EDUCATION
Ph. D. in Political Philosophy, University of Dallas
M.A. in Political Philosophy and Literature, University of Dallas
B.A. in Political Science, Belmont Abbey College
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Dean, Braniff Graduate School, University of Dallas, 2024
Professor of Politics, University of Dallas, 2020
Chairman, Department of Politics, University of Dallas, 2011-2019
Associate Professor of Politics, University of Dallas, 2000-2020
Visiting Professor of Political Science, Department of Comparative Political Science,
Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Inglostadt, Eichstätt, Germany, 2016
Director, Center for Christianity and the Common Good, University of Dallas, 1993-present
Faculty Representative, Lilly Foundation's Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and
the Arts, 1997-present
RECENT COURSES
POL 1311 Principles of American Politics
POL 3312/5301 Political Regimes: Plutarch, Augustine, Machiavelli
POL 3326/5302 The Presidency
POL 3332/5305 Aristotle's Politics
POL 3368/5307 Catholic Political Thought
POL 4353 The Federalist/Anti-Federalist
POL 5357 Tocqueville
POL 6377 Cicero
POL 6377 Politics and the Bible
POL 4351 Senior Seminar
POL 4353 Catholic Political Thought
POL 7380 Medieval Political Philosophy
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
“St. Augustine's Specula Principum: The Qualities of Virtuous Rulership.” Essay contributed
to a conference on “Man, Nature and Society in the Church Fathers (2nd-5th Centuries)”:
International Colloquium in Thessaloniki on the Occasion of the 80th Anniversary of
Sources Chrétienne. Forthcoming in Studia Patristica (2025): Peer reviewed.
“St. Thomas Aquinas on the Importance of the Best Regime.” Vetera Novis Augere: The Resources of the Thomistic Tradition in the Current Context: II. Philosophical Themes and Historical Research. Eds. Serge-Thomas Bonino, Luca F. Tuninetti. Pontifical University of St. Thomas and Urbaniana University Press, Rome, Italy, (2025). Pp. 525-543. Peer Reviewed.
“What is an American? The Identity of Catholics in the American Polity.” Essay in Vielfalt, Gleichstellung und Inklusion’ im Licht der katholischen Soziallehre/ Identity and the Tradition of Catholic Social Thought: Understanding ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’.” Ed. Stefan Mückl. Berlin, Germany: Duncker & Humblot (2023): pp. 11-24. Peer reviewed.
“Augustine’s Roman Heroes: The Contest of Classical and Christian Virtue.” Essay in Studia Patristica: Augustine of Hippo's “De ciuitate Dei:” Content, Transmission, and Interpretations. Vol. CXVII. Eds. Markus Vinzent, Gert Partoens, Anthony Dupont. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters Publishers, (2021): 165-176. Peer reviewed.
“Solidarity and the American Political Order: Migration and America.” Essay in Migration und Solidarität. ed. Stefan Mückl. Berlin, Germany: Duncker & Humblot (2020): pp. 161-174. Peer reviewed.
“Federalism and the American Experiment: The Intention of the Constitution.” Essay in Making Government Work: A Conservative Agenda, ed. Nathaniel Parker, Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2020. Available at: https://makinggovernmentwork.com/.
“Natural Law in Augustine,” in Research Handbook on Natural Law Theory, eds. Jonathan Crowe and Constance Youngwon Lee, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019: pp. 57-75.
“St. Augustine and the Problem of Political Ethics,” in Augustine’s Political Thought, ed. Richard J. Dougherty. Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press, 2019: 13-35. Peer reviewed.
“St. Thomas Aquinas on the Nature of Man in the ‘Treatise on Law’,” Divus Thomas 121 (Fall, 2018): 167-177. Peer reviewed.
PRESENTATIONS
“St. Augustine’s Roman Heroes: A Reconsideration of Roman Virtue.” Paper presented
at XVIII International Conference on Patristic Studies at Oxford University, Oxford,
United Kingdom, August 19-24, 2019.
Keynote Lecturer, week-long program, “Presidents and the Constitution: Historic Turning Points,” Summer Institute for Teachers, Bill of Rights Institute (Alexandria, VA), Washington, D.C., July 22-26, 2019.
“Avoiding ‘The Absurdity of Wicked Meanings’: St. Augustine, Scripture, and the Liberal Arts,” Plenary Lecture for Conference on “Scripture and the Disciplines,” Braniff Graduate Student Association Fifth Annual Conference on the Liberal Arts, University of Dallas, February 15-16, 2019.
“Challenges to Executive Discretion: The War Powers Resolution and the Courts,” Paper presented at a panel on “The Presidency, the Courts, and Separation of Power Politics,” Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, MA, August 30-September 2, 2018.
“Solidarity and the American Political Order: Migration and America,” Paper delivered at the German-American Colloquium on “Migration and Solidarity,” Hosted by the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Kloster Banz, Bad Staffelstein, Bavaria, Germany, July 23-28, 2018.
“Cicero’s de re Publica on Statesmanship and Political Philosophy,” Paper presented at a panel on “de Tocqueville: Old World, New World,” Twenty-Fourth Annual Conference, Association for Core Texts and Courses, Framingham, MA, April 19-22, 2018.
Participant, Rumsfeld Foundation Graduate Fellowship Program, “American Leadership: Advancing the Interests of the American People at Home and Abroad,” Rumsfeld Foundation, Washington, D.C., September 14-15, 2017.
“St. Thomas Aquinas on the Nature of Man in the Treatise on Law.” Paper presented at the Sixth Thomas Aquinas International Society Conference (Società Internazionale Tommaso d’Aquino, SITA), “The Human Person: La persona umana: Id quod est perfectissimum in tota natura.” Bologna, Italy, April 20-22, 2017.