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  Charity-Joy Acchiardo

  Charity-Joy Acchiardo is Associate Professor of Instruction in the 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. Professor 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.

• 

  Daniel Bonevac

  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 (Blackwell), Simple Logic (Oxford), Worldly Wisdom (Mayfield), and Historical Dictionary of Ethics (Rowman and Littlefield). Among his edited volumes are Today’s Moral Issues (McGraw-Hill, seven editions) and World Philosophy (Oxford, with Stephen Phillips). Professor 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 was Chairman of the Department of Philosophy from 1991 to 2001. He earned his PhD at the University of Pittsburgh.

• 

  J. Budziszewski

  J. Budziszewski is 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. Professor 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 (Cambridge University Press, 2014), its free online partner volume, Companion to the Commentary (Cambridge University Press, 2014), Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Virtue Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 2017), Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Happiness and Ultimate Purpose (Cambridge University Press, 2020), and Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Divine Law (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

• 

  Scott Carrell

  Scott Carrell is Professor of Economics in the College of Liberal Arts.  At Civitas, he leads a new undergraduate program on leadership and research.  Carrell writes and teaches in the fields of Public and Labor Economics.  He is the author of 27 peer-reviewed journal articles. Carrell’s early work focused on ways to improve military retention through local labor market forces, while most of his more recent work specializes in the economics of education.  Specifically, his research examines policies and practices to improve educational outcomes at the primary, secondary and post-secondary levels taking into account both costs and benefits. Carrell previously served twenty years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2015.  His previous academic appointments include the U.S. Air Force Academy, Dartmouth College, and the University of California, Davis.  In 2004, Carrell served as the Senior Economist for Public Finance and Labor Economics on the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President.  Additionally, Carrell is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Research Fellow at Institute for the Study of Labor, and a Co-Faculty Director of the California Education Lab.  From 2015-2022, he co-edited the Journal of Human Resources.

• 

  Carlos Carvalho

  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, Professor 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 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.

• 

  Patricio Fernandez

  Patricio A. Fernandez is Associate Professor of Philosophy in the College of Liberal Arts. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy and Economics from Harvard University. 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.

• 

  Sheena Chestnut Greitens

  Sheena Chestnut Greitens is Associate Professor in the LBJ 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, and in 2022, is concurrently a Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).  Prof. Greitens’ teaching and research focus 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 (Cambridge University Press, 2016), which won several academic awards. 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.

• 

  Kishore Gawande

  Kishore Gawande is Century Club Professor and Chair of the Business, Government and Society Department in the McCombs School of Business. Professor Gawande was previously 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. Professor Gawande’s areas of research include international trade policy, international political economy, conflict and development. His research has been published across disciplines in Economics, Political Science and Management. He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management and a PhD from the University of California at Los Angeles.

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  Adam Klein

  Adam Klein is Director of the Robert Strauss Center on International Security and Law at The University of Texas at 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 NSA, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, and other federal agencies. Previously, Adam practiced law at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, LLP 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 BA from Northwestern University and his JD from Columbia Law School.

• 

  Rob Koons

  Rob Koons is Professor of Philosophy in the College of Liberal Arts, where he has taught for 35 years. He is the author or co-author of five books, including: Realism Regained (Oxford University Press, 2000) and The Atlas of Reality: A Comprehensive Guide to Metaphysics, with Timothy H. Pickavance (Wiley-Blackwell, 2017). He is the co-editor (with George Bealer) of The Waning of Materialism (Oxford University Press, 2010), (with Nicholas Teh and William Simpson) of Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science (Routledge, 2018), and (with William Simpson and James Orr) of Neo-Aristotelian Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Nature (Routledge, 2021). 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? (St. Augustine Press) and Classical Theism (Routledge), 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.

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  David Leal

  David L. Leal is 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. His recent classes include Latino Politics, Immigration Politics, Politics and Religion, and British Politics. 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, he was recognized with the Distinguished Career Award from the Latina/o Caucus of the Midwest Political Science Association. He completed his Ph.D. in Government at Harvard University.

• 

  Dirk Mateer

  Dirk Mateer is 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. His most recent publication is “ChatGPT has Aced the Test of Understanding in College Economics: Now What?”

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  Brian Roberts

  Brian Roberts is Professor of Government in the College of Liberal Arts, and Professor of Business, Government and Society (by courtesy) in the McCombs School of Business. Professor Roberts’ 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 (Oxford University Press, 2021).

• 

  Dima Shamoun

  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 MBA and BBA programs. Dima has been with UT Austin since she joined the Department of Economics as a Lecturer and the Center for Politics & Governance as the Associate Director of Research in May of 2016. She has been teaching both graduate and undergraduate students in introductory and advanced courses since spring 2011. She also serves on the MBA Programs Committee, the Wealth Management Student Recruiting and Placement Committee, and the Behavioral Lab Committee.

  Dima was born in Damascus, Syria, and earned her BA in mathematics and economics, and her Ph.D. in economics, from George Mason University (GMU) in Virginia. She was a Research Fellow with the Mercatus Center at GMU where she studied risk science to better assess regulatory policy, and published journal articles, public comments, and syndicated op-eds. 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.

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  Daron Shaw

  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. Professor Shaw is the author of The Appearance of Corruption (Oxford University Press, 2021) The Turnout Myth (Oxford University Press, 2020), Unconventional Wisdom: Facts and Myths about American Voters (Oxford University Press, 2008), The Race to 270 (University of Chicago Press, 2006) 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.

• 

  Devin Stauffer

  Devin Stauffer is Professor of Government. He specializes in classical and early modern political philosophy. Prior to coming to The University of Texas in 2004, Professor 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. Professor Stauffer’s books include Plato’s Introduction to the Question of Justice (SUNY, 2001), The Unity of Plato’s Gorgias (Cambridge, 2006), and Hobbes’s Kingdom of Light (Chicago, 2018). His articles have also appeared in some of the top journals in the field, including Review of Politics, Journal of Politics, and American Political Science Review.

Visiting Fellows

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  Kody Cooper

  Kody W. Cooper is UC Foundation Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he teaches courses in political thought, public law, and American politics.  He is the coauthor of The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics: Political Theology, Natural Law, and the American Founding (Cambridge University Press, 2022) and author of Thomas Hobbes and the Natural Law (University of Notre Dame Press, 2018).  He lives with his wife and eight children in a 150-year-old house in Chattanooga, TN.

• 

  Bernard Haykel

  Bernard Haykel is a scholar of the Arabian Peninsula, focusing on the politics, economics and history of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) and Yemen. He is professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His interests relate to how religious movements and ideologies as well as how heavy dependence on oil rents affect politics and societies in the Middle East. The persistence of authoritarian rule and its repressive practices are a particular feature of this region, and explaining this is an animating feature of Haykel’s scholarship. Professor Haykel is the author of “Revival and Reform in Islam” and editor of “Saudi Arabia in Transition,” both published by Cambridge University Press. At Civitas, Haykel will be completing a book on the modern political history of Saudi Arabia that is titled “Saving the Family Business: the Transformation of Saudi Arabia under MBS.” Haykel is considered an authority on Islamist political movements and Islamic law and is the author of articles on the politics of Saudi Arabia and Yemen, Salafism, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. He has supervised over 10 PhD dissertations that deal with Arabian politics and history and has received several prominent awards, such as the Prize Fellowship at Magdalen College, University of Oxford, the Carnegie Corporation and Guggenheim fellowships and the Old Dominion Professorship at Princeton. Professor Haykel appears frequently in print and broadcast media. These include interviews in and articles for PBS, NPR, the New York Times, Project Syndicate, Al Arabia, Al Jazeera, and the BBC among others. He earned his doctorate from the University of Oxford.

Research Fellows

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  Richard Burkhauser

  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 Economic Department at Vanderbilt University and 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.

• 

  Rowena He

  Rowena He is Senior Research Fellow of the Civitas Institute and Associate Professor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Her first book, Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the Struggle for Democracy in China was named Top Five Books 2014 by the Asia Society’s China File. 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. Professor 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. Her scholarly opinions are regularly sought by international media, and she was designated among the Top 100 Chinese Public Intellectuals of 2016. Born and raised in China, she received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. Reach her at Rowena.He@austin.utexas.edu

• 

  William Simpson

  William M. R. Simpson is Research Fellow at the Civitas Institute, where he works on the foundations of human freedom in physics and philosophy. He is also a Visiting Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Durham, a Research Associate of the University of Cambridge, and an Honorary Fellow of the University of St. Andrews. Previously, he was a Junior Research Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. He holds a doctorate in physics from St. Andrews, for which he was awarded the Springer thesis prize, and a doctorate in philosophy from Cambridge, for which he received the Expanded Reason Award. In 2021, he was awarded the Cardinal Mercier Prize in Philosophy. He is the author of Hylomorphisim (Cambridge, 2023); co-editor, with Robert Koons and Nicholas Teh, of Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives in Contemporary Science (Routledge 2017); and co-editor, with Robert Koons and James Orr, of Neo-Aristotelian Metaphysics and the Theology of Nature (Routledge 2021).

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  Ben Storey

  Benjamin Storey is a Civitas Research Fellow and a senior fellow in Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). 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. Dr. Storey is the coauthor, with his wife, Jenna Silber Storey, of Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment (Princeton University Press, 2021). Together, the Storeys are working on a book titled, The Art of Choosing: How Liberal Education Should Prepare You for Life. He has a PhD and MA from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago and a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

• 

  Jenna Storey

  Jenna Silber Storey is a Civitas Research Fellow and a senior fellow in the Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies department at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Dr. 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. Dr. Storey 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. Dr. Storey is the coauthor, with her husband, Benjamin Storey, of Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment (Princeton University Press, 2021). Together, the Storeys are working on a book titled The Art of Choosing: How Liberal Education Should Prepare You for Life. Dr. Storey has a PhD from the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought and a BA from the University Professors Program at Boston University. She spent time in Germany as a visiting student at the University of Tübingen and as an exchange student at Dresden University.

• 

  Constantine Vassiliou

  Constantine Vassiliou is Research Fellow at the Civitas Institute. He is a political theorist and historian of ideas specializing in Enlightenment political thought. His book Moderate Liberalism and the Scottish Enlightenment (Edinburgh University Press, August 2023) examines how Montesquieu, Hume, Smith, and Ferguson’s foundational liberal theories responded to the moral and civic challenges of early capitalism. Vassiliou also co-edited and contributed chapters to The Spirit of Montesquieu’s Persian Letters (Lexington Press, 2023) and Liberal Education and Citizenship in a Free Society (University of Missouri Press, 2023).

Predoctoral Fellow

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  Alexander Batson

  Alexander Batson an intellectual historian of early modern Europe who is currently finishing his PhD at Yale University. Batson’s 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.

  He focuses on the early modern period (16th-17th centuries) because it is an age of beginnings. So many important concepts – globalism, capitalism, international law, sovereignty, to name a few – find their origins in this period. It’s also a great period to teach to undergraduates, since we find so many of our own problems mirrored there. Want to talk about plague? The sixteenth century has plenty. Polarization and toleration? Let’s dive into the Reformation and the Thirty Years War.

• 

  Maura Cowan

  Maura Cowan is a PhD 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.

• 

  John Petrakis

  John Petrakis is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. Previously, he obtained degrees in law and political science from McGill University (M.A., J.D., B.C.L., B.A.) and clerked at the Federal Court of Canada. John studies pressing issues of constitutional law and theory in comparative perspective, focusing on how different constitutional systems meet the challenges of federalism and human rights protection. He is writing a dissertation examining the origins and development of euthanasia and medically assisted suicide regimes across the world from an empirical and normative perspective.

Society of Fellows

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  Kinda Abou-Hamdan

  Kinda is a rising junior studying Plan II and public health. She has a keen interest in the social sciences and hopes to explore such fields as sociology and medical anthropology in the near future. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, baking, meeting with friends, spending time outdoors, and traveling.

• 

  Vidhath (Vid) Ashok kumar

  Vid is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in economics with a minor in the analytics and business of sports. He works as a Student Assistant in the communications department of Texas Athletics, and his ultimate goal is to build a career in the sports industry. Throughout his life, he has had the privilege of living in four different countries, which has allowed him to become fluent in four languages.

• 

  Gabriel Babineaux

  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.

• 

  Sydney Baker

  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.

• 

  Sara Beth Beasley

  Sara Beth Beasley is a junior government major from Castroville, TX. She is currently a legislative aide in the Texas House of Representatives and an undergraduate research assistant studying political communication. Sara Beth is excited to be a member of the inaugural class of Civitas Institute’s Society of Fellows and looks forward to expanding her educational experience.

• 

  Garrit Blizzard

  Garrit is a senior studying government and journalism. He is from Atlanta, Texas. He is also the Editor-In-Chief for The Texas Horn, UT-Austin’s award-winning conservative student publication. Garrit has prior experience interning in the state legislature, on campaigns, and for news organizations. In his free time, Garrit likes to read, listen to music, and discuss politics.

• 

  Blake Brawner

  Blake Brawner is a senior at the University of Texas, and enjoys being a leader for Reformed University Fellowship (RUF). Blake grew up in Dallas, Texas, attending a classical, Christian school. There his love for philosophy grew. Blake’s thesis for this year at UT will engage with classical and Christian moral thought, comparing Plato and Augustine’s understanding of the relationship between knowledge, virtue, and weakness of will. In his spare time, you may find Blake enjoying the outdoors, such as camping in national parks, skiing, and playing sports, or reading C.S. Lewis and Dostoevsky. Interested in constitutional law and jurisprudence, Blake plans to attend law school after graduation.

• 

  Nathan Comeaux

  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.

• 

  Caroline Cubillos

  Caroline Cubillos is from Plano, Texas. She recently completed her second year double-majoring in economics and music, with a minor in finance. This summer she interned for Brookfield in Acquisitions and Development and preparing for her upcoming year as Treasurer of UT’s Hispanic Business Student Association. She is a classical pianist of 15 years and, in her free time, enjoys going to concerts, reading, traveling, and learning languages.

• 

  Emma Hamilton

  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.

• 

  Anna Grace Holloway

  Anna Grace is from Fort Collins, Colorado. She recently finished her first year at UT, where she is studying government and philosophy in the Liberal Arts Honors Program. She is spending her summer interning for the congressional office of Representative Ken Buck and working for the Local Government Project of the Independence Institute, a Colorado-based think tank. In her free time, she likes to read novels and plays from the comfort of her hammock.

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  Lilly Jarlsjo

  Lilly is a sophomore majoring in Plan II Honors and economics with a certificate in Core Texts and Ideas. She is an active member of the Texas Equity Group and volunteers to read to elementary students with the Reading Aces. Her passions include baking unnecessarily difficult recipes and learning obscure historical facts.

• 

  Rose Kresta

  Rose Kresta is from Austin, Texas. She is in her final year studying government, psychology, and Spanish with a minor in law, justice, and society. This summer, she studied abroad in Ireland and interned at Cote Legal, PLLC, an immigration law firm based in Austin and San Antonio, where she will continue to intern for the duration of the 2023-2024 school year. She is president of the university’s student-run Undergraduate Moot Court Team, a J.J. Pickle research fellow, and a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority. Rose has been a creative writer since childhood and enjoys reading, fitness, traveling, cooking, and ice skating. She is passionate about the Spanish language, which she has been studying for 10 years, and previously studied abroad in Spain for 3 months.

• 

  Jordan Leighty

  Jordan is a senior majoring in advertising and minoring in Spanish. She has a keen interest in politics, graphic design, and communication. She is also the Chief Operating Officer of The Texas Horn. During her free time, she enjoys reading, outdoor activities, and spending time with her friends.

• 

  Diego Lopez

  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.

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  Carter Moxley

  Carter Moxley is a fourth-year student double majoring in government and corporate communications with a minor in business and public policy. Off-campus, Moxley has completed ten internships ranging from public policy to government relations, and political communications training. During the 87th Texas Legislative Regular Session, Moxley served as a Clements Scholar at the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute and Undergraduate Fellow at the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture. For the summer of 2022, Moxley worked in Washington, D.C., with The Fund for American Studies as a Liberty + Learning Fellow and a committee member for the Braver Angels Debate summit. During the 88th Texas Legislative Regular Session and subsequent Special Sessions, Moxley served as Staff Assistant to State Senator Kevin Sparks (R-Midland) to facilitate administrative and office operations. Moxley is also a proud Texas Boys State Counselor during the summer, which functions as a non-partisan camp for high school statesmen to learn about the importance of civic participation. This summer, Moxley will work as a Congressional Intern for Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office in Washington, D.C. In his downtime, you can find Moxley spending time with family and friends, or relaxing with his dog, Link.

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  Jackson Paul

  Jackson is a rising senior in the McCombs School of Business. He is supplementing his major in quantitative finance with a minor in business analytics and a Certificate in Core Texts and Ideas. As the founder of The Texas Horn, he is passionate about providing a platform for diverse perspectives on a variety of political and cultural topics. He also serves as the co-chairman of UT chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas. During his free time, he finds joy in reading, writing, hiking, and ballroom dancing.

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  Clayton Pruitt

  Clayton was born and raised in Austin. He is entering his senior year as a philosophy and Plan II double-major. This summer, he joined the Fellows Program at All Saints Presbyterian and interned at Hill House, a Christian Study Center adjacent to the UT-Austin campus. In his own words, he is passionate about the stewardship of people’s God-given abilities as rational and creative beings made Imago Dei and open to the search for the true, the good, and the beautiful. One of his greatest joys is studying great books with his peers.

• 

  Mia Li Rodriguez

  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.

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  Zack Springer

  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 The Horn. 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.

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  Hudson Thomas

  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.

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  Molly Tompkins

  Molly is a second year studying Plan II Honors and English Honors, as well as pursuing certificates in creative writing and Core Texts and Ideas. During her time at the university, she has had the pleasure of writing and editing for different campus publications, including Hothouse and The Daily Texan. Given her love of writing, it is no surprise that she works as a Plan II Writing Fellow. She has also enjoyed volunteering through Mission Possible. Additionally, she is engaged in historical research as a Plan II intern with the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy. Because she believes that good writing, which she seeks to produce, should reflect and converse with the issues underpinning one’s society, she hopes to gain a more nuanced understanding of American politics and society through participating in Civitas. 

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  Camarin Wengler

  Now entering her second year, Camarin is majoring in pre-pharmacy and completing a certificate in Core Texts and Ideas. In addition to being an HSF Scholar, she is a Dell Medical Pre-Health and Diversity Scholar as well as a Jefferson Scholar. In her free time, she enjoys working in theatre as both an actor and director. She is also a dancer and currently works as a teacher at the Shirley McPhail School of Dance.

   

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  Audrey Wong

  An Austin native, Audrey Wong is a sophomore majoring in Plan II Honors and corporate communication in the Moody College Honors Program. Outside of class, she is involved in Ignite Texas, Asian American Campus Ministry, and Kappa Delta Sorority. After graduation, Audrey is interested in either attending law school or entering the news media, sports broadcasting, or business sectors. She is looking forward to broadening her perspectives alongside her peers in the Society of Fellows this year.

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  Olivia Zhang

  Olivia Zhang is a sophomore studying finance in the Canfield Business Honors Program. Her hometown is Allen, Texas. She is part of Scholars of Finance and the HeadStart Fellowship, where she serves as vice president. This summer, she was a fellow for the Hertog Security Studies program. In her free time, she enjoys drawing, classic movies, and watching F1.

Summer Honors Symposium Fellows

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  Kinda Abou-Hamdan

  Kinda is a rising junior at UT-Austin studying Plan II and public health. She has a keen interest in the social sciences and hopes to explore such fields as sociology and medical anthropology in the near future. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, baking, meeting with friends, spending time outdoors, and traveling.

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  Juan Antonio Artero Calvo

  Juan Antonio was born and raised in Madrid until 2012, when his family made the move across the Atlantic to Austin. He began college at UT-Austin while still in high school and, this past Spring, earned his undergraduate honors degree in mathematics. Building on his previous research experience at the Salem Center for Policy, Juan is excited to start his new position as a predoctoral student in forensic finance at Integra FEC, a forensic data analytics firm. In addition to his passion for economics, his interests range from political theology to contemporary philosophy of logic.

• Disha Ashok Girish

  Disha is a senior psychology major specializing in the dynamics of moral judgment and social behavior within corporate settings. Fascinated by the multifaceted nature of personal and professional relationships, she is eager to delve into the captivating summer symposium on friendship. Her academic interests lie in the intersection of psychology, philosophy, and politics.

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  Vidhath (Vid) Ashok kumar

  Vid is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in economics with a minor in the analytics and business of sports. He works as a Student Assistant in the Communications Department of Texas Athletics, and his ultimate goal is to build a career in the sports industry. Throughout his life, he has had the privilege of living in four different countries, which has allowed him to become fluent in four languages.

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  Lauren Guerra-Flores (Ellie)

  Lauren is an incoming third-year architecture and Plan II double major from Mission, Texas. After receiving a masters in either urban design or global relations, she plans to build a career in the United Nations as a field worker. Some of her favorite hobbies include crocheting, reading, and playing with her dog, Kai.

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  Emma Hamilton

  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.

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  Alexa Harrison

  Alexa is a young professional excited to enter the field of organizational psychology. She is deeply passionate about leadership effectiveness and employee wellbeing. Beyond her academic pursuits, she is a strong advocate for accessible mental health care, environmental conservation, and fostering a sense of community among individuals.

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  Anna Grace Holloway

  Anna Grace is from Fort Collins, Colorado. She recently finished her first year at UT, where she is studying government and philosophy in the Liberal Arts Honors Program. She is spending her summer interning for the congressional office of Representative Ken Buck and working for the Local Government Project of the Independence Institute, a Colorado-based think tank. In her free time, she likes to read novels and plays from the comfort of her hammock.

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  Jordan Leighty

  Jordan is a senior majoring in advertising and minoring in Spanish. She has a keen interest in politics, graphic design, and communications. She is also the Chief Operating Officer of The Texas Horn. During her free time, she enjoys reading, outdoor activities, and spending time with her friends.

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  Jackson Paul

  Jackson is a rising senior in the McCombs School of Business. He is supplementing his major in quantitative finance with a minor in business analytics and a certificate in Core Texts and Ideas. As the founder of The Texas Horn, he is passionate about providing a platform for diverse perspectives on a variety of political and cultural topics. He also serves as the co-chairman of UT chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas. During his free time, he finds joy in reading, writing, hiking, and ballroom dancing.

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  Clayton Pruitt

  Clayton was born and raised in Austin. He is entering his senior year as a philosophy and Plan II double-major. This summer, he joined the Fellows Program at All Saints Presbyterian and interned at Hill House, a Christian Study Center adjacent to the UT-Austin campus. In his own words, he is passionate about the stewardship of people’s God-given abilities as rational and creative beings made Imago Dei and open to the search for the true, the good, and the beautiful. One of his greatest joys is studying great books with his peers.

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  Mia Li Rodriguez

  Mia is a junior working towards a BA 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 to be her hometown.

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  Juan San Miguel

  Juan is a senior pursuing a dual degree in the Government Honors Program (BA) and in Jazz Studies (BMA). Beyond his major, his intellectual interests include the work of Alexis de Tocqueville and his contribution to modern political philosophy. Juan is especially interested in Tocqueville’s observations on American literature and the arts.

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  Luke Sumpter

  Luke is a senior studying philosophy and history. He has a deep passion for movies—especially French cinema, poetic realism, and the French New Wave—and admires the thought of Gilles Deleuze, Marcel Proust, and Louis Althusser.

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  Zack Springer

  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 The Horn. 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.

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  Hudson Thomas

  Hudson was born in Seattle, Washington and is a sophomore at UT-Austin double-majoring in Plan II and government. 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.

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  Molly Tompkins

  Molly is a second year studying Plan II Honors and English Honors, as well as pursuing certificates in creative writing and Core Texts and Ideas. During her time at the university, she has had the pleasure of writing and editing for different campus publications, including Hothouse and The Daily Texan. Given her love of writing, it is no surprise that she works as a Plan II Writing Fellow. She has also enjoyed volunteering through Mission Possible. Additionally, she is engaged in historical research as a Plan II intern with the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy. Because she believes that good writing, which she seeks to produce, should reflect and converse with the issues underpinning one’s society, she hopes to gain a more nuanced understanding of American politics and society through participating in Civitas. 

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  Camarin Wengler

  Camarin is entering her second year at UT-Austin, where he is majoring in pre-pharmacy and completing a certificate in Core Texts and Ideas. In addition to being a Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) Scholar, she is both a Dell Medical Pre-Health and Diversity Scholar and a Jefferson Scholar. In her free time, she enjoys working in theatre as both an actor and director. She is also a dancer and currently works as a teacher at the Shirley McPhail School of Dance.