Director

James W. Ceaser is Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, where he has taught since 1976. He has written several books on American politics and political thought, including Presidential Selection, Liberal Democracy and Political Science, Reconstructing America, and Nature and History in American Political Development. Professor Ceaser has held visiting professorships at the University of Florence, the University of Basel, Oxford University, the University of Bordeaux, and the University of Rennes.

Professor Ceaser has spent much time working in the areas of civic education and democracy studies. He has traveled extensively for the State Department giving lectures on American politics and advising programs designed for the study of American politics. His most important contribution in the area was his role in the planning and establishment of The George C. Marshall Center for European Studies in Garmisch, Germany, for which the United States Army awarded him The Joint Meritorious Unit Award for Total Engagement (1996). Professor Ceaser is a frequent contributor to the popular press, and he often comments on American politics for the Voice of America.

 Postdoctoral Fellows

Howell Keiser is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Program on Constitutionalism and Democracy. He is an American historian specializing in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century U.S. History. His primary research focus is on political economy, the Civil War era, and American political thought. His current book project explores how the political economies of Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo shaped Southern thought and action during the sectional crisis. His work has been published in Civil War History, the Simms Review, the Emerging Civil War, and RealClear History. He earned his PhD from Louisiana State University in 2024. 

Calvin TerBeek is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Program on Constitutionalism and Democracy. He is a political scientist focused on American politics, particularly public law, political parties and political ideology, and political economy. His work has been published in American Political Science Review, Law & Social Inquiry, and Studies in American Political Development. He is nearing completion of a book manuscript -- Enemy Establishments: Liberalism and Conservatism from the Progressives to Trump -- and is in the early phases of a second book project on liberalism and progressivism in the US from 1980 to today. 

Instructors

Evan Pivonka received his PhD in Politics at the University of Virginia. He is Special Assistant to the Honor Committee.