A position that rotates each academic year, our Visiting Professors are partner faculty members who are selected to contribute to the initiative’s work in various ways. Past Visiting Professors have served as instructors for our Summer Honors Program, given lectures on campuses, written publications, and provided our team with advice and guidance. The program has existed since 2015. See below for a full list of Visiting Professors:
2020–21 Visiting Professor: Peter Meilaender
Peter Meilaender is a Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of History and Political Science at Houghton College (NY), and is currently serving as the 2020–2021 Visiting Professor for the Initiative on Faith & Public Life. In his role at Houghton, Dr. Meilaender teaches a wide range of courses in political theory, American politics, public law, international relations, and German Studies, and he is a regular contributor to the college’s interdisciplinary humanities honors program. In 2015, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Christian Thought at Biola University. He is the author of Toward a Theory of Immigration (Palgrave, 2001), which discusses ethical questions arising from immigration policy debates. Dr. Meilaender’s current research focuses on politics and German-language literature, especially literature from Switzerland and Austria. He is completing a manuscript on the political thought of the 19th-century Swiss pastor and author Jeremias Gotthelf, in support of which he has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Earhart Foundation. His essays on public affairs have appeared in magazines such as The Cresset, First Things, The City, and Christian Reflection.
2019–20 Visiting Professor: Paul Miller
Paul D. Miller is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and served as the 2019-2020 Visiting Professor for the Initiative on Faith & Public Life. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. As a practitioner, Dr. Miller served as Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan on the National Security Council staff; worked as an intelligence analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency; and served as a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army. His most recent book, American Power and Liberal Order: A Conservative Internationalist Grand Strategy, was published by Georgetown University Press in 2016. In his first book, Armed State Building (Cornell University Press, 2013), Miller examined the history and strategy of stability operations. His next book, tentatively titled Just War and Ordered Liberty, reinterprets the just war traditions in light of contemporary security challenges. Miller taught at The University of Texas at Austin and the National Defense University and worked at the RAND Corporation prior to his arrival at Georgetown. Miller’s writing has also appeared in Foreign Affairs, Survival, Presidential Studies Quarterly, The Journal of Strategic Studies, Orbis, The American Interest, The National Interest, The World Affairs Journal, Small Wars and Insurgencies, and elsewhere. Miller holds a Ph.D. in international relations and a B.A. in government from Georgetown University, and a master in public policy from Harvard University. He is a contributing editor of the Texas National Security Review, a contributing editor of Providence: A Journal of Christianity and American Foreign Policy, and a research fellow at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
2018–19 Visiting Professor: Elizabeth Corey
Elizabeth Corey is an associate professor of political science and director of the Honors Program at Baylor University. She was the 2018-19 Values & Capitalism Visiting Professor, and continues to partner with the Initiative on Faith & Public Life by serving as a Summer Honors Program instructor. Beyond her roles at Baylor, Dr. Corey’s writing has appeared in First Things—where she serves on the board—The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and National Affairs, as well as in a variety of scholarly journals. She has also published Michael Oakeshott on Religion, Aesthetics, and Politics (University of Missouri Press, 2006) and is the coeditor of the “Radical Conservatisms” book series at the University of Pennsylvania Press. She has received several awards for teaching and research, and was a 2016–17 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow. She received a bachelor’s degree in classics from Oberlin College, and master’s and doctoral degrees in art history and political science from Louisiana State University. Most importantly, she is the mother of three children: Anna Katherine, John, and Margaret.
2017–18 Visiting Professor: Brian Brenberg
Brian Brenberg serves as an Executive Vice President and Chair of the Program in Business and Finance at The King’s College. He was the 2017-18 Values & Capitalism Visiting Professor, and continues to partner with the Initiative on Faith & Public Life by speaking and serving as an instructor during the Initiative’s annual Weekend Honors Program. Prior to joining the King’s faculty, he worked in the financial services and medical device industries, as well as public policy research and philanthropy. He earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. In addition to his teaching at King’s, Professor Brenberg appears frequently on several media outlets, including FOX News, FOX Business, CNBC, and Yahoo Finance. He has written for many publications, including USA Today, Newsweek, Forbes, and the New York Post, and his speeches have been covered by Time and The Washington Post. He lectures regularly for the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) and Young America’s Foundation (YAF). He and his family live in New York City.
2016–17 Visiting Professor: Stephen L.S. Smith
Stephen L. S. Smith is professor of economics at Hope College. He served as the 2016–17 Values & Capitalism Visiting Professor, and continues to partner with the Initiative on Faith & Public Life by leading seminars and teaching a Summer Honors Program course. Dr. Smith, a specialist in international economics and economic development, previously taught at Middlebury College and at Gordon College, and in the fall of 2016 served his second stint as a visiting scholar at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), with the research division of the ITC’s Office of Economics. He publishes widely in professional journals and is active in the Association of Christian Economists, whose journal, Faith & Economics, he edited for many years. A partner with AEI’s Values & Capitalism program since 2010, he co-authored Economic Growth: Unleashing the Potential of Human Flourishing (with Edd Noell and Bruce Webb), issued in the program’s mini-book series. He earned his Ph.D. in economics at Stanford University, and his B.A. at Williams College with a double major in economics and religion.
2015–16 Visiting Professor: Gregory Thornbury
Gregory Alan Thornbury serves as Vice President of Development at the New York Academy of Art in New York City. He is former Chancellor and President of The King’s College. He served as the 2015–16 Values & Capitalism Visiting Professor. Prior to joining King’s in 2013, he served at Union University in Tennessee as a Professor of Philosophy, Founding Dean of the School of Theology, and Vice President. He has completed graduate work at Southern Seminary in Louisville and the University of Oxford in England. A popular campus speaker and lecturer, he is also a member of the Society of Christian Philosophers. His recent books focus on the relationship between philosophy, theology, and culture. They include Recovering Classic Evangelicalism: Applying the Wisdom and Vision of Carl F. H. Henry, Christianity and Doctor Who, with graphic artist Ned Bustard, and Only Visiting This Planet, which is a biography of the 1970s Jesus Movement icon and rock pioneer, Larry Norman, whom Thornbury calls, “the forerunner of the millennial generation’s attitude toward religion.”
