John Henry Hobgood is a 2020 Notre Dame graduate currently pursuing a Masters in Political Theory at Boston College. At Notre Dame, he was a Tocqueville Fellow and majored in the Program of Liberal Studies with a minor in Constitutional Studies.
Hobgood entered Notre Dame undecided but quickly found PLS. At the recommendation of a sophomore friend from his dorm, Hobgood emailed Center Director Professor Munoz about the Con Studies minor, and soon joined, along with becoming a Tocqueville Fellow.
Of the Fellowship, Hobgood said it was a tremendous experience to be a part of at Notre Dame, highlighting the fruitful conversations had during the Fellows’ semester colloquia. He is grateful to the CCCG for facilitating these “intentional weekends with interested peers at Notre Dame exploring select topics of political thought.”
Throughout the summers during college, Hobgood was able to take advantage of CCCG connections to work in several of his areas of interest. After his freshman year, he worked as an intern on Capitol Hill in the House of Representatives and relied on a grant from the CCCG to cover his living costs in D.C.
During sophomore year, he worked with EPPC Fellow Ericka Bachiochi as a Research Fellow at the Abigail Adams Institute in Cambridge and was able to help Bachiochi with her book, The Rights of Women, as a Research Assistant.
Hobgood wrote his senior thesis on Francis Bacon, specifically addressing his writings on the reason of states and how that may shed light on the connection between natural law and political thought.
Hobgood believes the knowledge he received from Con Studies and the wide breadth of political thought it covered prepared him for his career and his approach to political theory, specifically in keeping it grounded in concrete political action in today’s world. “Actual human lives do have an impact on the political community,” he says, and “[those] ideas are actually being lived out in the public sphere.”
His favorite invited lecturer during his time at Notre Dame was the renowned French philosopher and historian, Remi Brague.. Having one of the “most accomplished French philosophers” speak and engage with the Fellows was an amazing opportunity, he said.
After graduation, Hobgood says he knew he was interested in graduate school, but wanted to take time off to discern where he wanted to study. He was offered a job as a Chain Sales Specialist with E. & J. Gallo Winery Martignetti Companies in Boston. A year later he decided to move to D.C. and work for The Catholic University of America’s Institute of Human Ecology. Hobgood then decided to apply to BC’s political theory program, citing their devout faculty as his reason for choosing BC, specifically in early modern political thought.
In his future, Hobgood sees discerning between a PhD and law school as the biggest decision he must make. To any student at Notre Dame, his best advice would be to go to faculty office hours: “It’s a great way to get to know faculty in a better way and learn more,” he says, and not enough people take advantage of it. Furthermore, he says: “try to remember the things that you love about Notre Dame and distill those in something that you can take with you into grad school and your career.”
This article was contributed by CCCG Writing Fellow Merlot Fogarty.