Scholars & Fellows

J. Joel Alicea

 J. Joel Alicea is an Assistant Professor of Law at The Catholic University of America and the Co-Director of Catholic University’s Project on Constitutional Originalism and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. He is a Nonresident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and Of Counsel at Cooper & Kirk, PLLC. He previously served as a law clerk for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., on the United States Supreme Court and for Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
 
Professor Alicea’s scholarship focuses on constitutional theory. His scholarship has appeared, or is forthcoming, in the Virginia Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, among other publications. He has also been active in public debates about constitutional law, publishing essays in places such as City Journal and National Affairs.
 
Professor Alicea graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2013 and summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University in 2010.

Ryan Anderson, Ph.D.

Expertise: Political Philosophy, Law and Religion, Marriage, Family and Politics

Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D. in Political Philosophy, is the William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, where he researches and writes about marriage, bioethics, religious liberty and political philosophy. Anderson is also the Founder and Editor of Public Discourse, the online journal of the Witherspoon Institute of Princeton, New Jersey. Anderson has written several books, including, What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense, Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom, Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination, and When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment. His research was cited by two U.S. Supreme Court justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, in two separate cases.

Patricia Andrasik, AIA

Expertise: Building Analytics, Sustainability, Building Operations

Patricia Andrasik, AIA, is an Assistant Professor and the Head of Sustainability Outreach at the School of Architecture and Planning. Her practice and research is rooted in studying building performance analytics, human factors, and third party green certification as a means of improving sustainable building design potential.

Mark Bauerlein, Ph.D.

Expertise: English, Research and Analysis 

Mark Bauerlein is Senior Editor at First Things and Emeritus Professor of English at Emory University, where he taught after earning his PhD in English at UCLA in 1989. He served as Director of the Office of Research and Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts 2003-05. He is the author of several books, including Whitman and the American Idiom (1991), The Pragmatic Mind: Explorations in the Psychology of Belief (1997), Literary Criticism: An Autopsy (1997), Negrophobia: A Race Riot in Atlanta, 1906 (2001), and The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (2008). His scholarly essays and reviews have appeared in PMLA, Philosophy and Literature, Wilson Quarterly, Partisan Review, and Yale Review. He has published reviews and commentaries in New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Weekly Standard, The Guardian, Chronicle of Higher Education, New Criterion, and other national periodicals. He has appeared on CNN, CBS News, Fox and Friends, BBC World News, All Things Considered, C-SPAN, ABC’s Nightline, PBS Frontline, and other national media outlets. He hosts The Conversation podcast at www.firstthings.com.

Jan Bentz, Ph.D.

Dr. Jan C. Bentz was born and raised in Germany and graduated high school in St. Louis, Missouri as foreign exchange student. Professor Bentz holds a doctorate in Philosophy (Dr. phil.) from the Roman Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, a Masters in Sacred Art, Architecture, and Liturgy and a Masters in Church and Religious studies.

Dr. Bentz is a Lecturer and Tutor at Blackfriars Studium (Blackfriars Hall) in Oxford. Past employment included an adjunct professorship at the Catholic University of America’s Rome program, a visiting professorship at Christendom College’s Rome Program, and teaching for IES study abroad in Rome.  

Prof. Bentz also regularly contributes to The European Conservative and has worked for EWTN, Catholic News Agency, Jüdische Rundschau, Zenit, and H2O News in the past.

His fields of expertise include Metaphysics, History of Philosophy, Thomism, and Philosophy of Art focusing on Christian symbolism. His research focus is on philosophy of being, 17th and 18th century German idealism, Thomism, Utopia, and Transhumanism.

He most recently edited a commemorative book on Thomas Molnar. 

Beatriz Lopez-Bonetti

Mrs. Lopez Bonetti is a Research Associate in the Busch School of Business and a media fellow with the IHE. Previously she was the Director of Public Relations for the Busch School of Business. She specializes in marketing research and has conducted qualitative and quantitative tests and statistical analysis to identify product appeal, customer content preference and consumer behavior for use in company product and market strategy development.  She has directed and executed marketing research, strategic planning, budgeting and monetary goals for a start-up organization which led to the development of breakthrough technology seeking protection of families from harmful media. Mrs. Lopez Bonetti managed relationships with national membership organizations including family, religious and civic groups using the collected market data to execute integrated communications and outreach plans to ensure strategic communications with their audiences. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Universidad Tecnológica del Centro in Venezuela and a Master of Science in Marketing from Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Lopez lives in Maryland with her husband, and five young children.

J. Steven Brown, Ph.D.

Expertise: Alternative Energy, Refrigeration

J. Steven Brown, Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, is the Senior Vice Provost, Dean of Graduate Studies, and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering. His research interests include refrigeration and air conditioning, alternative refrigeration cycles, alternative refrigerants, organic Rankine cycles, alternative energy, thermodynamic modeling, two-phase heat transfer, human thermal comfort modeling, and bioheat transfer.

Daniel Burns, Ph.D.

Expertise: Political Philosophy, Foreign Policy

Daniel Burns is Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Dallas. He spent AY 2018-19 here as a Research Associate, writing a book on Joseph Ratzinger’s understanding of “healthy secularity.” His research in political philosophy is on the relation between religion and citizenship, focusing on the meaning and limits of religious freedom. He has written on Augustine, Al-Farabi, Thomas More, John Locke, Sayyid Qutb, the Strauss-Kojève debate, Ratzinger, Samuel Huntington, and contemporary American foreign policy. 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.

Jack Butler

Jack Butler is submissions editor at National Review Online, and a 2022–2023 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow at the Fund for American Studies. His writing has examined the role and proper application of Catholic teaching in politics, civil society, and popular culture. A proud product of Catholic schooling, he is from Cincinnati, Ohio. He currently lives in Washington, D.C.

Jonathan Buttaci

Expertise: Ancient Greek Philosophy, Philosophy of Knowledge and Education, Philosophy of Human Nature

Jonathan Buttaci is an assistant professor of philosophy at Catholic University. He earned an MA in classics and a PhD in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh, having previously studied philosophy and classics at the University of Notre Dame. His current research focuses on Aristotelian accounts of mind, knowledge, and learning, including how later thinkers have received and revised Aristotle’s account. He is interested in how ancient Greek views of human nature can aid contemporary conversations about education, leadership, and culture.Assistant Professor of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America.

Joseph Capizzi, Ph.D.

Expertise: Social Ethics, Moral Theology, Law and Religion

Joseph Capizzi, Ph.D. in Theology, is the Executive Director of the Institute for Human Ecology and an Ordinary Professor of Moral Theology at The Catholic University of America. He has published widely on just war theory, bioethics, the history of moral theology, and political liberalism. Dr. Capizzi worked as a research fellow at the VADM James B. Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at the U.S. Naval Academy from 2013 to 2014.

Mark Clark, Ph.D.

Expertise: Medieval Theology, Biblical Theology, Scholasticism

Mark Clark, Ph.D. in Medieval History, is an Ordinary Professor of Theology. Dr. Clark, who is jointly appointed to the Church History and the Historical and Systematic Theology areas in the School of Theology and Religious Studies, works on the formation of the scholastic tradition, biblical as well as theological, from 1150 to 1350.

David Cloutier, Ph.D.

Expertise: Ethics, Economics, Theology

David Cloutier, Ph.D. in Religion, is an Associate Professor of Moral Theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. A graduate of Carleton College and Duke University, he is the author of The Vice of Luxury: Economic Excess in a Consumer Age (Georgetown) and Walking God’s Earth: The Environment and Catholic Theology (Liturgical), and the co-editor of Naming Our Sins: How Recognizing the Seven Deadly Vices Can Renew the Sacrament of Reconciliation (CUA Press). His writing has appeared in Commonweal, America, and US Catholic, among other popular publications, and he edits the academic group blog catholicmoraltheology.com. He is on the Board of Directors of the Society of Christian Ethics, was a 2019-20 Life Fellow of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, and will be giving a plenary address on ethics and work at the 2020 annual meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of America. He is particularly interested in the intersection between claims in the social sciences about agency and structure and Catholic accounts of moral agency.

Ed Condon

Ed Condon is the co-founder and editor of The Pillar, the online Catholic news site. Previously the DC editor of the Catholic News Agency and an associate editor of the Catholic Herald magazine, his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, National Review, the Washington Examiner, the Spectator, the Bulwark, First Things, as well as several academic and legal journals.

He is also a canon lawyer, having practiced in dioceses across three continents and the Holy See. Previously he spent nearly ten years working in professional politics in the United Kingdom.”

Dennis Coyle, Ph.D.

Expertise: Constitutionalism, Political Culture, Political and Social Thought

Dennis Coyle is an Associate Professor of Politics. Dr. Coyle’s research interests include liberal democracy and constitutionalism, French and American social and political thought and culture, constitutional law, and Catholic social thought. This fall he will be in residence as an invited researcher in the school of philosophy at the Institut Catholique de Paris (the Catholic University of Paris). He has held visiting appointments at the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for Study of Public Choice, the Social Philosophy and Policy Center, and at Sciences Po (Institut d’Etudes Politiques) in Reims, Lille, and Bordeaux.

Laurie DeRose, Ph.D.

Expertise: Population Studies, Family Demography

Laurie DeRose, Ph.D. in Sociology, is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at The Catholic University of America. She also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, and serves as the Director of Research for their World Family Map project that investigates both the determinants of family strength and the outcomes stemming from family strength across the globe. She is currently studying the effects of family structure on education in the Global South, including the possibility that where single motherhood is prevalent, the gender gap in education may be smaller.

Ross Douthat

Expertise: Media, Church History, Theology

Ross Douthat is a Media Fellow at the Institute for Human Ecology. He joined The New York Times as an Op-Ed Columnist in 2009. Previously, he was a Senior Editor at the Atlantic and Blogger for theatlantic.com. He is the author of To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism (Simon and Schuster, 2018), Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, (Simon and Schuster, 2012), and Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class (Hyperion, 2005). He is the co-author, with Reihan Salam, of Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream (Doubleday, 2008). Mr. Douthat is also the Film Critic for National Review.

Flavio Felice

Expertise: Political Theory, Economic Theory, Social Ethics

Flavio Felice is a Professor of the History of Political Thought at the University of Molise. From 2010 to 2017, he was Director of the International Research Area Caritas in Veritate, focusing on the social doctrine of the Church, at the Pontifical Lateran University. He is President of the Tocqueville-Acton Society.

Jennifer A. Frey, Ph.D.

Expertise: Philosophy of Action, Ethics

Jennifer A. Frey, Ph.D. in Philosophy, is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina, working at the intersection of the philosophy of action and ethics. She was recently a PI of a three year, 2.1 million dollar research project titled, “Virtue, Happiness, and Meaning of Life.” She is the author of many articles and recently co-edited a book titled, Self-Transcendence and Virtue: Perspectives from Philosophy, Psychology, and Theology. She runs a popular philosophy podcast, “Sacred and Profane Love.”

Monsignor Anthony R. Frontiero, S.T.D.

Expertise: Social Ethics, Moral Theology and Religion, Social Theory

Monsignor Frontiero, S.T.D., was born and raised in New Hampshire.  He was ordained to the priesthood in 1991 for the Diocese of Manchester (New Hampshire), and has served in various assignments throughout the last 26 years, including: Parochial Vicar of Saint Joseph Cathedral in Manchester (1991-1994); Diocesan Vocation Director and Diocesan Master of Ceremonies (1994-1997); Diplomatic Attaché to the Holy See Mission to the United Nations in New York (1999-2002); Pastor of Saint Pius X Church in Manchester (2002-2006); Official of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the Vatican (2006-2011); Pastor and Rector of Saint Joseph Cathedral in Manchester (2011-2016).  He currently serves as Vice Rector and Director of Human Formation at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he also teaches social ethics.  Monsignor Frontiero holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Administration from the University of New Hampshire; a Master of Divinity Degree and a Master of Arts Degree in Moral Theology from Seton Hall University, New Jersey; a Licentiate in Moral Theology from Catholic University of America, Washington; and a Doctorate in Moral Theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum), Rome.

George Garvey, J.D.

Expertise: Economic Regulatory Law and Policy, History and Application of Catholic Social Doctrine, Catholic Education

George Garvey, J.D., is an Emeritus Ordinary Professor of Law at The Catholic University of America. His expertise includes economic and regulatory law and policy, the interdisciplinary study of Catholic Social Doctrine as it relates to socioeconomics, human development and culture, and the education of Catholics and others regarding the application of Catholic Social Teaching to issues of contemporary life. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice, a lay led Vatican foundation committed to the promotion of Catholic Social Doctrine, particularly to professional and business leaders. Garvey was primarily responsible for the creation of a CUA/CAPP certificate program offered yearly in Washington; and participated in the creation of an online course on Catholic Social Doctrines for Professionals.

Michael Gorman, Ph.D.

Expertise: Metaphysics, Human Nature

Michael Gorman is Ordinary Professor of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America, where he has taught since 1999.  He holds doctorates in philosophy and theology, and has been a Fulbright Fellow in Cologne and an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in Leipzig.   His philosophical research focuses on questions of metaphysics and human nature, and he has a special interest in the idea that concepts in these areas are irreducibly normative.  The author of many scholarly articles, and a monograph entitled Aquinas on the Metaphysics of the Hypostatic Union (Cambridge, 2017), he is currently working on an introduction to Thomistic metaphysics and a book on human nature and human dignity.  Some of his talks and interviews can be found on SoundCloud and similar sites.

John Grabowski, Ph.D.

A native of Wisconsin, Dr. Grabowski earned his B.A. in theology at the University of Steubenville and his Ph.D. at Marquette University.  For the last thirty years he has been on the faculty of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. where he is currently Ordinary Professor of Moral Theology/ Ethics.  He and his wife were appointed to the Pontifical Council for the Family by Pope Benedict XVI in the fall of 2009 where they served as a member couple.  He has served two terms as a theological advisor to the U.S.C.C.B. Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family, and Youth and one term as an advisor to the subcommittee which produced the Pastoral Letter Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan (2009).  In 2015 he was appointed by Pope Francis to serve as an expert (adiutor) at the Synod of Bishops on the Family.

Dr. Grabowski has published widely in the areas of moral theology, marriage, sexuality, and bioethics.  His articles have appeared in scholarly journals as Nova et Vetera, The Thomist, The Heythrop Journal, and the National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly as well as more popular publications such as America, Commonweal, The Living Light, and Our Sunday Visitor.  His books include Sex and Virtue: An Introduction to Sexual Ethics (CUA Press, 2003), Transformed in Christ: Essays on the Renewal of Moral Theology (Sapientia Press, 2017), One Body:  A Program of Marriage Formation for the New Evangelization with Claire Grabowski (Emmaus Road Press, 2018), A Catechism for Family Life with Sarah Bartel (CUA Press, 2018), and Raising Catholic Kids for Their Vocations with Claire Grabowski (TAN, 2019).

Dr. Grabowski has lectured and presented at conferences across the United States.  He and his wife Claire are regular guests on Greg and Lisa Popcak’s radio show More 2 Life on EWTN.  They have five children, six grandchildren, and reside in the Archdiocese of Washington.

Carrie Gress

Carrie Gress is a Fellow at Ethics and Public Policy Center. A mother of five, she has a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of America and is the author or coauthor of several books, including “The Anti-Mary Exposed: Rescuing the Culture from Toxic Femininity,” and “Theology of Home.” She is the editor of the online women’s magazine Theologyofhome.com. 

Jakub Grygiel, Ph.D.

Expertise: Foreign Policy

Jakub Grygiel is an Associate Professor of Politics at The Catholic University of America (Washington, DC). In 2017-2018 he was a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State in the Office of Policy Planning working on European affairs. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis and on the faculty of SAIS-Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC. He is the author of Return of the Barbarians (Cambridge University Press, 2018), Great Powers and Geopolitical Change (JHU Press, 2006), and co-author with Wess Mitchell of The Unquiet Frontier (Princeton University Press, 2016). His writings on international relations and security studies have appeared in Foreign Affairs, The American Interest, Security Studies, Journal of Strategic Studies, Orbis, Commentary, Parameters, as well as several U.S. and foreign newspapers. He earned a Ph.D., M.A. and an MPA from Princeton University, and a BSFS Summa Cum Laude from Georgetown University.

Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau O.P.

A native of Louisiana, Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau became Catholic University of America’s Chaplain and Director of Campus Ministry in the summer of 2022. He entered the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in 2005. After several years of pastoral work in New York City, Fr. Guilbeau began doctoral studies in moral theology at the University of Fribourg, where he completed a dissertation on St. Thomas Aquinas’s doctrine of the common good. In addition to his teaching, Fr. Guilbeau serves as senior editor of Aleteia.org (English edition).

Edward Hadas, Ph.D.

Expertise: Economic Theory, Financial Markets, Social Ethics

Edward Hadas is a freelance journalist and independent scholar. He is currently writing regularly for Reuters Breakingviews and the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a Canadian think tank. He is also a Research Scholar at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University.

Nora Heimann, Ph.D.

Expertise: Art History, Art and Religion, Art and National Identity

Nora Heimann is an Associate Professor and the Chair of the Art Department. Dr. Heimann is a specialist in European and American modern and contemporary art history, and in the relationship between art, religion, and national identity.

Thomas Hibbs, Ph.D.

Expertise: Philosophy, Ethics, Culture

Thomas Hibbs is a professor of philosophy at Baylor University. He previously served as the President of the University of Dallas and was Dean of the Honors College and Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Culture at Baylor University, where he taught in the Great Texts Program, the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, and the graduate program in Philosophy. He received his B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Dallas and an M.M.S. and Ph.D. from Notre Dame. He was a tutor at Thomas Aquinas College for three years before moving to Boston College, where he taught for thirteen years and where he was Full Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy.

In addition to two books on film (Shows About Nothing and Arts of Darkness) and a book co-authored with the contemporary painter, Makoto Fujimura (Soliloquies: Rouault/Fujimura), Hibbs has written three books on Thomas Aquinas: Dialectic and Narrative in Aquinas: An Interpretation of the Summa Contra Gentiles (University of Notre Dame Press, 1995); Virtue’s Splendor: Wisdom, Prudence, and the Human Good (Fordham University Press, 2001); and Aquinas, Ethics, and Philosophy of Religion: Metaphysics and Practice (Indiana University Press, 2007). He wrote the “Introduction” to Augustine’s Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love (Regnery, 1996); edited and wrote an introduction for Aquinas on Human Nature (Hackett , 1999); with John O’Callaghan, edited and wrote the introduction for Recovering Nature: Essays in Natural Philosophy, Metaphysic, and Ethics (University of Notre Dame Press, 1999); and with Peter Candler, edited, Contemporary Thomisms, The American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 83 (2009).

Mary Hirschfeld, Ph.D.

Expertise: Economic Theory, Economic Justice, Moral Theology

Mary Hirschfeld, Ph.D. in Economics and in Moral Theology, is an Associate Professor of Economics and Theology at Villanova University. Dr. Hirschfeld works along the boundary between economics and theology, specifically by developing an approach to economics that is grounded in the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas, with applications to questions of consumption economics, economic justice, the common good, the nature of practical reason, and economic methodology.

Russell Hittinger, Ph.D.

From 1996-2019, Dr. Hittinger was the incumbent of the William K. Warren Chair of Catholic Studies at the University of Tulsa, where he was also a Research Professor in the School of Law. Since May 2019 he is the Emeritus Professor of Religion.   

In 2019, he became the Senior Fellow at the Lumen Christi Institute at the University of Chicago, where he is a Visiting Scholar in the John U. Neff Committee on Social Thought, and Visiting Professor in the Law School at the University of Chicago.

From 2020 through 2022 he is a Visiting Professor at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (Graduate Theological Union, University of California, Berkeley), where he has served as Dean of the College of Fellows since 2014. 

In January 2020 he gave the Aquinas Lecture at Blackfriars, Oxford.

Since 2001, he is a member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, to which he was elected a full member (ordinarius) in 2004, and appointed to the consilium or governing board from 2006-2018. On Sept. 8, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Professor Hittinger as an ordinarius in the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, in which he finished his ten-year term in 2019.

In 2005, he was named an Alonzo MacDonald Senior Fellow for Christian Jurisprudence in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University School of Law. He remains an Affiliated Scholar.

He has taught at Fordham University and at the Catholic University of America, and has taught as a Visiting Professor at Princeton University, New York University, Providence College, and Charles University in Prague. During the academic term 2014-15, he was a Visiting Ordinary Professor in the School of Business and Economics at the Catholic University of America.

On 25 May 2013, he was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris Causa) by The Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA. He gave the 81^st annual commencement address. He was elected Dean of the College of Fellows at Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley) in 2014.

In 2003, to mark the centenary of the death of Pope Leo XIII, Professor Hittinger gave a lecture to Ministry of Culture of the Italian Government. In 2004 he gave a talk titled “Secularity and the Anthropological Problem,” as the Inaugural Claude Ryan Lecture in Catholic Social Thought, at McGill University in Montreal. In December 2006, he addressed the President, Prime Minister, and Speakers of the Polish Parliament in the Royal Castle in Warsaw. His keynote address culminated a week-long celebration of human rights and the Polish constitution. 

In 2000, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, where he is on the Board of Advisors. For the academic year 2007-08, he was the Robert J. Randall Distinguished Visiting Professor in Christian Culture at Providence College.

His books and articles have appeared through the University of Notre Dame Press, Oxford University Press, Columbia University Press, Fordham University Press, the Review of Metaphysics, the Journal of Law and Religion, the Review of Politics, and several law journals (both American and European). He has work forthcoming with Yale University Press and Catholic University of America press.

Zena Hitz

Zena Hitz is a Tutor at St. John’s College. Her latest book, Lost in Thought, just appeared from Princeton University Press. The book explores the meaning and the value of learning for its own sake, through images and stories of bookworms, philosophers, scientists, and other learners, both fictional and historical. In addition to her teaching, she frequently gives lectures for the Thomistic Institute, recently on the theme of leisure and its necessity for human beings. Her scholarly work is on self-knowledge, law, virtue, friendship, and human nature in Plato and Aristotle. After she graduated from St. John’s College, Hitz studied classics and philosophy at Cambridge and the University of Chicago before finishing up her Ph.D. at Princeton University. She has taught philosophy at McGill University, Auburn University, and at UMBC before returning to her alma mater, St. John’s College. Hitz has also spent three years living and working in the Madonna House Apostolate prior to her current teaching position at St. John’s and has taught in prison programs. She has a general interest in bringing humanist studies to non-traditional students.

Reinhard Hütter, Ph.D.

Expertise: Theological Anthropology, Systematic Theology, Thomistic Thought

Reinhard Hütter, Ph.D. in Theology, is an Ordinary Professor of Fundamental and Dogmatic Theology in the School of Theology and Religious Studies. Much of Dr. Hütter’s research and writing in recent years has focused on theological anthropology — the human being created in the image of God — and on the closely related topics of nature and grace, divine and human freedom, faith and reason, theology, and metaphysics.

Christopher Kaczor, PH.D.

Dr. Christopher Kaczor is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University.  He graduated from the Honors Program of Boston College and earned a Ph.D. four years later from the University of Notre Dame. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Kaczor did post-doctoral work as a Alexander von Humboldt German Chancellor Fellow at the University of Cologne. He was appointed a Corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life of Vatican City, a fellow of the Word on Fire Institute, and William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University. The winner of a Templeton Grant, he has written more than 100 scholarly articles and book chapters. An award winning author, his sixteen books include Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity: The Search for a Meaningful Life, Disputes in Bioethics, Thomas Aquinas on the Cardinal Virtues,  Abortion Rights: For and Against, 365 Days to Deeper Faith,  The Gospel of Happiness, The Seven Big Myths about Marriage,  A Defense of Dignity,  The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church, The Ethics of Abortion, O Rare Ralph McInerny: Stories and Reflections on a Legendary Notre Dame Professor, Life Issues-Medical Choices; Thomas Aquinas on Faith, Hope, and Love; The Edge of Life, and Proportionalism and the Natural Law Tradition. Dr. Kaczor’s views have been in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, National Review, NPR, BBC, EWTN, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, MSNBC, TEDx, and The Today Show.

Kevin Kambo, Ph.D.

Expertise: Greek Philosophy, Philosophy of Technology, Philosophy of Literature, Liberal Education

Kevin M. Kambo is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He specializes in classical Greek philosophy, particularly Platonic moral psychology. He also has scholarly interest in philosophy of technology, philosophy of literature, and liberal education.

Elizabeth Kirk

Elizabeth R. Kirk is the Director of the Center for Law & the Human Person, and a research associate and lecturer, at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law. She is also an associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute. She previously served as a law clerk for Judge Daniel A. Manion on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Elizabeth’s scholarly and professional interests are varied and interdisciplinary in nature, exploring the relationship, both complementary and contrasting, between the Catholic intellectual tradition and law. She has a special interest in matters pertaining to the family and in adoption law and policy.

Elizabeth holds an undergraduate degree cum laude in English Literature from the University of Missouri, a law degree magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame and has done graduate studies in theology. 

Angela McKay Knobel, Ph.D.

Expertise: Moral Philosophy, Thomistic Ethics, Virtue Ethics

Angela McKay Knobel, Ph.D. in Philosophy, is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Dallas. She has published extensively on medieval and contemporary ethics. Her work focuses primarily on Aquinas’ theory of infused virtue, virtue ethics and applied ethics. Her book Aquinas and the Infused Moral Virtues is forthcoming from the University of Notre Dame Press. 

V. Bradley Lewis, Ph.D.

Expertise: Political Philosophy, Jurisprudence, Ethics

V. Bradley Lewis, Ph.D. in Government and International Studies, is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America. Dr. Lewis specializes in political and legal philosophy. He has written articles on the political thought of Plato and Aristotle and on some figures in the neo-Thomist tradition, as well as on the topics of public reason and religious freedom.

Kathryn Jean Lopez

Kathryn Jean Lopez is a senior fellow at the National Review Institute where she directs the Center for Religion, Culture, and Civil Society. She is also editor-at-large of National Review magazine (where she has been on the editorial staff, including as editor of National Review Online, since 1997). She is published widely in Catholic and secular publications and is also a nationally syndicated columnist with Andrews McMeel Universal. Lopez is author of A Year with the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living. She speaks frequently on faith in public life, virtue, and prayer.

Laura E. Masur, Ph.D.

Expertise: Historical Archaeology, Anthropology of Religion, Ethics

Laura E. Masur, Ph.D. in Anthropology, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology. Her current project, Priestly Plantations: An Archaeology of Jesuit Missions in Maryland, explores the complex material worlds of Jesuit priests, enslaved Africans, and American Indians. The project synthesizes archaeological collections from southern Maryland and central Pennsylvania, integrated with historical and architectural evidence of landscape development and labor management, to show connections between plantations and Catholic communities.

James McCrery, AIA

Expertise: Classical Architecture, Church Architecture, Urbanism Architecture

James McCrery, AIA, is a Professor and Chair of the Search Committee for the new Classical Concentration Faculty at the School of Architecture, where he directs the Classical Architecture & Urbanism Concentration of studies at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Mr. McCrery is a practitioner of classical and traditional architecture and is Founder and Principal of McCrery Architects.

John McNerney, Ph.D.

Expertise: Philosophical Anthropology, Business Ethics, Social Ethics

John McNerney is a researcher and lecturer in business ethics and philosophy. He has been Head Chaplain/Student Adviser at University College in Dublin, Ireland. He recently published a book, Wealth of Persons: Economics with a Human Face, that investigates how the wealth of nations is best measured in the “ wealth of persons” who make up and maintain human communities. He is currently a visiting scholar at The Catholic University of America.

Noelle Mering

Noelle Mering is a fellow at the Washington D.C. think tank, the Ethics and Public Policy Center. She is the author of the book, Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology (TAN Books). She is an editor for the website TheologyofHome.com and author of the Theology of Home book series. Noelle is a wife and mother of six children in Southern California.

Margarita Mooney, Ph.D.

Expertise: The Human Person and the Social Sciences; Philosophy and Education; Aesthetics and Culture

Margarita Mooney is an Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she teaches classes such as philosophy of social science; aesthetics and education; and resilience, vulnerability and suffering. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Scala Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Princeton, New Jersey, that works to offer meaning and purpose in American education by restoring a classical liberal arts education. Professor Mooney received her B.A. in Psychology from Yale University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton University. Prior to returning to Princeton, she was on the faculty of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Yale University. She is the author of The Love of Learning: Seven Dialogues on the Liberal Arts (Cluny Media, 2021) and Faith Makes Us Live: Surviving and Thriving in the Haitian Diaspora (University of California Press, 2019). In addition to her scholarly publications, she has written for publications that reach wide audiences both inside and outside academia such as Real Clear Policy, Scientific American, Chronicle of Higher Education, First Things, Public Discourse, Hedgehog Review, National Catholic Register, and Church Life Journal. Much of her work can be found at www.margaritamooney.com.

Melissa Moschella, Ph.D.

Melissa Moschella is Associate Professor of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America, where her teaching and research focus on natural law, biomedical ethics, and the moral and political status of the family. Her book, To Whom Do Children Belong? Parental Rights, Civic Education and Children’s Autonomy was published in 2016 by Cambridge University Press. Dr. Moschella speaks and writes on a variety of contemporary moral issues, including brain death, end-of-life ethics, parental rights, reproductive technologies, and conscience rights.  Her articles have been published in scholarly journals as well as popular media outlets, including Bioethics, The Journal of Medical Ethics, The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Christian Bioethics, Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, The American Journal of Jurisprudence, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The New York Daily News, and The Public Discourse.  She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, received a Licentiate in Philosophy summa cum laude from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, and received her Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from Princeton University.

James L. Nolan Jr., Ph.D.

Expertise: Law and Society, Culture, Technology and Social Change, and Historical Comparative Sociology

James L. Nolan, Jr., Ph.D. in Sociology, is the Washington Gladden 1859 Professor of Sociology at Williams College. His current book project, Delivering Little Boy: Doctoring History at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age is a unique look at the role of the medical doctors on the Manhattan Project and the early years of the nuclear age. He is the author of a number of books, including, What They Saw in America: Alexis de Tocqueville, Max Weber, G.K. Chesterton, and Sayyid Qutb (Cambridge University Press, 2016).

Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, Ph.D.

Expertise: Applied Microeconomics, Economics of Education, Family Studies

Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, Ph.D. in Economics, is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Busch School of Business. Her primary areas of research include economics of education and religion, family studies and demography, Catholic Social Thought and political economy. Dr. Pakaluk is the 2015 recipient of the Acton Institute’s Novak Award, a prize given for “significant contributions to the study of the relationship between religion and economic liberty.”

Michael Pakaluk, Ph.D.

Expertise: Virtue Ethics, Natural Law, Professional Ethics

Michael Pakaluk, Ph.D. in Philosophy, is a researcher in ancient philosophy. Dr. Pakaluk’s deeper concern is the recovery of a just appreciation of the classical mind, but his interests span many areas of philosophy, including political philosophy, philosophy of psychology, and professional ethics.

James Patterson

James Patterson received his B.A. in Political Science and Media Studies at the University of Houston in 2002 and his Ph.D. in American Politics from the University of Virginia in 2012. He is currently an Associate Professor and Chair in the Politics Department at Ave Maria University, a Research Fellow at the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy, president of the Ciceronian Society, and a faculty affiliate with the Jack Miller Center. He has held research positions at the Program for American Values and Institutions at Duke University and the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, as well as teaching positions at Hampden-Sydney College and Gettysburg College. His areas of research include race, religion, and American political development.

He has published academic work in American Political Thought, Journal of Church and State, Religions, and Perspectives on Political Science. He has published more popular essays and book reviews for National Affairs, Modern Age, Society, Law and Liberty, and Public Discourse. In early 2019, the University of Pennsylvania Press published his first book, Religion in the Public Square: Sheen, King, and Falwell. This book examines how very different religious leaders–Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and Rev. Jerry Falwell–sought to influence national politics by preaching their interpretation of American political foundations to both the voting public and political elites. He is currently working on his next book, a compilation of the political and social thought of Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

He lives in Ave Maria, Florida, with his wife and four children.

Chad C. Pecknold, Ph.D.

Expertise: Fundamental Theology, Theological Anthropology, Theological Politics

Chad C. Pecknold, Ph.D. in Systematic Theology, is an Associate Professor of Systematic Theology. He teaches in the areas of fundamental theology, Christian anthropology, and political theology, with a particular interest in Saint Augustine’s City of God. As a commentator on the Church and contemporary politics, Dr. Pecknold has appeared on a wide variety of other news programs from NPR and PBS, to FOX, CNBC, Voice of America, and the BBC

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, J.D.

Andrea PIcciotti-Bayer is Director of the Conscience Project. A Stanford-educated lawyer, she has dedicated her legal career to civil rights and appellate advocacy. She got her start in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Andrea is a legal analyst for EWTN News, a regular columnist for the National Catholic Register and frequent guest on EWTN’s News Nightly. In 2021, Andrea received First Place for Best Coverage — Religious Liberty Issues from the Catholic Media Association. Andrea’s writing has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, National Review, Newsweek, CNN en Espanol and other well-regarded publications. 

Andrea is a Media Fellow and Strategic Consultant at the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America. 

Andrea lived in Colombia for over a decade. She has ten children and lives in the Washington, DC area. 

Jonathan Reyes, Ph.D.

Expertise: Catholic Social Teaching, Intellectual History

Dr. Jonathan J. Reyes, Executive Director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, was educated at the University of Michigan, where he studied European History as a Rackham Fellow. He earned a Ph.D. in European History at the University of Notre Dame, writing his dissertation on the historical vision of Christopher Dawson. In 2009, Dr. Reyes became the President/CEO of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver. In 2005, Dr. Reyes helped found the Augustine Institute of Denver, a graduate program devoted to Catholic theological studies and leadership training, and served as its first President. Dr. Reyes also served as Vice President for ministry and formation for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students and also taught in the History Department at Christendom College, in Front Royal, Virginia where he served two years served as Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Jay W. Richards, Ph.D.

Expertise: Political Philosophy, Moral Theology, Economic Theory

Jay W. Richards, Ph.D. in Philosophy and in Theology, is an Assistant Research Professor at the Busch School of Business, Executive Editor of The Stream, and a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute. Dr. Richards’ articles and essays range from culture, economics, and public policy to natural science, technology, and the environment.

Lloyd Sandelands, Ph.D.

Expertise: Organizational Psychology, Management, Social Ethics

Lloyd Sandelands, Ph.D. in Organization Behavior, is a Professor of Management and Organizations and of Psychology at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on the social and spiritual dimensions of life in organizations. He teaches courses in social and organizational psychology and management to graduate and undergraduate students in business administration and psychology.

Stephanie Saroki de García

Expertise: Education Philanthropy, Academic Leadership, Public Policy

Stephanie Saroki de Garcia helped launch Seton in 2009 to give every child, regardless of background, an opportunity to have an academically excellent, character-building, and vibrantly Catholic education. Recently, Stephanie launched and directed the Philanthropy Roundtable’s K-12 education programs, where she spearheaded a series of conferences, strategy sessions, and publications on breakthroughs in education philanthropy. She co-wrote Saving America’s Urban Catholic Schools: A Guide for Donors and also served on the strategic planning committee for the Archdiocese of New York’s school system, chairing the committee on school leadership. Stephanie attended Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government as a dean’s fellow. While completing her Master’s degree in Public Policy at the Kennedy School, Stephanie worked at the Office of Management and Budget. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Rhetoric from the University of California at Berkeley.

William L. Saunders, J.D.

Of Counsel | Americans United for Life | Chair of Religious Liberties Group, The Federalist Society | President, The Fellowship of Catholic Scholars

Expertise: Bioethics, Religious Liberty, Human Rights

Bill Saunders, J.D., is a graduate of the Harvard Law School who has been involved in issues of public policy, law and ethics for thirty years. A regular columnist for the National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Mr. Saunders has written widely on these topics, as well as on Catholic social teaching. He has given lectures in law schools and colleges throughout the United States and the world. He is the Director of the Program in Human Rights for the Institute for Human Ecology.

Frederic Sautet, Ph.D.

Expertise: Political Economy, Entrepreneurship Theory

Frederic Sautet, Ph.D. in Economics, is an Associate Professor of Political Economy and Entrepreneurship Theory at the Busch School of Business. His primary areas of research and teaching include market process theory, Austrian economics, organization theory, 19^th century Political Economy, and Catholic Social Thought. Dr. Sautet is the Director of the Röpke-Wojtyła Fellowship and a Co-Founder of the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship. He is the Co-Editor of The Collected Works of Israel Kirzner published by Liberty Fund, and the author of An Entrepreneurial Theory of the Firm (Routledge, 2000).

Paul Scherz, Ph.D.

Expertise: Bioethics, Religion and Science, Technology Ethics

Paul Scherz, Ph.D. in Moral Theology and in Genetics, is an Assistant Professor of Moral Theology and Ethics. Dr. Scherz researches the moral theology of biotechnology. He examines how the daily use of biomedical technologies shapes the way researchers, doctors, and patients see and manipulate the world and their bodies.

D. C. Schindler, Ph.D.

Expertise: Metaphysics, Anthropology, Philosophy of Work

David C. Schindler, Ph.D. in Philosophy, is an Associate Professor of Metaphysics and Anthropology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute. A focus of Dr. Schindler’s research is the philosophy of work. A number of themes in human ecology converge in this domain, such as those of man’s pursuit of happiness, especially in his embodied condition, and man’s relationship to God in the original commandment to till the earth and to fulfill his role as image of the Creator.

Lucia Ann Silecchia, J.D.

Expertise: Environmental Law and Ethics, Catholic Social Thought and Law, Catholic Higher Education

Professor Silecchia has taught at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law since 1991. She has been an Ordinary Professor since 2004, and served as the law school’s Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in 2004 and 2005. She also directs Catholic University’s Summer Law Program in Rome. From September 2015 to August, 2017, she served as Catholic University’s Vice Provost for Policy.

Professor Silecchia recently wrote the book chapter, The When and the Where of Love: Subsidiarity as a Framework for Care of the Elderly, and was published in the newly released book Agape, Justice and Law: How Might Christian Love Shape Law published by Cambridge University Press (Robert F. Cochran & Zachary Kelo, editors). The chapter explores the practical and moral challenges of providing loving care to the elderly.

Stephanie Slade

Stephanie Slade is a senior editor at Reason magazine and a fellow in liberal studies at the Acton Institute. In 2016, she was selected to the Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship. In 2013, she was named a finalist for the Bastiat Prize for Journalism. Her writing has also appeared in America magazine, The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, and elsewhere.

Maximilian B. Torres Jr., Ph.D., J.D.

Expertise: Virtue Ethics in Business, Ethical Decision-Making in Organizations, Catholic Social Teaching

Maximilian B. Torres, Ph.D. in Business Ethics, is the Centesimus Annus Della Ratta Family Endowed Professor and a Clinical Associate Professor at the Busch School of Business. His research focuses on the reciprocal natures of personal virtue and organizational culture, with an eye towards harnessing organizational intangibles through managerial decision-making capable of creating conditions for human flourishing.

Erin Tuttle

Expertise: Federalism, Education

Erin Tuttle is a public policy analyst specializing in the underlying mechanisms employed by the administrative state to expand federal control over state and local policy. Her published works include co-author of Deconstructing the Administrative State: The Fight for Liberty (Sophia Institute Press/Liberty Hill, 2017), co-author of the white paper Common Core Does Not Equal Excellent, and numerous op-eds. She has drafted model legislation and has presented her invited testimony before the legislatures of several states. In 2011, Ms. Tuttle led the successful legislative effort in her home state of Indiana to pass legislation to end Common Core and her efforts are widely considered by commentators, activists, and state legislators as contributing to the launch of the national grassroots pushback against Common Core and the further centralization of education policymaking. She is a regular contributor to media outlets and guest on television and talk radio programs. Ms. Tuttle received her BA in Political Science from Indiana University.

Peter Ulrickson, Ph.D.

Expertise: Algebraic Topology, Quantum Field Theory, Category Theory

Peter Ulrickson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics. His research interests include algebraic topology, mathematical formulations of quantum field theory, and generally how mathematical models describe physical phenomena and human interactions.

Brandon Vaidyanathan, Ph.D.

Expertise: Work and Professions, Religion and Globalization, Religion, Science, and Health

Brandon Vaidyanathan, Ph.D. in Sociology, is an Associate Professor of Sociology. His research spans several countries and examines the cultural dimensions of religious, commercial, medical, and scientific institutions. His ongoing work aims to improve the ability of faith communities to better recognize and respond to mental health needs.

Adrian Walker, Ph.D.

Expertise: Natural Philosophy, Technology Theory, Science and Religion

Adrian Walker, Ph.D. in Philosophy, is a Professor of Theology at Saint Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park, CA.  His interests include science and religion, the philosophy of nature, and the question of technology. He is also a professional translator. His best-known translation is the first volume of Pope Benedict’s Jesus of Nazareth. He is an Editor of Communio: International Catholic Review.

David Walsh, Ph.D.

Expertise: Political Theory, Liberal Democracy, Modernist Thought 

David Walsh, Ph.D. in Government, is an Ordinary Professor of Politics. His teaching and research are in the field of political theory broadly conceived. His focus has been on the question that the modern world poses for itself at its deepest level: Does our civilization possess the moral and spiritual resources to survive?

Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a media fellow at the Institute for Human Ecology. He is editor of The Lamp, a bimonthly Catholic magazine. He is also a contributing Opinion writer at The New York Times. He was previously a national correspondent for The Week, where he wrote a daily column on American life for four years. He has contributed essays, articles, and reviews on religious and literary themes, from the lives of other eminent English Catholics such as Msgr. Ronald Knox and Evelyn Waugh to ghost stories, baseball, Lena Dunham, and the role of champagne in the writings of various socialist worthies to a wide number of publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, The New York Post, The Spectator, Prospect, First Things, The Catholic Herald, The National Catholic Register, The Critic, National Review, and many others. He has discussed his writing on Fox News, All Things Considered, and numerous other radio programs and podcasts. His work has also been featured many times on The Drudge Report, Real Clear Politics, C.N.N., and Arts and Letters Daily. He lives with his wife, Lydia, and their four children, Thisbe, Violet, John, and Sylvia, in rural Southwest Michigan.

Andreas Widmer

Expertise: Entrepreneurship, Economic Development, Business Leadership

Andreas Widmer is Director of Entrepreneurship Programs at the Busch School of Business. Mr. Widmer works closely with top entrepreneurs, investors, and faith leaders around the world to foster enterprise solutions to poverty and promote virtuous business practices.

W. Bradford Wilcox, Ph.D.

Expertise: Demography, Sociology of Religion, Marriage, Family and Politics

W. Bradford Wilcox, Ph.D. in Sociology, is Director of the National Marriage Project, and Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia.  In his latest work, Soul Mates: Religion, Sex, Love, and Marriage Among African Americans and Latinos, Dr. Wilcox shines a much-needed spotlight on the role that faith plays in the lives of strong and happy minority couples. He is now studying the class divide in American family life.

Andrew Yuengert, Ph.D.

Expertise:  Economic Theory, Labor Economics, Choice Theory

Andrew M. Yuengert, Ph.D. in Economics, is a Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University. Dr. Yuengert has made research contributions in several fields: economic philosophy, Catholic Social Teaching, the empirical study of religion, labor economics, and finance. He is a former President of the Association of Christian Economists, and currently serves as Editor of its journal, Faith & Economics.