Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts

Below are listed a number of the graduate students in our Ph.D. and M.A. program. The page is currently under construction.

If the student's email is listed in their profile, they would be happy for you to contact them with any questions you have about the program or their particular studies.

Doctoral Students
Francis Fast ffast@udallas.edu Interests Natural Law Theory; the shifting conceptions of freedom and rights in America; the cultural prerequisites for effective democracy; Alexis de Tocqueville; the Theologico-Political question; Catholic political thought, traditional and contemporary.		Education  B.A., Liberal Arts, Thomas Aquinas College, 2009 Short Bio  Francis grew up near Edmonton, Alberta, but went south of the border for college, acquiring a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College in California in 2009. After spending a year back in Edmonton as a researcher with the Society to Explore and Record Christian History, he entered the University of Dallas as a graduate student in Political Philosophy. The University of Dallas has provided a challenging opportunity for him to deepen his knowledge of the western canon, and find new ways of tackling contemporary political questions with that canon in mind. As a Canadian, he has also enjoyed studying the political life of his neighbors to the south, and hopes that he can learn the lessons of the "American experiment" in a way that will be applicable to the struggles not only of America, but of the world at large. Upon completing his Ph.D, he hopes to work in a situation that will allow for fruitful dialog between the modern political milieu and the wisdom garnered by the west over the last three thousand years. Presentations and Publications  "The Newtonian Underpinnings of Rousseau's 'Noble Savage' Myth"; University of Dallas IPS Colloquium, Fall 2011
Terrill Legueri tlegueri@udallas.edu   Interests Everything! But particularly Aristotle and Montesquieu, and recently lyric poetry.		Education  B.A. in Political Science, Grinnell College, 2005  M.A. in Liberal Arts, St. John's College, 2009 Short Bio  I came to UD from Denver, CO via Grinnell College in Iowa and St. John's College in Santa Fe. I was attracted to UD for the breadth of the program; both in the Core curriculum and in the Politics Department itself. Further, I wanted the study of languages to be a part of my education and UD generously supports the graduate students in their studies of both ancient and modern languages. My favorite part of my studies here has been the exposure to so many different facets of the Western Tradition: Christian thought, Ancient, Modern, and Medieval Political thought, Literature across the centuries and, of course, Philosophy. I've been provided a truly liberal education, and I can't say that's true of most other graduate programs. Presentations and Publications  “A Judge is Not a Ruler: Judicial Practice in Plato’s Laws and Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws.” SSSA, Las Vegas, NV. “That Which Belongs to Caesar Belongs to God: The Inseparability of State, Religion and Metaphysics in Hegel’s Philosophy of Mind.” Institute of Philosophic Studies Colloquium, University of Dallas, Irving, TX. “Virgins, Women, and Wives: The Female in St. Augustine’s City of God.” Institute of Philosophic Studies Colloquium, University of Dallas, Irving, TX
Carle Mock cmock@udallas.edu Interests St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, Shakespeare, St. Thomas More		Education  B.S., Accounting, Dana College, 2003  B.A., History, Dana College, 2003 Short Bio  Before, during, and after my undergraduate years, I ran my family's small motel in Sidney, NE. After I got my accounting degree, I also worked seasonally there for 3 years as a tax accountant for a local CPA. After I complete my dissertation, I hope to work as a professor at a Catholic school dedicated to teaching the liberal arts. Presentations and Publications  - "Hope in Dante's Divine Comedy," University of Dallas IPS Colloquium, February 2011
John Peterson jpeterson@udallas.edu   Interests The progenitors of modernity and liberal democratic political theory and practice, such as Hobbes, Locke, and the American Founders; as well as their detractors and critics, their contemporaries and ours. Neither group can be understood without reference to ancient political philosophy, particularly Plato and Aristotle.		Education  B.A., Liberal Arts, St. John's College, Annapolis Short Bio  The UD Politics program offers a great mix between the study of political philosophy and the reasoned consideration of practical and contemporary political questions. I delayed graduate school for a long time because desired neither to be a political "scientist" nor a philosophy student who is unable to bring his study to bear on contemporary politics. I was drawn this program because while it demands and emphasizes the perennial questions of political philosophy, it consistently brings these questions to bear on our own regime and its own questions, including the ones that are prescient today. My intention is to obtain a (preferably tenure-track) position teaching political philosophy or American politics. Presentations and Publications  - "Aristotle's Critique of Political Innovation," Ramify (The Journal of the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts), 2.1, Spring 2011  - "On Hippodamus: The Classical Critique of Innovation in Aristotle's Politics," MPSA Annual Conference, 2011  - "Rousseau's Critique of Hobbes's Rhetoric," UD IPS Colloquium, Fall 2011
Pavlos Papadapolous ppapadopoulos@udallas.edu  Interests The understanding of politics and the pre-political that can be taken from dramatic works both ancient and modern; the relationship between the Bible and political philosophy; the political questions raised by the 20th-century phenomenon of totalitarianism; the Founding and the American Constitution; and contemporary American foreign policy.		Education  B.A., Liberal Arts, St. John's College, Annapolis, 2010 Short Bio  Pavlos grew up near Boston, Massachusetts, and earned his B.A. from St John's College, where his substantial interests included the political understanding of dramatic and literary authors including Aeschylus, Sophocles, Virgil, and Shakespeare, as well as the implications for political theory of the book of Genesis. His interest in the University of Dallas stems from its recognition of the vital role of the canon in the understanding of politics, as well as its attention to the question concerning the relation between politics and the fully human life. He intends to obtain a position teaching the liberal arts or political philosophy.
Masters Students
Matt Ashley mashley@udallas.edu   Interests Aristotle, Plato, classical historiography, post modernism.		Education  B.A., Ashland University, Politics and History, 2010
Cole Simmons csimmons@udallas.edu   Interests John Locke, Abraham Lincoln, Blaise Pascal, Social Gospel Movement, Attic Greek.		Education  B.A., St. Johns College, Annapolis Short Bio  Born in Staunton, Virginia. Attended St. John's College, Annapolis. Taught 9th Grade. Attending University of Dallas.