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim-0 has-background-dim"></span><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2088" height="979" class="wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-1616" alt="" src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Rowena-He.png" data-object-fit="cover" srcset="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Rowena-He.png 2088w, https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Rowena-He-300x141.png 300w, https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Rowena-He-1024x480.png 1024w, https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Rowena-He-768x360.png 768w, https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Rowena-He-1536x720.png 1536w, https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Rowena-He-2048x960.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2088px) 100vw, 2088px" /><div class="wp-block-cover__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-cover-is-layout-flow"> <p class="has-text-align-center has-large-font-size"></p> </div></div> <div class="wp-block-group is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow"> <div class="wp-block-ut-umac-section has-limestone-light-background-color has-background"><div class="umac-section-container" data-py="8"> <div class="umac-accordion-group" data-multi="false"> <div class="umac-accordion"><button role="heading" aria-level="h3" class="umac-accordion-heading">Leadership and Staff</button><div class="umac-accordion-content"> <div id="ContactList-block_eb8519bcbcb066d30ab55ff30e5c67e4"> <ul class="list-none m-0 p-0 grid gap-16 sm:grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2"> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Ryan-Streeter.jpg" alt="" /> <a href="/people/ryan-streeter" class="text-charcoal-dark hover:text-burntorange-dark hover:underline"> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Ryan Streeter, Executive Director, Civitas Institute </p> </a> <p><p>Ryan Streeter is executive director of the Civitas Institute. Previously, Streeter was the State Farm James Q. Wilson Scholar and director of domestic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (A.E.I.), where he facilitated research in education, technology, housing, urban policy, poverty studies, workforce development, and public opinion. Before joining A.E.I., he was executive director of the Center for Politics and Governance at UT-Austin. Streeter has had a distinguished career in government service. He has served as a policy advisor to a U.S. president, a governor, and a mayor. Outside of government, he has served as a senior fellow at the Legatum Institute and a research fellow at the Hudson Institute. Streeter’s most recent book is <em>Doing Right by Kids: Leveraging Social Capital and Innovation to Increase Opportunity</em>, which he co-edited with Scott Winship and Yuval Levin. He also co-edited <em>The Future of Cities</em>, authored <em>Transforming Charity</em>, edited <em>Religion and the Public Square</em>, co-authored <em>The Soul of Civil Society</em>, and contributed to Stephen Goldsmith’s book <em>Putting Faith in Neighborhoods</em>. Additionally, he is the author, co-author, and editor of more than 150 articles and papers for outlets including Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Atlantic, USA Today, The Hill, City Journal, and National Review. He has a Ph.D. in political philosophy from Emory University.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Justin-Dyer.png" alt="" /> <a href="/people/justin-dyer" class="text-charcoal-dark hover:text-burntorange-dark hover:underline"> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Justin Dyer, Dean, School of Civic Leadership </p> </a> <p><p>Justin Dyer was the founding director of the Civitas Institute and is the inaugural dean of UT’s School of Civic Leadership. He also holds faculty appointments in the Department of Government and the Department of Business, Government, and Society. Dyer writes and teaches in the fields of American political thought, jurisprudence, and constitutionalism, with an emphasis on the perennial philosophical tradition of natural law. He is the author or editor of eight books and numerous articles, essays, and book reviews. His most recent book, with Kody Cooper, is The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics: Political Theology, Natural Law, and the American Founding. His previous books include C.S. Lewis on Politics and the Natural Law, and Slavery, Abortion, and the Politics of Constitutional Meaning. He also is co-editor of the constitutional law casebook American Constitutional Law. He was previously a professor of political science at the University of Missouri, where he served as the founding director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy. After attending the University of Oklahoma, he completed his M.A. and Ph.D. in government at The University of Texas at Austin.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-16-135710.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Richard Reinsch, Editor-in-Chief </p> <p><p>Richard M. Reinsch II is editor-in-chief of the Civitas Institute. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief and director of publications of the American Institute for Economic Research. At AIER, Reinsch introduced the Institute’s white paper program, helped launch two new podcasts, <em>Qualified Opinions</em> and <em>Econception</em>, and led AIER’s online journal, <em>The Daily Economy. </em>He served as director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies and AWC Family Foundation Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He was also a senior fellow at Liberty Fund, where he also founded <em>Law & Liberty</em> and its podcast. Reinsch is the author of <em>Whittaker Chambers: The Spirit of Counterrevolutionary</em>, edited the collection <em>Seeking the Truth: An Orestes Brownson Anthology</em>, and coauthored with Peter A. Lawler <em>The Constitution in Full: Recovering the Unwritten Foundation of American Liberty</em>. He has also published essays and reviews in numerous publications, including <em>Perspectives on Political Science</em>, <em>Logos</em>, <em>Religion & Liberty</em>, <em>Modern Age</em>, <em>National Review</em>, <em>Washington Examiner</em>, and <em>City Journal. </em>He holds a J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/BryceWaller_WebUse-1-e1731535024716.jpeg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Bryce Waller, Chief Development Officer </p> <p><p>Bryce Waller is the chief development officer for the School of Civic Leadership and the Civitas Institute. Bryce brings to his role more than fifteen years of executive leadership experience across a range of nonprofit and for-profit organizations both domestically and abroad. He is a skilled fundraiser and relationship-builder who enjoys the process of helping individuals and families realize their visions through contributions to institutions that align with their values. He is passionate about higher education and its role in shaping a healthy society. Bryce is originally from Austin and earned a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.Div. from Westminster Seminary California.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bo-Herlin-sm.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Bo Herlin, Director of Public Affairs </p> <p><p>Bo Herlin is director of public affairs at the Civitas Institute. Previously, he was head of communications at a national not-for-profit leadership organization. Before that, he led marketing and communications at a venture-backed software company. He began his career at Accelus, a fast-growing medical technology startup, and later helped turn around a ninety-year-old niche publishing company. He also worked as a research assistant on a small team led by David Brooks. Bo is originally from Hobe Sound, Florida and earned a B.A. from Davidson College.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Sarah-Beth-Kitch-sm.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Sarah Beth Kitch, Director of Academic Programs </p> <p><p>Sarah Beth V. Kitch is director of academic programs in the School of Civic Leadership. An award-winning teacher, she invites students to intentional opportunities to reflect on the task of being human. Kitch’s teaching and research interests are in American political thought, African American political thought, political theology, and ethics. She has written for the Journal of Church & State, American Journal of Political Science, Law & Liberty, and Starting Points. Previously, Kitch taught at St. Agnes Academy (Houston), was an assistant professor at the University of Missouri, visiting assistant professor at Northern Illinois University, the Thomas W. Smith Postdoctoral Research Associate in Religion & Public Life at Princeton University, and instructor of political science at Louisiana State University. Kitch earned a B.A. in mass communication and journalism from Southeastern Louisiana University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in political theory at Louisiana State University.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Antonio-Sosa.jpeg" alt="Antonio Sosa" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Antonio Sosa, Associate Director </p> <p><p>Antonio Sosa is associate director for the School of Civic Leadership. In this capacity, he oversees the development of fellowships, conferences, and courses that invite students to reflect on the principles of a free society. Prior to joining School of Civic Leadership, Antonio was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught classes on classical political philosophy, the American Founding, modern European history, and the history of liberal arts education. He is primarily interested in the defense of liberal democracy that is found in the thought of Tocqueville, Ortega y Gasset, and Leo Strauss. His writing has appeared in journals such as Interpretation and Perspectives on Political Science and in online magazines such as Public Discourse and Law and Liberty. He graduated with a B.A. in English and a B.A. in film from Pennsylvania State University and an M.A. in international relations from The New School. He is a doctoral candidate in political philosophy at the University of Dallas.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Catherine-Borck-sq.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Catherine Borck, Assistant Director of Academic Programs </p> <p><p>Catherine Borck is assistant director of academic programs in the School of Civic Leadership. She is a political theorist with specialties in Platonic political philosophy, politics, literature, and the history of political thought. Prior to joining the School of Civic Leadership Borck taught a wide range of courses in politics, American government, and political theory at the University of North Texas and the University of Hartford. She received her B.A from the Oglethorpe University and her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sydney-Riley-.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Sydney Leary, Assistant Director for Research and Programs </p> <p><p>Sydney Leary is assistant director for research and programs at the Civitas Institute, where she manages operations for the Institute’s growing research programs. She joins Civitas from the American Enterprise Institute (A.E.I.), where she oversaw policy work on issues of education, technology, housing, agriculture, science, and poverty as the program manager for domestic policy studies. Sydney started her career in Washington, D.C. crafting and facilitating academic programs for undergraduate and graduate level students at A.E.I. and the Hudson Institute. She is an alumna of the Danish Institute of Study Abroad European Politics Cohort and has completed fellowships with the Fund for American Studies, Hudson Institute Political Studies, and the Fulbright Program’s English teaching assistant program in the Czech Republic. Sydney is a graduate of Villanova University, where she received an honors B.A. in politics, philosophy, and humanities.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/LIndsay-Everhardt.jpeg" alt="LIndsay Everhardt" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Lindsay Eberhardt, Executive Editor </p> <p><p>Lindsay Eberhardt is the executive editor for the Civitas Institute. Formerly, she was senior editor at Common Sense Society; managing editor for Dissident.com, The American Mind, and the Claremont Review of Books Digital; and an assistant editor at the Claremont Review of Books. She has taught politics and political philosophy at the U.S. Naval Academy, George Mason University, and CSUSB and her writings have been published in The Journal of Woman, Politics, and Policy and Political Research Quarterly. She holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Alaska, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in political philosophy and American government from Claremont Graduate University.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Allison-Smythe-copy.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Allison Smythe, Senior Project Manager </p> <p><p>Allison Smythe is the senior project manager for the Civitas Institute. In this capacity, she oversees academic and community events; branding, marketing, and communications; and alumni engagement. Prior to joining the Civitas Institute, Allison was senior program coordinator at the Kinder Institute at the University of Missouri where she developed strategic marketing campaigns for undergraduate and graduate student recruitment; designed an alumni engagement program; and promoted and coordinated local and international academic and community events and conferences. In addition, she continues to direct the award-winning boutique graphic design firm Ars Graphica on a limited basis. She graduated from Texas Tech with a B.F.A. in design communication and studied creative writing as an M.F.A. student at the University of Houston. Her essays and poetry have been published in the Southern Review, the Gettysburg Review, Relief Magazine, Verse Daily, and others.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Melissa-Pardue.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Melissa Pardue, Events Coordinator </p> <p><p>Melissa Pardue is a consultant with the Civitas Institute, helping with writing and events. She has a background in policymaking in Washington, D.C., having served as deputy assistant secretary for human service policy in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as well as associate director in the White House Domestic Policy Council. Melissa also served as a Capitol Hill staffer for several years and as a policy analyst for social welfare policy at The Heritage Foundation. In that capacity, she published numerous op-eds and appeared regularly on radio and TV interviews. Originally from Dallas, she has worked as an independent policy consultant for over a decade in Austin. Melissa completed her M.S. in policy from Columbia University and holds a B.A. in social work from the University of Oklahoma.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Eva-Lopez-Trujillo-copy.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Eva Lopez-Trujillo, Sr. Administrative Associate </p> <p><p>Eva Lopez-Trujillo is the senior administrative associate for the Civitas Institute. Prior to joining the Civitas Institute, Lopez-Trujillo was in the Department of Student Accounts Receivable as an accountant. She graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a B.S. in kinesiology. Eva assists the Civitas Institute’s staff and clients with travel planning and cost accounting.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Faramola-Shonekan-sm.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Faramola Shonekan, Sr. Administrative Associate </p> <p><p>Faramola Shonekan is the associate of academic programs for the School of Civic Leadership. Prior to moving to Austin, Faramola was the director of community partnerships and education at Ragtag Film Society, an arts non-profit in mid-Missouri, where she helped to build programming around media literacy and community engagement through the arts. Shonekan did her graduate studies at the University of Oxford, and her undergraduate studies at the University of Missouri, where she also ran track and field and cross country and served as a team captain. Faramola holds a B.A. in history and communications and an M.A. in global and imperial history.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Zachary-Springer-sm.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Zachary Springer, Sr. Administrative Associate </p> <p><p>Zachary Springer is a senior administrative associate with the Civitas Institute. Prior to joining the Civitas Institute, he worked as a Latin instructor for high school students while finishing his undergraduate studies. Zach is originally from Lubbock, Texas and earned a B.A. in philosophy and classical languages from UT-Austin.</p> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div></div> </div> </div></div> <div class="wp-block-ut-umac-section has-ut-white-background-color has-background"><div class="umac-section-container" data-py="8"> <div class="umac-accordion-group" data-multi="false"> <div class="umac-accordion"><button role="heading" aria-level="h3" class="umac-accordion-heading">Distinguished Fellows</button><div class="umac-accordion-content"> <div id="ContactList-block_720b4b50fc99b30335570cd30b06ed3d"> <ul class="list-none m-0 p-0 grid gap-16 sm:grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2"> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Arthur_Brooks_Professional_sq.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Arthur C. Brooks </p> <p><p>Arthur C. Brooks is the Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Public and Nonprofit Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, where he teaches courses on leadership, happiness, and social entrepreneurship. He is also a columnist at The Atlantic, where he writes the popular “How toBuild a Life” column. He has published sixty peer-reviewed articles and thirteen books, including From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life and Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier with co-author Oprah Winfrey. In 2009, Brooks became the president of the American Enterprise Institute. He earned an M.Phil. and Ph.D. in public policy analysis from the Rand Graduate School.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Paul-Carrese-web.png" alt="Paul Carrese" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Paul Carrese </p> <p><p>Paul Carrese is a distinguished fellow of the Civitas Institute and is the founding director of the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University. For nearly two decades he was a professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he co-founded a new honors program blending liberal arts education and leadership education. His teaching and research interests are in political theory, constitutionalism, and civic education. His most recent book is Democracy in Moderation: Montesquieu, Tocqueville, and Sustainable Liberalism. He also is author of The Cloaking of Power: Montesquieu, Blackstone, and the Rise of Judicial Activism and co-editor of three other books. He has held fellowships at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, Harvard University, the University of Delhi (as a Fulbright fellow), and in the James Madison Program at Princeton University. He co-led a national study funded by N.E.H. and the U.S. Department of Education, Educating for American Democracy, on improving American history and civics education in K-12 schools with partners from Harvard and Tufts Universities and iCivics. He completed his PhD. In political science at Boston College.</p> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div></div> </div> </div></div> <div class="wp-block-ut-umac-section has-limestone-light-background-color has-background"><div class="umac-section-container" data-py="4"> <div class="umac-accordion-group" data-multi="false"> <div class="umac-accordion"><button role="heading" aria-level="h3" class="umac-accordion-heading">Senior Research Fellows</button><div class="umac-accordion-content"> <div id="ContactList-block_d96ae12ac8671f91dcd5ee53087995dc"> <ul class="list-none m-0 p-0 grid gap-16 sm:grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2"> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Rich-Burkhauser-copy.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Richard Burkhauser </p> <p><p>In 2017 Richard V. Burkhauser became Emeritus Sarah Gibson Blanding Professor of Public Policy in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University. Previously Burkhauser held tenured professor positions in the Department of Economics at Vanderbilt University and at Syracuse University. Between September 2017 and May 2019, he was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President. His professional career has focused on how public policies affect the employment and well-being of vulnerable populations. In 2010 he was the president of the Association for Public Policy and Management. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Epstein.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5"> Richard Epstein </p> <p><p>Richard A. Epstein, the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, New York University Law School, and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago. In 2011, Epstein was a recipient of the Bradley Prize for outstanding achievement. In 2005, the College of William & Mary School of Law awarded him the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize. Epstein researches and writes in a broad range of constitutional, economic, historical, and philosophical subjects. He has taught administrative law, antitrust law, communications law, constitutional law, corporation criminal law, employment discrimination law, environmental law, food and drug law, health law, labor law, Roman law, real estate development and finance, and individual and corporate taxation. Epstein holds B.A.s from Columbia University and Oxford University and an LL.B. from Yale Law School.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Rowena-photo-scaled-e1689799594217.jpg" alt="Rowena He photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Rowena He </p> <p><p>Rowena He is senior research fellow of the Civitas Institute and associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Asia Society’s China File named her first book, Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the Struggle for Democracy in China, among the top five books of 2014. Her research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and the National Humanities Center. For teaching, she received the Harvard University Certificate of Teaching Excellence for three consecutive years and was awarded twice the Faculty of Arts Outstanding Teaching Award at CUHK. He speaks widely within and beyond the academy. She has been a keynote speaker for the Canada Human Rights National Symposium, testified at a U.S. Congressional hearing, and delivered lectures for the U.S. State Department and the Canada International Council. Her op-eds have appeared in the Washington Post, The Nation, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, and The Wall Street Journal. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Kotkin.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5"> Joel Kotkin </p> <p><p>Joel Kotkin is the Roger Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University and director of the university’s Center for Demographics and Policy. He is executive editor of the widely read website NewGeography.com. He also has regular columns in Spiked in the U.K., the National Post in Canada and the American Mind. He also writes regularly for UnHerd, Quillette, the Los Angeles Times, National Review, City Journal, The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator as well as many other national publications. Kotkin is the author of ten previously published books, including The New Class Conflict, which describes the changing dynamics of class in America. He authored The Human City: Urbanism for the Rest of Us and co-edited, with M.I.T.’s Alan Berger, the collection Infinite Suburbia. He also co-edited, with Ryan Streeter, a book on the future of cities.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Yoo-1.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5"> John Yoo </p> <p><p>John Yoo is the Emanuel Heller Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Yoo has published eleven books and over one-hundred academic journal articles on national security, constitutional law, international law, and the Supreme Court, and regularly contributes to major editorial pages such as Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Yoo has served in all three branches of government. He was an official in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on national security and terrorism issues after the 9/11 attacks. He served as general counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and has been a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and federal appeals Judge Laurence Silberman. Yoo supervises Berkeley’s Public Law and Policy Program, the Korea Law Center, and the California Constitution Center. He is also a winner of the Federalist Society’s Paul M. Bator Award. He graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School.</p> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div></div> </div> </div></div> <div class="wp-block-ut-umac-section"><div class="umac-section-container" data-py="8"> <div class="umac-accordion-group" data-multi="false"> <div class="umac-accordion"><button role="heading" aria-level="h3" class="umac-accordion-heading">Senior Fellows</button><div class="umac-accordion-content"> <div id="ContactList-block_7039792236a22d3c51c59576adca964d"> <ul class="list-none m-0 p-0 grid gap-16 sm:grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2"> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Charity-Joy-Acchiardo-scaled.jpeg" alt="Charity Joy Acchiardo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Charity-Joy Acchiardo </p> <p><p>Charity-Joy Acchiardo is associate professor of instruction in UT-Austin’s Department of Economics. She is the faculty lead for UT’s OnRamps microeconomics course for high school students and is director of the Financial Responsibility and Economic Education program, both joint projects of the Civitas Institute and the Department of Economics. She is an economic educator fellow at the Fraser Institute, Canada’s top-ranked think tank, and has served as the executive director of the Journal of Economics Teaching. Her websites econkahoots.com and econshark.com are dedicated to making the economics classroom more engaging. Acchiardo’s passion is sharing her joy about economics with others, and she is a frequent speaker, both domestically and internationally, at workshops for educators and students. She completed her Ph.D. in economics at George Mason University.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/carola-binder.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Carola Binder </p> <p><p><span class="x_outlook-search-highlight">Carola</span><span class="x_apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="outlook-search-highlight" data-markjs="true">Binder</span> is a macroeconomist and economic historian with a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of the book<span class="x_apple-converted-space"> </span><i><a title="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo215190546.html" href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo215190546.html" data-outlook-id="c10becc1-0091-4877-bb4d-e9aa6ecbe718">Shock Values: Prices and Inflation in American Democracy</a></i><span class="x_apple-converted-space"> </span>(University of Chicago Press, 2024) and numerous articles on monetary policy and inflation expectations. She is on the editorial board of the<span class="x_apple-converted-space"> </span><i>American Economic Review</i><span class="x_apple-converted-space"> </span>and an associate editor at the<span class="x_apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Review of Economics and Statistics</i><span class="x_apple-converted-space"> </span>and the<span class="x_apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking</i>. She is a Research Associate in the Monetary Economics program at the National Bureau of Economics Research, a non-resident scholar at Brookings, and a senior affiliated scholar at the Mercatus Center. She also serves on the advisory panel of the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization. In addition to her position with Civitas, she is an Associate Professor in UT Austin’s School of Civic Leadership. Before joining UT SCL, she taught at Haverford College from 2015 through 2024. Her personal website is <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/carolabindereconomics/home">here</a> and she can be reached at <a href="mailto:carola.binder@austin.utexas.edu">carola.binder@austin.utexas.edu</a>.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/BonevacDr.Daniel-sm.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Daniel Bonevac </p> <p><p>Daniel Bonevac is professor of philosophy and human dimensions of organizations in the College of Liberal Arts, where he teaches and does research in logic and ethics, especially organizational ethics. His book Reduction in the Abstract Sciences received the Johnsonian Prize from The Journal of Philosophy. His other books include Deduction, Simple Logic, Worldly Wisdom, and Historical Dictionary of Ethics. Among his edited volumes are Today’s Moral Issues and World Philosophy. Bonevac’s articles have appeared in such journals as Philosophical Review, Mind, Noûs, The Journal of Philosophy, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Synthese, Journal of Philosophical Logic, Ethics, Philosophical Studies, and Erkenntnis. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Budziszewski-J.-small.jpg" alt="Budziszewski, J. photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">J. Budziszewski </p> <p><p>J. Budziszewski is a professor of government and philosophy in the College of Liberal Arts, where he also teaches courses in the law school and the religious studies department. He specializes in political philosophy, ethical philosophy, legal philosophy, and the interaction of religion with philosophy. Among his research interests are classical natural law, virtue ethics, conscience and moral self deception, human happiness or fulfillment, the institution of the family in relation to political and social order, religion in public life, and the problem of toleration. Budziszewski is the author of nineteen books, including his recent four-part commentary on the works of Thomas Aquinas: Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Law; its free online partner volume, Companion to the Commentary; Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Virtue Ethics; Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Happiness and Ultimate Purpose; and Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Divine Law.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CarrellScott-sm-Copy.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Scott Carrell </p> <p><p>Scott Carrell is professor and associate dean in the School of Civic Leadership. He also holds an appointment in the Department of Economics, where he writes and teaches on public and labor economics. His early work focused on ways to improve military retention through local labor market forces, while his recent work specializes in the economics of education. He previously served as an Air Force lieutenant colonel and as the senior economist for public finance and labor economics on the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President. Carrell also serves as a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor, and a co-faculty director of the California Education Lab. He is the author of twenty-seven peer-reviewed journal articles. He received his B.A. from the U.S. Air Force Academy, an M.A. in economics and an M.S. in management from the University of Florida, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Florida.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Carlos-Carvalho-web.jpg" alt="Carlos Carvalho" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Carlos Carvalho </p> <p><p>Carlos M. Carvalho is the La Quinta Centennial Professor of Business in the McCombs School of Business. He is also executive director of the Salem Center for Policy, a research center that draws from multiple disciplines and empirical methods to help navigate the trade-offs of public policy decisions in pursuit of human flourishing and the preservation of a free society. Originally from Brazil, Carvalho received his Ph.D. in statistics from Duke University in 2006 and was assistant professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business before joining UT-Austin in 2010. His research, which focuses on Bayesian statistics in complex, high-dimensional problems with applications ranging from economics to genetics, has been published widely in top journals including Bayesian Analysis and Annals of Applied Statistics.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Duff.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Alex Duff </p> <p><p>Alexander Duff is associate professor in the School of Civic Leadership. He writes widely in the history of political philosophy, and his publications on classical, modern, and contemporary political philosophy have appeared in both scholarly and popular publications. He has held fellowships from the Civitas Institute, the Tocqueville Program for Inquiry into Religion and American Public Life at the University of Notre Dame, and from the Program for the Study of the Western Heritage at Boston College. He is the author of Heidegger and Politics: The Ontology of Radical Discontent. He is a co-founder of the Association for the History of Political Thought, an academic organization devoted to the study of the history of political theory. He received an M.A. from Carlton College and Ph.D. at the University of Notre Dame.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Patricio-Fernandez-headshot-scaled.jpg" alt="Patricio Fernandez headshot" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Patricio A. Fernandez </p> <p><p>Patricio A. Fernandez is associate professor of philosophy in the College of Liberal Arts. Before joining UT-Austin, he taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 2022-23, he was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, and he previously held a Humboldt research fellowship at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He has published in ancient philosophy, action theory, ethics, and the economic analysis of law. His research focuses on ancient and contemporary approaches to practical reasoning, human action, and the normative standards that apply to them. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy and economics from Harvard University.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Sheena-Greitens-web-e1666842463226.jpg" alt="Sheena Greitens" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Sheena Chestnut Greitens </p> <p><p>Sheena Chestnut Greitens is associate professor in the L.B.J. School of Public Affairs. She also directs UT’s Asia Policy Program, a joint initiative of the Clements Center for National Security and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law. In 2022, she was a Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Greitens’s teaching and research focus is on American national security, East Asia, and the politics of democracy and dictatorship. She is the author of Dictators and their Secret Police: Coercive Institutions and State Violence. Her current book projects focus on authoritarianism and diaspora politics in North Korea, and on internal security as a driver of Chinese grand strategy. She completed her Ph.D. in government at Harvard University.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Kishore-Gawande.jpg" alt="Kishore Gawande" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Kishore Gawande </p> <p><p>Kishore Gawande is Century Club Professor and chair of the Business, Government and Society Department in the McCombs School of Business. Gawande was previously a professor of international economics and development at Texas A&M University. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank and has been a visiting associate professor at the Stigler Center, University of Chicago. His areas of research include international trade policy, international political economy, and conflict and development. His research has been published across disciplines in economics, political science and management. He holds an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Adam-Klein-scaled-e1667428063554.jpg" alt="Adam Klein" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Adam Klein </p> <p><p>Adam Klein is director of the Robert Strauss Center on International Security and Law at UT- Austin. He also serves as senior lecturer at the University of Texas School of Law, where he teaches courses on national security, intelligence, and counterterrorism. Before joining the Strauss Center, Adam served as chairman of the United States Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, the independent, bipartisan federal agency responsible for overseeing counterterrorism programs at the N.S.A., F.B.I., C.I.A., D.H.S., and other federal agencies. Previously, Adam practiced law at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr and served as a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He received his B.A. from Northwestern University and his J.D. from Columbia Law School.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Rob-Koons-1.jpg" alt="Rob Koons" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Rob Koons </p> <p><p>Rob Koons is a professor of philosophy in the College of Liberal Arts, where he has taught for thirty-five years. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Realism Regained, The Atlas of Reality: A Comprehensive Guide to Metaphysics, The Waning of Materialism, Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science, and Neo-Aristotelian Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Nature. He has been working recently on an Aristotelian interpretation of quantum theory, on defending and articulating Thomism in contemporary terms, and on arguments for classical theism. His forthcoming books include: Is Thomas Aquinas’s Philosophy of Nature Obsolete? and Classical Theism, co-edited with Jonathan Fuqua. He completed his M.A. at Oxford University and his Ph.D. at the University of California at Los Angeles.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Leal1-e1667415960992.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">David Leal </p> <p><p>David L. Leal is a professor of government and professor (by courtesy) of Mexican American Studies and religious studies in the College of Liberal Arts. Since 2018, he also has been a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Professor Leal is a scholar of Latino politics, and his work explores the political and policy implications of demographic change. He has published over fifty journal articles and edited or co-edited a dozen scholarly books and journal symposia. He has been an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow, a Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer in Japan, and an Associate Member of Nuffield College at Oxford University. In 2021, the Latina/o Caucus of the Midwest Political Science Association recognized him with the Distinguished Career Award. He completed his Ph.D. in government at Harvard University.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Dirk-Mateer-web.jpg" alt="Dirk Mateer" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Dirk Mateer </p> <p><p>Dirk Mateer is a professor of instruction in the Department of Economics. He helps to develop UT’s OnRamps microeconomics course for high school students and is senior teaching fellow in the Financial Responsibility and Economic Education (FREE) program, both joint projects of the Civitas Institute and the Department of Economics. Prior to coming to UT, he received Penn State University’s highest teaching award and was voted the best overall teacher in the Smeal College of Business. While at the University of Arizona, Dirk received the University’s Koffler Teaching Prize, a quadrennial award for his contributions in economic education. While at UT-Austin, he received the Kenneth G. Elzinga Distinguished Teaching Award from the Southern Economic Association. He is the author of Economics in the Movies, Essentials of Economics, and Principles of Economics.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Brian-Roberts-web.jpg" alt="Brian Roberts" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Brian Roberts </p> <p><p>Brian Roberts is a professor of government in the College of Liberal Arts and a professor of business, government and society (by courtesy) in the McCombs School of Business. Roberts’s teaching and research are in the fields of American political institutions, interest groups, and positive political economy, with a focus on politics and financial markets, corporate political participation, and distributive politics. His scholarship has contributed to the literature in political science, economics, and finance, and has served in the past as associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and UT’s vice president of information technology. He is the co-author, with Daron Shaw and Mijeong Baek, of The Appearance of Corruption: Testing the Supreme Court’s Assumptions About Campaign Finance Reform.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Dima-Shamoun-Photo.jpeg" alt="Dima Shamoun Photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Dima Shamoun </p> <p><p>Dima Shamoun is clinical assistant professor in the Department of Finance and a scholar with the Salem Center in the McCombs School of Business, where she teaches economics in the M.B.A. and B.B.A. programs. Her interdisciplinary research draws on political science, law, and philosophy, and has been published in the Journal of Public Choice, Environmental Pollution, the Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology, Health Physics, and the Journal of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology. She earned her B.A. in mathematics and economics, and her Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Shaw-Daron-scaled-e1666982014265.jpg" alt="Dr. Daron Shaw." /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Daron Shaw </p> <p><p>Daron Shaw is the Frank Erwin Centennial Chair in the Department of Government. His research and teaching interests include campaigns and elections, political parties, public opinion, and voting behavior. Shaw is the author of The Appearance of Corruption, The Turnout Myth, Unconventional Wisdom: Facts and Myths about American Voters, The Race to 270, and numerous articles in leading political science including American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, and British Journal of Political Science. He is co-director of the Fox News Poll, co-director of the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll, director of the Texas Lyceum Poll, and associate principal investigator for the 2020 and 2024 American National Election Studies. He completed his Ph.D. in political science at the University of California at Los Angeles.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Dana-Stauffer-scaled-e1705598185161.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Dana Stauffer </p> <p><p>Dana Stauffer is an associate professor of instruction and research fellow in the government department at UT-Austin. She is also the undergraduate honors director for the government department. An award-winning teacher, Stauffer has taught courses in classical and modern political thought, politics and literature, women in political thought, and American government. Her research interests include classical political thought, Shakespeare’s political thought, and the thought of Alexis de Tocqueville, especially Democracy in America. Her work has appeared in Political Research Quarterly, Journal of Politics, Review of Politics, American Political Science Review, and Interpretation. She is currently at work on a book manuscript, A World Altogether New: Tocqueville on the Modern Moral Situation. She earned her undergraduate degree from Boston College and her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Toronto.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Devin-Stauffer.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Devin Stauffer </p> <p><p>Devin Stauffer is professor of government in the College of Liberal Arts. He specializes in classical and early modern political philosophy. Prior to coming to UT-Austin in 2004, Stauffer taught at Kenyon College and St. John’s College in Annapolis. During his time at Kenyon College, he received two awards for teaching excellence, and he has since received two more teaching awards at UT. His books include Plato’s Introduction to the Question of Justice, The Unity of Plato’s Gorgias, and Hobbes’s Kingdom of Light. His articles have appeared in journals including Review of Politics, Journal of Politics, and American Political Science Review. He received his B.A. from Kenyon College and Ph.D. from Boston College.</p> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div></div> </div> </div></div> <div class="wp-block-ut-umac-section has-limestone-light-background-color has-background"><div class="umac-section-container" data-py="4"> <div class="umac-accordion-group" data-multi="false"> <div class="umac-accordion"><button role="heading" aria-level="h3" class="umac-accordion-heading">Non-Resident Senior Fellows</button><div class="umac-accordion-content"> <div id="ContactList-block_acd9fea609aecb324e20604204e98de3"> <ul class="list-none m-0 p-0 grid gap-16 sm:grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2"> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Jesus_Fernandez-Villaverde.jpg" alt="Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Jesús Fernández-Villaverde </p> <p><p>Jesús Fernández-Villaverde is non-resident senior fellow of the Civitas Institute and the Howard Marks Presidential Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, where he directs the Penn Initiative for the Study of Markets. He has also been a national fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a Kenen Fellow in International Economy at Princeton University. Fernández-Villaverde’s research and teaching focus on macroeconomics and econometrics, and he has also developed a popular series of undergraduate courses on the relationship between markets and human flourishing. He is a research associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and Penn’s Population Studies Center, and a research affiliate for the Centre for Economic Policy Research. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Andrew-Johnson.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Andrew Johnston </p> <p><p>Andrew C. Johnston is an assistant professor of economics at University of California, Merced and a research affiliate of I.Z.A. and JPAL-NA. His primary interests are in public economics and labor, with a focus on American poverty. His research examines the effects of unemployment insurance on the labor market, as well as how to improve the quality of public schools to furnish broad opportunity. His work has been published in the Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, and the Journal of Human Resources. He received his Ph.D. in applied economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Munoz.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Vincent Phillip Muñoz </p> <p><p>Vincent Phillip Muñoz is non-resident senior fellow of the Civitas Institute and the Tocqueville Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, where he is the founding director of the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government. He writes and teaches across the fields of constitutional law, American politics, and political philosophy with a focus on religious liberty and the American Founding. He won a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship to support his most recent book, Religious Liberty and the American Founding: Natural Rights and the Original Meanings of the First Amendment Religion Clauses. Muñoz’s first book, God and the Founders: Madison, Washington, and Jefferson, won the American Political Science Association’s Hubert Morken Award for the best publication on religion and politics. He completed his Ph.D. at Claremont Graduate School.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Benjamin-Storey500x500.jpg" alt="Benjamin-Storey photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Benjamin Storey </p> <p><p>Benjamin Storey is a Civitas non-resident senior fellow and a senior fellow in social, cultural, and constitutional studies at the American Enterprise Institute. He is concurrently a Tocqueville scholar at Furman University, where he previously served as a research professor, Jane Gage Hipp Professor of Politics and International Affairs, and director of the Tocqueville Program. He focuses on political philosophy, civil society, and higher education, and he is the co-organizer of a conference series on the future of the American university. Storey is the coauthor, with his wife, Jenna Silber Storey, of Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment. Together, the Storeys are working on a book titled, The Art of Choosing: How Liberal Education Should Prepare You for Life. He has a Ph.D. and an M.A. from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago and a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Jenna-Silber-Storey500x500.jpg" alt="Jenna-Silber-Storey photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Jenna Storey </p> <p><p>Jenna Silber Storey is a Civitas non-resident senior fellow and a senior fellow in the social, cultural, and constitutional studies department at the American Enterprise Institute. Storey concentrates on political philosophy, civil society, classical schools, and higher education. She is also the co-organizer of a conference series on the future of the American university. She is concurrently a Tocqueville scholar at Furman University, where she was previously research professor, assistant professor in politics and international affairs, and the executive director of the Tocqueville Program. Storey is the coauthor, with her husband, Benjamin Storey, of Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment. The Storeys are working together on a book titled The Art of Choosing: How Liberal Education Should Prepare You for Life. Storey has a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought and a B.A. from the University Professors Program at Boston University.</p> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div></div> </div> </div></div> <div class="wp-block-ut-umac-section has-ut-white-background-color has-background"><div class="umac-section-container" data-py="4"> <div class="umac-accordion-group" data-multi="false"> <div class="umac-accordion"><button role="heading" aria-level="h3" class="umac-accordion-heading">Visiting Fellows</button><div class="umac-accordion-content"> <div id="ContactList-block_1cb56e49d78566ced34914a0b31de988"> <ul class="list-none m-0 p-0 grid gap-16 sm:grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2"> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Baker.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5"> Samuel Baker </p> <p><p>Samuel H. Baker is associate professor of philosophy and classics at the University of South Alabama. He is broadly interested in ancient philosophy and its reception, but he has published primarily on Aristotle’s ethics, politics, and moral psychology. He is currently working on two projects: one on Aristotle’s definition of the human good, and another on Aristotle’s account of truth as the good of the intellect. Previously, he has held fellowships from the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, the Loeb Classical Library Foundation, and the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme. He received his M.Phil. in classics from the University of Cambridge and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University in the Interdepartmental Program in Classical Philosophy.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Burns.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5"> Daniel Burns </p> <p><p>Daniel Burns is associate professor of politics at the University of Dallas. His research in political philosophy focuses on the relation between religion and citizenship. He is currently working on a book called Against Secularism: Religious Identity and Liberal Democracy. He has also written on Al-Farabi, Thomas More, John Locke, Sayyid Qutb, the Strauss-Kojève debate, Joseph Ratzinger, Samuel Huntington, American foreign policy, and the modern Catholic church. He is a member of the Neuer Schülerkreis Joseph Ratzinger/Benedikt XVI., a Germany-based group of scholars dedicated to advancing Ratzinger’s intellectual legacy. He holds a B.A. in political science from Williams College and a Ph.D. in political science from Boston College.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Marinovic.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5"> Ivan Marinovic </p> <p><p>Iván Marinovic is associate professor of accounting at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Before joining Stanford G.S.B., he taught microeconomics in the business department of Universidad de los Andes, Chile. Marinovic’s research focuses on applications of economics of information in accounting and finance. Marinovic earned a B.A. in economics and an M.A. in financial economics from the Catholic University of Chile. He also earned a master’s degree in economic theory from the Toulouse School of Economics and a Ph.D. in accounting, information and management from the Kellogg School of Management.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Snead.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5"> O. Carter Snead </p> <p><p>Carter Snead is Charles E. Rice Professor of Law and concurrent professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. He is one of the world’s leading experts on public bioethics—the governance of science, medicine, and biotechnology in the name of ethical goods. His research explores issues relating to neuroethics, enhancement, human embryo research, assisted reproduction, abortion, and end-of-life decision-making. He is the author of What It Means to be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics, which the Wall Street Journal named as one of 2020’s ten best books. Additionally, from 2012 to 2024, he served as director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, building it into the most important center for interdisciplinary teaching, research, service, and public engagement in the Catholic tradition in higher academia. Snead received his J.D. from Georgetown University and his B.A. from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Jim-West-cropped-1.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">James West </p> <p><p>James West is the W.H. Smith Chair and Professor of Economics at Baylor University. He is also a research associate in the Economics of Education Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research interests include the economics of education, social network formation, public economics, and applied econometrics. Prior to joining Baylor’s faculty, West was a faculty member at the U.S. Air Force Academy and Seattle University. He received a B.A. in economics from the University of Denver, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan.</p> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div></div> </div> </div></div> <div class="wp-block-ut-umac-section has-limestone-light-background-color has-background"><div class="umac-section-container" data-py="4"> <div class="umac-accordion-group" data-multi="false"> <div class="umac-accordion"><button role="heading" aria-level="h3" class="umac-accordion-heading">Research Fellows</button><div class="umac-accordion-content"> <div id="ContactList-block_81f006dbc5cd2324b37719ff6f9f376a"> <ul class="list-none m-0 p-0 grid gap-16 sm:grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2"> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Noray.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Kadeem Noray </p> <p><p>Kadeem is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Economics via Blueprint Labs at M.I.T., and a research associate at Opportunity Insights at Harvard University. Kadeem earned his Ph.D. in public policy (economics track) from Harvard University in 2023, an M.S. in applied economics from Montana State University in 2017, and a B.S. in mathematics, economics, and physics at Hillsdale College in 2015.</p> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div></div> </div> </div></div> <div class="wp-block-ut-umac-section has-ut-white-background-color has-background"><div class="umac-section-container" data-py="4"> <div class="umac-accordion-group" data-multi="false"> <div class="umac-accordion"><button role="heading" aria-level="h3" class="umac-accordion-heading">Postdoctoral Fellows</button><div class="umac-accordion-content"> <div id="ContactList-block_656c3cef56c91a2bedd381ca1e4f885d"> <ul class="list-none m-0 p-0 grid gap-16 sm:grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2"> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/banerjee_josh.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Joshua Banerjee </p> <p><p>Josh Banerjee is a postdoctoral fellow in the Civitas Institute. Previously, he was a visiting research scholar at Duke University and a James Buchanan fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. His research focuses on macroeconomic history, particularly of Britain. His research interests include the material and ideational determinants of economic growth, the analysis of macroeconomic fluctuations, the history of economic and econometric thought, the relationship between the market and the state, and normative issues in the political economy of a prosperous and flourishing society. He earned a Ph.D., M.Sc., and B.Sc. in economic history from the London School of Economics and Political Science.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Joey-Barretta-copy.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Joey Barretta </p> <p><p>Joey Barretta is a postdoctoral fellow in the Civitas Institute. His research focus on Frederick Douglass’s political thought shows the importance of Douglass’s Reconstruction era political project. His work has been published in New North Star: A Journal of the Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, a peer-reviewed journal housed at the IUPUI Institute for American Thought. He received his B.A. in political science and history from Ashland University and his Ph.D. and M.A. in American politics and political philosophy from Hillsdale College.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Zander-Batson-copy.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Alexander Batson </p> <p><p>Alexander Batson is an intellectual historian of early modern Europe. His current projects address European imperial ideology, maritime law, the emergence of historical scholarship in the Renaissance, and the political and legal thought of the Protestant reformer Philip Melanchthon. Baston earned his Ph.D. at Yale University.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Reid-Comstock-copy.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Reid Comstock </p> <p><p>Reid Comstock is a postdoctoral fellow in the Civitas Institute. He specializes in ancient philosophy, ethics, and the philosophy of law. He is interested in the nature of human flourishing, and the social, political, and legal institutions which make it possible. He has co-authored a paper on the Socratic elenchus and has written several papers on Aristotle’s activity as a teacher of ethics. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Notre Dame.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Abby-Staysa-copy.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Abby Thomas </p> <p><p>Abby Thomas is a postdoctoral fellow in the Civitas Institute. Her teaching and research focus is the history of political philosophy, with a particular focus on the thinkers of ancient Greece. Her current research is a book-length study of Aristotle’s intricate treatment of pleasure and pain in his philosophy of moral and philosophic education. Before coming to the Civitas Institute, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Politics and in the James Madison Program at Princeton University. She earned her B.A. from Hiram College and her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Tyler-Thomas-copy.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Tyler Thomas </p> <p><p>Tyler Thomas is a postdoctoral fellow in the Civitas Institute. His primary research interest concerns the intersection of science and politics, particularly the relationship of scientific expertise and political authority. His current project investigates René Descartes’s contributions to the emergence of the West’s scientific culture. He comes to the Civitas Institute from Emory University, where he taught for the past two years after having completed his graduate studies at the University of Notre Dame. He holds a B.A. from Hiram College and a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame.</p> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div></div> </div> </div></div> <div class="wp-block-ut-umac-section has-limestone-light-background-color has-background"><div class="umac-section-container" data-py="4"> <div class="umac-accordion-group" data-multi="false"> <div class="umac-accordion"><button role="heading" aria-level="h3" class="umac-accordion-heading">Predoctoral Fellows</button><div class="umac-accordion-content"> <div id="ContactList-block_19696bba87a192c37faeb4fa0c5b2643"> <h2 class="py-5"> <strong>Predoctoral Fellows</strong> </h2> <ul class="list-none m-0 p-0 grid gap-16 sm:grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2"> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Maura-sm.png" alt="Maura Cowan photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Maura Cowan </p> <p><p>Maura Cowan is a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at Tulane University, specializing in the history of political philosophy. Her interests include the intersection of politics, literature, and philosophy, with a focus on the ancient Greeks. She completed her undergraduate degree at St. John’s College in Annapolis, and has taught classics of political philosophy and literature at both the secondary and university level. Before joining the Civitas Institute, Maura was a fellow at the Murphy Institute. She is currently writing a dissertation on the “ancient quarrel” between poetry and philosophy presented in Plato’s Republic.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Katerina-Levinson-1.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Katerina Levinson </p> <p><p>Katerina Levinson is a D.Phil. candidate in medieval and modern languages at Wolfson College, Oxford as a Barry Scholar. She previously received her M.St. in Spanish at The Queen’s College, Oxford, and her B.A. in great texts and Spanish from the University Scholars Program at Baylor University. She is an alumna of the Fulbright Spain E.T.A. Fellowship and the John Jay Fellows Program. Katerina has presented her research on English and Spanish literature in Spain, the U.K., and the U.S.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/David-Mennie.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">David Mennie </p> <p><p>David Mennie is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of North Texas, specializing in political theory and international relations. Prior to his graduate studies, he obtained his B.A. (with majors in philosophy, religious studies, and psychology) and his J.D. from the University of Iowa. Thereafter, he practiced law in Chicago both in the public sector—as a prosecutor in Cook County—and as a private attorney. David’s academic interests focus on the history of political philosophy with a special interest in the relationship between law, politics, religion, and philosophy. He has taught undergraduate courses in political theory which focus on classical political texts and probe tensions between ancient and modern thinkers. He is currently working on his dissertation investigating the relationship between justice, religion, and philosophy in Plato’s Euthyphro.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Terman-Candace-scaled.jpg" alt="Terman, Candace photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Candace Terman </p> <p><p>Candace Terman is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Government. Her research focuses on legal and political theory, with a particular emphasis on the natural law tradition. She has been cultivating this research interest since her early days at Hillsdale College and continued to do so in her time as a law student at William & Mary Law School. She is particularly interested in how natural law has influenced Western jurisprudence throughout history and is currently writing a dissertation addressing that subject. Her other writing has focused on Shari‘a law as well as Locke’s and Montesquieu’s theories of religious toleration.</p> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div></div> </div> </div></div> <div class="wp-block-ut-umac-section has-ut-white-background-color has-background"><div class="umac-section-container" data-py="8"> <div class="umac-accordion-group" data-multi="false"> <div class="umac-accordion"><button role="heading" aria-level="h3" class="umac-accordion-heading">Dissertation Fellows</button><div class="umac-accordion-content"> <div id="ContactList-block_2dc9edc79bf9641aae05903f87660585"> <h2 class="py-5"> <strong>Dissertation Fellows</strong> </h2> <ul class="list-none m-0 p-0 grid gap-16 sm:grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2"> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Evan-Cree-Gee-copy.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Evan Cree Gee </p> <p><p>Evan Cree Gee is a Ph.D. candidate in UT-Austin’s government department, where he focuses on political philosophy and American politics. His dissertation research deals with the character of factional conflict between elites and the masses in classical and early modern political philosophy, in particular in Aristotle and Machiavelli. In 2018, he earned his A.B. in political science at Kenyon College, after which he spent two years working at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/David-Pereira-copy.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">David Futscher Pereira </p> <p><p>David Futscher Pereira is a Ph.D. candidate in political theory at the UT-Austin. He is writing a dissertation on natural sociality, comparing the iterations of the early modern doctrine of the state of nature with each other and with Aristotle’s Politics. Before coming to UT, David Futscher got an M.A. in security and diplomacy at the Tel Aviv University, and a bachelor’s degree in economics and law at the Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/gillard_james.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">James Gillard </p> <p><p>James Gillard is a Ph.D. student in philosophy at UT-Austin. He earned an M.A. in philosophy from Georgia State University, an M.T.S. in theological studies from Harvard University, and a B.A. in English language and literature from University of Oxford. His research focuses on blame and moral knowledge.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Isenberg-Bridget-scaled.jpg" alt="Isenberg, Bridget photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Bridget Wu Isenberg </p> <p><p>Bridget Wu Isenberg is a Ph.D. student at UT-Austin. She researches 18th century French commercial thought, specifically Montesquieu and Rousseau’s views of how commerce ushered in the modern world and thereby changed the supports necessary for liberty. She earned her master’s from UT-Austin and her bachelor’s from St. John’s College, Santa Fe.</p> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div></div> </div> </div></div> <div class="wp-block-ut-umac-section has-limestone-light-background-color has-background"><div class="umac-section-container" data-py="4"> <div class="umac-accordion-group" data-multi="false"> <div class="umac-accordion"><button role="heading" aria-level="h3" class="umac-accordion-heading">Summer Research Fellows</button><div class="umac-accordion-content"> <div id="ContactList-block_c3161509e465ef102db9011407eaf9ba"> <h2 class="py-5"> <strong>Summer Research Fellows</strong> </h2> <ul class="list-none m-0 p-0 grid gap-16 sm:grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2"> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/boljevic_3_color-scaled.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Sara Boljevic </p> <p><p>Sara Boljevic is a Ph.D. student in UT-Austin’s philosophy department. Her research primarily focuses on the history of philosophy, particularly in the early modern and Medieval periods. Sara’s current projects explore the work of later Cartesians, especially Nicolas Malebranche, and the Cambridge Platonists, with a special interest in John Norris. In addition to her research, she serves as a research assistant for Professor Tara Smith, working on topics in ethics and the philosophy of law. Sara holds a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Belgrade, Serbia, and an M.A. in philosophy from the Central European University, Austria.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Olgahan-Cat-e1717692813148.jpeg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Olgahan Cat </p> <p><p>Olgahan Cat is a Ph.D. candidate in UT-Austin’s government department. His current research focuses on public attitudes towards migrants and forcibly displaced people. Using survey experiments in the U.S. and Turkey, he introduces the concept of “projected patriotism” to understand how public attitudes towards conflict migrants are shaped. He also published on how foreign aid affects conflict intensity in sub-Saharan Africa using observational data, and the effect of messaging on vaccine hesitancy in the U.S., South Africa, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, and Taiwan via field experiments through Facebook ads. He received his M.A. from Sabanci University, Turkey, and B.A. from Bogazici University, Turkey, both in economics.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Neco-Donohue-e1717692778909.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Neco Donohue </p> <p><p>Neco Donohue is a Ph.D. student in UT-Austin’s government department. His current research concerns liberalism’s promises and perils, as well as its philosophic grounding. Through Montaigne and Montesquieu, Neco hopes to articulate an account of liberalism’s merits and grounding that does not depend on modern natural rights. Prior to moving to Texas in 2022, Neco worked for two years as the program manager of the Hertog Foundation after receiving his B.A. from American University in 2020.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/sean_neagle-1-1.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Sean Neagle </p> <p><p>Sean Neagle is a Ph.D. student in philosophy at UT-Austin. He specializes in ancient philosophy, particularly Aristotle’s ethical theory. He is interested in Aristotle’s conception of well-being and its role in ethics. Additionally, he investigates how Aristotle’s political works can provide a better understanding of his ethical theory. Sean received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his M.A. from the Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Germany.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Beckett-Rueda.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Beckett Rueda </p> <p><p>Beckett Rueda is a Ph.D. student in government at UT-Austin. He researches the conflict between divine revelation and secular authority in the foundation of liberalism with a focus on John Locke. His current project treats the relationship between divine and civil authority in Locke’s English Tract. It is the first part of a larger investigation into the way that Locke’s theological and epistemological writings illuminate and influence his political theory.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Tom-Samuels.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Tom Samuels </p> <p><p>Tom Samuels is assistant parliamentarian for the Texas House of Representatives and a Ph.D. student in government at UT-Austin. His research focuses on the intersection of strategy, law, and the foundations of a flourishing civil society. He has a J.D. from Texas Law and a bachelor’s from St. John’s College, Santa Fe.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Benjamin-Schwabe-e1717693566155.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Benjamin Schwabe </p> <p><p>Benjamin Schwabe is a Ph.D. student in political theory at UT-Austin. His research explores the relationship between necessity and liberty in Niccolò Machiavelli’s political philosophy. He earned his B.A. from Michigan State University and his M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. His other research interests include classical and early modern republicanism, the relationship between modern scientific and political thought, and political psychology.</p> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div></div> </div> </div></div> <div class="wp-block-ut-umac-section has-ut-white-background-color has-background"><div class="umac-section-container" data-py="4"> <div class="umac-accordion-group" data-multi="false"> <div class="umac-accordion"><button role="heading" aria-level="h3" class="umac-accordion-heading">Society of Fellows</button><div class="umac-accordion-content"> <div id="ContactList-block_2b7fd4d15e8faa9b4aa26296cab85abb"> <h2 class="py-5"> <strong>Society of Fellows</strong> </h2> <ul class="list-none m-0 p-0 grid gap-16 sm:grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2"> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Ana-Artero-Calvo.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Ana Artero Calvo </p> <p><p>Ana is a rising junior from Spain studying economics and mathematics with a certificate on elements of computing. Her life goals lie in the application of mathematics across different fields of study and the research of nuclear energy. Ana serves as the treasurer for UT’s American Nuclear Society and is an undergraduate fellow of the Salem Center for Policy at McCombs. She is also interested in political philosophy, Catholic theology, and the works of various Spanish mystics.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Babineaux-sm.jpg" alt="Gabriel Babineaux photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Gabriel Babineaux </p> <p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Gabriel Babineaux is a rising sophomore studying government. He is a devotee of the Jefferson Scholars Program, an editor for an undergraduate research journal, and a friend to many institutes of political and philosophical study. Upon graduating, he hopes to find his place in academia. Gabriel spent his early years in College Station, TX.</span></p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Sydney.jpg" alt="Sydney Baker photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Sydney Baker </p> <p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sydney Baker is a second-year student from New Braunfels, Texas, majoring in political communication with a minor in Core Texts and Ideas. Outside of class, Sydney is an active member of the Jefferson Scholar’s Program. She also conducts university research as an undergraduate assistant and serves as treasurer for the International Association of Business Communications. Furthermore, she worked as a legislative aide in the Texas Senate for the 88th session, where she was able to strengthen her understanding of the legislative process and public policy. Through the Society of Fellows, she looks forward to engaging in collaborative discourse to further her perspective on various areas of policy and sharpen her debate skills for her future career in law.</span></p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Spencer-Burke-sq.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Spencer Burke </p> <p><p>Spencer Burke is a rising junior from Dallas studying plan II and electrical and computer engineering honors, with a certificate in the core texts and ideas. He is a self-described engineer with a passion for philosophy, often combining the two disciplines. Though deeply invested in engineering’s practical applications, he enjoys long discussions on political theory and epistemology. In his free time, Spencer enjoys geeking out over the latest chip advancements, trying to design new control systems, or contemplative walks. After graduation, he hopes for a career in the aerospace industry, with a particular focus on advancing missile defense systems and shaping aerospace engineering’s future.</p> <p> </p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Deborah-Chus-Headshot-e1724775129828.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Deborah Chu </p> <p><p>Deborah Chu is a sophomore from The Woodlands, TX, majoring in plan II and government. She is interested in politics, the intersection of political philosophy and Christian thought, and public policy regarding China as well as the education and foster care systems. Deborah serves as the affordability policy director for UT’s student government, as well as a counselor for Ignite and a writer and social media manager of the Christian academic journal<span class="x_apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Terrain. </i>This summer, she interned for the non-profit Love Heals Youth, which serves children in the Texas foster care system, and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. She hopes to attend law school after graduation and eventually pursue a career in politics.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Nathan.jpg" alt="Nathan Comeaux photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Nathan Comeaux </p> <p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nathan Comeaux is a sophomore from Dallas studying Business Honors, Plan II Honors, and finance. His interest in the ideas of Western philosophers in the context of modern issues ignited during a political theory seminar he took in high school. This past year, he was the Senior Legislative Intern for State-Representative Terri Leo-Wilson at the Texas State Capitol. In his free time, Nathan enjoys reading about current events, politics and American history, watching 1950’s movies and Succession, and rooting for the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys. After graduating, Nathan hopes to work as an investment banker in New York.</span></p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Emma-Hamilton-sm.png" alt="Emma Hamilton photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Emma Hamilton </p> <p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Emma is a second-year student from Houston, Texas majoring in Plan II and government. Her passion lies at the intersection of public policy and environmental sustainability, and her goal after graduation is to become a foreign service officer. Being an avid reader, she is especially excited about the book clubs and discussions that the Civitas Institute will host. In a time of growing political polarization, she is eager to engage in conversations across the ideological spectrum. At UT and Civitas, she seeks to broaden her perspective and become a more informed student, citizen, and future leader.</span></p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Anna-Grace-Holloway-sq-Headshot-2023-scaled.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Anna Grace Holloway </p> <p><p>Anna Grace is a junior from Fort Collins, Colorado majoring in Philosophy and Government. She is involved on campus in Liberal Arts Honors, Liberal Arts Council, and the Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center at Texas Law. Outside of class, she enjoys being a part of Texas Tri Delta sorority and reading in her hammock.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Zachary-Lacy-scaled-e1720551324523.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Zachary Lacy </p> <p><div> <p>Zach Lacy is a sophomore from Southlake, Texas, studying government and philosophy, with a focus on classical liberal thought, liberal education, Christian theology, Rousseauian romanticism, and American foundational principles. Additionally, Zach is an active member of the Jefferson Scholar’s Program, the president of UT’s Thomistic Institute chapter, and a contributor to the Christian academic journal <i>Terrain</i>. Outside of academic work, you may find Zach spending time outdoors, engaging in various discourses, or reading literature and watching films. He hopes to pursue a career in academia.</p> </div> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Diego-Lopez.jpg" alt="Diego Lopez photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Diego Lopez </p> <p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Diego Lopez is a junior majoring in government and Plan II Honors. Diego is a staff writer for several undergraduate student journals which cover politics and the law. He was a Legislative Aide to the Minority Leader of the Texas House of Representatives in the most recent 88th legislative session.</span></p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Caleb-Martin-2024.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Caden Martin </p> <p><p>Caden likes to read literature, climb rocks, and travel with his wife. He is in his 4th year studying in the History and English Honors programs. He is writing his honors thesis on the role of naturalist writings in the legacy of the American Renaissance and the ongoing myth-making and identity formation associated with the rural and arcadian in American poetry. He’s spent his collegiate summers avoiding the Texas heat by leading backpacking trips in Wisconsin, researching literacy in the Peruvian Amazon, experiencing language immersion in Spain, and directing for an adventure camp in Massachusetts. After graduating, he intends to continue pursuing his passion for classical education and outdoor leadership as a teacher.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Cara-McMillan-sq.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Cara McMillan </p> <p><p>Cara McMillan is a sophomore from Waco, Texas, majoring in international relations and Asian studies with minors in entrepreneurship and core texts and ideas. She is interested in how Western political thought shapes American foreign policy, especially in respect to East Asia. Cara serves as the external director of a nonprofit consulting organization, the financial manager for a Christian academic journal, and a financial officer for her sorority. Outside of class, she loves watching old movies, exploring the live music scene, and beating her friends in chess. Cara hopes to attend law school after graduation and build a career in social advocacy.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Sarah-Moffitt.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Sarah Moffitt </p> <p><div> <p>Sarah Moffitt is a junior from Round Rock, Texas, majoring in statistics and data science with a computer science certificate. She is passionate about math, but also loves America and enjoys learning about the principles that enable Western society to flourish. This summer, she interned at Civitas as part of the All Saints Presbyterian Fellows program. During the school year, Sarah is busy serving as her sorority’s finance director, playing intramural sports, and waitressing. After graduation, she hopes to use her data science degree by working with companies that share her love for America.</p> </div> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/David-4-scaled-e1722523576869.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">David Pate </p> <p><p>David Pate is a junior from Flower Mound, Texas, majoring in Mechanical Engineering and pursuing a pre-med certificate. His ultimate goal is a career in the biotech industry. When he’s not studying or working, David enjoys grabbing coffee with friends, playing guitar, hiking, sports, and watching sci-fi. He also invests in his church by leading a college group and volunteering weekly. David looks forward to thought-provoking discussions and seminars as a Civitas Fellow.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/RodriguezMiaLi138-scaled-e1696974758374.jpg" alt="Rodriguez, Mia Li photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Mia Li Rodriguez </p> <p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mia is a junior working towards a B.A. in music and Plan II Honors, which she will supplement with a certificate in Core Texts and Ideas. She is a member of the Jefferson Scholars Program and is an active participant in the Hill House Christian Study Center. Additionally, she volunteers at Antioch Austin Church. Community development holds a special place in her heart, and she hopes to work overseas after graduation. She grew up in Dallas, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic, but considers Brownsville, Texas her hometown.</span></p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Maria-Shoshina-photo.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Mariia Shoshina </p> <p><p class="x_MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Mariia Shoshina</span><span lang="EN-US"> is a senior majoring in International Relations and Global Studies at the University of Texas. Raised in a bilingual English-Russian environment, Mariia developed a strong interest in linguistics, cultural studies and diplomacy, which led her to pursue this path at UT Austin.</span></p> <p class="x_MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This summer, she further enriched her academic and professional development through the IES Abroad Freiburg Summer Program in Germany, focusing on European political and economic affairs, European decision-making processes, and their global impact.</span></p> <p class="x_MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Mariia’s involvement in the Polish Club, Russian Club, and UNA-USA has enhanced her cultural awareness and language proficiency. She enjoys studying languages and is fluent in Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, and English. In her free time, she involves herself into the development of tabletop game campaigns.</span></p> <p class="x_MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Looking ahead, Mariia aspires to a diplomatic career in the Foreign Service or with a major international organization. She aims to build on the knowledge and experiences gained at UT Austin to achieve her academic and professional goals, including pursuing a Master’s Degree in the field related to Political Economy.</span></p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Hudson-Thomas-smm.jpg" alt="Hudson Thomas photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Hudson Thomas </p> <p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hudson was born in Seattle, Washington and is a triple major student pursuing Plan II / Government / History. He is a Jefferson Scholar and University Honors student with a passion for history. In addition, he was a legislative aide for the State of Texas during his freshman year, and was selected as a 20 Under 20 Global Young Leader by the DFW World Affairs Council. He also served as his high school’s student body president.</span></p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Noah-Thomason.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Noah Thomason </p> <p><p>Noah Thomason is a sophomore studying plan II honors and biomedical engineering. He is also a member of the Jefferson Scholars Program and is involved in Hill House Christian Study Center and Ignite Texas. He is interested in classical philosophy and its role in modern society and is looking forward to Civitas Institute hosted discussions. In his free time, he enjoys watching completely random and inconsequential YouTube videos. Noah plans on attending graduate school after graduation.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Daniel-Wu.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Dixon Wu </p> <p><p>Dixon Wu is a sophomore pursuing a double major in plan II and business honors, with a certificate in core texts and ideas. He is a Jefferson Scholar and serves as the vice president of UT’s Undergraduate Moot Court Team. Dixon is also an active member of Ignite Texas Ministries, where he helps incoming freshmen get connected to the local church and Christian community on campus. Dixon was born and raised in Austin and enjoys playing spike ball and discussing good books with friends. He hopes to utilize his passion for debate and legal analysis by attending law school after graduation.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Ethan-Xu.jpeg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Ethan Xu </p> <p><blockquote> <div> <p class="p3">Ethan Xu is a sophomore from Flower Mound, TX. He is studying economics with a minor in PPE. He is the editor in chief for <i>The Texas Horn</i>, UT’s conservative campus publication. During the previous school year, he served as a policy intern for the Texas Public Policy Foundation and over the summer, he served as the assistant editor for <i>RETURN</i>, Blaze Media’s tech publication. Ethan is passionate about conservative public policy, Protestant political thought, and Reformed theology.</p> </div> </blockquote> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div></div> </div> </div></div> <div class="wp-block-ut-umac-section has-limestone-light-background-color has-background"><div class="umac-section-container" data-py="4"> <div class="umac-accordion-group" data-multi="false"> <div class="umac-accordion"><button role="heading" aria-level="h3" class="umac-accordion-heading">Summer Honors Symposium Fellows</button><div class="umac-accordion-content"> <div id="ContactList-block_8a5098747d08e5039f7605429a7a30c6"> <h2 class="py-5"> <strong>Summer Honors Symposium Fellows</strong> </h2> <ul class="list-none m-0 p-0 grid gap-16 sm:grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2"> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Babineaux-sm.jpg" alt="Gabriel Babineaux photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Gabriel Babineaux </p> <p><p>Gabriel Babineaux is a rising sophomore studying government. He is a devotee of the Jefferson Scholars Program, an editor for an undergraduate research journal, and a friend to many institutes of political and philosophical study. Upon graduating, he hopes to find his place in academia. Gabriel spent his early years in College Station, TX.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Deborah-Chus-Headshot-e1724775129828.png" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Deborah Chu </p> <p><p>Deborah Chu is a sophomore from The Woodlands, TX, majoring in plan II and government. She is interested in politics, the intersection of political philosophy and Christian thought, and public policy regarding China as well as the education and foster care systems. Deborah serves as the affordability policy director for UT’s student government, as well as a counselor for Ignite and a writer and social media manager of the Christian academic journal<span class="x_xapple-converted-space"> </span><i>Terrain. </i>This summer, she interned for the non-profit Love Heals Youth, which serves children in the Texas foster care system, and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. She hopes to attend law school after graduation and eventually pursue a career in politics.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Dean-Federico-2-scaled-e1720552062494.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Dean Federico </p> <p><div> <p class="p1">Dean Federico is a senior from Dallas studying government with minors in English and Italian, as well as a certificate in core texts and ideas. This semester he will be a research intern with Dr. Maurizio Viroli, assisting him in research on Niccolò Machiavelli. In his free time, Dean enjoys singing with his student organization, Longhorn Singers, as well as reading, playing guitar, and photography. After graduating, Dean hopes to attend graduate school in pursuit of becoming a professor.</p> </div> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Anna-Grace-Holloway-sq-Headshot-2023-scaled.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Anna Grace Holloway </p> <p><p>Anna Grace is a junior from Fort Collins, Colorado majoring in Philosophy and Government. She is involved on campus in Liberal Arts Honors, Liberal Arts Council, and the Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center at Texas Law. Outside of class, she enjoys being a part of Texas Tri Delta sorority and reading in her hammock.</p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Zachary-Lacy-scaled-e1720551324523.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Zachary Lacy </p> <p><div> <p>Zach Lacy is a sophomore from Southlake, Texas, studying government and philosophy, with a focus on classical liberal thought, liberal education, Christian theology, Rousseauian romanticism, and American foundational principles. Additionally, Zach is an active member of the Jefferson Scholar’s Program, the president of UT’s Thomistic Institute chapter, and a contributor to the Christian academic journal <i>Terrain</i>. Outside of academic work, you may find Zach spending time outdoors, engaging in various discourses, or reading literature and watching films. He hopes to pursue a career in academia.</p> </div> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Diego-Lopez.jpg" alt="Diego Lopez photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Diego Lopez </p> <p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Diego Lopez is a junior majoring in government and Plan II Honors. Diego is a staff writer for several undergraduate student journals which cover politics and the law. He was a Legislative Aide to the Minority Leader of the Texas House of Representatives in the most recent 88th legislative session.</span></p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <div class="aspect-[1/1] mb-2"><!-- No image --></div> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Noel Martinez </p> <p><div> <p>Noel Martinez is a student at the McCombs School of Business. An avid reader, he enjoys the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, finding depth and insight in the Russian novelist’s exploration of the human condition. He also has a keen appreciation for the vibrant, expressive art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Outside of intellectual interests, Noel is passionate about playing soccer and running. His time at UT has been enriched by meeting people with various perspectives, and he eagerly anticipates continuing to expand his horizons through these connections.</p> </div> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Photo-Mariia-2023.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Mariia Shoshina </p> <p><div> <p class="p1">Mariia Shoshina is a senior majoring in international relations and global studies. Her passion for international relations was ignited at a young age during a holiday reception at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Moscow. This summer, she further enriched her academic and professional development through the IES Abroad Freiburg Summer Program in Germany, focusing on European political and economic affairs, European decision-making processes, and their global effect. Mariia enjoys studying languages and is fluent in Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, and English. In her free time, she writes scripts and draws characters for gaming projects. Looking ahead, Mariia aspires to a diplomatic career in the foreign service or with a major international organization.</p> </div> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SpringerWilliamZack155-scaled-e1696974921555.jpg" alt="Springer, William Zack photo" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">William Zackary Springer </p> <p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Zach is a senior majoring in philosophy and classical languages. He is the president of UT’s Thomistic Institute chapter as well as a contributor to the university newspaper </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Horn</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. He also assists the University Catholic Center. In his free time, he enjoys rock-climbing with his father. Upon graduation, he hopes to attend graduate school as he prepares to teach at the university level. His hometown is Lubbock, Texas.</span></p> </p> </li> <li class="p-0"> <img decoding="async" class="w-48 aspect-[1/1] object-cover object-center rounded-full mb-5 " src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Noah_Thomason_Headshot-e1720552657814.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="text-xl font-semibold font-sans mb-5">Noah Thomason </p> <p><div> <p class="p3">Noah Thomason is a sophomore at the University of Texas, studying Plan II Honors and Biomedical Engineering. He is also a member of the Jefferson Scholars Program and is involved in Hill House Christian Study Center and Ignite Texas. He is interested in classical philosophy and its role in modern society. As such, he is excited for the discussions hosted by the Civitas Institute. In his free time, he enjoys watching completely random and inconsequential YouTube videos. He is unsure of his plans after graduation, but they will probably involve graduate school of some kind. <b></b></p> </div> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div></div> </div> </div></div> </div> </main> <footer class="Footer bg-gray"> <footer id="footer" class="ut-footer" role="contentinfo"> <div class="w-full max-w-screen-xl mx-auto px-4 py-8 flex justify-between gap-24"> <div> <a href="https://utexas.edu" class="block pb-4"><img src="/wp-content/themes/bigmac/dist/images/utexas-primary-horizontal-logo.svg" alt="The University of Texas at Austin" /></a> <p> 302 W. 24<sup>th</sup> Street<br /> Austin, Texas 78712<br /> 512-232-0813 </p> </div> <div class="flex flex-1 justify-between"> <ul> <li><a class="hover:underline font-normal" href="https://civitas.utexas.edu/about/" target="">About</a></li> <li><a class="hover:underline font-normal" href="https://civitas.utexas.edu/people/" target="">People</a></li> <li><a class="hover:underline font-normal" href="#" target="">Programs</a></li> <li><a class="hover:underline font-normal" href="/events/" target="">Events</a></li> <li><a class="hover:underline font-normal" href="https://civitas.utexas.edu/media/" target="">Media</a></li> <li><a class="hover:underline font-normal" href="https://civitas.utexas.edu/giving/" target="">Giving</a></li> </ul> <ul> <li><a class="hover:underline font-normal" href="https://www.instagram.com/UT_Civitas/" target="">Instagram</a></li> <li><a class="hover:underline font-normal" href="https://www.twitter.com/UT_Civitas/" target="">Twitter</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="bg-burntorange text-sm text-white"> <div class="w-full text-center lg:text-left max-w-screen-xl mx-auto px-4 py-2 flex flex-col lg:flex-row justify-between"> <div> <p class="pb-2 lg:pb-0">© <a class="underline text-white" href="https://utexas.edu/">The University of Texas at Austin</a> 2022</p> </div> <div> <ul class="footer-links lg:flex lg:flex-row justify-center gap-4"> <li class="inline"><a class="underline text-white" href="https://emergency.utexas.edu/">Emergency Information</a></li> <li class="inline"><a class="underline text-white" href="https://www.utexas.edu/site-policies">Site Policies</a></li> <li class="inline"><a class="underline text-white" href="http://www.utexas.edu/web-accessibility-policy">Web Accessibility Policy</a></li> <li class="inline"><a class="underline text-white" href="http://www.utexas.edu/web-privacy-policy">Web Privacy Policy</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </footer> </footer> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/plugins/umac-blocks/build/accordion/view.js?ver=e7b56ae623235a5801b6a6838f3b581f" id="ut-umac-accordion-view-script-js" defer="defer" data-wp-strategy="defer"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/plugins/umac-blocks/build/accordion-group/view.js?ver=328b04bf7a94396edd17ebf64ce5ae32" id="ut-umac-accordion-group-view-script-js" defer="defer" data-wp-strategy="defer"></script> <script src="https://civitas.utexas.edu/wp-content/themes/bigmac-civitas/dist/site.js"></script> </body> </html>