Board of Directors
President
James M. Patterson
Associate Professor of Politics
Ave Maria University
James M. Patterson is associate professor of politics at Ave Maria University, research fellow at the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy, president of the Ciceronian Society, 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. Bill is currently the co-editor on a forthcoming edited volume “Fellow Readers: Interdisciplinary Applications and Interpretations of the Social Theory of Philip Rieff.” 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
John Robinson
Assistant Professor in the School of Integrated Sciences
James Madison University
John Robinson received his B.S in Economics from James Madison University in 2009 and Ph.D in Economics from George Mason University in 2016. He is an Assistant Professor in the School of Integrated Sciences at James Madison University, where he teaches in the Intelligence Analysis Program. He previously taught in JMU’s Economics Department and worked as an economic analyst in the federal government. His research spans ethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of science, with a particular interest in how these areas intersect with intelligence analysis. His work has been published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Journal of Private Enterprise, Journal of Scottish Philosophy, Econ Journal Watch, and The Independent Review.
John lives in Harrisonburg, VA with his wife and their five children. To learn more about John and his work, visit https://www.johnandrewrobinson.com/
Advisory Board
- Claire Aguda (The Russell Kirk Center)
- Chris Armstrong (Faith & Flourishing Journal/Christian History Magazine)
- Katherine Bradshaw (Ancient Language Institute)
- Chris Butynskyi (Salisbury High School – PA)
- Paul DeHart (Texas State University)
- Trey Dimsdale (Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy)
- Dennis Durst (Kentucky Christian University)
- Rachel Ferguson (Concordia University Chicago)
- John Grove (Liberty Fund)
- Sean Hadley (University of Arkansas)
- Jason Jewell (Faulkner 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 part-time Executive Director of the Ciceronian Society and has been a part of the organization since 2013. He is also part-time Director of Operations at All Saints Holland Anglican Church (part of the Anglican Church in North America), and an adjunct instructor at the Robertson School of Government.
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 and the University of the Cumberlands.
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, 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, and a tortoise.
To learn more about Josh, visit his website at: http://bowmanjosh.com