Our longtime NAS member Paul Moreno has recently accepted a position at Hillsdale College running what sounds to us like a splendid program in the Washington, DC area. He is also recruiting faculty members to teach in the program. This would be an opportunity for ABDs (all but dissertation students) and perhaps others attracted to the interesting courses that Hillsdale intends to offer. We asked Paul to give us a précis of the program; it is attached below. If you are interested or know someone who may be, please contact Paul directly at [email protected].
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Hillsdale College is beginning a new academic program at its Kirby Center for the Study of the Constitution and Citizenship in Washington, DC.
The Kirby Center is an extension of Hillsdale College’s mission to advance the sound learning upon which civic and religious liberty depends. Having sponsored seminars for congressional staff, public lectures, broadcasts of Constitution Town Hall meetings, and internships for Hillsdale students, the Kirby Center has already made a contribution to the improvement of political culture in the nation’s capital. Beginning in the spring semester, the college will offer six new courses at its DC campus:
ENG 370: Naturalism and Modernism, 1890-present
PHL 105: Introduction to Philosophy
REL 105: Introduction to Western Religion
ECO 105: Introduction to Political Economy
HST 483: Constitutional History of the U.S. to 1877
HST 308: The U.S. and the World since 1945
Students may also enroll in POL 402 (Public Policy) and POL 320 (National Security Studies) offered in the evening for full-time interns.
Other colleges have semester-in-DC programs, but Hillsdale’s will be unique. Its students will have already studied the sources and history of the American Constitution in their freshman and sophomore years, and will bring an informed understanding to their observations of the contemporary American political system. Moreover, these observations will occur largely in the context of the ordinary, full-time study of the liberal arts. In this way students will benefit from the convergence of Washington’s unique educational opportunities and Hillsdale’s traditional liberal arts education.
Study in Washington D.C. will broaden students’ horizons and expose them to the almost unlimited educational resources of the area. They will have access to museums, monuments, and other examples of institutional memory—and will be able to evaluate them critically. Guest lectures and regional excursions to historical and cultural venues will enrich their study as well.
