Board of Directors
President
James M. Patterson
Associate Professor of Politics
Baker School of Public Affairs / Univ. of Tennessee-Knoxville
James M. Patterson is an Associate Professor of Public Affairs in the Baker School of Public Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He was formerly an associate professor of politics at Ave Maria University. He is also research fellow at the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy, and contributing editor and podcast host at Law & Liberty. He is the author of Religion in the Public Square: Sheen, King, Falwell, and is currently working with his co-author Thomas Howes on a book about postliberalism coming out in early 2025.
Board Chairman
William Batchelder IV
Associate Professor of History & Director of the Honors Program
Waynesburg University
Bill Batchelder received his M.A. in History from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland and an M.A., Ph.D. from The Ohio State University where he received the Graduate Teaching Award. He also just published, with co-editor, Michael Harding, The Philosophy of Philip Rieff: Cultural Conflict, Religion and the Self (Bloomsbury, 2025). He has contributed articles to Anamnesis, The Imaginative Conservative, Nomocracy in Politics, and most recently has co-authored an article with Kevin Slack published at VoegelinView, “Susan Sontag was not the sole Author of Freud: Mind of the Moralist.”
Bill is married and homeschooling two girls and twin boys.
Treasurer
Matthew P. Grizzle
- Claire Aguda (The Russell Kirk Center)
- Ethan Alexander-Davey (Campbell University)
- Rudy Hernandez (University of Missouri)
- Benjamin Peterson (Abilene Christian University)
- J. Robert Subrick (James Madison University)
Advisory Board
- Christopher Anadale (Mount Saint Mary’s University)
- Chris Armstrong (Anselm House/Faith & Flourishing Journal/Christian History Magazine)
- Katherine Bradshaw (Ancient Language Institute)
- Chris Butynskyi (Salisbury High School – PA)
- Paul DeHart (Texas State University)
- Trey Dimsdale (AHA Foundation)
- Dennis Durst (Kentucky Christian University)
- Rachel Ferguson (Concordia University Chicago)
- John Grove (Liberty Fund)
- Sean Hadley (University of Arkansas)
- Jason Jewell (Florida Board of Governors)
- Michael Maibach (Save Our States / James Wilson Institute)
- John Robinson (James Madison University)
- Luke Sheehan (Duquesne University, Academy of Philosophy & Letters)
- Brent Waters
- John Wilsey (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)
- Jacob Wolf (University of Austin)
Staff
Executive Director
Joshua J. Bowman
Josh Bowman is the Executive Director of the Ciceronian Society and has been a part of the organization since 2013. He recently served as Director of Operations at All Saints Holland Anglican Church (part of the Anglican Church in North America)
He previously taught courses in American politics, law, environmental studies, and political philosophy at Hope College and Heidelberg University (Tiffin, OH), and also online at Concordia University-Chicago, the University of the Cumberlands, and the Robertson School of Government.
Josh was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Eric Voegelin Institute of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge from 2016 to 2018 after completing his MA/PhD in Politics at the Catholic University of America (2016). He received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at Lee University (2008) in Cleveland, TN.
His scholarly research previously focused on the history of political philosophy and the intersection of Christianity and imagination with politics and thought, especially as it pertained to environmental politics. His first book, Imagination and Environmental Politics: the Aftermath of Thoreau was published in 2018 by Lexington Books. He is currently working primarily on essays, especially on the topics of friendship, the role of the church, and intellectual discipleship.
Josh is a former Wilbur Fellow with the Russell Kirk Center, and recipient of the Weaver and Salvatori Fellowships from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
Though born and raised in Monroe, Michigan, he and his wife met at Lee University in Tennessee and have also lived Virginia, Ohio, and Louisiana. They currently live in Western Michigan with two young children, a dog, two guinea pigs, and a tortoise.
To learn more about Josh, visit his website at: http://bowmanjosh.com
Updated 13 May, 2025