Summer Seminars

Exploring Liberty

June 2-8 ● Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia, PA area

Howard Baetjer

Economics, Towson University

Howard Baetjer Jr. is a Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland, where he teaches courses in microeconomics, comparative economic systems, and money and banking. He is currently working on a book explaining why fully free markets would work better for everybody than our current mixed economy.  Dr. Baetjer is also a frequent faculty member at IHS Summer Seminars. »»

Antony Davies

Economics, Duquesne University

Antony Davies’ areas of research include forecasting and rational expectations, consumer behavior, international economics, and mathematical economics. Most recently, Dr. Davies presented his research on standardized testing in public schools to senior staff at the U.S. Congress. »»

Rob McDonald

History, U.S. Military Academy, West Point

Robert M. S. McDonald is associate professor of history at the United States Military Academy.  He is a graduate of the University of Virginia, Oxford University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned his Ph.D.  A specialist on Thomas Jefferson and the early American republic, he has published several journal articles and other essays.  He is editor of Thomas Jefferson's Military Academy:  Founding West Point (2004) and Light & Liberty: Thomas Jefferson and the Power of Knowledge (2012).  He is completing another edited volume, Sons of the Father: George Washington and His Protégés, as well as a book to be titled Confounding Father: Thomas Jefferson and the Politics of Personality. He lives in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York with his wife, Christine, and their children Jeff and Grace. »»

Clark Neily

Law, Institute for Justice

Clark is the leader of the Institute’s school choice team. Besides representing parents and children in defense of Florida’s Opportunity Scholarship Program and school choice programs in Arizona, Milwaukee, and elsewhere, he has made numerous public appearances and participated in many debates in support of school choice. »»

Sarah Skwire

Liberty Fund Fellow
Sarah Skwire is the author of the college writing textbook, Writing with a Thesis, which is about to appear in its 12th edition. She has won prizes for her poetry which has appeared, among other places, in the New Criterion, The Oxford Magazine, and The Vocabula Review.  Sarah has published a range of academic articles on subjects from Shakespeare to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and her writing has appeared in journals as varied as Literature and Medicine, The George Herbert Journal, and The Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. She graduated with honors in English from Wesleyan University, and earned a MA and PhD in English from the University of Chicago. Currently at work on a book length project about money in early modern poetry, and shorter projects on similar mixtures of literature and economics, Sarah is also a full-time Fellow at Liberty Fund, Inc., a non-profit educational foundation. Sarah and her husband have two very silly daughters, aged 4 and 6 ½. »»

James Stacey Taylor

Philosophy, The College of New Jersey

James Stacey Taylor teaches Bioethics, Ethics, Modern Philosophy, and various applied ethics and core philosophy courses. He spends a lot of time thinking and writing about autonomy—an area of philosophy that helps us understand when individuals are truly motivated by their own concerns, hopes, desires, and wills. »»

 

June 23-29 ● Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia, PA area

Joab Corey

Economics, University of West Virginia
Joab Corey is a lecturer in the Department of Economics and a member of the Excellence in Economics Education faculty in the Stavros Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Economic Education at Florida State University.  Dr. Corey currently specializes in teaching large section principles of economics and intro to economics classes where he uses interactive class demonstrations, video clips, pop-culture examples, student designed economic T-shirts, and occasional acrobatics to create an enthusiastic student learning environment.  While at Florida State University he has been the recipient of the Transformation Through Teaching award, the Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society Service in Excellence Teaching Award, and the Florida State University Undergraduate Teaching Award. »»

Tawni Ferrarini

Economics, Northern Michigan University
Dr. Tawni Hunt Ferrarini, Sam M. Cohodas professor of economics at Northern Michigan University (NMU), researches how to successfully employ technology in college and high school economics courses and K-12 economic education workshops.  Regionally she is recognized for her work on the economy of the Upper Peninsula as evidenced by her 2009 Distinguished Faculty Award at NMU.  Nationally and internationally, her work on CommonSenseEconomics.com, Econ4u.org and workshops related to the materials and activities hosted on the sites and connected to them move around the globe. »»

Chris Freiman

Philosophy, University of Arizona
Christopher Freiman is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the College of William and Mary.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2010, specializing in moral and political philosophy.  His work has appeared in venues such as Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, and The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy. »»

Jeremy Horpedahl

Economics, Buena Vista University
Jeremy Horpedahl is an Assistant Professor of Economics in the H.W. Siebens School of Business at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. He primarily teaches principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics, as well as international economics and political economy. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University in 2009, concentrating in public choice, public finance, and economic history. His dissertation, The Growth of Government and Democracy in America, examined the expansion of voting rights and growth of government prior to the Civil War. A chapter of his dissertation was recently published in Constitutional Political Economy. He has also taught at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY and at George Mason. »»

Robert McNamara

Law, Institute for Justice
Robert McNamara litigates cutting-edge constitutional cases protecting First Amendment, property rights, economic liberty and other individual liberties in both federal and state courts. Currently, Mr. McNamara is lead counsel representing a group of Philadelphia tour guides challenging a law that would make it illegal for them to give tours without first obtaining a special license from the city government—literally making it illegal for them to talk about the Liberty Bell for compensation. His practice has also included representing property owners fighting unfair eminent domain procedures. »» 

Amy Sturgis

Interdisciplinary Studies, Lenoir-Rhyne University
Amy H. Sturgis earned her Ph.D. in Intellectual History from Vanderbilt University and specializes in Science Fiction/Fantasy and Native American studies.
In the field of Science Fiction/Fantasy studies, she has edited five books and published numerous essays and articles. Her most recent works include "'Crowded in My Sky': Liberty and the Frontier in Firefly and Serenity" for theThe Philosophy of Joss Whedon (2011), "In Search of Fringe's Literary Ancestors" for Fringe Science: Parallel Universes, White Tulips, and Mad Scientists (2011), and "If This Is 'The Final Frontier,' Where Are the Natives?" for Star Trek and History (2013).
In the field of Native American Studies, Sturgis is the author of two books on presidential policy, as well as The Trail of Tears and Indian Removal (Greenwood, 2006) and Tecumseh: A Biography (Greenwood, 2008). »»

Readings »

 

The summer seminars vary by topic,
complexity, and career path.