I am pleased to note that three USU philosophy students made the Intercollegiate Studies Institute Leadership Class of 2017: Millie Tullis, Jonathon Toronto, and David Bradley Zynda. To have 3 USU students in the class of 150 national student leaders is pretty impressive, especially when one sees the list of students and institutions (a great number of them are from Ivies, Stanford, U Chicago, and top flight private liberal arts colleges).
For those unfamiliar with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI): Two years ago we founded an ISI society here at USU (the CS Lewis Society). ISI is an outfit committed to developing principled and intellectually serious leadership. Its primary focus is engaging students in the great books tradition along with providing them leadership training. It has a conservative bent, but is non-partisan. There are many notable alumni in law, politics, journalism, academia, and business, including Justices Scalia, Alito, and Gorsuch, Peter Thiel (founder of paypal), Ross Douthat (NYTimes columnist), Harvey Mansfield (well known Harvard professor), etc etc etc.
We get funding each year to support student book clubs. For those who struggle at USU to find intellectual life, this is just the ticket – fun, social, but intellectually serious conversations over very good books and free food. In addition, ISI students can apply to attend regional and national conferences, which are filled with reading, lectures, and great conversation (ISI pays for everything, from flight and hotel to food and expenses, and these are typically held at pretty tony establishments). Aside from being interesting, these conferences give students a chance to network with academic, political, and business leaders from around the country.
If you are interested in learning more about ISI, please contact Professor Kleiner at harrison.kleiner@usu.edu.
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