Topic: The Crisis of Western Education

Texts: The Crisis of Western Education, Christopher Dawson

Leader: Dr. Andrew Seeley is Director of Advanced Formation for Educators and Concurrent Professor of Philosophy at the Augustine Institute. He received a Licentiate from the Pontifical Institute in Medieval Studies in Toronto and a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the University of Toronto. In three decades as a Tutor at Thomas Aquinas College, Dr. Seeley taught every subject in its integrated Great Books curriculum. He is co-author of Declaration Statesmanship: A Course in American Government. Desiring to share his love of learning, Dr. Seeley co-founded the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education in 2005, where he served as Executive Director for 12 years, and continues as a Faculty Consultant. He became Executive Director of the Arts of Liberty Project in 2021, and recently co-founded the Boethius Institute for the Advancement of Liberal Education with Dr. Jeffrey Lehman. For his work in the renewal of liberal education, he was named as the 2023 recipient of the Circe Institute’s Paideia Prize. He is an avid devotee of the works of JRR Tolkien, and an amateur director of the plays of William Shakespeare.

Topic: Philosophy of Authority

Texts: A General Theory of Authority

Leader: Daniel Connelly serves as Assistant Professor and Course Director of the Department of Leadership at the US Air Force's Air Command and Staff College and serves on the Board of Valor Education. Prior to his current post, he served there as Assistant Professor of International Security and the college's Director of Faculty Development. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Auburn University, an M.S. from the Joint Military Intelligence College, an M.A. from American University, and a B.A. from Trinity College in Russian Studies. During his doctoral matriculation, he specialized in Organizational and Social Psychology. He offers elective courses in Russian strategic culture and the contemporary applications of the Just War Tradition. Dr. Connelly was assigned to the Air Force's Squadron Officer College in 2004, returned there as Dean of Academic Affairs and Faculty Development in 2010, and was assigned to the Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) in 2015 for his last military assignment before retirement from the US Air Force.

Topic: “The Human Person and Modernity”

Texts: End of the Modern World, Romano Guardini, “Violence and Modern Gnosticism,” Augusto Del Noce, “The End of Modernity,” Robert Spaemann

Leader: Dr. Jon Kirwan, Director of Graduate Programs at University of St Thomas (TX) and Dr. John Finley, Academic Director of the Valor Institute